WORLD PICTORIAL NEWS NO 232 [Main Title]

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

I. 'BRITAIN'S FINEST HOUR.' Large civilian crowds throng Trafalgar Square in London during an exhibition of captured German military equipment (of which only a Flak 36 88mm anti-aircraft gun and PzKpfw IV tank are visible). Group Captain Douglas RS Bader chats to Air Chief Marshal Hugh C T Dowding at North Weald Aerodrome prior to leading the Royal Air Force (RAF) Battle of Britain fifth anniversary fly-past. Other RAF personnel evident at North Weald include Peter Brothers, Roy Bush, Billy Drake, John Ellis, "Hawkeye" Wells, Tim Vigors and Dennis Crowley-Milling. Brief footage shows the White Cliffs of Dover and RAF Supermarine Spitfire Mk IA fighter aircraft taking off from a grass air strip (no squadron codes visible). Stock shot Camera Gun Footage (CGF) from the Battle of Britain shows attacks on German Heinkel He 111 bombers and Messerschmitt Bf 109E fighter aircraft. Group Captain Bader climbs into the cockpit of his Spitfire (Mk IX?) prior to leading the fly-past over London. Aerial footage taken during the fly-past shows St Paul's Cathedral below. Cut to the exhibition in Trafalgar Square where civilian crowds view a German Focke-Wulf Fw 190A3 fighter and a Heinkel He 162 Volksjäger jet fighter aircraft. RAF personnel march to Westminster Abbey to attend a thanksgiving service. A commemorative Fighter Command plaque is shown inscribed with the names of aircrew who were killed during the Battle of Britain.

II. 'BELSEN TRIALS.' German civilians stand outside Lüneburg Courthouse during the war crimes trial of German guards from Belsen concentration camp. British female military police search female civilians at the doorway of the courthouse. Interior footage shows the accused Germans filing into the large dock. Close up footage shows Josef Kramer, "The Beast of Belsen."

III. 'JAPAN- SURRENDER SIGNED.' Aerial footage shows United States Army Air Force (USAAF) Douglas C-54 Skymaster transport aircraft parked on hardstanding on an unidentified airfield (possibly the Japanese airfield of Atsugi near Tokyo). A map shows the position of Atsugi in relation to Tokyo. A C-54 Skymaster aircraft taxies to a halt at Atsugi. United States (US) infantry disembark from the transport aircraft. Panoramic footage taken from a US Navy (USN) landing craft shows Yokosuka (Tokyo Bay), the intended venue for the US seaborne landings of occupation troops. Brief footage shows the former Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) base at Yokosuka. Japanese sailors still occupying the partially sunk hulk of IJN Nagato, wave to camera. General Douglas MacArthur (Supreme Allied Commander South West Pacific Area), General Jonathan M Wainwright and Lieutenant-General James H Doolittle (Commander US 8th Air Force) embark onto USS Missouri anchored in Tokyo Bay for the formal surrender of Japan (September 2 1945). The grim-faced Japanese delegation arrive on the battleship led by Mamoru Shigemitsu, the newly appointed Foreign Minister. Mamoru Shigemitsu and Japanese General Yoshijiro Umezu (Chief of Staff) sign the Instrument of Surrender. General MacArthur signs on behalf of the Allies and presents to US General Wainwright and British Lieutenant-General Arthur Ernest Percival pens used during the capitulation ceremony.

35mm