British Pathé have been tidying up their archives but some of their captioning is more than a little suspect. This film purports to be 'British Troops capturing the French town of Vennay in 1939' It's actually the Netherlands town of Venray in October 1944. there is even a signpost ! BRITISH TROOS TAKE FRENCH TOWN OF VENNAY - British Pathé They're wearing MkIII helmets so presumably from a 3rd Division infantry battalion. I should mention that this is not my specialist period and my apologies if the film is well-known. A forum search failed to find it.
Interesting find that. Deffo 3rd Div can see div sign on arms. Loved the fag smoking bren-gunner near the start. Look of utter knackeresness on some of those lads faces too. As for helmets, I used to wear one just like it until we got issued the newer kevlar ones.
Looks like that chap smoking with the Bren is ready to give someone a burst from the hip. Defo 3 Div. You can see the formation badge on one of the chaps crawling.
Great stuff! Unusual to have a cameraman that far forward and the PBI looked really knackered, loved the corporal getting the jerries out of the house. Although I found the Mk III helmet made a good pillow, I thought it was rather unbalanced to wear all day and every day. Jim
you might want to PM him. He posted on our sister site that he has abandoned us after a disagreement on here. Pity really.
Difficult to pinpoint for sure but this Pathé film was made for release in UK for Armistice Day 1944 and the 3 Div unit that was asked to participate in all the filming was 2 Lincolns of 9 IB. After the initial battle, where they sustained heavy casualties, they were kept in the area for mopping up and general clearance and defence of Overloon/Venraij. The full film of this is available to view in the IWM archives dept. Hope this helps!
Stolpi. Yes I believe that's part of it. It's a couple of years since I watched the film but from memory the beginning was advancing on Venraij, so 'real thing' from the woods southwards to NW of the town, there was then footage both inside and outside of the town during the next week or so. I will ask a friend who was there if he can remember any of the filming but again from memory the film I watched was pretty much all 'action' shots with nothing staged. The earlier part of the battle when they were crossing the Molen Beek for example would of been far too dangerous for film crews to be around but the general clearance of the area would of been possible, although precarious as there were still small pockets of German SS and Paras around. I know this area pretty well and quite a few of the chaps who were there and my own personal opinion would be that by this stage I don't think many of the men would of been keen on 'staging' anyway given what they were currently going through. There were however a couple of brief words from the men, not officers, on the film. As I say I'm not 100% that this is 2 Lincolns but I would give it 90%. The only other unit to my knowledge that was filmed during this period were 2 Warwicks. Anyway it's good footage regardless.
I was posted to RAF Laarbruch in the 1990's and spent many weekends in Venray (mainly in the pubs!). At the time i was too young and stupid to pay much attention to the history of the place and i always regretted not doing more when i was there. Typical bloody squaddie!
They are the only 2 units that I know were specifically filmed but there may well be others. Overloon museum would know and they also have a film at the museum and dvds of the area for sale in the shop. I have literally hundreds of photos of that area as I visit every year, the place to get the best ones is from the church tower in Venraij. If you go to the tourist information in the town they will organise with the church to take you up. From the top, which is where the German OP was sited you can see how easy it was to put direct fire down on the advancing 3 div units. As you probably know it was a brutal fight which included a water crossing (Molen Beek) and literally hundreds of schumines. A good place to stay is De Witte Hoeve De Witte Hoeve | Hotel, Conferentie- & Partycentrum it's next to the church, 5 min walk into centre of town and situated on the northside so 3/4 mins away by bike to the actual battlefield. It's where we stay when we go back on Regimental Pilgrimages. The owner knows the area well and is always only too pleased to help!
@PegasusGary - It's not the Molenbeek but the Loobeek they had to cross. Molenbeek is situated from Vierlingsbeek to Wanssum. Best regards, Marco -Venray
I took part in this battle for Overloon and Venraij. And I have to say it was the MOLENBEEK that caused us so much trouble. We lost a lot of good men in that assault, and a lot blown up by mines they had lifted under fire, including my platoon Sgt......Sgt Rees I think I wrote a description of that some time ago? The molenbeek for certain, and I loathed the bloody thingy.... MUD and more mud with even mines laid in the beek itself and on the banks under heavy fire...... Shocker The whole area through the pinewoods was infested with mines, they were everywhere.
ASked if this was venriaj I really cannot tell... One thing stands out a mile...Much of that film was "Staged" In actio you do not kneel and fire for all to see. IF you look carefully you can see the infantry man firng without looking down his sights. An obvious staging. Something the film and press boys did quite regularly.There is a film of Overloon that i have seen that is genuine .Why? It was a picture of my company advancing through the little town, the officer had a quite distinctive face.... I recallhim very well... PS There were so many staged reports and films.... SEldom did we see a reporter in the active areas. Sensible!
Sorry to say Sapper but it was Loobeek..... Here a part from the wiki page (Battle of Overloon - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia) The battle of Overloon ensued as the Allies in Operation Aintree advanced from nearby positions south toward the village of Overloon. After a failed attack on Overloon by the U.S. 7th Armored Division, the British 3rd Infantry Division and the British 11th Armoured Division took over. Suffering heavy losses the Allies captured Overloon and moved towards Venray. The advance on Venray resulted in heavy losses, especially around the Loobeek creek, which was swollen due to heavy autumn rains and was flooded and mined by the Germans. Casualties were heavy here among the First Battalion of the Royal Norfolk Regiment. During the battle, the village of Overloon was destroyed. In and around Overloon, some 2,500 soldiers died, making it one of the bloodiest battles in the Netherlands during the Second World War. It was also the only major tank battle ever fought on Dutch soil. Dozens of tanks, mainly British, were destroyed. Locatie Het monument is geplaatst bij de brug over de Loobeek aan de Overloonseweg te Venray. Location this monument is placed at the bridge over the Loobeek at the Overloonseweg. 'DEDICATED ALSO TO ALL BRITISH, ALLIED AND DUTCH SOLDIERS WHO DIED TO BRING LIBERTY TO THIS LAND AND TO ALL THE INNOCENT VICTIMS OF WAR ESPECIALLY THE 300 CIVILIANS WHO WERE KILLED IN AND AROUND OVERLOON AND VENRAY IN 1944. WE SHALL REMEMBER THEM.' This monument is about 1.5miles from my home. I'm pretty sure of it. regards, Marco
Now that is odd... Where what the army knew as the Molen beek here on your map, it is named to loobeek. There is no molenbeek, so apparently we are talking about the same beek but known by different names. Look at your map and the only water course between Overloon and Venraij is that one beek The one you call loobeek, and the one mentioned in all the army and Dutch references at the time as the Molenbeek. In All the documents from the army and the Dutch... refer to it as The molenbeek. We had a story written in Holland about the action, it was entitled. "The Royal Engineers Molenbeek tragedy" referring to what we suffered while trying to get the tanks across. There is another thing here... Look at you map and see where the road crosses the loobeek or molenbeek and at that point is where my war ended......And I may add all my dreams of what i was going to do after the war...vanished.. Absolotely certain that stream between Overloon and Venraij was the Molenbeek in those days. PS WE were with our habitual 8th brigade.
