UFA NR 671 [Main Title]

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  • Title: UFA NR 671 [Main Title]
  • Film Number: GWY 178
  • Other titles: UFA AUSLANDSTONWOCHE NR 671 [Alternative Title]
  • Summary:
  • Description: I. Graf von Helldorf inspects Berlin firemen. Berlin Police President sees demonstration exercise by firemen outside Olympic Stadium. Von Helldorf addresses firemen on parade before start of exercise, when hoses are unrolled and connections made with military precision. Firemen then play hoses over their rubber-suited colleagues. II. Marshal Pétain visits bomb-damaged towns in France. French leader drives in motorcade through Lyon past huge crowds before visiting convent hospital of Le Grand Blanc and speaking to patients hurt in British air raid. Pétain later sees area destroyed in air raid and commiserates with bystanders. III. Waffen SS protect religious objects from Bolshevism. General der Waffen SS Gille, commander of 5th SS Panzerdivision Wiking, stands with other SS officers and a priest looking at various religious objects including a crucifix, icon, tapestries and chalices which have been saved by German forces from the clutches of the advancing Russians. One tapestry is from Kovel. Gille and his colleagues take farewell of their clerical guests, who smile warmly, against backdrop of swastika flag. IV. German infantry training school. Soldiers undergo training in the use of large mortars, anti-tank guns and camouflage. Bugle call ends exercise, whereupon men rush forward to hear address (by Oberstleutnant Bärenfänger ?), then march through woods singing "Wir die Grenadiere". V. German forces counterattack in Normandy. Animated map of channel coast from Antwerp to Brest. Pan from coastline shows ships reportedly off Cherbourg Peninsula which are bombarded by coastal batteries causing several explosions. Landing craft and wrecked stores ("14 men compo, Property of US Govt") littering one of the invasion beaches are inspected by a German soldier. Abandoned landing craft loaded with US military vehicles rests on the shore. Inland signs of setbacks to invaders are wrecked Allied vehicles with the unit marking of the British Army's 7th Armoured Division and the shattered signpost of Villers-Bocage following the Desert Rat's retreat from the devastated village, littered with knocked out Stuart, Comet and Sherman tanks. 8.8cm Flak with score marks on barrel fires at US bomber formation passing overhead; cut-ins suggest targets are civilian areas and churches. Plane descends in flames and wrecked USAAF fuselage blazes; French rescue workers in action. Wooden crosses mark graves of shot-down airmen and three USAAF survivors, still carrying their parachutes, are marched away to a POW cage. Here camera picks out lewd cartoons on jackets typical of US aircrew. Other insignia shown are Airborne eagle badge and Airborne AA. SS-Obergruppenführer Sepp Dietrich speaks with his officers. German tanks wait camouflaged by roadside and men move through wood. Knocked out enemy tank named Blondie and marked Pistolpackinmamma indicates invaders' defeat; camouflaged Pzkpfw V passing along narrow lane, Wespes and half-tracks firing against Anglo-American forces, stationary and truck-mounted Nebelwerfers firing and personal and tank flamethrowers suggest defensive power of German forces.
  • Alternative Title: UFA AUSLANDSTONWOCHE NR 671 [Alternative Title]
  • Colour: B&W
  • Digitised: No
  • Object_Number: GWY 178
  • Sound: Sound
  • Access Conditions: IWM-GERMAN Attribution: IWM – GWY 178
  • Featured Period: 1939-1945
  • Production Date: 1944-07
  • Production Country: Germany
  • Production Details: UFA (Production company)
  • Personalities, Units and Organisations: Helldorf, Wolf von (person) Pétain, Philippe (person) Gille, Herbert Otto (person) Barenfanger, Erich (person) Dietrich, Josef (person) Fire Service (Berlin) (regiment/service) German SS Panzerdivision 5 & Wiking (regiment/service) German Army, Infantry Training School (regiment/service)
  • Keywords: ceremonies, German - event-related: inspection of firemen (object name) delegations, French national - state: Petain visits bomb victims (object name) destruction, French military - area: bomb (object name) medical, French civilian - hospital: Le Grand Blanc convent (object name) religion, Christianity - political, German: SS protect religious objects (object name) operations, German military - routine (object name) training, German military - specialist: camouflage (object name) training, German military - weapons (object name) combat, French (object name) ships, United States naval - amphibious: landing craft & [wrecked] (object name) Lyon, Rhône, France (geography) Germany & Berlin, Berlin <Olympic Stadium> (geography) Cherbourg, Manche, France (geography) Villers-Bocage, Calvados, France (geography)
  • Physical Characteristics: Colour format: B&W Sound format: Sound Soundtrack language: Russian Title language: German Subtitle language: None
  • Technical Details: Format: 35mm Number of items/reels/tapes: 1 Footage: 1384 ft; Running time: 15 mins
  • HD Media:
  • Link to IWM Collections page:

    GWY 178

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