No 5 Army Film & Photographic Unit (AFPU)

[The_Enigma]

Am bored at work here so am browsing the IWM photo collection and am compiling a list of the entire unit. These guys are the people who have brought us all those reels of film and photos that we have seen of the NW European campaign (from the British perspective at least) along with snaps of the commanding officers.


Photo provided by Michael Kenny here

Major Stewart

Captain J L Evans
Captain Horton
Captain Knight
Captain E G Malindine

Lieutenant Barker
Lieutenant Handford
Lieutenant Alan Wilson (not sure about this guy, see photo at bottom and description)

Sergeant Christie
Sergeant Norman Clague KIA at Amfreville on 12 June 1944
Sergeant J Connolly
Sergeant C Crocker
Sergeant A C Gross
Sergeant Bert Hardy
Sergeant Harrison
Sergeant Norman Johnson
Sergeant Bob Jones
Sergeant Laing
Sergeant George Laws
Sergeant Richard Leatherbarrow
Sergeant Michael Lewis
Sergeant Jimmy Mapham
Sergeant T McCardle
Sergeant Midgley
Sergeant Morris
Sergeant Harry Oakes
Sergeant Palmer
Sergeant Parkinson
Sergeant E Smales
Sergeant Dennis M Smith
Sergeant R Stiggins
Sergeant T McCardle
Sergeant Gordon Walker
Sergeant Ernest Walter
Sergeant Waterhouse
Sergeant Wilkes

Names but no ranks:
Ian Grant
Robbo Robinson
Jock Gordon
Bill Leason

Might be one or two guys missing but I believe that’s practically the entire unit.

All below photos care of Imperial War Museum:


“Temporary headquarters of the Army Film and Photographic Unit (AFPU) on Walcheren Island in the Netherlands, 1 - 3 November 1944.”


Left to right: Sgt C Crocker, Sgt E Smales, Sgt R Stiggins, Sgt T McCardle, Sgt J Connolly


George Laws seated (in the jeep) with his driver "Hoppy"

A close up of Sgt Laws


Richard Leatherbarrow with 3 former Belsen inmates


Mike Lewis being dusted with DDT before being allowed access to Belsen


Norman Midgley


Sergeant Dennis M Smith, Sergeant Gordon Walker and Sergeant C Michael Lewis - they all parachuted in with the 1st Airborne; paraphotographers!


Harry Oakes


Ernest Walter and A C Gross


AFPU drivers (left to right): Driver Austin, Driver A Stocking, Driver J Bell, Driver R Castle.


"One of the British Army Film & Photographic Unit photographers covering the relief of Belsen, Lt Alan Wilson of Glasgow, is dusted with DDT (to protect him from typhus) before entering the camp"

Additional information on the units:
“The Army Film and Photographic Unit was set up in October 1941 under the British Army’s Directorate of Public Relations. The Unit amalgamated the cine cameramen of the Army Film Unit with the Army’s Official Photographers, who, following the outbreak of war had been recruited from civilians with professional experience of film production and photojournalism. Their task was to document the activities of the British Army at home and overseas for immediate publicity and the permanent record. After an eight week training course in cinematography and photography at Pinewood Film Studios, Bucks, the recruits were posted as sergeants to one of the AFPU Sections which included: No 1 Section in Cairo; No 2 in Italy (originally formed to record the North African campaign), No 5 Section in North West Europe and No 9 Section in South East Asia. The AFPU disbanded in 1947.”
- Source IWM

[lynn1234]

I found this article on the no 5 AFPU very interesting as my father served in this unit during the WW11. He is in the main picture and also shown actually filming on the 2nd small picture - his name is J Connolly. He is almost 92 yrs of age but still recalls his days in the AFPU. We managed to arrange a visit to Pinewood studios for him a few years back which he still talks about now. The large picture of the no 5 unit on the 1st page is included in a book called "Cameraman at War" written by Ian Grant who was also a member of this unit.

[The_Enigma]

I had almost forgotten about this topic; thanks for the info Lynn!!

[Rulan]

Currently researching the service of my great-grandfather Sgt John Albert Sylvester Harrison, whom I believe to be the Sgt Harrison mentioned above.

Thanks a lot for posting this topic, it was the starting point for my research and has led me discovering the unit to which he was attached (5th Battalion, The Black Watch, 153rd Brigade, 51st (Highland) Division) and to his photographs on the IWM site. His mention of serving with the Black Watch has been confirmed by the older generation of my family and we are now looking into requesting a copy of his Service Record from the MoD.

Thanks again.