WAR PICTORIAL NEWS NO 164 [Main Title]

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

I. 'FALL OF ROME.' British Eighth Army infantry meet United States Fifth Army troops somewhere on the road to Rome. The soldiers congregate near parked 4x4 GP Jeeps (Willys ?) chatting to their opposite numbers and shaking hands for the benefit of the camera. Canadian sappers sweep for mines in an Italian field as smoke rises in the distance. Canadian infantry from 1 Corps, laden with personal kit and Lee-Enfield .303-in Mk III and IV rifles. Partially camouflaged Eighth Army M4 Sherman tanks ford one of the many river courses crossing the Allied line of advance. British tank crews inspect a knocked-out German PzKpfw IV with long L/48 7.5cm gun. The commentary states that the Canadian forces have taken their quota of German prisoners over footage of German Wehrmacht and Fallschirmjäger prisoners of war walking along a country road in the environs of the Liri Valley. Well camouflaged M4 Sherman tanks carrying cigarette smoking Canadian infantry drive past the camera in the Liri Valley near Ponte Corvo. Bare chested gun crews load and fire Ordnance QF 25-pounder howitzers at high elevation from the cover of camouflage netting. Canadian infantry run across building rubble near the hamlet of Aquina. Stock shots show a Royal Air Force (RAF) Supermarine Spitfire (Mk VC ?) fighter flying at low-level. The commentary states that the Allies' tactical air force has established complete air superiority, sweeping enemy aircraft from the skies.

II. 'INVASION OF FRANCE.' Stock shots show members of the Allied supreme command in conference in London, including Lieutenant General Walter Bedell-Smith, Admiral Sir Bertram Ramsey and General Bernard Law Montgomery seated at a table with a wall map of Northern Europe in the background. Close-up footage shows Lieutenant-General Carl Spaatz and Air Chief Marshal Sir Trafford Leigh-Mallory in conversation. The commentary points out that it has been almost four years to the day since the British Army was hurled off the continent of Europe (Dunkirk evacuation), but that since then the Allied armies have had much training in the "new way" of making total war. British Commando troops carrying Lee-Enfield No.IV .303-in rifles and M1 .45-in Thompson sub-machine guns embark onto small coastal craft from a wooden jetty (cf A70 25/1 Warsash near the mouth of the Hamble River ?) on the first stage of their journey to the Normandy beaches. United States infantry laden with personal kit march through an unidentified town (SW England) on their way to D-Day embarkation points. US infantry climb into a berthed Landing Craft Mechanised (LCM). Aerial footage shows a United States Army Air Force (USAAF) Martin Marauder bomber aircraft (US 9th Army Air Force) in flight, sporting black/white invasion banding on its wings and fuselage. Stock shots show Allied bombs dropping and impacting in Northern France. Aerial footage shows a flight of six USAAF Martin B-26 Marauder aircraft overflying the Allied invasion fleet at medium altitude. The commentary highlights the role of rocket-firing Allied tactical aircraft in neutralising German coastal defences. Camera Gun Footage (CGF) shows an Allied rocket attack on a concrete defensive block-house (probably an attack by rocket-firing Hawker Typhoon aircraft of the Second Tactical Air Force). German Wehrmacht prisoners are guarded at Bernières sur Mer railway station. Stock shots show General Montgomery arriving at Grange-Sur-Mer by Royal Army Service Corps (633rd GT Company-RASC) DUKW amphibious truck (DUKW 633-B-19 "MARIA"). British civilians read newspapers bearing the headline "The Invasion Of Europe Begins."

35mm