WAR PICTORIAL NEWS NO 119 [Main Title]

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

I. 'NEWS FROM ENGLAND-UNITED NATIONS DAY.' United Nations Day is celebrated in London with a march past and salute to the flag. The event is attended by many Allied dignitaries and Commonwealth representatives. Guardsmen carry the flags of the United Nations as they march along the Mall watched by civilian spectators. General Sir Bernard Paget (Commander-in-Chief Home Forces) and General Sir Arthur Smith (Commanding London District) take the salute standing on the Duke of York's Steps as the flag-bearers form a guard of honour. The march past includes contingents from the Royal Navy (RN), Royal Air Force (RAF), Women's Royal Naval Service (WRNS) and the Women's Land Army. Representatives from the three fighting services carry flags of the British Commonwealth.

II. 'THE QUEEN VISITS A.T.S.' Queen Elizabeth and the Princess Royal visit an ordnance depot staffed by members of the ATS during a tour of ATS units serving the Greater London area. The Queen accompanied by Princess Elizabeth talks to female workers at the ordnance depot, they later meet the Prime Minister's daughter Mary Churchill who is serving in the ATS. Mary Churchill accompanies the royal party on a tour of an anti-aircraft battery. Women from the ATS operate fire control and aircraft altitude predictor equipment, forming an integral part of overall anti-aircraft operations as the Queen stands in the predictor pit. Gunners traverse an Ordnance QF 3.7-in anti-aircraft gun as the commentary points out that Britain's anti-aircraft defence system is largely operated by girls.

III. 'MONTGOMERY IN LONDON.' General Bernard Law Montgomery is mobbed by civilian well-wishers as he gets out of an official car during a visit to the War Office in Whitehall. Similar scenes occur when the General visits the Hippodrome Theatre in the Charing Cross Road. A wall-mounted Hippodrome Theatre poster advertises Cole Porter's "Lets Face It" as the current attraction. Civilian crowds converge from all directions as Montgomery gets back into his official car. Later, Montgomery stands on the bonnet of a Willys MB 4x4 Jeep (General Purpose vehicle) and addresses a contingent of assembled British troops (North Africa ?).

IV. 'SICILY.' British infantry laden with personal equipment and weapons, move from the South Eastern beaches of Sicily as the perimeter of Allied action expands from the beachheads. British troops struggle ashore from landing craft carrying Lee-Enfield .303-in Mk III rifles and Thompson M1A1 .45-in sub-machine guns above their heads to avoid the surf. Eighth Army Universal carriers and an M7 Priest Self Propelled Gun (US 105mm Howitzer) carrying grim-faced infantry move inland. Italian Army prisoners described as "Fascist dupes", wade through surf and scramble aboard a landing craft. Italian prisoners awaiting embarkation congregate in a small drystone enclosure, a German 2cm Flakvierling 38 anti-aircraft gun stands abandoned in the foreground. British Universal carriers, soft-skinned vehicles and DUKW 2.5-ton 6x6 amphibians drive through a Sicilian olive grove on their way to the front. British M4 Sherman tanks (cast and three piece noses) drive along a dusty track that passes through a citrus grove. Men of the 51st Highland Division march along a road watched by Sicilian children. A Universal carrier drives past a Fascist slogan painted on the wall of a building which reads "For others the Mediterranean is a communications route, for us Italians it is our life." An Italian war memorial commemorating the dead from the First World War is shown (erected in Anno VII Era Fascista), as the commentary makes the point that in 1915 the Italians were on the right side but for the sons of those earlier Italians the war is over.

35mm