WAR PICTORIAL NEWS NO 173 [Main Title]

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  • Title: WAR PICTORIAL NEWS NO 173 [Main Title]
  • Film Number: WPN 173
  • Other titles:
  • Summary: Italy.
  • Description: I. 'ITALY.' Captured German footage shows German infantry marching casually past The Colosseum (Flavian amphitheatre) in Rome. A German SdKfz 250/1 halftrack laden with infantry drives at speed along a Rome street. A German Sturmpanzer IV Brummbär assault gun drives past the camera position carrying Fallschirmjäger troops on its hull. The commentary states that the footage was taken in secret by an "Italian patriot" and that it shows the Germans evacuating Rome. Allied footage shows the arrival of the United States (US) Fifth Army in Rome (June 5 1944). US M7 self-propelled guns drive past the camera position, raising dust. A US M3 Stuart light tank drives along a Rome street, extra track links augmenting its frontal armour. The commentary states that when the Allies entered the city, "patriotic Italians" lost no time in giving the Allied troops all available assistance. US Fifth Army soft-skins and Willys GP Jeeps drive along a street thronged with Italian civilians. Italian partisans lead troops of the US First Armoured Division on foot to an area of continuing German sniper activity. US First Armoured Division troops fire at the windows of a Rome tenement block with Garand M1 .30-in self-loading rifles, M1 .30-in Carbines and a Browning air-cooled .30-in heavy machine gun. A German sniper surrenders, waving a white cloth from a balcony of the tenement block. Pope Pius XII (Eugenio Pacelli) holds a Mass in thanks for the Allied liberation of Rome and the fact that the tide of war swept past Rome without "violating the Holy Precincts." British Eighth Army Universal carriers and soft-skins drive along a country road. A British armoured car detachment (Humber and Daimler armoured cars ?) in the Piazza di Porta Romana, Florence. German Army prisoners walk down a country track with their hands raised, they are accompanied by British infantry in shirtsleeves carrying Lee-Enfield Mk III .303-in rifles. The commentary outlines the capture of the towns of Montone and Santa Lucia in Umbria, stating that the relief of Florence then became the next Allied objective. An M7 Priest self-propelled gun of the British Ninth Armoured Brigade fires at unseen enemy positions using its 105mm M2 howitzer at high elevation. Eighth Army M4 Sherman tanks negotiate twisting and pot-holed mountain tracks in the lower Apennine ranges during the advance across Umbria and into Tuscany. The commentary highlights the heterogeneous nature of the fighting elements of the Allied armies operating on this front, stressing that they all come under the command of General Alexander. A British Universal carrier mounting two air-cooled Browning .30-in machine guns, drives at speed past Italian civilians riding in a horse and cart. British M4 Shermans and softskins drive through the main gates of an unidentified Italian medieval hill town, cheered on entry by the town's inhabitants. King George VI arrives in Naples and is met by Admiral Cunningham and General Henry Maitland Wilson (Supreme Commander Mediterranean Theatre). The King is later taken by royal barge on a tour of Allied shipping anchored in the Bay of Naples. King George reviews a Royal Marine guard of honour and is introduced to the officers of HMS Orion. In the company of General Wladyslaw Anders (Commander II Polish Corps), the King inspects Polish troops who perform a march-past in his honour. At a tented encampment, King George VI confers a knighthood on General Sir Oliver Leese (Commander Eighth Army).
  • Alternative Title:
  • Colour: B&W
  • Digitised: Yes
  • Object_Number: WPN 173
  • Sound: Sound
  • Access Conditions: IWM Attribution: © IWM
  • Featured Period: 1939-1945
  • Production Date: 1944-08-28
  • 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 cast)
  • Personalities, Units and Organisations: Pius XII, Pope (person) Wilson, Henry Maitland 'Jumbo' (person) Alexander, Harold (1st Earl Alexander of Tunis) (person) Anders, Władysław (person) Leese, Oliver William Hargreaves (person) George VI, King (person) British Army, 8th Army (regiment/service) Polish Army (regiment/service)
  • Keywords: prisoners of war, German - movement (object name) operations, British military - movement: road (object name) celebrations, Italian - liberation (object name) operations, German military - movement: road (object name) Liberation of Rome 1944, Italy, Second World War (event) Italy & Rome, Latium (geography) Italy & Montone (geography) Italy & Santa Lucia (geography)
  • Physical Characteristics: Colour format: B&W Sound format: Sound Soundtrack language: English Title language: English Subtitle language: Arabic
  • Technical Details: Format: 35mm Number of items/reels/tapes: 1 Footage: 792 ft; Running time: 9 mins
  • HD Media:Yes
  • Link to IWM Collections page:

    WPN 173

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