WAR PICTORIAL NEWS NO 179 [Main Title]

Log in to create clips, download free screeners and save clips/films in Collections. Click here to find out more.

  • Title: WAR PICTORIAL NEWS NO 179 [Main Title]
  • Film Number: WPN 179
  • Other titles:
  • Summary: An edition of the British official newsreel "War Pictorial News", produced by the Ministry of Information, Middle East.
  • Description: I. 'QUEBEC.' Winston Churchill, Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Canadian Prime Minister W L MacKenzie King pose for photographs in Quebec Citadel following the conclusion of the Second Quebec Conference (September 12-16 1944). Brief footage shows MacKenzie King (and Eleanor Roosevelt ?) greeting guests at an official reception following the conference. The commentary states that the aim of the Second Quebec Conference was "Total victory quickly." Churchill and MacKenzie King drive off in an open tourer as civilians cheer. II. 'FRANCE.' Panoramic views of Naples Harbour show assembled Allied merchantmen and landing craft set aside to support the landing of the US 7th Army in the South of France (Operation Dragoon). US soft-skins and vast quantities of crated supplies wait on quaysides as tethered barrage balloons fly overhead. Aerial footage shows United States Army Air Force (USAAF) Douglas C-47 Skytrain transport aircraft dropping sticks of paratroopers over unidentified terrain (probably members of the US 1st Airborne Task Force dropping between Cannes and Hyères in Southern France). A US infantryman moves forward under the cover of exploding white phosphorus (WP) rifle grenades. US VI Corps infantry move off invasion beachheads and move inland through pine scrubland. A US VI Corps infantryman fires a rifle grenade (M9A1 anti-tank grenade ?) from an M1 .30-inch Garand self-loading rifle. US infantry, armed with M1 .30-inch carbines escort scores of German Army prisoners back to the embarkation points. A pair of US M10 Wolverine tank destroyers use their 3-inch guns to destroy concrete tank obstacles. Brief footage shows French civilians waving and giving "victory" salutes to camera during the liberation of Marseilles. Civilians wave at passing US soft-skins on the approaches to Lyons. Scores of mainly female collaborators are marched away by armed Maquis resistance fighters. German snipers are flushed out of their vantage point in the high-domed roof of a Lyons hospital. The dome catches fire during the engagement as incendiary tracer bullets ignite combustibles in the interior of the building. Hospital patients are carried from the burning building on stretchers. III. 'RUSSIA.' An item covering the entry of Russian forces into an unidentified Russian town. A Russian T-34/76D tank raises dust as it passes the camera position at high speed. Stock shots show Russian T-34/76D tanks and tank descent infantry moving at speed over steppeland. Russian infantry using a T-34/76 tank as cover, wade across a stream on the outskirts of a deserted village. The commentary points out that the retreating Nazis have displayed their usual savagery by burning and pillaging. Panoramic views show the shells of burned and gutted buildings. Russian T-34/85 tanks carrying infantry on their hulls, drive past burning buildings. Russian civilians attempt to rescue personal belongings from a burning house. Russian M4 Sherman (lend-lease) and T-34/85 tanks drive into the centre of the badly damaged town. The commentary stresses that Russia has suffered grievously, but as her armies sweep westwards, they know that the Germans are now only fighting to stave off the inevitable defeat that will come at the hands of the Allied forces.
  • Alternative Title:
  • Colour: B&W
  • Digitised: Yes
  • Object_Number: WPN 179
  • Sound: Sound
  • Access Conditions: IWM © IWM
  • Featured Period: 1939-1945
  • Production Date: 1944-10-09-1944-10-09
  • Production Country:GB
  • Production Details:Ministry of Information, Middle East (Production sponsor) War Pictorial News (Production Company) Martin, Charles (Production individual) Keating, Rex (Production cast)
  • Personalities, Units and Organisations:Churchill, Winston Leonard Spencer (person) Roosevelt, Franklin Delano (person)
  • Keywords:
  • Physical Characteristics:Colour format: B&W Sound format: Sound Soundtrack language: English Title language: English Subtitle language: Arabic
  • Technical Details:35mm Number of items/reels/tapes: 1 Footage: 757 ft; Running time: 8 mins
  • HD Media:Yes
  • Link to IWM Collections page:

    WPN 179

  • Related IWM Collections Objects:
Register