Description
Object description
An edition of the British official newsreel "War Pictorial News", produced by the Ministry of Information, Middle East aimed at an American audience (most likely US Forces).
Full description
I. 'SMASHING GERMAN WAR TARGETS.' This item duplicates Item IV of WPN 135.
Full description
II. 'NEWS OF THE WAR IN ITALY.' United States (US) Fifth Army engineers operate distillation equipment using sea water taken from the Bay of Naples. A British Army officer helps a Neapolitan woman carry a washing pail filled with clean water. US Fifth Army Commander Lieutenant-General Mark W Clark arrives by Piper L-4 Grasshopper Light Observation and Liaison monoplane and is shown talking to an unidentified 82nd Airborne Division officer. US infantry march along a road in the environs of Naples carrying Garand .30-inch self-loading rifles. British infantry disembark from a Landing Craft Infantry (LCI) as bombs explode in the shallows (Salerno ?). British Eighth Army artillerymen fire an Ordnance 25-pounder howitzer at high elevation. British infantry inspect an abandoned Luftwaffe Messerschmitt Bf 110(C?) fighter of 5/ZG1 Wespengeschwader (S9+FM) at Foggia Airfield. Panoramic views show bomb damaged aircraft hangars at Foggia. German Army prisoners of war board a merchant ship under the watchful gaze of US Army military police.
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III. 'CHINESE ARMY PREPARES FOR ACTION IN BURMA. United States (US) General Joseph Stilwell inspects US equipped Chinese Nationalist troops at a Burmese training ground. Chinese Nationalist troops stand to attention (armed with Thompson M1 .45-inch sub-machine guns and Garand .30-inch self-loading rifles) as Stilwell walks past. Chinese Nationalist troops construct Bamboo rafts prior to swimming across the Salween River. Brief footage shows a jungle skirmish with Chinese Nationalist troops firing a Browning .30-inch water-cooled machine gun, M1 Thompson sub-machine guns and a US 75mm pack howitzer. US and Chinese nurses tend to Chinese Nationalist wounded. United States Army Air Force (USAAF) Curtiss P-40 fighter aircraft overfly a Chinese Nationalist marching column.
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IV. 'US NAVY BLAST WAKE ISLAND BY SEA AND AIR.' Aerial footage shows a United States Navy (USN) Douglas SBD Dauntless dive bomber overflying elements of a USN carrier force (individual surface vessels unidentifiable as camera aircraft is too high). A Grumman TBF Avenger aircraft is towed across the deck of an unidentified USN aircraft carrier with its wings folded. Map shows Pacific USN area of operations. Dauntless SBD bombers attack Japanese positions on Wake Island. Cockpit views show a Dauntless dive-bombing attack on wake. Camera gun footage (taken from a Grumman F4F Wildcat ?) shows an attack on a Japanese merchant ship in the environs of Wake. Smoke rises over Wake Island following the heavy USN surface and air bombardment of Japanese positions.
Physical description
35mm