WAR PICTORIAL NEWS NO 87 [Main Title]

The End of the Beginning.

I. 'THE END OF THE BEGINNING.' A retrospective edition covering significant events leading to Churchill's coining of the phrase "The End Of The Beginning." Stock shot footage shows British Prime Minister Winston Churchill meeting United States President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and in Moscow, Russian leader Josef Stalin (cf WPN 68 and WPN 71). Churchill's meeting with Air-Chief-Marshal Sir Arthur Tedder at an airfield near Cairo is briefly shown along with the arrival in the Middle East of General Sir Harold R L G Alexander, C-in-C Middle East (cf WPN 68). Stock shot footage shows General Bernard Law Montgomery soon after his appointment as Commander of the Eighth Army chatting to Air-Vice-Marshal Sir Arthur Coningham. Winston Churchill speaks (live) to the House of Commons giving a laudatory introductory speech before Field Marshal Jan C Smuts addresses the House. Churchill states "and I ask you, all of you, to signify your feelings by rising and giving him (Smuts) the acclamation which his character, his life works equally deserves." Smuts stands to a loud ovation, David Lloyd George is seated next to him on the podium. The commentary outlines events leading to the Commonwealth victory at El Alamein and the role of the army, navy and air force in achieving it over stock shot footage of British infantry in the desert, and a Royal Navy barrage from ships of the Mediterranean Fleet. Air to ground footage shows 250lb bombs dropping and impacting on and around an Axis motorised supply column. British soft-skinned vehicles drive in a supply column past Halfaya Pass. Universal carriers, M3 General Grant and M4 General Sherman tanks of the Eighth Army advance towards Mersa Matruh. The commentary briefly outlines the Allied invasion of Vichy-French North Africa (Operation Torch) over views of merchant vessels in convoy and HMS Penn at sea. British Bren gun carriers of the Eighth Army drive into the outskirts of Bardia. Hundreds of Italian prisoners of war march in a column across desert terrain. British infantry walk into Tobruk armed with Lee-Enfield .303-in Mk III rifles (cf WPN 81). The commentary outlines and updates the events of Operation Torch, highlighting the landings in Algeria. United States (US) infantry drive off a Landing Craft Mechanised (LCM) in a Willys Jeep towing a 37mm M4 anti-tank gun. US infantry congregate on a beach during landings in the environs of Algiers as LCMs manoeuvre in shallow water. The commentary explains that the Allied landings in Algeria were designed specifically to forestall any German incursions and that the order for the surrender of Algiers came directly from Admiral Jean Francois Darlan. US infantry run for the cover of a doorway as a sniper (unseen) opens fire. Ships of the Eastern Task Force (Major-General Ryder) lie at anchor in the environs of Algiers, protected from Axis air attack by tethered barrage balloons. British soft-skinned vehicles and M3 General Stuart light tanks enter the outskirts of Benghazi (Cyrenaica). RAF Supermarine Spitfire Mk V (tropical) fighters are shown in flight. British soft-skinned vehicles and armoured cars (Humber Mk I ?) pass through the Italian ceremonial Arch known to the British as "Marble Arch" located on the border of Cyrenaica and Tripolitania. United States Army Air Force (USAAF) C-47 Skytrain transport aircraft taxi to a halt on a rough desert landing strip and park next to "Marble Arch". A USAAF crewman wearing a B3 jacket and shearling cap unloads an oil drum from the interior of a C-47's hold by throwing it out of the cargo door to the ground below. Assembled British infantry sing hymns at a Christmas day church service attended by General Bernard Law Montgomery, General Harold R L G Alexander and Air-Vice-Marshal Sir Arthur Coningham. Italian military and civilian members of the Axis Armistice Commission leave hurriedly under Allied guard from the Hotel D'Angleterre in Algiers as a growing crowd of French civilians jeer at them. Merchant ships unload supplies and men to consolidate the Allied occupation force in Algeria.

35mm