Delight as WW2 film shot in Teesdale is discovered

HISTORY enthusiasts have managed to find a “needle in a haystack” by re-discovering a wartime film that shows soldiers training in Teesdale and includes the only footage of a forgotten literary hero.

The unearthing of the British military training film, The Fighting Section Leader, is even more remarkable because, for reasons unknown, it had been catalogued by the Australian War Museum.

The 30-minute film – which deals with leadership tests, battle discipline and section handling – shows soldiers firing machine guns and rifles, as well as using grenades in the Teesdale countryside.

They cross the River Tees and make a mock assault on Whorlton Bridge, which can be clearly identified along with the nearby lido, before bayonetting sandbags and taking shots at pop-up wooden cutouts of German soldiers in the woods. The long-gone barracks and camps that were once a feature around Barnard Castle can also be seen. The men finish with a pint in an unidentified pub, possibly The Bridge in Whorlton.

Unearthing the British military training film, which was produced by Army Kinematography Services, has been a dream come true for Richard Pearson. But for him, where the film was made is far less important than one of its subjects – the Second World War poet Richard Spender.

Mr Pearson is the archivist for the King Edward VI Grammar School, in Stratford upon Avon, and is writing a biography on Spender, a former pupil and larger-than-life character. Mr Pearson said: “Richard was a very talented, all-round star at King Edward VI School between 1930 to 1940. He was captain of almost everything, and he wrote poetry.

“Although winning a scholarship to Oxford, he joined the army, first in an Irish regiment, and later the Parachute Regiment. He continued as a notable poet, with work published in the Daily Telegraph, The Observe, Punch, The Times Literary Supplement, Country Life and The New York Times.”

Transferred to North Africa, Spender was killed aged 21 attacking a German machine gun position in Tunisia in March 1943.

His death was felt keenly by the men of his regiment – the 2nd Parachute Battalion which was commanded by General Richard “Windy” Gale, also an old boy of the school and a soldier who later led the British airborne landings on D-Day.

Mr Pearson said: “Richard’s senior officer, Johnny Frost [made famous in the film A Bridge Too Far], remembered Richard’s ‘imagination and happiness’. Major Victor Dover in his autobiography, The Silken Canopy, wrote that Richard’s death ‘left a gap of friendship that was never healed’.

“Every memoir and history of the Parachute Regiment includes passages about Richard Spender. He was clearly a character more colourful than fiction.”

It was known that he played a part in an army training film called The Fighting Section Leader while based at the Battle School, in Barnard Castle, in 1942. Mr Pearson said: “For many years I have attempted to trace a copy, only to find that every library or film archive in the UK was either unaware of the film or did not possess a copy. I regularly typed the title on Google. Then I tried searching for ‘Military Training Film – The Fighting Section Leader.’ And there it was, in the Archive of the Australian War Museum. Not only catalogued, but available there and then online. So I was able to see and hear Richard Spender, as the character, Casey.

“I have been writing a new biography of Richard for many years, and four years ago the school acquired his archive, which contained more than a hundred letters, but also manuscripts of his poems, including 19 never previously seen.

“Using the letters I was able to place the poems in chronological order of composition. This November, The Laughing Cavalier, the biography and collected poetry of Richard will be published by Waterloo Press.”

The Times Literary Supplement recognised the potential of Spender’s poetry, writing in its obituary of him: “Those familiar with the work of the young soldier-poet will be aware of the loss his death must mean to English literature.”

He was once referred to in the Daily Telegraph as the Rupert Brooke of the Second World War. Even the Teesdale Mercury, which was not known for its interest in poetry at the time, reviewed Spender’s poems in November 1943. However, like other Second World War poets, his work is now little known.

Mr Pearson hopes all that will change thanks the forthcoming collection of Spender’s work and the biography.

“It has been a long journey, but Richard’s work and story will be available to a wide audience and to new generations,” he said. To see the film, visit www.awm.gov.au/collec

tion/F05079