Men in Armour - RAC - Military training film

MEN IN ARMOUR [Main Title]

Object description
Military training film focused on the men and vehicles of the Royal Armoured Corps (RAC). Includes archive footage and staged scenes.
Full description
Opens with the RAC in action in 1949. Featured vehicles include the Comet tank, the Churchill ARV, the Churchill Flail, the Churchill crocodile flamethrower, the Churchill fascine, and various armoured cars. Staff at the Ministry of Supply are seen working on new designs. The responsibilities and duties of the tank driver are highlighted. Scenes at the RAC camp in Bovington, Dorset [now home to the Tank Museum]. Those who serve in the RAC must be both a technician and a fully trained soldier, and undergo rigorous training accordingly. A soldier serving at Bovington gives his view of life at Bovington. The soldier visits the fledging Tank Museum, where he meets a former soldier who served in the First World War in the Tank Corps. The narration of the story now passes to the former soldier, who introduces the viewer to the tanks used by the Tank Corps during the First World War, including the Mark I Tank, with the aid of archive footage, including footage from the Somme and Cambrai. The narration passes back to the first soldier, who then discusses the activities of the RAC during the Second World War, illustrated again by archive footage. Includes footage of armoured cars on reconnaissance trips, Valentine tanks, assorted Sherman tanks, Field Marshal Montgomery at El Alamein, German prisoners, poor weather conditions in Burma, and the Normandy Campaign including D-Day. The film ends with a compilation of the men of the RAC working together, and looking generally happy and at ease.
Physical description
35mm; Beta-SP