1944 D-Day in Color - YouTube Does anyone have any more info about this footoge, like what sector it was filmed, who filmed it, what time of the day, etc. Been looking all over and can't find any more history on it. If you look closely you can see a number of casualties in the water and along the shoreline. Thanks.
If you can read the codes on the LCVPs - the Higgins' boats - the first digits relate to the 'mother' ship: O1 - Easy Red - Fox Green APA 26 1/16 RCT (A-D Coys) APA 45 2/16 RCT (E-H Coys) O2 Dog - Easy Green APA 28 3/116 RCT (I-M Coys) APA 30 2/116 RCT (E-H Coys) O3 - Follow-up on Easy Red - Fox Green APA 76 2/18 RCT (E-H Coys) AP 67 AP 77 Map from OMAHA Beachhead: If you can get some screenshots of the capital ships and post them on the naval part of the forum, some of the experts might be able to identify them.
Idler that's a great tip. I can see P77 at 1:55 and 3:18, and P76 at 2:18 and possibly 2:21. So probably a later wave on Easy Red to Fox Green?
It certainly looked like the films were shot on the central and eastern beaches. Also the tide is very high in some of the scenes which would make it around midday, H-Hour was at 0630 just after low tide. LCI(L) 87 is not listed in 116 RCTs group, so that may also have been in the 16 RCTs area.
Hi Cpl.Drega, That bit was pulled from this series (below) on Romano Archive's YouTube Channel. Sorry I can't help with particulars other than to say the American beach landings are used in many other docs and videos as well. Nice colour though! 1944 D-day in Color! New Outstanding Footage 1 of 3 - UnknownWW2InColor 1944 D-day in Color! New Outstanding Footage 2 of 3 - UnknownWW2InColor 1944 D-day in Color! New Outstanding Footage 3 of 3 - UnknownWW2InColor Looks like Idler has you covered ...
The cutter USCG 17 seen towards the end of the is listed as part of Rescue Flotilla 1 - a busy day for them.
"..who filmed it ..." You can read an account of Director John Ford's experience of shooting at Omaha Beach with his OSS unit in the link below. The Readability option at the top will make it a little easier on the eyes. We Shot D-Day on Omaha Beach - An Interview With John Ford - by Pete Martin To show the wider role Ford played in the planning for D-Day filming I've attached a couple of excerpts from Joseph McBride's book, Searching for John Ford. Regards ...
Interesting. Ford says he had 153 cameras on LSTs coming ashore with 4 minutes of film triggered by the third man down the ramp. He also says they are stored in Anacostia VA. I wonder if that film has been cataloged at NARA in some fashion. He doesn't talk about losing the film and said they had editors cutting film for weeks after D-Day. There could be some interesting surviving film of the first craft hitting the beachs hiding in those archives. I will have to give that a look when I go there in May.
Dale, Good luck on that hunt! I'd be interested to hear of anything you discover on fixed cameras. I have yet to find a photo of one mounted on a landing craft. It's hard to believe with an operation that size it wouldn't have been documented in some way. Ford gives credit to his tech guy, Lt. Mark Armistead, for pulling that together. There has been an ongoing controversy over a series of scenes showing the Canadians going in on D-Day near Bernières-sur-mer. In my mind it's a good example of fixed cameras being put to use. Beach Landing 1944 - British Pathe Notice the chalk board at around the one minute mark: Special Installation O.S.S. - U.S.N. Roll 26 Armistead Regards ...
