AN ESCAPED LION ROAMS THE RAILWAY YARD AT CLAPHAM JUNCTION [Allocated Title]

The reel begins with the Southern Railway Control Bunker in Southampton. There is also a record of an escaped lion at the Clapham Junction railway yard, South London, being marshalled to safety by police and the Home Guard. This is followed by British Prisoners of War (POWs), recently repatriated, travelling via hospital train. A fourth sequence features cargo being unloaded from American ships at Southampton Docks.

(7 October 1943) Aerial shots over the bomb damaged Southampton Docks, South coast of England. The camera focuses in on the Southern Railway Control Bunker, a concrete building reinforced to withstand the type of heavy bombing already sustained in the Southampton area . A guard, from the Corps of Military Police, lets a smartly dresses civilian man inside, having presented an identification card. SH280

(22 October 1943) An escaped lion, crouched by a wooden fence in the corner of a railway yard at Clapham Junction, South London. The police and Home Guard have secured the area. The camera pans around to reveal a marksman on the opposite side of the fence and a civilian crowd gathered outside a shop further down the street. More marksmen and a police officer appear to have the lion cornered as they peer over at the escapee from the vantage point of a railway bridge. The lion looks around drowsily, propped up against a fence. An empty crate is brought up to the fence, the lion is somehow lured in, and the door is slammed shut behind it. The created lion is then manually lifted onto a trolley and wheeled to a railway wagon, where it is loaded on-board. (42 sec) SH281

(25 October 1943) A repeat of the previous aerial shots over the Control Bunker in Southampton. From the ground level perspective, a sailor and an Officer of the Royal Navy walk past the bunker with their backs to the camera. A shot of an external hatch, marked; "TO BE OPENED ONLY IN CASE OF EMERGENCY". (2 min 48 sec) SH 282

(26 October 1843) Netley Station, Hampshire, near to Netley Hospital. A crowd of civilians (women and young children) stand at the platform in anticipation of the repatriated POWs arrival. Some of the crowd hold Union Jack flags as a hospital train, hauled by a Southern 0-6-0 locomotive, pulls into the opposite platform. Passengers lean from the window waving. This is followed by a second locomotive coming into the station, this time coming to a halt at the platform where the crowd have gathered. Once at a standstill, the newly repatriated service personnel lean from carriage windows and converse with the civilian onlookers. Inside one of the carriages, looking out, as the locomotive pulls up to a crowded platform. Waiting on the platform are a mixture of service personnel, nurses and civilians. Once at a standstill the men unload, wearing various uniforms (including a Scots, Balmoral bonnet, service cap). (3 min 25 sec) SH 283

(27 October 1943) Cargo being unloaded into the "USA stores" from an American cargo vessel, at Southampton Docks. An American Heavy Armoured Car (T18E2, GCM) is being lowered directly onto a dockside freight trolley, and then towed down the dockside by a "PARK'S OF PORTMOUTH" truck. The sequence is repeated, a further two trucks await debarkation. A cargo vessel, dockside, being unloaded. (5 min 30 sec) SH284

(26 October 1943) Cuts back to the earlier sequence showing repatriated POWs returning home on hospital trains. Service personnel and civilians are trackside, some converse with the soldiers leaning from the carriage windows. Once again, freight is unloaded from cargo vessels at Southampton. (7 min 26 sec)

35mm