UNITED NEWS [Series Title]

Edition of US-produced wartime newsreel, featuring the bombing and salvage of the United States Navy aircraft carrier USS Franklin, the surrender of German submarines ('U-boats') off the American coast, and the ratification of the German surrender in Berlin.

'Carrier Franklin survives savage Japanese bombing'; aerial footage of three Corsair fighters in flight (the leading aircraft is marked '304' (or B04?) on its cowling) with a United States Navy aircraft carrier underway on the surface below. Surface wide shot of a carrier with an aircraft landing aboard. Wide shot with anti-aircraft fire bursting near a ship in the distance. A shot of a Japanese aircraft diving against a heavy barrage of anti-aircraft fire; it is hit, catches fire and explodes on hitting the water. Aerial camera gun footage shows a Japanese twin-engine aircraft hit by gunfire; a section of starboard wing shears off. Surface wide shot of single-engine fighter falling to the sea in a flat spin, after disintegrating under heavy fire; its tail and starboard wing have detached. Another aircraft hits the sea. Wide shot of the aircraft carrier USS Franklin with multiple explosions erupting from it, and an enormous plume of smoke rising. A brief shot, apparently taken from the deck of a burning carrier. Wide shot of the Franklin with multiple fires burning. On deck; a firefighting party with hoses. Wide shot; further explosions. Wounded sailors on deck. The Franklin's Jesuit chaplain, Chaplain Joseph O'Callaghan, administers the last rites to a wounded man on deck; O'Callaghan clasps his hands together in prayer. Franklin burning. A Fletcher Class destroyer, USS Miller (DD-535), coming alongside. Wide shot; Franklin listing heavily to port with a cruiser nearby. A line is thrown to the carrier. A cruiser's hoses spray water onto Franklin. On deck; the collapsed deck elevator. A view of the torn and burnt flight deck. A stretcher is transferred from the Franklin to a rescue ship, probably the cruiser USS Santa Fe. Another view of an explosion. Men jumping from Franklin to Santa Fe; one falls into the sea. Survivors on a raft and being pulled from the water. Franklin's torn ensign. View of the still-floating but scarred Franklin. On deck with a hospital ship in the background; O'Callaghan conducts a religious service. Franklin enters the Panama Canal. A parade on deck; crewmen receive decorations. Close-up a Petty Officer with the Purple Heart. Close-ups of crew members. Two men show off the Franklin's ensign, now preserved in a glazed wooden case. The Franklin passes the Statue of Liberty during its return to New York.

'German U-boats surrender at Atlantic ports'; off Cape May, New Jersey, a view from a ship, possibly the destroyer USS Pope, of a German submarine, U-858, on the surface and a small airship flying above it. Aerial views of the submarine. The submarine with US Navy motor launches nearby. An American prize crew on the deck of the submarine and searching the crew. Men on deck with the American flag flying over the submarine. The German crew; they are disembarked at Fort Miles. Off Portsmouth, New Hampshire; view of a German submarine with a 20mm gun and crew in the foreground. A black American sailor signals by lamp. The U-boat with American flag on the conning tower. The German crew disembark.

'Germans sign surrender in Berlin'; a group of Allied officers on a Berlin street. Pan of a bomb-devastated line of buildings. Allied officers view the Brandenburg Gate. The Reich Chancellery, its facade greatly marked by smoke and shrapnel. The Hotel Adlon on Unter den Linden. Brandenburg Gate. Parked Luftwaffe fighter aircraft (Focke-Wulf Fw-190s) at Standel airport (?); Air Chief Marshal Tedder (Royal Air Force, Deputy Supreme Allied Commander) and General Spaatz (United States Army Air Forces) meet Soviet officers. Field Marshal Keitel arrives to ratify the German surrender. A German Army school building. French General Jean Joseph Marie Gabriel de Lattre de Tassigny chats with General Zhukov. The Allied delegation enter and take their seats, led by Zhukov. Keitel enters with General Stumpff and Admiral Freideburg. Zhukov reads the terms. Keitel signs the terms. Zhukov signs. Zhukov shakes hands with Tedder and Spaatz.

35mm