Description
Object description
Newsreel covers campaign in Poland, including Hitler's visit to troops and interviews with disillusioned Polish soldiers.
Full description
Battery of 15cm sFH 18 guns under camouflage netting fire against Polish positions, then infantry advance. Destroyed Polish bunkers and planes. Horse-drawn artillery column moves through burning town, followed by Pzkpfw Is and infantry. Commentary states that one of Germans' first tasks is to clear up guerrillas left behind by Polish government; one such, filmed in close-up, is identified as the notorious assassin von Konin (?), who tortured German prisoners to death and gouged out their eyes. Enemy propaganda during the 1914-1918 war claimed that the Germans had destroyed the Black Madonna of Czestochowa, disproved here by 1918 film of Polish church dignitaries leaving the church containing the sacred image, and England is now repeating the claim. Film shot on September 10 1939 disproves the allegation, as German soldiers emerge from Jasna Góra and replace their helmets. Rapid German advance is represented by columns moving along road. Destruction of bridges and roads by retreating Poles is made good by Organisation Todt workers in their distinctive white uniforms, who are seen digging and then lifting railway sleepers into position. Camera pans across a pontoon bridge which spans a river. Luftwaffe plays important part in the campaign; Bf 109Es fly low and a Dornier Do 17 taxies to a halt after reconnaissance mission. Camera is removed and processed reel of film dried on wheel before details are interpreted and passed to Army. Stuka after landing. as a veteran of the Great War Hitler visits the front; Führer stands over a map in his special train with Keitel and Jodl by his side, then steps down from the train and is driven off in open Mercedes-Benz to the Front Line past a shattered bridge and columns of soldiers. Hitler stands smiling and surrounded by his soldiers, then is handed flowers by women (presumably Volksdeutsche). Tour continues along dusty sunlit road. Commentary notes that the knowledge that they are fighting under the eyes of the Führer inspires the troops to unimaginable feats. Hitler with Keitel watches the passage of German troops over the river Vistula. Long lines of Polish prisoners, described as victims of Britain's provocative policy and glad no longer to be tools of Britain's interests in a hopeless fight, enter a temporary camp. Poles stand eating as camera pans slowly over mass; a German soldier hands out cigarettes. Live interviews with prisoners are subtitled in German and reveal that Poles had no desire for war, that most are unemployed or very poorly paid and that they had been told that Germans lived in great poverty and had nothing to eat. Polish refugees return home with their possessions on farm carts and leading cows. Relief work by German army and NSV (Nationalsozialistische Volkswohlfahrt) includes a military mobile kitchen dispensing food to women and children while a band plays in a town square. Members of the SS and SA are in evidence. NSV hands out loaves of bread. Poles rest happily in the sun. German troops entering Polish town receive rapturous welcome from Volksdeutsche who have been oppressed by Poles for last twenty years. Large crowds heil as Pzkpfw IIIs and IVs enter town followed by Army officers in car and infantry on foot. German national anthem on soundtrack.
Physical description
16mm