Unmissable film of French Commandos (attached to No.4 Cdo)

This message was edited 4 times. Last update was at 15/12/2009 13:17:23

Unmissable footage of French Commandos training then landing on D-Day (attached to No4 Cdo).

Interviews with L/Cpl G Bollore and Lord Lovat with Bill Millin piping across Pegasus Bridge

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2tyfa_bollore-lord-lovat-bill-millin_politics

Nick

Wonderful film Nick. Lord Lovat was struggling abit with his french ..did you notice him calling the germans Boche. When was this film made?

Very good footage!
There are some images I have never seen before.

The images of the men in the boats by the rocks are images that are known to be made during an exercise called ?Brandyball?. Both James Dunning and Donald Gilchrist mention the exercise in their books. James Dunning in his book ?The Fighting Fourth? gives a lengthy description of what happened, or better, what went wrong. The exercise was held in Cornwall, more precise on the cliffs called the ?Brandys? near Zennor. The whole exercise, a mock seaborne raid on an objective a few hundred yards inland that was ?protected? by 300 feet cliffs that rose vertically from the sea, was the brainchild of Colonel Dawson and was to be witnessed by a lot of VIPs, among them senior Allied ?top brass?. The actual demonstration was planned for 7 June 1943 with a final rehearsal on June the 6th. The boats used were called Goatleys. The weather on the 6th was not good and the rise and fall of the sea near the foot of the cliff was very bad. One boat of C Troop of 4 Commando was capsized at the base of the cliffs. All in the boat were swept into the sea. Some managed to scramble onto the cliff, but others were swept away. Many in the other boats tried brave rescue attempts. Prominent among these were sergeants Eric (?Nobby?) Clark and Sid Meddings; both deserved medals for their efforts that day. Two men drowned when the boat they were in overturned and they became snagged underneath.

The next day Colonel Dawson had to decide whether to go ahead on the following day. In effect his men made the decision, because he offered them the option, without any fear of reprisal or RTU, to drop out of a re-run. Not a single man wavered!

The moments of C Troop?s capsized boat and the men in the water were filmed by official Army and RAF film units. The film was never edited, nor was there any ?talk?-over?. The film covers the loading of the Goatleys aboard an LCT (Landing Craft Tank) at St Ives, the sea passage to the Brandys, the dramatic run-in of the Goatleys, the capsized boat and the struggling men in the water, the rocky landings, climbing up the cliff, the haulage of a medium machine gun and a three inch mortar, the tactical movement of the troops to the objective and the final assault and demolition of the objective. According to the book by James Dunning, from which the above mainly comes, the film is now in the archives of the Imperial War Museum.

I have read the names of the two men who drowned somewhere, but I can?t find it anymore. It would perhaps be an idea to contact the Imperial War Museum with the question whether the film is on video or otherwise obtainable.

Jack,
Many thanks for that information - I'm surprised that more lives weren't loss.
Certainly it was obvious that it hadn't been 'staged'.
To go through that and then to volunteer for it again!

Nick

I have just sent the email below to the Imperial War Museum. It is a shorter version of my earlier message. I will let you know their answer.

Dear Sir/Madam,
I am one of the forum members on the site of the Commando Veterans Association, and I am writing to you concerning the images shown in the link below which was posted on the forum. More precise I write to you about the images of the men in the boats and in the sea as shown in the link.

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2tyfa_bollore-lord-lovat-bill-millin_politics

The images of the men in the boats and in the sea are images known to be made during an exercise carried out by No. 4 Army Commando in 1943 called ?Brandyball?. The exercise was held in Cornwall, more precise on the cliffs called the ?Brandys? near Zennor. The whole exercise was a mock seaborne raid on an objective a few hundred yards inland that was ?protected? by 300 feet cliffs that rose vertically from the sea. One boat of C Troop of 4 Commando was capsized at the base of the cliffs.

The moments of C Troop?s capsized boat and the men in the water were filmed by official Army and RAF film units. The film was never edited, nor was there any ?talk?-over?. The complete film covers the loading of the Goatleys aboard an LCT (Landing Craft Tank) at St Ives, the sea passage to the Brandys, the dramatic run-in of the Goatleys, the capsized boat and the struggling men in the water, the rocky landings, climbing up the cliff, the haulage of a medium machine gun and a three inch mortar, the tactical movement of the troops to the objective and the final assault and demolition of the objective.

According to the book ?The Fighting Fourth? by James Dunning, from which the above text comes, the film is now in the archives of the Imperial War Museum.

My question is, are you in possession of this film and is it in any way possible to get a copy?

I am looking forward to your reply.

With regards,

Jack Bakker

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 08/08/2009 03:49:54

Hi Jack

The the film that you refer to is actually part of a set of films produced by the Imperial War Museum that is titled, some what misleadingly "The Royal Marines At War". I say misleadingly because it seems to be more concerned with the Army Commandos. One of the films is called "Rough Weather Landing" and is "....a secret film recording of an experiment by No4 Commando demonstrating their ability to launch a surprise attack on a seemingly impregnable coastline." The images of the men in the boats from your attached link are definately from the above mentioned film, I have previously uploaded info concerning this DVD on to the Forum, however to save you time trying to locate it I have attached the the front and back cover of this DVD, which is readily available from most online shops.
Incidently I have just watched this film and I am fairly sure that one of the soldiers depicted is Pat Porteous VC, in fact there is a photo of him in the No4 gallery which looks as if it is actually a still taken from this documentary.
As you will see from the back cover there are three other films which are also extremely intresting, especially the first one concerning Commando training in Achnacarry, St Ives and and Wrexham.

Cheers Andy

This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 08/08/2009 10:23:47

Hi Jack

I have just checked on play.com and the above Imperial War Museum DVD is £11.99 plus free delivery, I have also checked amazon although they sell this DVD it is slightly more expensive at £15.69 and is actually out of stock at the moment. Have again checked the content of this film and it perfectly matches the discription that you quoted from James Dunnings book. The only difference being that the film is not silent, quite the contrary, there is contemporary narration throughout and as the film progresses to the actual assualt footage there is also dramatic accompanying classical music. At the begining of the film there is the following written statement:

"British - Most Secret / American - Secret

This film must not be reproduced nor must the contents be shown to or discussed with any personnel not duly authorised"

Cheers Andy

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 08/08/2009 11:24:18

Cheaper still at £7.99 from SimplyHomeEntertainment

http://www.simplyhe.co.uk/Shop/Maritime+DVDs/Naval/106166+Royal+Marines+at+War,+The.htm

Andy and NIC: thanks for the info!

Cheers,

Jack

Hi

just a side note as this falls into my field of expertise and the more people know about the gent the better esp as he was put up for an MBE but never received same.

REF the post...
The moments of C Troop?s capsized boat and the men in the water were filmed by official Army and RAF film units. The film was never edited, nor was there any ?talk?-over?. The film covers the loading of the Goatleys aboard an LCT (Landing Craft Tank) at St Ives, the sea passage to the Brandys, the dramatic run-in of the Goatleys, the capsized boat and the struggling men in the water, the rocky landings, climbing up the cliff, the haulage of a medium machine gun and a three inch mortar, the tactical movement of the troops to the objective and the final assault and demolition of the objective.

The 'Goatleys' referred to are boats designed by a Fred Goatley from the I.O.W. He also designed ( not Haslers design) two similar collapsible canoes the first of which was the Mk 2 which was used on the Frankton Raid.

The full story of his history ( and that of the canoes designed and how the 'cockleshell heroes got the name is down to Goatley and is comprehensively covered for the first time in the book 'The Cockleshell Canoes' by Quentin Rees ISBN 9781848680654 . The book was first published in dec 08 and has just had the second reprint in June 09 such was its popularity..... no doubt due to the fact it covers a whole section of British Military Maritime history previously unknown.

Goatley was the man who through his designs saved many lives.

hope this goes some way to add to your knowledge

kewdos

Hi

In the film the narrator refers to the boats only by the ref No FBE3, he goes on to say that these were the only craft available for the operation ".......however they are completely unsuitable being flat bottomed and punt ended. A good type for this operation would be the LCPM adapted from the Yorkshire Coble and power driven or else the Power Dory."
Is FBE3 a ref no that you have heard of before in relation to the Goatley?

Cheers Andy

I have seen FBE as being an abbreviation for Folding Boat Equipment somewhere before

Hi Pete

Sounds pretty good to me, infact now that I see it written down it seems fairly obvious! I asume the number 3 must refer to the model ie MK 3, so I am guessing that there must have been other variants of this particular boat.

Cheers Andy

Ref my post of 07/08/2009: the IWM has send me a reply. They do have the film and I can order a copy at the price of 27 Pound. This includes VAT and P and P.

I think I'll order the film through the link NIC gave!

See this link for details of the two Commandos killed during the training exercise mentioned above

http://www.commandoveterans.org/cdoForum/posts/list/1536.page#6221