ARTILLERY SPOTTERS ON 8TH CORPS' FRONT [Allocated Title]

An 8th Corps flash-spotting detachment keeps watch over the Odon Valley for German artillery.

Two artillery observers serving with the 10th Survey Regiment RA's flash-spotting troop are seen surveying the countryside from a 66 foot tall OP (observation post) tower half a mile away from Cheux near the Caen - Fontenay-le-Pesnel road using a theodolite to register the exact location of German guns from their muzzle flashes. The cameraman examines the sign board at the foot of 'Tower Annie' which contains its map reference, the tactical number of 224th Field Company RE, the unit that built the observation post, and the 'White Knight' insignia of 8th Corps, the RA and RE units' parent formation. 'Tower Annie' is seen to consist of a covered wooden platform resting on scaffolding and camouflaged with branches and a long strip of hessian(?) to give it a tree-like appearance. At the foot of the OP, two gunners sort out the profusion of field telephone cables leading up to the spotting platform.

35mm