WAR PICTORIAL NEWS NO 81 [Main Title]

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  • Title: WAR PICTORIAL NEWS NO 81 [Main Title]
  • Film Number: WPN 81
  • Other titles:
  • Summary: An edition of the British official newsreel "War Pictorial News", produced by the Ministry of Information, Middle East.
  • Description: I. 'NEWS FROM ENGLAND.' Aerial footage shows Boeing B-17F Flying Fortress bomber aircraft parked on hardstanding at an undisclosed airfield location. Brief footage shows parked and uncamouflaged B-17C Flying Fortress aircraft in Royal Air Force (RAF) livery (footage is probably taken at the Boeing Works in Seattle). United States Army Air Force (USAAF) armourers work on .50-inch Browning heavy machine guns in the defensive waist gun position and ventral ball turret of a Boeing B-17 (England ?). A B-17's ball turret guns are test fired while the aircraft is parked and chocked. USAAF ground crews hand-prime the engines of a B-17(E or F). USAAF groundcrews winch GP bombs into the bomb bay of Fortress "Yankee Doodle." Interior footage shows B-17 waist gunners swinging their .50-inch Browning machine guns into position prior to a sortie. Boeing B-17(E?) 12-4418 takes off from an undisclosed location. Internal footage shows B-17 waist gunners posing with their guns (footage has been taken on the ground as the gunners do not wear any insulated flight clothing, essential at operating altitudes). USAAF B-17 Flying Fortress bombers take off for a mission as groundcrews wave from the sides of the runway. Aerial footage shows Boeing B-17(F?) 12-4413 in flight formation. Fortress 12-9415 releases its bomb load over the target area. Stock shots show bombs impacting far below. II. 'THE AXIS GOES (RUNS) WEST.'(Titling has "Goes" replaced by "Runs" by a hand using a paint brush) Captured German General Ritter von Thoma is introduced to General Bernard Law Montgomery at his tented encampment in the desert (location undisclosed). Stock shots show a large column of Italian Army prisoners of war in desert terrain. The commentary states that the Germans had seized the Italian's transport vehicles in their eagerness to retreat. Footage taken at a former German Luftwaffe desert airstrip shows abandoned and unserviceable Messerschmitt Bf 109F/Trop fighters of I/JG 53 "Pik-As". A partially damaged German DFS 230 glider is inspected by British troops. Partially dismantled Bf 109F/Trop fighters stand in airfield blast pens, their engines covered by protective tarpaulin. Brief footage shows a Messerschmitt Bf 108 Taifun communications aircraft with its canopy open. Stock shot footage shows long columns of British Eighth Army soft-skinned vehicles on the road to Mersa Matruh. Eighth Army M3 Grant tanks, Crusaders and M4 Sherman tanks (three piece noses) enter Mersa Matruh. Partially sunk merchant shipping lies in the harbour of Mersa Matruh. Italian Army prisoners of war shelter under the wing of a damaged Italian Regia Aeronautica Fiat (Caccia Rosatelli) CR 42 Falco fighter aircraft. A Royal Tank Regiment Crusader drives past the camera position, its commander wears a civilian sheepskin overcoat. British Army M4A1 Shermans drive in convoy along a desert road. Aerial footage shows long column of Eighth Army soft-skins on the move. Italian Army Autoblinda 40 armoured cars burn by the road side. Brief footage shows partially dismantled German Luftwaffe Messerschmitt Bf 109E/Trop and Bf 110 fighter aircraft at an airfield near Sidi Barrani. General Bernard Law Montgomery chats to Air Vice Marshal Sir Arthur Coningham (Commander Desert Air Force) as they consult maps at a tented encampment. Stock shot aerial footage shows (South African Air Force ?) Martin Baltimore Bomber aircraft flying in formation with USAAF North American B-25 Mitchell bombers over desert terrain (cf WPN 80). Bombs drop and impact on the desert floor. British Eighth Army soft-skins head towards Halfaya Pass. Eighth Army Universal carriers armed with Bren .303-inch machine guns and Boys .55-inch anti-tank rifles cross into Libya at a border checkpoint. Stock shots show Italian prisoners of war in the desert. A road sign reads "Tobruk-El Adem". A Swastika flag is taken from a flag pole in Tobruk and replaced with the Union Flag.
  • Alternative Title:
  • Colour: B&W
  • Digitised: Yes
  • Object_Number: WPN 81
  • Sound: Sound
  • Access Conditions: IWM Attribution: © IWM
  • Featured Period: 1939-1945
  • Production Date: 1942-11-23
  • Production Country: GB
  • Production Details: Ministry of Information, Middle East (Production sponsor) War Pictorial News (Production company) Martin, Charles (Production individual) Keating, Rex1910-02-142005-01British newsreel commentator, WW2 period (Production individual)
  • Personalities, Units and Organisations: Thoma, Wilhelm Josef Ritter von (person) Montgomery, Bernard Law (person) Coningham, Arthur (person)
  • Keywords: combat, British - air strike (object name) prisoners of war, German - movement (object name) destruction, Egyptian military - aimed: bomb (object name) destruction, Libyan military - aimed: bomb (object name) prisoners of war, Italian - movement (object name) Egypt & Mersa Matruh (geography) Egypt & Halfaya Pass (geography) Libya & Bardia (geography) Libya & Tobruk (geography)
  • Physical Characteristics: Colour format: B&W Sound format: Sound Soundtrack language: English Title language: English Subtitle language: French & Arabic
  • Technical Details: Format: 35mm Number of items/reels/tapes: 1 Footage: 945 ft; Running time: 11 mins
  • HD Media:Yes
  • Link to IWM Collections page:

    WPN 81

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