German Special Newsreel Reel 1 · Part 1

Description

This moving image contains the following: In reel 1, part 1, rations and equipment are air-dropped to German troops on a snowy rolling plain in Russia. Meat is cut up and loaded on a truck. Trucks, armored cars, pack trains, and infantry move along a muddy country road. Defensive positions are set up and an officer reassures his men. The troops are bombarded by Russian artillery and a German rocket barrage is fired. Shows damaged Russian equipment, German troops receiving first aid, and Russian corpses. In part 2, a huge ME-323 transport plane is loaded in Germany, takes off, and lands in Russia and shows interior views. In reel 2, part 1, the plane is unloaded and vehicles are formed into a convoy and driven through mud toward the front. The trucks halt, a fire is built in the open, one soldier mends clothing, and several read newspapers. Part 2 shows German planes bombing Russian positions near Gomel and strafing Russian antiaircraft. In part 3, furloughing German troops bid goodbye to their comrades in Russia, and board trucks for Germany. Part 4 shows Vitebsk, Russia, its streets almost deserted under German occupation. Ambulatory German wounded climb from a personnel carrier and are loaded into freight cars. Supply trucks leave the city. Ski troops, sleeping in a barracks, are awakened and they stoke fires, wash, eat, and then man defensive positions among debris. Rockets and 88-mm artillery are fired.

Collection

National Archives Collection of Foreign Records Seized

Series

Motion Picture Films From G-2 Army Military Intelligence Division