Prime your limpet mines, pull on your windproofs and climb into your canoes and join us as we paddle furiously into enemy territory to discuss 1955’s Cockleshell Heroes with none other than historian Saul David.
Saul has a new history of the Special Boat Service out so what better film to tackle than Cockleshell Heroes. Starring Trevor Howard, Jose Ferrer, Victor Maddern, Christopher Lee and Percy Herbert as the Royal Marine Commandos tasked with sinking enemy ships deep in enemy territory on Operation Frankton!
Last weekend at the We Have Ways podcast’s history festival the Airborne Assault Museum brought along a very interesting piece of history – a PIAT with Arnhem provenance. The PIAT had allegedly been dropped during Operation Market Garden but not used. At some point after the battle it was discovered by locals and handed into the Doorwerth Castle Museum, the original airborne museum before it moved to the Hartenstein, and was subsequently gifted the the UK’s Airborne Assault Museum in the 1950s.
Discussing the PIAT with Ramsay of the Airborne Assault Museum (Matthew Moss)
The museum believes the PIAT has much of its original paint and in general the weapon is in excellent shape. It has the earlier rear sight with two apertures for 70 and 100 yards, the later design had three – with a maximum range of 110 yards. This PIAT’s monopod could still be raised and lowered, to elevate the weapon upto 40-degrees for indirect firing.
A close up of the PIAT (Mattthew Moss)
The indirect fire quadrant sight is in good condition – complete with its spirit level. The weapon also appears to have its original white indirect fire aiming line along the top of its body and almost pristine webbing – though the butt cover is frayed which isn’t uncommon. Sadly the weapon has been deactivated so we couldn’t open up the action or cock the weapon. It seems to have been welded at the front and rear of the body.
The PIAT is in great shape, albeit deactivated, and it was a pleasure to take a look at a weapon which could be traced back to the battle. Thank you to Ramsay, Ben and Allen of the Airborne Assault Museum for allowing me to examine and film the PIAT, check out the museum’s website here.
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We were lucky enough to see an advanced screening of J.P Watt’s ‘The War Below‘ to bring you our exclusive review of his debut feature!
The film, set during the First World War, tells the story of a small team of civilian sewer engineers who are plucked from their jobs and tasked with helping dig mines underneath German strong points on the Western Front. They are called up by the legendary ‘Hellfire Jack’ played by Tom Goodman Hill.
This Anglo-American production punches above its budget to deliver tense tunnel sequences and brutal depictions of tunnel warfare.
In this very special episode we are joined by Sebastian Abineri, Jack McKenzie and Timothy Morand who were part of what became known Attenborough’s Private Army or the APA while filming Richard Attenborough’s seminal war film ‘A Bridge Too Far‘. The APA were a large group of actors who played a variety of roles in the film. Join us as Seb, Jack and Tim regale us with their memories from filming and give us some insight into how the film was made!
Check out our earlier episode on ‘A Bridge Too Far‘ with special guest Al Murray here.
In this video we dive into another item from the TAB Reference Collection. An article taken from a 1955 edition of the Illustrated London News which looks at the British Army’s newest anti-tank weapon – The B.A.T Gun! The L2 B.A.T Gun was a recoilless rifle developed to replace the heavier 17pdr Anti-Tank guns then in service. The B.A.T and its successors remained in service throughout the Cold War.
Today we would consider the illustration an ‘infographic’, it was drawn up with the Ministry of Defence’s assistance by Illustrated London News‘ special artist George Horace Davis who had illustrated hundreds of similar articles including one for the PIAT.
The article, titled ‘Britain’s Latest and Most Powerful Anti-Tank Weapon’, explains not juse the operation of the new gun but also provides some data on weight and comparisons of the new 120mm HESH ammunition with that of previous conventional anti-tank weapons. Check out our video on the 2pdr anti-tank gun and the 6pdr anti-tank gun.
We have many more videos on important and interesting primary source materials in the works. If you enjoy our work please consider supporting us via Patreon for just a $1. Find out more here.
Check out videos on items from our reference collection here.
This week on Fighting On Film we embark on a series of episodes about Operation Market Garden on film which you’ll tell you’re grand children about… and mightily bored they’ll be! We begin with ‘Replacements’, episode 4 of Band of Brothers which follows the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment’s drop on Eindhoven and fighting at Nuenen.
We’re back with another video looking at an item from the TAB reference collection – an illustrated spare parts list for the L21A1. L21A1 is the British designation for the American Browning M2 .50 cal (12.7×99mm) machine gun. A past owner has written ‘Ranging’ on the cover, perhaps suggesting this booklet specifically covered the guns used by the UK’s Royal Armoured Corps in its Centurion and Chieftain tanks.
We have many more videos on important and interesting primary source materials in the works. If you enjoy our work please consider supporting us via Patreon for just a $1. Find out more here.
Check out videos on items from our reference collection here.
Ever wondered how sound in films works? Ever wondered what goes into making a machine gun sound fearsome? What goes into making a battle sound realistic? This week we are lucky enough to be joined by Charles Maynes, an Emmy-winning sound engineer, who has worked on a dozen prominent war films including Flags of Our Fathers/Letters from Iwo Jima, Starship Troopers, The Alamo, The Great Raid, The Pacific and The Forgotten Battle.
This week we are joined by historian Olivia Smith, one half of the brilliant Khaki Malarkey podcast, to examine 2014’s ‘Testament of Youth’. We discuss the book the film is based on, World War One nursing and Vera Brittain – the protagonist and author of Testament of Youth. Released around the centennial of the beginning of the Great War the film stars Alicia Vikander, as Brittain, alongside a stellar cast including Kit Harrington, Colin Morgan, Taron Egerton, Dominic West and Hayley Atwell.
Earlier this year I had the pleasure of travelling to The Tank Museum in Bovington to film some segments for the new documentary on the Rhineland Campaign – ‘Rhineland 45‘. Not all of the segments I filmed discussing weapons could be included in the finished documentary – I filmed quite a few – so I’m pleased to share a couple here. This one looks at German infantry anti-tank weapons: the Panzerfaust and Panzerschreck. Thanks again to Realtime History for inviting me to take part, check out the documentary here.
Check out the first video of this series on the use of the PIAT during the Rhineland campaign here.
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The Armourers Bench 