Unit Diary 3rd Royal Tank regiment

Discussion in 'RAC & RTR' started by somequestions, Apr 15, 2016.

  1. m kenny

    m kenny Senior Member

    This is the part of the GOODWOOD film that deals with Hubert Folie. These are films are very good because they travel over the ground and the changes at that time were not as great as today.

     
  2. m kenny

    m kenny Senior Member

    This film


    is a collection of raw footage shot on July 18. Some of the dates are wrong or do not match the footage.
    4:00 is 3 RTR for certain as Laws (the movie cameraman) was with 3 RTR HQ with Ian Grant taking the stills. The ditched scout car shown at 5:25 is almost certainly the same as is mentioned on page 92 of Ian Grant's 'Cameramen At War'
    https://www.amazon.co.uk/Cameramen-at-War-Ian-Grant/dp/0850594898

    though Grant's memory fails him when he says a Sherman towed them out of the hole.

    Note that the AP film is jumbled and not always in the correct sequence but it is a meld of these 2 films from The IWM

    The 3 RTR section ends at 7:25 and from then on is other films and the 88 mm gun and tractor can be seen on the left at 7:10-18. I believe that scene was shot through the 'windows' of the scout car seen at 5:25

    A70 87-1 Production Date: 18-07-1944


    German flares illuminate British positions east of Caen in the early hours of July 18th 1944 as Operation "Goodwood" gets under way. Tanks, scout cars and half-tracks belonging to the 2nd Fife and Forfar Yeomanry and the 8th Rifle Brigade wait for the 3rd RTR to clear minefield exits before they in turn can move forward. Huge clouds of smoke and dust from bombed German positions blot the horizon. An Allied bomber, set on fire by flak, plummets to the ground. The Yeomanry's tanks advance from their start-line near Sainte-Honorine-la-Chardonnerette past abandoned Horsa gliders to the Caen-Troarn railway line at Demouville. En route, a Sherman tank 'brews up' after being hit. An 8th Rifle Brigade Universal carrier and an M10 Wolverine from the 11th Armoured Division's anti-tank regiment negotiate the railway track. At the railway line, German infantrymen and panzer crews surrender to the tanks; one of the prisoners, an NCO, wears a Luftwaffe camouflaged jacket over his own Wehrmacht tunic. Sappers start repairs on the railway as the armoured advance continues. A Sherman Firefly tank stands guard astride the railway.

    Object number: A70 87-1 Production date: 18-07-1944 Production country: GB Notes: Note: See with A70 87-2, 88-1 (also shot by Sergeant Grant) 89-3, 90-4 and 5 for footage showing 11th Armoured Division units in action during "Goodwood". Refer also to A70 89-1 and 92-7 for material showing Guards Armoured Division units in action. Of the 3 armoured formations participating in "Goodwood" on its first day, the 11th Armoured Division suffered the heaviest tank losses - approximately 120.





    A70 87-2 Production Date: 18-07-1944


    German flares drift towards the ground as the 11th Armoured Division gathers for the attack. The 3rd RTR assembles in the semi-darkness; dust and smoke from the RAF bombing obscures the dawn sunrise. (Some of the smoke may have been caused by bombs accidentally falling on the regiment's start-line). The regiment's CO, Lieutenant-Colonel Silvertop, gives the order to advance and, accompanied by several Churchill AVRES, the 3rd RTR rolls towards the Caen-Troarn railway line at Demouville and comes under anti-tank fire. Two tank crew beat out fires on their straw-camouflaged Firefly set alight by shrapnel. An OP (?) half- track crosses the railway line at Demouville; another M5 half- track tows a Daimler scout car out of a bomb crater. The 3rd RTR moves up to the Caen-Vimont railway near Grentheville and suffers several losses en route; it then advances towards the villages of Hubert-Folie and Bras on the Bourguebus ridge. From his tank, Lieutenant-Colonel Silvertop reviews the deteriorating situation through his binoculars. Nearby are the remains of a German 8.8cm anti-tank gun and its tractor.
    Object number: A70 87-2 Production date: 18-07-1944 Production country: GB Notes: Note: See with A70 87-1, 88-1, 89-3, 90-4 and 5 for footage showing 11th Armoured Division units in action during "Goodwood". (Refer also to A70 89-1 and 92-7 for material showing Guards Armoured Division units similarly engaged). Sergeant G E C Laws accompanied the 3rd RTR's HQ squadron while taking this footage. With the 3rd RTR in the first wave of 8th Corps' assault was the 2nd Fife and Forfar Yeomanry
     
    O'Boogie and dbf like this.
  3. Andrew Eyles

    Andrew Eyles Member

    Does anyone have a link to download the 3RTR Unit diary? I've been reading the 4 pages put on on here but would love to read more!
     
  4. Bleblond

    Bleblond Active Member

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