Originally Posted by Bondi-Babe-Magnet

Originally Posted by Union-Jack

Has there ever been a film about the St. Naizare raid? You know, the op where a Commando unit went into a harbour in France in several small motor launches and an old second-hand destroyer that had been gussied up to look like a German warship - they rammed the destroyer into the dock, stormed the town, then come the next morning the timers on the explosives in the destroyer's hull went off and blew the place to smeg and back. (It could be that there's been a film and I've just never heard of it before though.)

I Think you will find the film "attack on the Iron coast" was based on the raid. If ever a modern remake was due that would get my vote. The book "The Greatest Rain of All" is a Must read for anyone interested in the raid -it would be fantastic as a well made film.

OOppps -failed to read that this was already mentioned about 5 times.

The Gift Horse, starring Trevor Howard, is about HMS Campbelltown/USS Buchanan and covers its RN service from 1940 up to the raid.

Originally Posted by RAMC_Medic

Originally Posted by FireAtWill

how about a movie about the Falklands or WW1?

Wasn't Tumbledown about this?

Don't know if it's been mentioned on Arrse before but "Iluminados por el fuego" (Enlightened by Fire) is well worth watching.



Don't know if you can get a copy in the UK (I saw it on a Chinese copy DVD, which is how I watch most films - bit short on Multiplexs and HMV shops in Phaic Tan). It was released in Spain and France though, so might be available as an 'arty foreign' film.

trailer.

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How about the Oman War - 1970 to 1976? Or the Malayan Emergency ('50 to '5?

Also, does anyone know if there's ever been a film about the troops Britain sent to Vietnam? I don't have much solid information myself about what units were over there, but I do know that the First and Third Battalions of the Royal Green Jackets Regiment rotated through the theatre, operating on the Cambodian border to interdict the Ho Chi Minh trail during 1969-70. Think it was 3 RGJ from Oct/Nov 1969 to March/April 1970, then 1 RGJ took over from them between March/April 1970 to August/September 1970. After that the Army was reducing its scale of operations in the region and the Yanks moved into the area full-time. About the only major incident seems to have been an Anglo-American blue-on-blue - a section from 1 RGJ was ambushed by a platoon from the USMC. Unfortunately for the Americans, the Jackets were able to take cover, regrouped and then counter-attacked. Five Marines are thought to have been killed in the firefight whilst one of the Jackets had a flesh wound in the arm from a stray shot, which by all accounts didn't slow him down very much. So...is there anything about that sort of thing around?

Other ideas...okay, here we go: has there EVER been a serious film about Northern Ireland that DOESN'T take the Hollywood angle (i.e. portraying a bunch of fcuking terrorists in need of a slotting as 'freedom fighters') and sides with the squaddies? Yeah, I know there was an ep of 'Ultimate Farce' set over the water, but that doesn't really count.

Hmmm...the Gulf War from the perspective of regular British troops?

Here's an odd thought: has there ever been a film centred around a unit of the Army Air Corps? There were plenty of WOrld War Two films about the RAF, but the AAC seems to have missed out as far as I can tell.

Also, is it just me, or should someone do a film about the British Army's operations in Sierra Leone before those theiving braindead tossers in Hollywood try to rewrite history (again)? After all, the operations in Sierra Leone were a complete success - surely that's much better material for a film than that ballsed-up American op in Somalia.

Anywayhoo, just a few thoughts to kick around. (Or to pieces! )

Sorry I don't know of any UK units in Vietnam, except the Australians. who BTW did a great job!

Originally Posted by Union-Jack

Also, does anyone know if there's ever been a film about the troops Britain sent to Vietnam? I don't have much solid information myself about what units were over there, but I do know that the First and Third Battalions of the Royal Green Jackets Regiment rotated through the theatre, operating on the Cambodian border to interdict the Ho Chi Minh trail during 1969-70. Think it was 3 RGJ from Oct/Nov 1969 to March/April 1970, then 1 RGJ took over from them between March/April 1970 to August/September 1970. After that the Army was reducing its scale of operations in the region and the Yanks moved into the area full-time. About the only major incident seems to have been an Anglo-American blue-on-blue - a section from 1 RGJ was ambushed by a platoon from the USMC. Unfortunately for the Americans, the Jackets were able to take cover, regrouped and then counter-attacked. Five Marines are thought to have been killed in the firefight whilst one of the Jackets had a flesh wound in the arm from a stray shot, which by all accounts didn't slow him down very much. So...is there anything about that sort of thing around?

Any references or links relating to this?

Originally Posted by Union-Jack

How about the Oman War - 1970 to 1976? Or the Malayan Emergency ('50 to '5?

Also, does anyone know if there's ever been a film about the troops Britain sent to Vietnam? I don't have much solid information myself about what units were over there, but I do know that the First and Third Battalions of the Royal Green Jackets Regiment rotated through the theatre, operating on the Cambodian border to interdict the Ho Chi Minh trail during 1969-70. Think it was 3 RGJ from Oct/Nov 1969 to March/April 1970, then 1 RGJ took over from them between March/April 1970 to August/September 1970. After that the Army was reducing its scale of operations in the region and the Yanks moved into the area full-time. About the only major incident seems to have been an Anglo-American blue-on-blue - a section from 1 RGJ was ambushed by a platoon from the USMC. Unfortunately for the Americans, the Jackets were able to take cover, regrouped and then counter-attacked. Five Marines are thought to have been killed in the firefight whilst one of the Jackets had a flesh wound in the arm from a stray shot, which by all accounts didn't slow him down very much. So...is there anything about that sort of thing around?

Other ideas...okay, here we go: has there EVER been a serious film about Northern Ireland that DOESN'T take the Hollywood angle (i.e. portraying a bunch of fcuking terrorists in need of a slotting as 'freedom fighters') and sides with the squaddies? Yeah, I know there was an ep of 'Ultimate Farce' set over the water, but that doesn't really count.

Hmmm...the Gulf War from the perspective of regular British troops?

Here's an odd thought: has there ever been a film centred around a unit of the Army Air Corps? There were plenty of WOrld War Two films about the RAF, but the AAC seems to have missed out as far as I can tell.

Also, is it just me, or should someone do a film about the British Army's operations in Sierra Leone before those theiving braindead tossers in Hollywood try to rewrite history (again)? After all, the operations in Sierra Leone were a complete success - surely that's much better material for a film than that ballsed-up American op in Somalia.

Anywayhoo, just a few thoughts to kick around. (Or to pieces! )

Good suggestions but a couple of thoughts:

There WERE NO BRITISH UNITS IN VIETNAM, or at least not after about 1946 when we liberated it from the Japs, we then handed it over to the French and the rest is a rather nasty history. Invidual Brits did serve in Vietnam, either with the Aussies or when on liaison with/seconded to yank units posted there. Whatever story you are thinking of and role you are mixing up.

Northern Ireland was tackled quite well albeit on a low budget by the movie THE INFORMANT with Timothy Dalton. How that man makes money as an actor is beyond me… http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119368/

Gulf War (1 or 2) - it would be nice.

AAC? Do you mean the Royal Flying Corps which became the RAF in 1917?

The AAC that did any flying was the american thing. Our AAC was formed in 1942, but it was all Para's and Gliders and SAS. Not a air combat thing.

Unless I am horribly mistaken…

Sierra Leone, not much room for a epic but a people story could be quite good. Of course you might find dwelling on Sandline a bit… Because our policy and ops in Sierra Leone were by no means a qualified success, or do you mean the slaughtering of a village. Well that went well, but everything up to that…

Sorry about the delay Mr Happy - my PC was being awkward. Eventually solved it by belting the bloody thing.

Okay...are you sure about the Vietnam situation? I knew we had former soldiers sent in as 'observers', but I distinctly remember reading about the Green Jackets being deployed there - it was all very low-profile stuff, not sneaky-beaky, they just managed to avoid the press and did the job. The firefight with the USMC - that came from an autobiography by a bloke who was the lance-corporal of that eight-man patrol - I can't remember the guy's name or what the book was called, only that the hardback copy I read out of my local library (back when I lived in Staines, Surrey) was a bit old and a few pages were falling out. The rest of it was mostly about his tours in Northern Ireland. It's been a long time since I read it, but I'm certain it was Vietnam.

Okay, nice one with "The Informant" - I'll have to keep an eye out for that one.

I know the British AAC isn't a major combat arm like the RFC was (although that might well change with those new Apaches...specially since the Americans are now keen to bring theirs up to our specs), but I just wondered if anything had been filmed about them - in the Falklands, over the water, Belize etc. Not aerial combat - just something following the lads on ordinary duties, dropping patrols off in the cuds in NI and so on. Yeah, less 'guns-and-ammo' involved, but it could still be quite interesting.

Oh, I don't know about Sierra Leone, there's plenty of room for epics...you could do quite a good film about, say, the first week of Pallisier - you've got that major, Harrison, getting kidnapped by the RUF, those three British officers and one New Zealander involved in escaping a siege at a UN compound and going OTR for several days, 1 Para getting brought in for deployment and so on, landing the first wave at the airport, the first firefight with the RUF when they were about to take Freetown and so on. Alternatively, you could always get Damien Lewis, put him in touch with Working Title Pictures or someone, and have a film about Operation Barras. I do like your idea of a people story too, though.

Erm...by 'the slaughtering of a village', are you referring to when the RUF attacked Wordu and butchered everyone there, or Op Barras? 'Cause if you mean Barras, the West Side Boys had chased out the locals more than a year before - the only civilians around were 'conscripts' locked in huts under guard, so there were no civilian fatalities. And to be honest, the latest I'd heard was that Sierra Leone was now pretty stable - the RUF disbanded, WSBs chased over the border to Liberia, the whole nine yards. (I admit I could be working on woefully out of date info. Hey, I'm not infallible.)

Sorry CutLunchCommando, I'm afraid I've got no references or links to this. *shrugs, looks apologetic* I'm mostly relying on memories of reading the autobiography of one of the squaddies who was there, but don't remember the guy's name or the title of his autobiography, which is annoying the hell out of me. It was about six years ago, but still... *shakes head*

Sorry about the delay Mr Happy - my PC was being awkward. Eventually solved it by belting the bloody thing.

No worries mate, I waited longer for lesser men...

Okay...are you sure about the Vietnam situation? I knew we had former soldiers sent in as 'observers', but I distinctly remember reading about the Green Jackets being deployed there - it was all very low-profile stuff, not sneaky-beaky, they just managed to avoid the press and did the job. The firefight with the USMC - that came from an autobiography by a bloke who was the lance-corporal of that eight-man patrol - I can't remember the guy's name or what the book was called, only that the hardback copy I read out of my local library (back when I lived in Staines, Surrey) was a bit old and a few pages were falling out. The rest of it was mostly about his tours in Northern Ireland. It's been a long time since I read it, but I'm certain it was Vietnam.

I suppose it is possible that a formation could have been on exchange with another countries (like 1pl of RGJ swapped with 1pl of Aussie LI or something) but remember the bulk of the Vietnam war was fought when WILSON (Lab) was in power, and that commie cnut wouldn't have had time to send troops, he was too busy giving the country to the unions. No britfor unit would have been deployed as a contingent except to guard an embassy.

Okay, nice one with "The Informant" - I'll have to keep an eye out for that one.

Its a well written movie but his acting is up there with, errm, that bloke from childrens telly.

I know the British AAC isn't a major combat arm like the RFC was (although that might well change with those new Apaches...specially since the Americans are now keen to bring theirs up to our specs), but I just wondered if anything had been filmed about them - in the Falklands, over the water, Belize etc. Not aerial combat - just something following the lads on ordinary duties, dropping patrols off in the cuds in NI and so on. Yeah, less 'guns-and-ammo' involved, but it could still be quite interesting.

Has BBC movie stamped all over it (which doesn't make it bad).

Oh, I don't know about Sierra Leone, there's plenty of room for epics...you could do quite a good film about, say, the first week of Pallisier - you've got that major, Harrison, getting kidnapped by the RUF, those three British officers and one New Zealander involved in escaping a siege at a UN compound and going OTR for several days, 1 Para getting brought in for deployment and so on, landing the first wave at the airport, the first firefight with the RUF when they were about to take Freetown and so on. Alternatively, you could always get Damien Lewis, put him in touch with Working Title Pictures or someone, and have a film about Operation Barras. I do like your idea of a people story too, though.

Erm...by 'the slaughtering of a village', are you referring to when the RUF attacked Wordu and butchered everyone there, or Op Barras? 'Cause if you mean Barras, the West Side Boys had chased out the locals more than a year before - the only civilians around were 'conscripts' locked in huts under guard, so there were no civilian fatalities. And to be honest, the latest I'd heard was that Sierra Leone was now pretty stable - the RUF disbanded, WSBs chased over the border to Liberia, the whole nine yards. (I admit I could be working on woefully out of date info. Hey, I'm not infallible.)

Barras, IIRC involved hundreds of WSB's and their women, the original villagers had been kicked out as you say (well murdered, forced to join and so on) and then they all died and became crocodile food. The 'village' I was referring to was more geographical than society.

*nods* Interesting point about a possible Jackets/Australian exhange...I honestly can't remember the full details (much to my greatest annoyance). That does sound like a plausible explanation...could be what I'm remembering about the battalion changeover involved changing over the exchange platoon I do remember that this bloke was a lifelong member of the Green Jackets - retired a CSM in the late 1980s, think it was '87 or '88, not sure, at the age of forty-six.

One other thing that might prove not up to scratch: in 1971, my dad (then aged fifteen) did a four-day work placement with the Royal Green Jackets - at the time he was considering a career in the Army, possibly as a mechanic (he ended up as a gas fitter for BG, transferred to their computing department, took voluntary redundancy and now works part-time from home as an Open University lecturer). Among other things, he says he remembers his group having a lecture/meeting with a couple of corporals from 1 RGJ who mentioned having come back from Vietnam the previous year. I don't know how reliable this would be considered, but he did also once talk to me about some events from the previous year before his placement that the pair of corporals discussed.

In '69, a funfair had set up down the town near 1 RGJ's barracks (I can't remember where they were back then - will have to check with my dad, but it can't have been too far from Staines, Surrey) and a small group of new recruits, whilst coming back from it, were attacked by a large gang of the local skinheads, ended up in hospital as a result.

The following year in '70, a bunch of 1 RGJ, fresh out of Vietnam (as far as my dad's aware at any rate) heard that the same funfair was back in town again, and reckoned that the same skinheads might try the same thing again. They found a couple of the gang's members early in the evening, and persuaded them to cough up all their mates' home addresses. Then the Jackets went around their flats, houses etc., were either let in or just broke in, dragged the skinheads out into the street and beat the living daylights out of them then broke their knuckles by stomping on 'em.

The last bloke the Jackets visited that evening was the gang's leader - and his mum answered the door to say he refused to come down and see them, and had he been getting into trouble again? A couple of the Jackets promptly went inside, stormed upstairs and threw the guy out of his bedroom window (1st floor - 2nd floor if you drive on the wrong side of the road and live on t'other side of the Pond) before giving him a good sound thrashing. By all accounts, the guy's mum was rather pleased to see someone able to give him the sort of discipline needed.

Anyhow, the upshot of these events was that the skinheads learned the hard way that if they saw a soldier with a Green Jackets' cap badge, it was best to start walking the other way as fast as they could - so when my dad and his gang of mates went off to enjoy themselves at the funfair the following year, decked out in fatigues, green berets and Jackets' capbadges, they didn't have any trouble. (Aside from being limited to soft drinks when they joined a bunch of Jackets down the pub afterwards.)

*shrugs* Like I said, I don't know how to take my dad's claims, but that anecdote does seem to put a different spin on things. One weird thing though: he remembers being trained on using the SLR, but reckons the rifle he was using had some sort of gas cartridges in the stock? THis was apparently to counteract the recoil - as the rifle fired, the gas discharged to produce an equal and opposite force to cancel the recoil out. *shrugs again* I admit I could be working on nothing there. But with two sources apparently claiming elements of 1 RGJ (if not the whole bn.) were in Vietnam in 1970, it's an interesting conundrum.

Okay, I'll bear that in mind about "The Informant".

*shrugs* Well, the AAC are an extremely useful part of the Army - not very glamourous, or at least not from a Hollywood perspective - but their transport helis have become an important element of any operation with regards to e.g. logistics, deploying recce patrols and the like. Same with the REME or the Signals Corps.

Erm...okay...maybe that should be 'demolished' a village then? (I mean, if we're not talking about the inhabitants, a village is a collection of buildings - pretty hard to slaughter timber and concrete.) *grins* Okay, okay, sorry - couldn't resist.

Sorry to have made the 'Green Jackets Mystery' even murkier.

(Mad) Jack