Description
Object description
British NCO served as cameraman with No 1 Army Film and Photographic Unit in GB and Gibraltar, 8/1942-12/1944; served with No 5 Army Film and Photographic Unit in North West Europe, 12/1944-3/1946
Content description
REEL 1 Background in GB, education; problems of breaking into British film industry; nature of film work. Aspects of training with Army Film and Photographic Unit in GB, 1942: background to recruitment to unit from Royal Army Service Corps; attending training course in London; nature of course; use and characteristics of De Vry Standard 35mm Cine Camera; opinion of training and instruction received; question of how training reflected hierarchy of film industry; lack of training in filming news stories; reasons for acquiring personal stills camera rather than service issue camera; paucity of equipment.
REEL 2 Continues: attitude towards lack of equipment; pioneering nature of unit; origins of recruits to unit; qualities needed by unit cameramen; question of unit autonomy; successful candidates and reasons for Den Weinreb being rejected; non-combatant character of unit; unit vehicles. Recollections of period as cameraman with No 1 Army Film and Photographic Unit in GB and Gibraltar, 8/1942-12/1944: reasons for missing Operation Jubilee the raid on Dieppe, France, 19/8/1942; fate of cameramen sent on Operation Jubilee, 8/1942; missing first draft to North Africa; photographing appendicitis operation during voyage aboard SS Letitia from GB to Gibraltar; how Lieutenant John Cotter took his DeVry Standard 35mm Cine Camera to Malta; duties meeting film arriving by air at Gibraltar and forwarding it onto GB; photographic stills work in Gibraltar; explanation of ‘rock fever’.
REEL 3 Continues: opinion of Captain George Dallison; lack of equipment available for photographing bomb mechanisms on Gibraltar; method of photographing small fuse mechanisms; damage to enlarger during voyage from GB to Gibraltar; degree of contact with Army Film and Photographic Unit; question of duration of posting to Gibraltar and status as NCO; amusing story of being restricted to viewing prints of photographs that he had taken of tunnels on Gibraltar; treatment as NCO; opinion of Governor Major-General Noel Mason-MacFarline; abortive plan to photograph German agents in Spain; amusing story of photographing Soviet and Polish delegations on Gibraltar; question of rations initially available and reason for Governor Major-General Noel Mason-MacFarline setting up rest camp at Gibraltar; question of security prior to arrival of General Wladyslaw Sikorski.
REEL 4 Continues: taking last photographs of General Wladyslaw Sikorski, 4/7/1943; question of possible reasons for crash of Consolidated Liberator carrying General Wladyslaw Sikorski, 4/7/1943; intense search and salvage operations for crashed Consolidated Liberator; receiving visit from Polish delegation with cameras recovered from crash; photographing and filming funeral of General Wladyslaw Sikorski; other film units present on Gibraltar; decision not to request a more active posting; return to Headquarters, Army Film and Photographic Unit at Pinewood Studios in GB, 6/1944. Recollections of period as NCO with No 5 Army Film and Photographic Unit in North West Europe, 12/1945-5/1945: designation as movie cameraman; characteristics of Vinten Model K ‘Normandy’ 35mm Cine Camera including problems filming in cold weather during Battle of Bulge; stills and cine camera and lighting work; use of single filter and opinion of lens in Vinten Model K ‘Normandy’ 35mm Cine Camera; opinion of stills cameras issued.
REEL 5 Continues: opinion of German Super Ikonta Camera and British Standard Ensign Still Camera; use of own cameras; reasons why still cameramen were unable to take action shots; opinion of various cameras; opinion of qualities of commanding officers; question of superiority of American filming of bombing of Monte Cassino, Italy; opinion of Major Hugh Stewart and Lieutenant Martyn Wilson; reputation of Army Film and Photographic Unit amongst troops; incident of being soaked in petrol whilst filming; problems of filming troops in action; question of use of recreations; story of stage managing an infantry advance into village in Germany, 1945; question of Army Film and Photographic Unit faking action shots; opinion of unit’s filming of Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp; disbanding of section under Captain Leslie Evans; allocation of driver.
REEL 6 Continues: operating with driver; sustaining injuries during attempt to film German prisoners of war, near Eindhoven, Netherlands; receiving medical treatment for injuries; recovery from injuries; duties with Headquarters, Army Film and Photographic Unit in Germany; photographing Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery awarding medals; joining section under Lieutenant Martyn Wilson in Hamburg, Germany; employment of German drivers; filming documentary film ‘The Way From Germany, (1945); filming in former Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp in Germany; position of various groups of Displaced Persons in former Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp in Germany; effects of presence of Haganah agents on camp life; contrasting view of situation in camp with colleague Sergeant Robert Baker; disbandment of Army Film and Photographic Unit and attachment to 'Soldier' Magazine; demobilisation in GB, 5/1946. Reflections on service with Army Film and Photographic Unit: opinion of effectiveness of unit; relations between Army Film and Photographic Unit and British Army.
REEL 7 Continues: question of origins of unit’s officer from film industry and their lack of public relations/news gathering backgrounds; question of having a dynamic head of Army Film and Photographic Unit; impact of General Bernard Montgomery on unit’s activities; question of producing propaganda films; opinion of role of unit in war effort; question of value of service with unit in Second World War; post-war career.