Summary: Short Italian film of Benghazi liberated by the Axis troops, January 1942.
Description: The film begins by showing the devastation of war with shots of the town and harbour. But the Arab population carry on in their traditional way and there are many travelogue type sequences showing street scenes. There are many shots of Italian and German military vehicles passing through the town and a motorcycle unit passes. There are shots at an Italian airfield where Macchi Saetta (lightning) fighters take off. German and Italian tanks are seen going up to the front and thousands of British prisoners are coming back from it. A Blenheim air raid occurs and the Italians man the anti-aircraft defences; at least two of the bombers are shot down. The film ends with the Saetta squadron flying over the town. The general mood of the film is to mourn the destruction of war and there is some outstandingly good photography.
Production Details: Istituto Nazionale Luce, Rome (Production company)
Personalities, Units and Organisations: Royal Air Force (regiment/service)
German Air Force (regiment/service)
Royal Italian Army (regiment/service)
Italian Royal Air Force (regiment/service)
Keywords: aircraft, British - combat: Bristol Blenheim (object name)
aircraft, Italian - combat: Macchi C200 Saetta (object name)
combat, British - air raid [I] (object name)
combat, Italian - anti-aircraft (object name)
destruction, Libyan military - area: bomb (object name)
operations, German military - sortie (object name)
operations, Italian air - sortie (object name)
operations, Italian military - sortie (object name)
prisoners of war, British - movement (object name)
society, Libyan - ethnic (object name)
Libya & Benghazi (geography)
Physical Characteristics: Colour format: B&W
Sound format: Sound
Soundtrack language: Italian
Title language: Italian
Subtitle language: None
Technical Details: Format: 35mm
Number of items/reels/tapes: 1
Footage: 1223 ft; Running time: 14 mins
