WAR PICTORIAL NEWS NO 101 [Main Title]

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

I. 'ROUGH RIDERS.' Members of the Royal Corps of Military Police (RCMP) receive training in the handling of motorcycles at a Military Police Training Depot near Cairo. Military policemen ride British Army motorcycles (Norton 633 ?) in convoy through the outskirts of Cairo watched by local residents. They then take the motorcycles along the Pyramids Road in the vicinity of Giza and out into desert terrain for some rough handling practice. In England Army drivers attend a similar institution learning to drive military vehicles under rough conditions. A lend-lease Willys MB 4x4 quarter-ton Jeep is driven down a very steep escarpment, displaying its excellent handling qualities. Jeep drivers wearing oilskins, negotiate wet moorland terrain and very deep mud-tracks at speed. British troops drive Universal carriers down very steep inclines and into a stream. Following the course of the shallow stream, the carriers are driven under a bridge and up a weir, the water coming to the level of the drive sprockets on the vehicle.

II. 'CHINA.' Chinese civilians line the streets of Chungking to watch a military parade and collecting drive on behalf of Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalist forces. The procession is led by school children carrying scores of Chinese Nationalist flags. Horses pull wheeled display floats of a patriotic and political nature, other items of interest include the display of a radio amplifier and large film projector showing its internal workings and blankets carried open by children so that the crowd can throw money into them. The commentary stresses that since the arrival of the "American air squadrons" Chungking is no longer under daily threat from Japanese air raids.

III. 'PROOF POSITIVE.' Titling introduces an item on the role of photographic reconnaissance and interpretation in supporting the Royal Air Force's bombing offensive. Avro Manchester Mk I bomber aircraft of 49 Squadron RAF overfly the English countryside in loose formation. A Manchester's dorsal gun turret is traversed in flight. A Manchester's Rolls-Royce Vulture 24-cylinder X engine is shown running. The commentary points out that the best indicator of RAF bombing success is a comparison of before and after reconnaissance photographs of the targets. A stock shot shows a 500lb bomb (manufactured in January 1942) being dropped from an unidentified aircraft. An RAF Wing Commander uses a map of Paris to orientate bombing reconnaissance photographs. RAF aircrew climb into a Bristol Blenheim Mk IV carrying an aircraft reconnaissance camera. Stock shot footage shows a Blenheim Mk IV of 30 Squadron RAF taking off from a grass strip. Footage taken on an RAF bombing raid on the Goodrich Tyre Factory near Paris shows air to ground views of the Seine River. The commentary states that the Goodrich Tyre Factory manufactures one quarter of the total French output of tyres, as reconnaissance photographs of the target area show the factory highlighted in white rectangles. A comparison of before and after aerial reconnaissance photographs shows the accuracy of the RAF bombing. The commentary states that the Goodrich Factory was a German asset, but that it is now a liability. An RAF Douglas Boston bomber flies at low level over the English Channel, apparently returning from the Goodrich mission. Women's Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF) personnel of a photographic development and interpretation section spool photographs onto a wooden frame to dry after the chemical developing process.

35mm