IWM AFPU Portrait photographs

British and American Army cameramen now working together on the Fifth Army Front. They are seen in the ruins of a German-demolished Italian house.

Left to right; Sergeant Steve Hall, of Hollywood, California, and Sergeant F.W. Mott, of London.

IWM NA 9017

 

Cameramen of the No.2 Army Film and Photo Section who took part in the landing on the island.

Left to right:- Sgt. Cimmell, Sgt. Huggett, Sgt. Bowman, Capt. Black Sgt. Radford.

IWM NA 3602 (Sgt. Bowman 12th June 1943)

 

Sgt. Connolly of Birmingham and Sgt. Smales of London, Army Film Unit Cameramen in Brittany, get acquainted with the little folk near their camp, Pont Audemer 27th August 1944

IWM B 9765

Sgt. Wilkes of West Bromwich, Army Film Unit Cameraman, has his hands full in getting acquainted with future France.

IWM B 9766

 

Temporary headquarters of the Army Film and Photographic Unit (AFPU) on Walcheren Island in the Netherlands, 1 - 3 November 1944.

Sgt. Crocker & Sgt. Dangan of the Canadian Forces seen outside their battered dwelling. Westkapelle 4 S.S. Brigade Commandos

IWM BU 1269

 

Ministry of Information advert looking for cameras for AFPU Leica, Super Ikonta, Contax & Rolleiflex

Morpeth Herald 16th June 1944

Kinematograph Weekly 26th December 1946

 

Channel 4 (1983) The World at War Another Look “What’s In A Picture”


BBC Two (1981) Images of War in Arnhem

 

LEFT OF THE LINE (1945)
​

A short record of the British and Canadian Armies fighting from the beaches to Brussels.

Build-up for the invasion - many Britons see for the first time the "mighty war machine" created by the Allied peoples. Troops confident that nothing had been left undone. Fleet protected by naval and air forces. Invasion - the Germans hesitate to commit heavy forces for fear of another landing, and the beachhead is secured. French welcome Allies. Advance on Caen is slow but sure. US troops with "greater freedom of movement" clear the Cherbourg peninsula. Significance of Caen - the pivot of the German defence. 1000-bomber raid. British advance into the town - not a complete breakthrough "...but to hold us had strained the enemy to his utmost". Scope of Allied strategy revealed when Americans breakthrough into Brittany. German counterattack and Battle of the Falaise pocket. Role of Typhoons. "This was no stab in the back. Here was an army outgeneralled and outfought..." Drive to the Seine. Canadians take Dieppe - commemoration ceremony for 1942 rehearsal raid. Battle of Normandy was in fact the Battle of France. Allies reach Brussels. "This was lightning war indeed, beyond anything the Germans dreamed of". Battle of Germany about to begin.

IWM CVN 315

 

Bill Evans

Stockport Express Advertiser 29 May 1991

 

2nd Lt Jerzy Januszajtis, Polish Army Film Unit, films from the top of a Sherman tank of 1st Polish AD during Operation 'Totalise', south of Caen, 8 August 1944. He used a De Vry camera with a sling (IWM B8827).

THE POLISH ARMY IN THE NORMANDY CAMPAIGN, 1944

***

Sergeants L.B. Armstrong and L.H. Stephens mounting movie camera on 'Sherman' tank 'Liza' of the Canadian Grenadier Guards, Donk, Belgium, 3 October 1944 (LAC PA-116747).

[Sergeants L.B. Armstrong and L.H. Stephens mounting movie camera on 'Sherman' tank 'Liza' of the Canadian Grenadier Guards, Donk, Belgium, 3 October 1944.]

***

Potted Wiki bio for an obscure, British Army film unit officer:

“From 1942, Reed served in the Royal Army Ordnance Corps: he was granted the rank of Captain and placed with the film unit, and then with the Directorate of Army Psychiatry. For the latter body a training film, The New Lot (1943), was made, recounting the experiences of five new recruits. It had a script by Eric Ambler and Peter Ustinov, with contributions from Reed, and was produced by Thorold Dickinson. It was remade as The Way Ahead (1944).”

Could not find a photo of Captain Reed in his soldier uniform, but the next picture shows that in civilian life he dabbled in Film Noir:


In pictures: On the set of British noir The Third Man, 70 years ago
Carol Reed - Wikipedia

 

St. Lambert-sur-Dives, France, 19 August 1944: at far left with the movie camera is Sgt. Jack Stollery, filming Major David Currie of the South Alberta Regiment. Currie received a Victoria Cross for his actions at this location. Photo credit Lt. Donald Grant.




Sgt. Alan Grayston and Sgt. Jack Stollery of the Canadian Army Film and Photo Unit.


My photographer friend was a WW II hero by By JEFF MAGUIRE – Welcome to the Canadian Film and Photo Unit website

Major David V. Currie (left, with pistol in hand) of The South Alberta Regiment accepting the surrender of German troops at St. Lambert-sur-Dives, France, 19 August 1944

Sergeants Alan Grayston and Jack Stollery of the Canadian Army Film and Photo Unit

 

Spotted a photographer behind a moving truck and towed gun, possibly Lt. Peter Handford who was also an official sound recordist.


ATTACK ON CAEN, FRANCE, OPERATION GOODWOOD, OPERATION EPSOM, OPERATION CHARNWOORD, CAR - LMWWIIHD269
FILM AND PHOTOGRAPHY DURING THE SECOND WORLD WAR

 

Sgt. J. Huggett, No. 2 AFPU

 

Sgt. Christie No. 5 Army Film and Photo Unit 6th Airborne Division
The 1st Parachute Brigade memorial beside the Nefza-Sedjenane road in the Tamera Valley. Examining the memorial is Sgt. M. Lewis of Clapton, London, who fought as a member of the 2nd Parachute Battalion and was twice wounded during the campaign taken by Sgt. Christie 14th October 1943

IWM NA 7678

IWM NA 7679

IWM NA 7680

IWM NA 7681

 

Christie take photo of Lewis in his Red Beret

"The new badge of the PARACHUTE REGIMENT, which was designed by a corporal [sic] in the Airborne Division." IWM NA 7682

 

Hi all, any way to understand the AFPU unit's movements throughout the war? Trying to cross reference, their locations and activities with other battalions that they may have taken pictures of. Also any good book recommendations?

 

recommend any other AFPU books?

 

Sorry Chris, I don't know of any other books.

Lesley

 

I highly recommend this, a very good history, based on a phd thesis with extensive quotes from the several interviews the Imperial War Museum undertook with surviving cameramen during the 1980s and 1990s. The author also did several interviews himself in the 2000s with members of the Army Film Unit Old Comrades' Association. Includes an extensive bibliography,

The History Of The British Army Film & Photographic Unit In The Second World War: 05 (Helion Studies in Military History)
McGlade, Dr Fred

 

Thank you! Any idea if they had war diaries that documented their locations and activities?

 

The War Diaries are at Kew. They're also quoted extensively in Fred McGlade's book, which has the reference numbers and so on to make them easier to find. However, the 'dope sheet' detailed summaries of individual film sequences shot on the battlefield and elsewhere are held at the Imperial War Museum and can be consulted there. These dope sheets were filled in by the individual cameramen just after shooting, and reference date, location, units involved and a brief tactical summary of what was going on at the time.