WAR PICTORIAL NEWS NO 129 [Main Title]

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  • Title: WAR PICTORIAL NEWS NO 129 [Main Title]
  • Film Number: WPN 129
  • Other titles:
  • Summary: An edition of the British official newsreel "War Pictorial News", produced by the Ministry of Information, Middle East.
  • Description: I. 'MISSION TO MOSCOW.' Anthony Eden, British Foreign Secretary, inspects a British armoured unit during a five day stop-over in Cairo prior to attending the Moscow Conference for Foreign Secretaries (cf WPN 132). Eden inspects a British Army Crusader II tank equipped with a 2-pounder gun and sand skirts, and a M4(A4?) Sherman tank with a three piece nose. Eden talks to the assembled tank crews, later inspecting an M3 Grant tank in the vicinity of a temporary tented encampment. Anthony Eden converses with Mustafa el Nahas Pasha the Egyptian Premier during a stroll in a garden; possibly forming part of the grounds of the British Embassy in Cairo. The United States Secretary of State, Mr Cordell Hull, arrives by official car at the air operations building in Heliopolis Aerodrome at the start of the last stage of his flight to Moscow. Cordell Hull climbs embarkation steps to a waiting United States Army Air Force (USAAF) transport aircraft (Curtiss C-46 Commando ?) of US Middle East Transport Command. II. 'ALAMEIN 1943. An Egyptian station-master sits at his office desk at El Alamein Railway Station on 23 October 1943. The commentary contrasts the peaceful work scenes shown with the historic Allied victory at the Second Battle of El Alamein that took place in the same location only one short year before (23 October-November 4 1942). The daily passenger train to Mersa Matruh pulls in to the station loaded with bored-looking civilian passengers. Wrecked rolling stock and twisted tracks remain as testimony to the ferocity of the earlier fighting. A corrugated metal road sign bears the legend "Sydney Road", another road sign reads "Springbok Road." Both roads are deserted and are bordered with coils of rusting barbed wire. These scenes are contrasted with stock shot footage of clogged desert roads filled with Eighth Army soft-skinned vehicles during the Second Battle of El Alamein. The desert road to Quattara is shown deserted but this footage is contrasted with stock shots of the same road filled with large numbers of German Deutsches Afrika Korps (DAK) prisoners one year earlier. A large parking store of captured Italian Carro Armato M 13/40 medium tanks is displayed. Stock shot footage shows British Eighth Army M4A1 Sherman tanks driving along a dusty desert road. A British Army officer uses a map to orientate himself during a visit to the scene of a former skirmish that formed part of the Alamein battle. Stock shots show British infantry advancing purposefully across a desert terrain armed with Lee-Enfield .303-in Mk III rifles, Thompson M1A1 .45-in sub-machine guns and Bren .303-in light machine guns. A sign reads "To El Alamein Cemetery" with views of the individual graves of unknown British, Italian and German soldiers being shown in close up. An old minefield is bordered with rusting barbed wire. Stock shot footage shows a large column of Italian prisoners of war. III. 'THE ITALIAN BATTLE FRONT.' British infantry ride on the hull of an M4 Sherman tank (three piece nose) through a shell damaged Southern Italian town. Italian civilians hold placards up to passing British troops, one placard bears the legend "Soldiers Of Liberation You Are Welcome." A British infantryman described by the commentary as "always kind hearted", helps Italian refugees unload their personal belongings from an oxen-drawn cart. British infantry carry supplies through a hillside olive grove. Universal carriers of the British 231st Independent Infantry Brigade cross one of the numerous minor water courses found in this region of Italy. A Royal Air Force (RAF) Supermarine Spitfire (Mk IX ? shown in silhouette) lands at an Italian airfield formerly used by the Regia Aeronautica. An Italian Air Force colonel consults with a British Army lieutenant, advising him on the location of areas of the airfield that have been mined by the retreating Germans. Off-duty British troops inspect abandoned Luftwaffe Messerschmitt Bf 110 fighters of ZG1 Wespengeschwader forming part of II Gruppe. A German Heinkel He 111 bomber (AD+KG) lies in a forlorn state in a hangar having suffered extensive fire damage. A British artillery crew fire a 5.5-in medium gun at an unseen target, smoke rises in the far distance as a result of the barrage. British infantry use the medieval walls of an unidentified Southern Italian town as cover from possible enemy fire. Royal Navy (RN) Tank Landing Craft (TLC) off-load supplies to support the Allied drive on Naples. Jerry cans are off-loaded from the ramps of "TLC 383" and "LCT 302" (both landing craft forming part of the first series batch manufactured in 1941-1942). British troops file down the forward disembarkation ramps of a lend-lease Landing Craft Infantry (L). A British soft-skinned vehicle sporting an early version of "Mickey Mouse Ear" camouflage tows a 5.5-in artillery piece along a Southern Italian road.
  • Alternative Title:
  • Colour: B&W
  • Digitised: Yes
  • Object_Number: WPN 129
  • Sound: Sound
  • Access Conditions: IWM Attribution: © IWM
  • Featured Period: 1939-1945
  • Production Date: 1943-10-25
  • 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: Eden, (Robert) Anthony (person) Wilson, Henry Maitland 'Jumbo' (person) Nahas Pasha, Mustafa el (person) Hull, Cordell (person) British Army, Royal Engineers (regiment/service)
  • Keywords: celebrations, Italian - liberation (object name) refugees, Italian - return (object name) operations, British military - mines: clearance (object name) combat, British (object name) supplies, British, movement [FA] - misc (object name) delegations, British international - political (object name) casualties, German graves - formal (object name) casualties, Italian graves - formal (object name) casualties, British graves - formal (object name) Egypt (geography) Egypt & El Alamein (geography) Italy (geography) Italy (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: 728 ft; Running time: 8 mins
  • HD Media:Yes
  • Link to IWM Collections page:

    WPN 129

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