DIE DEUTSCHE WOCHENSCHAU NR 700 [Main Title]

I. Volunteer recruits join Panzergrenadier-Division Grossdeutschland. Large Iron Cross and poster with slogan welcoming Grossdeutschland recruits herald their welcome in a garrison town; poster quotes two contemporary exhortations to German youth: "The time is yours. What it will be is up to you" and "In these great times it is the glory of the Hitler Youth to lead the movement of young war volunteers." Members of the Bund deutscher Mädel hand flowers to youths in civilian clothes with distinctive contemporary haircuts, before youths march through town, headed by band and filmed from side by cameraman with battery-powered Arriflex. Commanding officer takes salute (standing beneath shop front named Otto Friedland). Hitler Youth band plays as youths, interspersed by experienced officers and instructors, assemble in market square for inspection by same officer.

II. Instruction at Army Signals school. Exterior and interior views of School (Halle ?), where men from different branches of the service including Panzer personnel in black berets and a Finnish lieutenant tap out messages in classroom, sit round sandbox for instruction and practise receiving signals in conditions of simulated motion achieved by moving platform.

III. German tank repair unit. Damaged Pzkpfw V Ausf G is towed in for repair; after unit has been fitted onto rear of hull, wheels and track are fitted and riveted. Repair men amuse themselves by using fuel (jerry) cans as toboggans on which to slide down to iced-over lake for water. Fuel is poured into tank and shells passed through hatch, making tank again ready for service. Tank bears emblem of 1st SS-Panzergrenadier-Division Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler. Holder of Knights Cross who wears tank destruction badge on sleeve congratulates Oberfeldwebel and his crew of four for having destroyed eighty-nine tanks and similar number of anti-tank guns, indicated by score rings round barrel. (End of Reel 1)

IV. Germans defend position on Leningrad Front. Animated map of Leningrad area and Southern Finland. Devastation of years of fighting is visible before front line in form of destroyed tree stumps. Shells explode in distance. Germans, who have reportedly been offering bitter resistance to Russian offensive underway since weeks, make their way along trench and open fire with MG34 and MG42. Wounded German soldier is brought back on stretcher. Message is transmitted by telephone to open fire with artillery, causing explosions in near distance. Nebelwerfer fire pierces night, with close-up of plunger being pushed.

V. Heavy snow covers Italian Front. Animated map of Italy. Cockpit views from reconnaissance plane over Apennines show mountains covered in snow. On the ground unseasonably deep snow is cleared by snow blower and German paratroops dig out their vehicle.

VI. Germans destroy Italian railways. Locomotive shunts "sleeper plough" along railway to destroy track in order to deny enemy this method of transport. Charges are then laid and detonated to complete destruction. Elsewhere Pioneers lay Teller mines outside town on mountainside. Paratroops carry out reconnaissance in force, armed with MG42 and firing 8cm GrW 34 against enemy, only indication of whose presence are shells exploding nearby. One paratrooper hurls hand grenade before completion of mission, protected by barrage of Nebelwerfer fire.

VII. Tribute to German submarine hunters. Holder of Knights Cross Leutnant zur See Vollheim (Vollmann?), just named in Wehrmachtbericht as most successful submarine chaser commander, having sunk ten submarines in Mediterranean, steps ashore from UJ-2101, which carries flak platform for protection. Bespectacled officer attaches Iron Crosses to sailors' chests. Subsequent compilation of library material ("submarine hunter" previously seen as convoy vessel in earlier newsreel)

35mm