WAR PICTORIAL NEWS NO 76 [Main Title]

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  • Title: WAR PICTORIAL NEWS NO 76 [Main Title]
  • Film Number: WPN 76
  • 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 AMERICA.' The commentary states that mass production in the shipyards is America's reply to the U-boats. A large commercial shipbuilding yard is shown with heavy-lift cranes and slipways evident. Invited women dignitaries pose for photographs on a raised podium with champagne bottles prior to a ship launching ceremony. Footage is shown of the launching of the ten thousand ton merchant ships SS Ocean Traveller, SS Ocean Stranger, SS Ocean Wayfarer, SS Ocean Gallant and SS Ocean Seaman. The Fletcher Class destroyer USS Cony has a champagne bottle smashed on its prow at its launch down the slipway at the Bath Iron Works Corporation shipyard (16 August 1942). Elsewhere, the first contingent of the Women's Auxiliary Army Corps (WAAC) parade following completion of their first four weeks of officer training. WAAC members perform physical exercises led by a female physical training instructor who stands on a raised platform. US infantry practice climbing and abseiling techniques on a woodland chalk escarpment as the commentary stresses that such techniques will be useful when the time comes to gain a foothold on the continent of Europe. US troops use crampons to scale a log wall and crawl under barbed wire. Wire netting is thrown over barbed wire obstacles to enable troops to cross it with ease. Anti-tank mines are off loaded from the back of a soft-skinned vehicle and buried by a detachment of infantry. M2A2 light tanks with their main armament removed negotiate anti-tank obstacles during an exercise. II. 'THE PACIFIC WAR.' General Douglas MacArthur poses for photographs outside the headquarters of the United States Army Air Force (USAAF) in Australia. The strategic importance of the Solomons is illustrated by a map showing the islands in relation to Australia and Japan. The commentary stresses that victory in the Solomons will give the United States a bases from which to stage assaults on enemy held islands and eventually on Japan itself. Grumman Wildcat fighters start their engines on the flightdeck of an unidentified United States Navy (USN) aircraft carrier (cf WPN 70). United States Marine Corps (USMC) infantry unload supplies from landing craft using a barge mounted crane. The commentary stresses that the USMC landed with "good battle equipment" and routed an enemy supply and reinforcement convoy. USN Admiral Richard E Byrd chats to fellow officers as the commentary outlines his role in supervising training prior to the landings in the Solomons. Soft-skinned vehicles drive along a jungle track carrying men of the USMC. III. 'DIEPPE RAID.' RAF ground crews perform early morning maintenance tasks on Douglas Boston bomber aircraft. Early light conditions silhouette Bostons as they taxi for take off on a bombing mission to Dieppe. The commentary highlights the inter-service cooperation that was evident during the raid on Dieppe. A Royal Navy (RN) rating stands ready at a 40mm Bofors anti-aircraft gun, silhouetted against the rising sun. Bombs dropped from high altitude enemy aircraft fall around landing craft (LCA) packed with Canadian infantry, raising plumes of sea water as they explode. Tank landing craft (LCT) move towards the beaches in the first stage of the assault. The commentary states that the RAF fighters found equal numbers of enemy aircraft opposing them over scenes of RAF Supermarine Spitfire fighters (Mk V ?) flying at height and an unidentified single engined aircraft crashing into the sea. An RAF flier is picked up from the sea having bailed out of his aircraft, he is helped aboard a RN ship by a rating who has climbed down scramble netting almost to the waterline. The commentary outlines the Dieppe aerial operations stating that fighter sorties were flown in relays and that the aerial combat amounted to the largest engagement for the RAF since the Battle of Britain. RAF Douglas Boston Bombers, watched by ground crews, overfly an unidentified British airfield on their way to form part of the "air umbrella" over Dieppe. Bostons fly over the Allied task force at very low level with Luftwaffe airfields and dispersal points as their target destinations. Air to ground footage shows Douglas Bostons making a bombing run on a forested area, Flak bursts are evident around the attacking RAF aircraft. The commentary highlights the efficiency of the RAF air cover stating that as a result, few landing craft were even damaged by Luftwaffe attack in the nine hours of the "Armed reconnaissance" at Dieppe. Smiling Canadian infantry disembark from LCA's for the return trip to England. The commentary stresses that the Canadians outnumbered ever other contingent taking part in the raid and as such "Canada has never had better cause to be proud of her sons." Canadian infantry have their wounds tended to on board ship. Commandos, wearing woollen cap-comforters disembark at a dock on the South Coast of England following the Dieppe raid. A wounded soldier gives the "thumbs up" from the back of an ambulance. The commentary states that "Dieppe proved that the one thing Germany fears above all else is invasion in the West and it proved too that the Allies have the organ, the power and the gallantry for a war winning combined operation on the European continent."
  • Alternative Title:
  • Colour: B&W
  • Digitised: Yes
  • Object_Number: WPN 76
  • Sound: Sound
  • Access Conditions: IWM Attribution: © IWM
  • Featured Period: 1939-1945
  • Production Date: 1942-10-19
  • 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: MacArthur, Douglas (person) Byrd, Richard E (person) United States Army & Women's Army Corps (regiment/service) United States Army (regiment/service)
  • Keywords: training, United States - specialist: commando (object name) ships, United States civilian - cargo: SS Ocean Traveller (object name) ships, United States civilian - cargo: SS Ocean Stranger (object name) ships, United States civilian - cargo: SS Ocean Wayfarer (object name) ships, United States civilian - cargo: SS Ocean Gallant (object name) ships, United States civilian - cargo: SS Ocean Seaman (object name) ships, United States naval - destroyer: USS Cony (object name) combat, British naval - anti-aircraft (object name) combat, British - air raid (object name) operations, British naval - rescue (object name) Dieppe 1942, Commando Raids, Second World War (event) Solomon Islands (geography) Dieppe, Seine-Maritime, France (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: 871 ft; Running time: 10 mins
  • HD Media:Yes
  • Link to IWM Collections page:

    WPN 76

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