DIE DEUTSCHE WOCHENSCHAU NR 683 [Main Title]

I. State funeral of Wilhelm Kube. Funeral ceremony for General Commissar of White Ruthenia, victim of Bolshevik attack in Minsk, takes place in marble hall of Reichs Chancellory, where Reichsminister for Occupied Eastern Territories Rosenberg stands at podium to deliver address. Front row of audience includes Dr Goebbels, Dr Ley and (four from right) Gauleiter Grohé of Cologne-Aachen. Rosenberg places Kriegsverdienstkreuz with swords on coffin and lays own wreath.

II. Evacuation of German children from cities threatened by air attack. Women, old men and children crowd station platform before departure by train, overseen by women of Nationalsozialistische Volkswohlfahrt, who provide food and comfort to young boys and girls. German Red Cross workers also assist. Children enjoy food and drink before train pulls out, with NSV workers and mothers looking after their charges en route. At Prague railway station another train pulls in, filled with mothers from Essen come to greet their children already evacuated to Bohemia and Moravia. Mothers and children embrace on platform then parade happily through streets of Prague. Boys and girls are mostly in uniform of Jungvolk and Jungmädel.

III. Harvest Thanksgiving Day review of Hitler Youth. Reichsjugendführer Axmann inspects group of youths in Hitlerjugend uniform, wearing Ost-Wartheland arm badge and holding harvest wreath, and girls of Bund deutscher Mädel wearing regional costume. Axmann reportedly thanks them for their help and shakes girls' hands with his left hand (right arm has war wound).

IV. Harvest Thanksgiving Day reception for farmers. Male and female peasants in regional costume enter courtyard of Reichs Chancellory, then hear Knights Cross holder Oberfeldwebel Dörfel reportedly thank them on behalf of the front for their contribution to the war effort. State Secretary Backe delivers speech, then presents Kriegsverdienstkreuz to deserving peasants.

V. Goebbels speaks at Harvest Thanksgiving Day rally in Berlin. Inside crowded Sportpalast audience stands to give Nazi salute as party dignitaries walk down centre aisle. Banner reads "Plough and Sword the guarantors of Victory". SS-Sturmbannführer Skorzeny presents his men who participated in rescue of Mussolini from Gran Sasso to Goebbels, to loud applause from all classes and groups including many in service uniform. Members of Landvolk are presented with Knights Cross to Kriegsverdienstkreuz by Skorzeny, who hands awards to Militärverwaltungsvizechef Dr Fritz Reinhardt in SS uniform (1935-1939 Race and Settlement Office, 1940-1943 on German Military Command in France, responsible for food production and provisioning of French population and German Army of Occupation), Helmut Körner (1939-1941 President of Agriculture and Feeding in General Government, 1941-1943 Director of Main Office for Food and Agriculture on Southern sector of Eastern Front and the Ukraine) and to Kurt Zschirnt (Chairman of the Main Union of German cereal and fodder production). Goebbels then shakes Skorzeny's hand and, with Backe visible in audience, thanks German farmers on behalf of Hitler for ensuring Germany's food supplies. Meeting concludes with live speech by Goebbels calling again on the population for an all-out effort, declaring that the greater the effort today, the greater will be the victory and describing freedom as a boundless blessing. Audience stands to sing German national anthem.

VI. General Student inspects Skorzeny's men. Student inspects paratroops (Luftlandesgeschwader 3) standing in open and reportedly thanks them for having freed Mussolini, before awarding Knights Crosses to Leutnant Meyer and Hauptmann Gerlach for their part in the operation, and the German Cross to others. Skorzeny himself is seen talking to some of his men, who have just been awarded special leave.

VII. Assault gun training school near Magdeburg. Trainees, (including Finnish Army officers) are addressed by Knights Cross holder Leutnant Primozic and receive blackboard instruction from commander of school (Sturmartillerie Schule Burg) Oberstleutnant Hoffmann-Schoernborn . Exercise commences with StuG IIIs crossing country and running over mine; damaged track is quickly repaired. (End of Reel 1)

VIII. German air and naval activity over the Arctic Ocean. Animated map of Arctic Ocean front. Holder of Knights Cross Hauptmann Ehrler, wearing lifejacket, stands chatting with his men (III/Jagdgeschwader 5). Messerschmitt Bf 110s are bombed up (Petsamo airfield) before an attack on the Rybachi Peninsula; planes return over German convoy. Onboard vessel crew man flak as Russians launch air attack, launching torpedo which splashes into sea obliging Germans to adopt zigzag course. Flak crew celebrate downing of plane represented by black smoke in distance.

IX. Germans lay waste Russia during withdrawal. Animated map from Vitebsk to Zaporozhe. Thorough preparations by German staff which precede shortening of lines ensure the removal of all usable material and the destruction of installations of military value to the enemy. Equipment is unloaded from trucks and transferred onto train which passes by under bridge. Captured Bolsheviks walk through ruined town, while civilian refugees, reportedly frightened of Bolshevism (and including Tartars ?) move westwards also, taking with them livestock, including herds of cattle, sheep and horses. Telegraph wire is dismantled and wound onto wheels for removal before poles are demolished. Several huge explosions destroy and set ablaze larger installations, which Germans pass by night. Single church rises out of smoke, supporting claim that religious and cultural buildings are spared. Camouflaged Marder battery opens fire.

X. German bombers on Eastern Front. Heinkel He 111s taxi and take off before releasing bombs against Bolshevik forces pursuing German withdrawal.

XI. Germans consolidate power in Northern Italy. Animated map of Italy from Milan to Sant'Eufemia. German and Italian officers inspect Fascist battalion in Trieste which has placed itself under German command. Alpini sign battle oath against common enemy. German troops en route to Pula pass sign "Madonna Rovere" (Madonna della Rovere) before occupying harbour area. Italian ships in port include escort Insidioso, Curtatone Class torpedo boat (Calatafini or Castelfidardo), training cruiser Cattaro and torpedo boat Giuseppe Sirtori. Germans pursue and fire at Badoglio vessel attempting to escape, and board vessel. Another traitor ship is attacked and destroyed by shell fire.

XII. Germans attack Italian occupiers of Cefalonia. Junkers Ju 87s open attack on Italians on island off Greek mainland who have sided with Badoglio traitors. Germans disembark from vessel (F131) to join operation.

XIII. Germans attack partisans on Istrian Peninsula. German armoured column moves along twisting hillside road; column halts and soldiers scour country for cowardly enemy before opening fire. Two civilians lie dead in field; their weapons are gathered up. Marder III and infantry enter town, firing at point blank range and taking surrender of bandits before engaging in further street fighting. Corpses lie outside houses as fighting and German clearing operation continues.

35mm