Description
Object description
An edition of the British official newsreel "War Pictorial News", produced by the Ministry of Information, Middle East.
Full description
I. 'TRIBUTE TO PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT.' A retrospective item issued on the death of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. United States civilians carry banners that read "Roosevelt and a lasting peace" and "Roosevelt and Victory." Brief footage shows Roosevelt and Harry S Truman at the Presidential inauguration ceremony of November 1944. Stock shot footage shows British Prime Minister Winston Spencer Churchill and President Roosevelt on the deck of HMS Prince of Wales during the signing of the Atlantic Charter (cf WPN 26), President Roosevelt at the Casablanca Conference (cf WPN 100), Teheran Conference (cf WPN 136), Quebec Conference (cf WPN 179) and the Yalta Conference (cf WPN 200).
Full description
II. 'ON THE ROAD TO BERLIN.' A British Sherman Firefly tank stands parked on the main street of a battle damaged German town. A British M4 Sherman Crab flail tank drives past the camera position. Scores of German Army prisoners march along a road led by a British Army Jeep. British and United States (US) troops link up at the town of Kevelaer (Düsseldorf Administrative Region). German prisoners climb into a British river boat "Mary and Joan" for their trip across the Rhine and into captivity. A photograph of German leader Adolf Hitler lies in rubble. US infantry armed with M1 Garand .30-inch self-loading rifles, M3 .45-inch sub-machine guns and an M9A1 2.36-inch rocket launcher (Bazooka) move along a rubble strewn street. Recently liberated French prisoners happily drink wine from bottles. A US infantryman uses a public address system to advise German civilians to vacate a town prior to a US attack upon it. German civilians leave under cover of white flags. Panoramic footage shows wrecked German soft-skinned vehicles in the environs of Frankfurt (vehicles include Kfz. 1 Volkswagen Kübelwagen, and a Fiat light field car). A road sign reads "Frankfurt-M 8km" as US (Third Army) infantry climb over street barricades. A dead German soldier lies by a 7.92mm Kar 98K rifle, Panzerfaust 60 anti-tank weapon and stick grenade (Stielhandgranate 39 ?). German Volkssturm prisoners are displayed for the cameras. German civilians read an Allied proclamation related to the dissolution of the Nazi Party (Law No.1). Recently liberated Royal Air Force (RAF) and United States Army Air Force (USAAF) prisoners of war wave to the cameras. Hundreds of German Army prisoners stand in a barbed wire enclosure.
Physical description
35mm