IWM AFPU Portrait photographs

Re. Kenneth Matthew Rodwell



IWM tag - as Sgt. Rodwell - Find an object | Imperial War Museums

Rodwell, Kenneth Matthew (Oral history)

Object description
British NCO served as sergeant cameraman with Army Film and Photographic Unit in North Africa, Middle East, Sicily, Italy, Yugoslavia and Austria, 1942-1945
Content description
REEL 1 Background in GB, 1923-1941: father's employment as film cameraman; visits to film studios; interest in documentary films; story of father surviving plane crash; state of British film industry in 1930s; experience working with father and employment in film laboratory; filming air raid on Vickers-Armstrongs (Aircraft) Ltd factory at Brooklands near Weybridge, 4/9/1940; question of pursuing career as doctor; studying photography at night school; employment as assistant cameraman with Gaumont-British Pictures Corporation. REEL 2 Continues: description of training films; duties as assistant cameraman; comparison of various cameras used in civilian employment and with Army Film and Photographic Unit; colour film. Aspects of training as private Queen's (Royal West Surrey) Regt and British Army and Army Film and Photographic Unit in GB, 1941-1942: initial enlistment in Queen's (Royal West Surrey) Regt, 1941; attitude to military life and discipline; basic training with Queen's (Royal West Surrey) Regt; transfer to Army Film and Photographic Unit; problem of illness caused by inoculation; selection of stills and cine cameramen. REEL 3 Continues: film training exercises on Hampstead Heath, London. Aspects of voyage aboard HMT Queen Mary from GB to Egypt, 1942: messing arrangements; accommodation; issue of tropical uniform; contracting dysentery. Recollections of operations as cameraman with No 1 Army Film and Photographic Unit in North Africa and the Middle East, 1942-1943: move to transit camp in Suez, Egypt; description of trade test; issued with DeVry Standard 35mm Cine Camera; explanation of term 'matte'; story of losing revolver; promotion to sergeant including pay and attitude to rank; identification; relations with troops; memories of other Army Film and Photographic Unit personnel; comparison of roles of newsreel and Army Film and Photographic Unit cameramen; posting for further military training to Palestine, 6/1942. REEL 4 Continues: attitude to role as army cameraman and question of danger; discipline in unit; attitude to filming re-enactments of battle scenes; comradeship with troops; question of authenticity of war filming; assignment to section commander Lieutenant Derek Knight at Headquarters, XXX Corps; story of crashed Hawker Hurricane; daily routine and nature of filming duties; coverage of visits by General Bernard Montgomery and his relations with Army Film and Photographic Unit; opinion of senior commanders including Generals Bernard Montgomery and Harold Alexander. REEL 5 Continues: daily life in Cairo, Egypt; relations with civilian population; use of Willys Jeep for transport; attitude to desert conditions; accommodation; rations and compo boxes; water supplies; washing clothes in petrol; bathing; problem of contracting jaundice; story of Willys Jeep hitting mine. REEL 6 Continues: nature of wounds and medical treatment at 63rd British General Hospital in Egypt; description of assignments in Palestine, Syria, Lebanon and on border with Turkey; story of charcoal heater; visits to Jerusalem, Palestine. Aspects of period as cameraman with No 2 Army Film and Photographic Unit in North Africa and Mediterranean, 6/1943-7/1943: transfer to unit in Algiers, French Algeria; move to Tripoli, Libya, 6/1943; story of being torpedoed aboard ship in Mediterranean on route to Sicily, Italy, 7/1943. REEL 7 Continues: rescue and medical treatment; return to Cairo, Egypt. Recollections of operations as cameraman with Army Film and Photographic Unit in Italy, 1943-1944: landing at Syracuse, Sicily; weight of equipment; description of filming on Catania Plain and Dead Horse Corner, Sicily; sight of crashed gliders with dead bodies; story of chapain giving last rites; receiving a Mentioned in Despatches; opinion of commanding officer Lieutenant-Colonel Geoffrey Keating; civilian background of officers. REEL 8 Continues: attitude to filming battles and use of reconstructions; opinion of commanding officer Lieutenant Colonel James 'Monty' Stopford; story of filming reconstructions in beachhead at Anzio; attitude of troops to taking part in reconstructions; filming in Monte Cassino area; organisation of No 2 Army Film and Photographic Unit; method of allocating cameraman; story of entering Rome and type of subjects filmed; role in making film 'The Third Freedom' (1944); question of co-productions; opinion of film 'The Road to Rome' (1944); relations with American film crews. REEL 9 Continues: story of King George VI and Victoria Cross award; amusing story relating to Prime Minister Winston Churchill; problem with noise of sound camera; question of competition with war correspondents and other cameramen. Recollections of operations as cameraman with No 2 Army Film and Photographic Unit in Yugoslavia, 1944-1945: transfer to Josip Tito's headquarters and aircraft flight from Italy to Yugoslavia, 9/1944; description of stills and cine camera equipment; photographing bomb damage in Belgrade; filming Josip Tito; opinion of Soviet film crews and equipment; filming Ustase atrocities in Sarajevo; reaction to sight of murdered civilians; filming German prisoners of war captured by Yugoslav Partisans; opinion of Josip Tito; personnel in British Maclean Mission; attitude to working with communists; activities of secret police. REEL 10 Continues: memories of war correspondent Maurice Fagence; story of filming trial of Yugoslav Army officer; relations with Yugoslav civilians; role in training Yugoslav cameramen; working with Soviets; opinion of American photographer John Phillips; relations between Americans and Yugoslavs; story of photograph autographed by Josip Tito; marriage in Yugoslavia; further comments on activities of secret police. Recollections of operations as cameraman with No 2 Army Film and Photographic Unit in Austria, 1945: commissioning and posting to Vienna following end of war, 5/1945; personnel in No 2 Army Film and Photographic Unit; filming daily civilian life and military personnel in Vienna; attitude to repatriation of Soviet citizen; relations with Soviets; question of treatment of prisoners of war. REEL 11 Continues: role unit in Vienna; promotion to captain and description of public relations role; opinion of conditions in camps for Displaced Persons; black market activities; official attitude to black market and penalties; co-operation with Austrian film cameramen; description of films made by United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA): demobilisation and return to GB; attitude to public relations work. REEL 12 Continues: reflections on period of service with Army Film and Photographic Unit; post-war life and employment as cameraman; attitude to censorship and codes of practice in wartime filming.

 

Re. Sergeant Frank Martin... died when the jeep he was in with Ken Rodwell (post above) hit a landmine 24th-26th (?) November 1942 - (see post below).

Perhaps... although the date below says 26 November 1942.
https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/2064232/frank-reginald-noel-martin/
SERJEANT FRANK REGINALD NOEL MARTIN
Service Number: T/231239
Regiment : Royal Army Service Corps
Date of Death : Died 26 November 1942
Buried or commemorated at BENGHAZI WAR CEMETERY. 7. G. 19. Libya
Country of Service : United Kingdom


Some of his work...

IWM tag - Martin (Sergeant) - https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/search?filters[makerString][Martin (Sergeant)]=on

IWM E18875 photo - Pictures from the Battlefield - El Alamein

AFPU memorial



----- x ----- x -----

Sergeant Mott - see - IWM AFPU Portrait photographs

Incidentally Sergeant Mott took the following photograph of a "A camera man of the Army Film and Photo Unit filming British forward gun positions under shell fire."



THE BRITISH ARMY IN NORTH AFRICA AND THE MIDDLE EAST 1940-1947

IWM E18886 : Object description - Original wartime caption: A camera man of the Army Film and Photo Unit filming British forward gun positions under shell fire. He is using a telephoto lens which brings the action close on the film. Taken by Sgt. Mott. Catalogued 2d11m1942.

 

Re. Ken Rodwell (See IWM AFPU Portrait photographs ) & the fate of Frank Martin...

The full text of the article below is also transcribed here : Full text of "The Cine-Technician"

 

Re. Sergeant "Denys" Fox...

THE SERVICE AND CAREER OF SERGEANT EDDY SMALES WITH ARMY FILM AND PHOTOGRAPHY UNITS DURING THE SECOND WORLD WAR

IWM HU 109838 : Object description - Three AFPU camermen at work. Left to right they are: Denys Fox, Eddy Smales and Douglas Wolfe prior to the Battle of El Alamein, circa October 1942.



IWM tag - as Sgt. Fox - https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/search?filters[makerString][Sgt. Fox]=on

IWM tag - as Fox (Sergeant) - Find an object | Imperial War Museums

 

Just to add to this thread are these three images on Sgt Wilson MM, who was later promoted to Captain . Photo 1 is of him as a Sgt in either Italy or North Africa I'm not sure which. Photo 2 is of him and Sgt Jordon after being awarded their MM ribbons by F/M Montgomery. Photo 3 is a close up of Sgt Wilson being awarded his MM ribbon by F/M Montgomery.
I'm not sure of the date or place of this ceremony , if anyone has any information on that and of the service of Wilson post D Day. I know he was in Normandy and stayed in NW Europe until the end of WW2. The best known photo of him is one taken in Belsen with a former prisoner after it had been liberated.
Sgt Wilson's MM was awared for his actions with the Commandos in North Africa, and there is a fair amount of information on his actions in' Camerman at War' by Ian Grant

 

Re. Sergeant / Lieutenant J.C. Windows / Christopher James Hooton Windows...

ARMY FILM & PHOTO UNIT CAMERAMEN
H41295 : Object description - Original wartime caption: 2582986 - Sergeant Windows, J.C. of the Royal Corps of Signals. He lives at "Stoneleigh", Harrowby Road, Grantham, Lincs., and was a projection engineer in civilian life. He served with the A.F.P.U. in the Western Desert.

Also...



London Gazette -
Notices | All Notices | The Gazette...



IWM tag - as Sgt. Windows - Find an object | Imperial War Museums

 

An unknown cine-cameraman with the SAS (as posted originally in SAS ID thread).



A few crops of interesting features.



Regards ...

 

Lieutenant Harry Rignold & his assistant 2nd Lieutenant Gerry Massey Collier

THE BRITISH ARMY IN FRANCE, 1939

IWM O 562 : Object description - Cameramen in uniform: Lieutenant Harry Rignold, the first War Office Official Cinematographer of the Second World War, and his assistant 2nd Lieutenant Gerry Massey Collier with their camera on the back of a Bren-gun carrier in France.

Photo taken by Geoffrey John Keating.

THE LIFE AND WORK EDWARD G MALINDINE, PHOTOJOURNALIST AND OFFICIAL ARMY PHOTOGRAPHER 1906 - 1970

IWM HU 102817 : Object description - On board LSI HMS PRINCE LEOPOLD after the Combined Operations Raid on Vaagso, Norway, 27 December 1941. War Office official photographer, Lt Edward G Malindine (foreground) and other members of the press party with members of the Ship's crew. Seated behind Malindine from left to right are: War Office official cameramen Sgt Gerry Massy Collier and Lt Harry Rignold with civilian cameraman Jack Ramsden of Movietone News. The raid was the first in which all three services of the British Armed Forces combined their resources to mount an amphibious raid against a defended coast and provided valuable lessons for the planners of the Normandy landings in 1944. The inclusion of a party of six war correspondents, photographers and film cameramen to cover the operation was also an innovation in response to complaints from the international press regarding a serious lack of good quality film and photography showing British troops in action.

 

Re. AFPU Sergeant A. Drennan...

INVASION OF ITALY : EIGHTH ARMY
NA6958 : Object description - Original wartime caption: A cameraman of the Army Film Unit, Sgt. A. Drennan of Glasgow, and Leven, Fife Scotland, finds a quiet spot outside the town of Cosenza to type his dope sheets. Catalogued 16d9m1944.

 

Re. AFPU - Sergeant Ron P. Lambert (died 1995)
Sgt. Lambert of 2, London Road, Newbury Berks.

A.F.P.U. Portraits
IWM H17945 : Object description - Original wartime caption: Pte. R.P. Lambert.

FIFTH ARMY : ANZIO BRIDGEHEAD BRITISH AND U.S. ARMY CAMERAMEN MEET
NA 13521 : Object description - Original wartime caption: Left to right:- Sgt. Lambert of 2, London Road, Newbury Berks. T/Sgt. Dieves, Sgt. Meyer T/Sgt. Neweth, Sgt. Day.

 

"ARTIC CONDITIONS, BLA" 9th-10th January 1945 Vehicles involved in the accident which included the actual cameramen (Sjt. Wilkes) of the Army Film Unit


IWM B 13510 Vehicles in Belgium on the Tilburgh-Turnhout road involved in an accident due to ice.

IWM B 13511 Vehicles involved in the accident which included the actual cameramen of the Army Film Unit.

 

Sgt. Wishart No. 9 AFPS making movies in Burma ...

FILM AND PHOTOGRAPHY DURING THE SECOND WORLD WAR

Unknown photographer in Sicily. Possibly there was a cinefilm clip made at the same moment.

THE BRITISH ARMY IN SICILY 1943

 

1st AIRBORNE DIVISION FLIES INTO BATTLE IN SOUTHERN HOLLAND

Sgt G. Walker AFPU at the controls of the Dakota taking him to Arnhem


Sgt. C.M. Lewis giving the V sign
IWM A70 169-6

The opening sequences are shot from the cockpit of a No 46 Group RAF Dakota as it flies over East Anglia (?) towards southern Holland on September 17th. During the flight, an anonymous cameraman [Walker] takes over briefly to film Sergeant Lewis (who gestures at the camera while sorting out his kit) together with RAF aircrew and signallers attached to the 1st Parachute Brigade in the interior of the aircraft.

The following morning sees either the 1st Airlanding Brigade's Headquarters or the 2nd Battalion South Staffordshire Regiment's HQ Company in woods skirting the Arnhem-Utrecht railway line at Wolfheze; jeeps and their trailers and tents are scattered between slit-trenches under the pine trees. A corporal passes a message to a signaller who attempts to get into radio contact with other airborne units. Two signallers armed with a Lee-Enfield rifle and a Mark 5 Sten gun share the same trench. A paratrooper digs a slit trench among the trees near the railway line, which is covered by a Bren gunner. In the afternoon, RAF Stirlings and Dakotas release their Horsa gliders over landing zone 'S' at Reyerscamp.

 

Lt. R. O. Campbell of the Canadian Army Film and Photo Unit mounted a movie camera on the gun mantlet of a Sherman tank. Not sure how well this installation returned a clean picture, but certainly is different. Photographs recorded somewhere in Italy, May 1944.




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Sgt. H. A. Barnett of the Canadian Army Film and Photo Unit, meeting with German officers who surrendered near the defensive works at Boulogne, France in September 1944. Barney Barnett was later killed in a plane crash and buried at Xanten, Germany in March 1945.





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Barnett, Barney – Welcome to the Canadian Film and Photo Unit website

 

'Mercury' Man Takes 'Greatest Picture of the War' - Americans Say So Jimmy Mapham

Leicester Daily Mercury 19th June 1944




IWM B 5114 Troops of 3rd Infantry Division on Queen Red beach, Sword area, circa 0845 hrs, 6 June 1944. In the foreground are sappers of 84 Field Company Royal Engineers, part of No.5 Beach Group, identified by the white bands around their helmets. Behind them, medical orderlies of 8 Field Ambulance, RAMC, can be seen assisting wounded men. In the background commandos of 1st Special Service Brigade can be seen disembarking from their LCI(S) landing craft. 6th June 1944

 

Sgt. Nestor Montague "Monty" Berman, AFPU ​

IWM H 16404 Sgt. Berman, NCO Cameraman for Middle East 5-1-1942 Captain Console)

IWM H 16400 Sgt. Berman, NCO Cameraman for Middle East 5-1-1942 Captain Console)

IWM 11382 British Cameraman with Army Film and Photographic Unit 1940s; served in the Middle East, Germany and Holland (1990-07-12)

IMDBThe Stage 31 August 2006

The British Entertainment History Project | Monty Berman |

The Stage 31 August 2006

 

N.C.O. Cameramen for Middle East ​

Think IWM have mixed these photographs ​

Talen by Captain Console

​

H 15951 Sgt. Taylor


H 15952 Lt. Murray

H 15953 Sgt. Morris

H 15954 Sgt. Sheridan

H 15955 Sgt. Groom

H 15956 Sgt. Acland

H 15957 Sgt. Windous

Captain Console 5th January 1942​

H 16399 Five NCO Cameramen (Berman on the right)


H 16400 Sgt Nestor Montague Berman


H 16401 Sgt. Arthur


H 16402 Sgt. L. Chekoyd

H 16403 Sgt. Clayton


H 16404 Sgt. Nestor Montague Berman,


H 16405 NCO Cameraman examining their new cameras (Berman on the right)


H 16406 NCO Cameraman examining their new cameras (Berman second from the right)

 

Lieutenant Harry Rignold, the first War Office Official Cinematographer of the Second World War, and his assistant 2nd Lieutenant Gerry Massey Collier with their camera on the back of a Bren-gun carrier in France. IWM O 562

 

Informal group photograph of members of Sgt Eddy Smales's section within No. 5 AFPU. Depicted are cine-cameramen (left to right):

Sgt Charlie Crocker, Sergeant Bob Stiggins, Sergeant Johnny Connolly and Smales.

Note they are carrying representative cameras in use with AFPU at the time. Believed to be taken in Germany, c1945. IWM HU 109818