Newsreel item showing supply convoy from Gibraltar to Malta, Operation Harpoon.

Establishing LSs over the convoy. MLS off the starboard bow of HMS Liverpool steaming at speed. LS of HMS Malaya and pan right to HMS Eagle. MS of HMS Cairo as she passes behind SS Burdwan and another neighbouring merchantman. LS of Cairo and Malaya. Sea Hurricane lands on Eagle. HMS Argus flies off a Swordfish. MS as a Swordfish passes over the cameraship, arrester hook down. Cameraship signals, and minesweeper HMS Rye (J.76) replies. Lookouts and gunners are on alert. Cameraship streams a paravane - the paravane is let slip and towing shoe is lowered - the traditional fiddler stands on the capstan-head to encourage the men on the bars. The enemy attack commences and cameraship's 4-inch AA puts up a barrage. LS of Malaya firing AA. XLS of a ship hit by bombs. Sequence shot from M Class destroyer and Town Class cruiser as depth charges explode astern. LS of bombs falling amidst the convoy. Tracer pursues a passing raider. LS of a dive-bombing Ju 88. Bombs fall near the cameraship. Another raider passes in the distance - the sky is now full of flak. Cameraship is firing both 6-inch and 4-inch guns. Flag signal is hoisted against the flak-speckled sky. A M Class destroyer fires all three turrets at enemy aircraft. LS of a raider going over trailing smoke - a Ju 88 hit in the starboard engine. LS of HMS Argus - beyond her a raider falls into the sea. A brief lull - a Lieutenant-Commander takes a quick meal on the bridge. The attack resumes - XLS of a raider in a flak speckled sky - in the foreground flak fragments fall into the sea. Excellent view as SM 79 passes low over the cameraship - small calibre tracer is being fired at it and one engine produces a momentary slight smoke trail - the one portside torpedo carried operationally has not been expended. Sequence showing escorts, including HMS Blankney (L.30), laying down smoke - HMS Cairo fires from within the screen, and answering shells fall round her. The camera has shifted to a M Class destroyer which is also part of the screen, making smoke and keeping up a steady fire with main armament - answering fire falls around the escorts, and the final shot shows the smoke pall from a stricken vessel staining the horizon - this sequence may represent the defence of the convoy against units of the Italian fleet on 15 June. After the action the crew clean up - a man sweeps the deck while others clean the 4-inch guns, clothes are scrubbed, and fresh 4-inch ammunition is broken out while expended cases are stacked between decks. Smoke pall from stricken ship still stains the horizon. Film then cuts to scenes of bomb damage in Valletta and view from a M Class destroyer as it prepares to leave Grand Harbour. Scene then jumps to same destroyer after its return to Gibraltar - the Rock is seen in the background as the assembled crew raise a cheer at a job well done.

Notes

Summary: a different newsreel company's treatment of the same operation can be seen under ADM 453