UNITED NEWS [Series Title]

Edition of US-produced wartime newsreel, featuring scenes at Myitkyina in northern Burma, American servicewomen sightseeing in Egypt, an American artillery barrage in Normandy, and the final stages of the battle for Saipan in the Pacific.

Part 1: United News main titles. 'Allies win Myitkyina airstrip'; map of the Pacific and Western Pacific and South East Asia. An arrow highlights Myitkyina in northern Burma. A glider-towing Douglas C-47 Skytrain (Dakota) passes overhead. View from a glider cockpit. Glider pilot. American soldier with Thompson submachine gun looks out a window. Aerial view of the Myitkyina airstrip. Gliders landing. American troops with a parked Dakota. Chinese troops carrying supplies. Nose of a Dakota with marking 'Uncle Joe's Chariot' with China-Burma-India (CBI) theatre badge. Lieutenant-General Stilwell, commander CBI theatre, shakes hands with General Frank Merrill. Close-up Stilwell. A crashed Dakota, standing on its nose. View of the nose with name 'Jolly Roger'. An apparently enemy fighter aircraft attacks a target beyond the edge of the airstrip. A surgical team led by Dr Gordon Seagrave at work in the open. Wounded men are put on ambulances.

Part 2: 'U.S. service women tour Egypt'; women enjoying the sights from a high balcony, with a large mosque in the background. At the Cairo City Police Canteen. The Great Sphinx; women pose for photos. Women amongst the ruins at the Sphinx. They take a camel ride.

Part 3: 'All U.S. guns in Normandy barrage'; General Eisenhower in an orchard with senior American officers, including Lieutenant-General Bradley (commander 1st Army), Major-General Ira Wyche (commander 79th Infantry Division) and a brigadier. Eisenhower departs by jeep. Talking to Major-General 'Lightning Joe' Collins (commander VII Corps). A line of (155mm?) shells with chalk words on each; together they read 'To Adolf, Hermann, Josef and Erwin, Happy 4th of July'. American gunnery officer with stopwatch. A gunner stands by to load a shell inscribed 'Happy 4th Adolph!' [sic]. The shell is loaded. General Bradley waits to fire a 'Long Tom'. The gunnery officer with the stopwatch yells 'Fire!'. The general pulls the lanyard to fire the gun. Various shots of guns in action. In a Normandy town square an American flag is raised and French school children sing 'My Country, 'Tis of Thee'.

Part 4: 'Final stages of Saipan battle'; drawing of Saipan shows size of the island (16 miles by 6 miles) with Garapan marked. United States Army Air Forces' P-47 Thunderbolt fighters land on Aslito airstrip, since renamed Conroy Field (one aircraft is serial 276776 'C'). A Thunderbolt (marked with an 'Eight Ball' on its cowling) taxiing. A US Navy Grumman Avenger taking off; it is marked '17' and has '12' in a triangle on the tail. Aircraft make strafing attacks. Wide shot with plumes of black smoke on a distant hillside across a body of water. A mushroom cloud of smoke, apparently from a bombed Japanese ammunition dump. At Hill 500, Lieutenant-Colonel Evans Carlson watches progress. Shermans move along a road. Jeeps and lorries along a road. Shermans pass churning up fine dust. Infantry cross open ground. Group of officers (?) in discussion. Troops on a hillside and among tall grass. Gunners preparing ammunition. Man observes through binoculars. Wide shot; a valley with steep and wooded slopes. Bombardment by artillery and self-propelled gun. Wide shot smoke drifting and shells impacting. Further shots of bombardment. A lorry carrying troops moves off. A burning hut. Map of the Pacific; a line shows the distance from Saipan to Tokyo and the Philippines as 1,500 miles. American troops with a captured Japanese flag. American troops laughing with close-ups. End title.

35mm