LANDINGS ON 'SWORD' BEACH, 6 JUNE 1944 (PART 4) [Allocated Title]

No 4 Commando goes into action on the morning of D-Day.

On June 5, men of No 4 Commando board an assault ship at Southampton Docks. Commandos and naval personnel on the ship's port side watch the docks recede as it steams into the Solent. Next morning, LCAs carrying commandos approach 'Sword' Beach. At 8.20 hours, No 4 Commando lands on 'Queen Red' Beach at La Brèche with the 2nd East Yorkshire Regiment and then heads inland towards Ouistreham past shattered defences and gutted beach cottages. Supported by 13/18th Hussars amphibious Shermans, the commandos advance along the road through Riva-Bella, where members of the Resistance and civilians greet them, and encounter slight opposition. Troops file past a company HQ section operating a No 18 wireless and double past a ditched DD Sherman. From a second storey window, the camera pans over semi-derelict land behind the beach. An ex-Italian Army Organisation Todt worker and Wehrmacht soldiers are taken prisoner. Casualties are brought back into Riva-Bella for treatment. A Frenchman drapes a Tricolour in front of his house. Free French Commandos fraternise with fellow countrymen. More prisoners are sent to the rear.

35mm