Film footage from Pathe/s archive possibly containing members of No6 Commando.

This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 25/11/2014 22:05:51

Hi

I know that many members of this site are aware of the British Pathe web site which has many films in its archive, the attached link will take you to one of the films made during the early stages of the Tunisian campaign in N.Africa. At the beginning of the film the commentary refers to British Commandos with accompanying footage of soldiers in British army uniforms, some of whom are wearing Tam O Shanter type berets, others are wearing American Helmets. This is consistent with what Commando veterans from this operation have stated ie that they wore British Army uiniforms and American Helmets and not American uniforms as has been stated in some books on this subject.
The two British Army Commando units that took part in this campaign were No's 1 and 6, No1 wore the Green beret (the first to do so) and I have seen some photois in our No6 gallery that clearly shows that No6 wore the Tam O Shanter during their early days, so I am guessing that this brief footage of Commandos being re equipped is probably of No6. Perhaps some one with relatives from this unit might be able to identify a face.
The first Link will take you to the beginning of the film, the second will enable you to go through the film frame by frame so that you can easily check out individual faces. On a personal note, my father, who was a member of No1, took part in this campaign, brought home a weapon that my mother described as an extending cosh. One of the sequences shows two men, (the film commentary states that they are French Commandos, although I was not aware that any French Commandos took part in this campaign) one has what looks like a Commando knife and the other a telescopic cosh which very accurately matches the description of the weapon that my mother described! The only contradictory note being that my mother said that it was a Gestapo cosh and the film commentary states that it is an American weapon.

http://www.britishpathe.com/video/the-war-in-tunisia/query/Commandos
http://www.britishpathe.com/video/stills/the-war-in-tunisia

Cheers Andy

Thanks for these Andy

Best regards

John M