D-Day/Pointe du Hoc footage

This “found footage” from the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) begins with casualties returning to England from the Normandy invasion. The last minute or two shows naval vessels shelling Omaha Beach. The high cliffs in the final shots are unmistakable as Pointe du Hoc, the highest point along the invasion beaches, the site of captured French 155mm artillery, and a target for the 2nd U.S. Army Ranger Battalion. Shot at eye-level, one can’t really make out the “point”, except for some shallow rocks. If you look carefully, in the last thirty seconds you can just make out the figures of troops at the foot of a scree slope before a tall cliff, without a lot of additional supplies, equipment and reinforcements. The tide is in as well, which builds a strong case that this is later in the morning of June 6th, so this could be the only moving image footage of the Rangers’ assault on the Axis position at Pointe du Hoc. Many thanks to sharp-eyed fellow researcher Thomas Hogan for identifying this film!

The included slates identify this as footage from Coast Guard, U.S. Navy and OSS cinematographers despite the reel being found in the holdings of the U.S. Army Signal Corps. OSS footage of the invasion is usually found in Record Group 428, the records of the Navy Photographic Center.

This footage is described in the NARA Catalog, but without identifying the location, so ordinarily, this footage would be overlooked. A knowledgeable researcher will recognize what they see. Choose a professional media researcher for your next production or publication! Researchers add value!

UPDATE:

Thanks to an upgraded 4K transfer from the archival film, I was able to locate the scene of the first section of the film, showing the incoming casualties returning to Britain as Weymouth Harbor, by identifying the business sign for “Cosen and Co Ltd”. Photographic Specialist Clarence “Sam” Moran was the photographer. He was 42 at the time of the invasion.

The photographer for the second segment was Lt. Cmdr. Allen G. Siegler, born in 1892 and was old enough to have registered for the draft in World War I. He had established a career as a cinematographer in Southern California beginning in 1914 and was an member of the American Society of Cinematographers. He would have been 52 years old at the time this film was taken. Both men were early volunteers for the Naval Reserve film unit founded by John Ford, which became the basis for the Field Photographic Branch of the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) the wartime predecessor of the Central Intelligence Agency.

Further research details that Lt. Cmdr. Siegler was detailed to the destroyer USS Satterlee (DD-626) during the invasion. The Satterlee is known to have the naval gunfire support mission for the Army Rangers assault on Pointe du Hoc. This help builds a strong circumstantial case that this was shot during the Rangers’ mission. Thanks to the extended resolution offered by a 4K transfer, we can clearly see details we only speculated on before. Landing craft pass from left to right in front of the camera, together with a Landing Craft Control ship. At about 9:19 you can clearly see figures moving at the base of a notch in a cliff face. This was all shot from quite a distance, on a moving ship, which makes the camera tracking ability in those final frames impressive!