Description
Object description
Portuguese version of German newsreel from May 1940.
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I. Aerial shots of Ju 87s over Western Front, "preventing concentration of enemy forces"
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II. German conquest of Holland. Heinkel He 111s take off and bomb Dutch targets, with ground film of explosions in distance. Paratroops jump from three Ju 52s (aerial film) over Rotterdam, and supply canisters follow them down. One parachute hangs, caught on a building. Film in dock area records Ju 52s overhead and blazing port installations. Germans occupy strategic points before Dutch soldier bearing white flag comes forward to surrender. Capitulation of Holland on 15 May after military leaders "realise it is useless to continue resistance"; Dutch officers arrive to arrange surrender with German victors seated round table over maps. Germans drive through city past men's clothing shop, then tracking shot shows deserted outskirts. Port installations blaze across harbour. Commentary blames Dutch authorities for causing destruction by their senseless resistance. Close-ups show blazing buildings, past which German soldiers move with their helmets silhouetted against the flames. Aerial view of devastated buildings and port area. Dutch civilians walk past ruined buildings and rubble.
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III. German Army pauses to rest during westward advance. German soldiers pass sign in French and Flemish "Dover. Route to England". Line of unhelmeted soldiers pass along country road, filmed from behind barbed wire. Mechanised forces pass. Troops by roadside rest, apparently utterly exhausted: one pair are asleep in a motorcycle combination, others lie in a ditch as horses graze and others sleep on horse-drawn carts. Soldier asleep, another sleeping in BMW sidecar.
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IV. German advance and capture of Sédan. Sdkfz 251 personnel carrier camouflaged with branch fords river opposite stone tower on far side. Pzkpfw 38 and IV (latter with 4th Panzer Division insignia ?) cross river by pontoon. Crossing point is protected by light flak, as Sdkfz 222 armoured car passes. Artillery opens fire against French attempting to hold up German advance. In distance Sédan blazes before Germans enter town (railway station name sign) and engage in street-fighting, past signs for Alken and Coca Cola.
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V. Germans cross Maginot Line and take Liège and Brussels. Aerial view of Liège Fortress. German soldier looks at Maginot Line pillbox. Swastika now flies over Liège Fortress after its capture and German soldiers walk around battlements. Aerial view of Brussels. Aerial film shot from Fieseler Storch (shadow visible on ground) shows long column of Germans entering fallen city. German soldiers hand out flysheets titled Memoranda to explain the situation to civilians; one Belgian reads poster on wall.
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VI. Germans defeat French armoured counterattack at Sédan. Two French signposts indicate directions to Bazeilles, Montmédy, Bouillon, Liège and Mezières, Vouziers-Rethel and Raucourt. German armour passes by on road. French tanks in massed formation (training film presumably) cross field in "desperate attempt"; aerial film of Heinkel He 111s in flight, artillery opening fire, Ju 87 diving, flak, railway gun and heavy howitzer fire suggest how enemy concentrations were broken down. Wrecked French tanks on battlefield are filmed from the air and in close-up on ground to show details of shell penetration and general destruction to armour. Reel ends with German victory song and montage of advancing German forces.
Physical description
35mm