Description
Object description
An edition of the British official newsreel "War Pictorial News", produced by the Ministry of Information, Middle East.
Full description
I. 'NEWS FROM ENGLAND.' British paratrooper sleeve patch is shown as commentary states that Britain has never admitted the possibility of defeat and is now making up for lost time. Captured film shows three German Junkers Ju 52 transport aircraft dropping paratroops over an undisclosed location. German paratroopers prepare to jump from the doorway of A Junkers Ju 52 aircraft, supply canisters slowly fall to earth in a dockside location. Commentary stresses the misery the German invaders have brought to every land they have ravaged over scenes of German Heinkel He 111 bomber aircraft overflying a target area as bombs explode below. A German infantryman pulls a Czech road sign from a wall and throws it to the ground. French civilians weep openly as German troops march down a road. Civilian amputees work the land with picks and shovels. Meanwhile in Britain a new parachute army is being raised. Women parachute packers hang parachutes to untangle shroud lines prior to packing. British paratroops check their equipment before a training jump. The commentary stresses the arduous and comprehensive nature of parachute training as a paratrooper waits patiently for embarkation on his allocated lift aircraft. British paratroops board Armstrong Whitworth Whitley aircraft (Mk II?) at an RAF parachute training station (Tatton Park or Ringway ?). Other aircraft evident at the airfield are Bristol Blenheim Mk IV bombers, Westland Lysander army co-operation aircraft and a Dragon-Rapide DH 89A communications aircraft. Aerial views of Whitley and Lysander aircraft proceeding to a parachute drop zone. A Whitley crew member gives a signal that aircraft is nearing the drop zone, on command, the paratroopers then drop through the aircraft's circular exit hatch. Various shots of the parachute descent follow, as commentary explains descent procedures with relation to battlefield tactics. The paratroopers land in the drop zone and immediately seek to collapse their parachutes.
Full description
II. 'FORWARD INTO LIBYA.' A newsreel cameraman (Damien Parer ?) arrives in car marked "Official Photographer" at WPN El Misr film studios near Cairo to deliver the latest film footage from the fighting at Tobruk. The film is handed to a white coated Egyptian technician for processing in the adjacent laboratories. The small and large stage buildings, used in film production, are evident in the background. Cut to the delivered and newly processed film as the commentary outlines events leading to the lifting of the German siege of Tobruk. British Royal Tank Regiment officers congregate around a Matilda MkII tank and consult maps prior to moving off. On receipt of a message over a field telephone system the tank crews mount their vehicles and the Matildas move off across the desert. British infantry man an Ordnance QF 2-pounder anti-tank gun mounted on the back of an open topped 4x2 truck. M3 General Stuart light tanks, Marmon-Herrington armoured cars and soft-skinned vehicles move towards Tobruk. The German General Von Ravenstein, commander of the 21st Panzer Division is displayed after his capture by Commonwealth forces. A British Matilda MkII tank pulls up next to an Italo-German traffic sign (sign gives speed and night driving restrictions) and a crewmember hammers up a sign bearing the legends "Democracy Lane" and "Under New Management". British troops inspect abandoned Italian and German equipment including Breda modello 30 6.5mm and Fiat modello 14/35 8mm machine guns and scores of Moschetto modello 38 and 91 6.5mm carbines. British troops display a captured Italian National flag belonging to the 6th Company of the 40th Infantry Battalion. a British officer examines a knocked-out German 8.8cm Flak 36 anti-aircraft gun in a desert emplacement and with evident amusement, holds up a discarded picture of Adolf Hitler. An abandoned German 5cm Pak 38 anti-tank gun lies partially buried by sand. Elsewhere, at an undisclosed rough desert airstrip, British troops inspect damaged Axis aircraft that include Messerschmitt Bf 109E (Trop ?) fighter, Messerschmitt Bf 110 twin engined fighter (3U FQ fuselage code), burnt-out Junkers Ju 87 and Ju 88 bombers and an intact Italian Fiat G50 Freccia fighter (325:5 Squadron/Group code). Elsewhere wrecked German PzKpfw II, III and IV tanks are evidence of the heavy fighting around Tobruk. Various shots of dead German soldiers. Mass is said over the graves of German war dead. Elsewhere, Italian prisoners of war wash their laundry in vats of heated water. Hundreds of German POWs are marched across the desert, presumably to a holding camp. More shots of abandoned and burnt-out German equipment follow including PzKpfw III tanks and heavy artillery half-tracks (SdKfz 8 ?). British infantry advance across the desert with fixed bayonets supported by M3 General Stuart light tanks, as the commentary states that although the fight for Tobruk has passed into history, the fight for freedom continues.
Physical description
35mm