WAR PICTORIAL NEWS NO 88 [Main Title]

An edition of the British official newsreel "War Pictorial News", produced by the Ministry of Information, Middle East.

I. 'NEW BRITISH BATTLESHIPS.' HMS Howe and HMS Anson are brought into commission at their respective construction locations (Fairfield and Tyneside). Scores of shipyard workers file down a gang plank from one of the battleships, their work completed. Royal Navy (RN) ratings unload kitbags from a railway carriage and prepare to embark onto a King George V Class battleship. Grain sacks are unloaded from a train of the LMS line (London, Midlands, Scottish) during the process of provisioning for a complement of fifteen hundred men. Shells for the 14-in main armament are lifted by hoist into a main magazine. Royal Navy ratings queue at a pay parade, showing their pay books before receiving remuneration. HMS Owe slips from her graving dock with the assistance of a tug and starts her 4-shaft geared turbines. HMS Howe passes under the Forth Bridge on her way to the open sea. The commentary states "Anson and Howe, they live, possessing the soul and the voice of Britain" as a King George V Class battleship (HMS Howe ?) fires its 5.25-in secondary armament at an unseen target.

II. 'FIGHTING FRENCH COMMANDOS.' Free French naval infantry of the First Company, Fusiliers Marins practice a beach landing exercise armed with Lee-Enfield .303-in Mk III rifles and fixed bayonets. Fusiliers Marins, who are enrolled in a British Commando training unit watch unarmed combat instructors give a demonstration of their fighting techniques. A Fusilier Marin climbs from tree to tree using over-hanging branches, others negotiate a watercourse using a makeshift rope bridge. Fusiliers Marins climb up the frontal elevation of a house using its drain pipes for footholds as part of their training prior to joining No 2 Commando. Fusiliers Marins, described as the pick of the Fighting French, salute the French Tricolour flag, their Commando flashes evident on their uniforms.

III. 'GENOA BOMBED.' The commentary states that as the Allied air offensive gathers pace, the foundations of victory will lie in the munitions factories, where larger and larger bombs are being produced. A male factory worker uses a hoist to lift a 1000lb bomb from an internal store. Internal views of a munitions factory show molten iron being moulded by industrial presses into the shape of bomb casings. Male factory workers operate mixing and dispensing machinery used in the creation of the Trinitrotoluene (TNT) bomb filling. A female factory worker checks the earthing wire on bomb cases prior to filling them with TNT. Female factory workers use wooden implements to avoid sparks while packing bomb casings. Elsewhere, a Royal Air Force (RAF) 4X2 light tractor (David Brown VIG 1/462 ?) tows a trolley laden with 2000lb bombs prior to loading into the bomb bay of a Short Stirling bomber of 214 (Federated Malay States) Squadron RAF. A Squadron of RAF Avro Lancaster bombers (no Squadron code visible) start their engines prior to a sortie. Stock shot footage shows Avro Manchester bombers taking off and a Lancaster overflying a thick cloudbank. The commentary points out that with the coming of the dark winter nights, Turin and Genoa (Italy) are brought into the range of RAF Bomber Command. Lengthy air to ground footage shows the effect of a RAF incendiary raid at night on Genoa, with fires spreading and amalgamating. The commentary states "In the all-out United Nations offensive, assault by air will destroy the Axis cities one by one, until they beg for peace.

35mm