Description
Object description
An edition of the British official newsreel "War Pictorial News", produced by the Ministry of Information, Middle East.
Full description
I. 'TROOPS VISIT KING FAROUK'S MODEL FARM.' A contingent of British and Commonwealth troops, including members of various women's services, visit King Farouk's model farm situated between Cairo and Ismailia. The visiting party is shown at the entrance to Farouk's farm, having arrived earlier by military soft-skinned vehicles. A New Zealand Women's Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC) member feeds an ostrich through the fence of its enclosure watched by Egyptian civilians. British and New Zealand troops wearing battledress watch a member of the Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS) feeding a giant turtle. A New Zealand WAAC handles small baby turtles. Other elements of the visiting party tour orange groves adjacent to the farm. An ATS member eats a freshly picked orange with evident enjoyment. The commentary states that many of the visiting party had been farmers before the war and so the farm tour was of particular interest. ATS members and British soldiers enjoy a ride on some reluctant camels, others look at the horse enclosures. The British and Commonwealth visitors enjoy a banquet at the end of an enjoyable tour of King Farouk's farm.
Full description
II. 'FRAGMENTS FROM ITALY.' Panoramic footage shows an unidentified Southern Italian fishing village in the environs of Naples. Views of the port show fishing vessels and Allied landing craft tied up at quays, as Monte Vesuvio (Mount Vesuvius) smokes in the distance. Italian Army personnel and civilians work together to clear rubble in the town of Isernia, Campo Basso. A caterpillar tractor moves rubble in the same area. A Royal Air Force (RAF) aircraftman is watched by Italian civilians as he lays telephone cables from a spool mounted on the rear of a General Purpose utility vehicle (Jeep-Willys quarter-ton ?). The cable-laying is continued by another aircraftman on the balcony of an Italian house who moves Italian civilians out of his way as he works his way along the balcony. The commentary stresses the fact that supplies for the British Eighth Army and United States Fifth Army continue to pour into Southern Italian ports over views of merchant shipping being unloaded at an undisclosed location. a close-up of supply crates show that they are destined for the RAF and contain 20mm cannon ammunition for aircraft. An M3/M4 tank track link is hoisted from the hold of a berthed merchantman and placed on the rear of a waiting soft-skin. United States Army Air Force (USAAF) 500-lb bombs are off-loaded from a narrow gauge railway flatcar by Italian prisoners of war. A fork-lift truck is used to load 250-lb bombs onto the back of a waiting soft-skin. Stock shots show DUKW 2.5-ton 6x6 amphibians being loaded with supplies from a Allied Liberty ship. DUKW "Cute Diane" is driven from the surf and up a beach in Southern Italy. British Eighth Army soft-skinned vehicles and an M4 Sherman tank (cast nose) have difficulty negotiating muddy conditions near the Sangro River (Chieti).
Full description
III. 'NEW GUINEA-AN EPIC OF JUNGLE WARFARE.' Views of the rugged country near Salamaua (New Guinea) is shown as the commentary points out that although the region is now back under Australian control, winning it back from the Japanese proved to be an arduous task. Ground to air footage shows United States Army Air Force (USAAF) Consolidated B-24 Liberator bombers flying at high altitude. Ground views show shock waves from Allied bombs impacts spreading across the jungle canopy. A USAAF North American B-25 Mitchell bomber attacks concealed Japanese positions at low level. The aircraft is hit in the port engine by ground fire and the pilot narrowly avoids crashing into the jungle as smoke pours from his damaged engine. The commentary points out that although the world's attention has been focused on events in the Mediterranean and in Russia, a grim relentless war has been waged in the steaming jungles of Salamaua. Australian infantry move through thick jungle foliage armed with Lee-Enfield Mk III .303-in rifles. Australian infantrymen fire a water-cooled Vickers .303-in heavy machine gun at a distant mountain ridge. Air to air footage shows USAAF Douglas C-47 Skytrain transport aircraft overflying mist-shrouded mountainous terrain and dropping supplies by parachute. New Guinean bearers carry supplies through the jungle and across a make-shift bridge. An Australian brigadier calls his officers together for a conference at a tented encampment in the jungle. Australian officers sit on the ground and consult maps during a tactical briefing. Australian infantry move out of a jungle clearing armed with Lee-Enfield Mk III rifles and M1A1 Thompson .45-in sub-machine guns. Australian soldiers move through the jungle supported by fire from mortars and directed fire from a Bren .303-in light machine gun. A prone Australian infantryman fires a Boys .55-in anti-tank rifle at an unseen target. A captured Japanese fieldgun and a mountain howitzer are used against unseen Japanese positions. Australian wounded are tended to in a jungle clearing as their comrades, looking on, smoke cigarettes. Australian infantry stand bareheaded in the rain during a burial service for their fallen comrades. Two Australian soldiers shelter from the rain using a poncho and share a cigarette. Film footage taken by Australian cameraman Damien Parer shows Private W O Johnson of 58/59 Battalion suffering from an injury to his eyes being led across a stream in the environs of Salamaua by Sergeant G R Ayre. Japanese dead lie near defensive tunnel works. B-25 bomber aircraft (USAAF ?) perform a low-level strafing attack over the jungle canopy.
Physical description
35mm