DIE DEUTSCHE WOCHENSCHAU NR 675 [Main Title]

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  • Title: DIE DEUTSCHE WOCHENSCHAU NR 675 [Main Title]
  • Film Number: GWY 180
  • Other titles: DIE DEUTSCHE WOCHENSCHAU NR 1943/33 [Alternative Title]
  • Summary:
  • Description: I. German coastal patrol boats fire on British bomber. Vessels on security patrol open fire with 2cm and 3.7cm Flak against plane described as British bomber and sail in zigzag course. Pall of smoke over coast indicates plane crash. II. German nightfighters intercept Allied bombers. Sighting of enemy plane is transmitted by Morse to command centre of Air Security Command station, where course of RAF bomber is plotted on map. Pilots scramble at night to Messerschmitt Bf 110s which take off. Flak supported by searchlights opens fire. Nightfighter command post directs fighters by radio onto enemy who enters searchlight beam and is shot down by pilot pressing cockpit trigger (simulated). III. Germans dispose of Allied bomber wreckage. Planes brought down on approaches to German air defence system include USAAF B-17 (A23190) lying almost intact after forced landing in wheat field and smouldering wreckage. Large scrapheap of wreckage and many aircraft rubber tyres await removal from site in country close to large river bridge in background. IV. Soldiers attend Bayreuth Festival. Not even terror bombing can bring nation's cultural life to standstill, as special train bringing wounded servicemen, servicemen on leave and armaments workers to Bayreuth proves. Audience make their way from platform to drive leading up to Festspielhaus. Here SS-Obergruppenführer Steiner, holder of Oak Leaves to Knights Cross, chats with soldiers; four heroes wearing Knights Cross stand together on outside balcony; and Reichsjugendführer Axmann talks with boys of Hitlerjugend, including one wearing expatriate (Fremddeutscher) armband, to strains of Rienzi overture. Festival booklet includes view of Hitler on balcony, while programme for performance of Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg on Friday 16 July 1943 shows following production and cast credits: Heinz Tietjen (production), Wieland Wagner (stage design), Hermann Abendroth (conductor), Paul Schöffler (Hans Sachs) and Erich Kunz (Beckmesser). Closing moments from final act of opera, set against huge backdrop of Nürnberg's coat of arms, show V. Wounded servicemen raft down River Isar. Convalescents sit on rafts made from logs felled in the Bavarian Alps and travel from Tölz towards Munich, recalling peacetime recreation. Bavarian band dressed in Lederhosen play accompanying music as rafts are skilfully guided downstream under bridges and over Isar Canal. VI. Wounded from Leningrad Front sail home. Servicemen on leave and wounded board ship of the Seedienst Ostpreussen for voyage home. Men sit on deck sunbathing, reading, playing cards and drinking beer; camera shows decorations, including Infantry Assault badge. VII. Generalfeldmarschall Rommel inspects reinforcements in Salonika. Animated map of Mediterranean from Genoa to Crete. Rommel arrives by Heinkel He 111 near Salonika and is briefed on airfield before stepping into car and reaching port. Column of Sdkfz 233 armoured cars and Pzkpfw IV Ausf Js pass along harbour front, past camouflage-painted tower. After reported exercise, crews of Pzkpfw IVs rush from their tanks parked by the shore and plunge into the Aegean to swim. Elsewhere along coast guns stand ready to counter any attack, including one 8.8cm Flak with barrel marked with several score rings. VIII. Homecoming of U-617. Kapitänleutnant Brandi, holder of Oak Leaves to Knights Cross and Germany's most successful U-boat commander in the Mediterranean, stands on conning tower of U-617 after reportedly sinking two destroyers. Commander (of 29th U-boat Flotilla ?) comes aboard to shake hands with crew, one of whom receives German Cross in Gold from Brandi. IX. German airborne reinforcements join fighting in Sicily. DFS 230 and Gotha Go 242 transport gliders are towed into air by Dornier Do 17s then land on beach (Sicily ?), disgorging men immediately ready for combat. Large flight of Junkers Ju 52/3ms fly low over Straits of Messina; inside Ju 52/3m paratroops wait to jump, their descent filmed from ground in Sicily by camera which shows supply canisters beneath white canopies. Men rush to supply canister containing 5cm mortar and dig in before fighting off Anglo-American tank attack, firing howitzer at foot of Mount Etna and capturing British soldiers. X. Germans withdraw through Orel after Battle of Kursk. Animated map of Eastern Front from Orel to Belgorod. Shortening of German lines at Belgorod and long since planned withdrawal through Orel now take effect, as troop transports and Panzerjäger 38 withdraw "undisturbed" through Orel, passing Russian woman who crosses street. In open country Junkers Ju 87s fly overhead and dive with siren screaming against Soviet positions, causing ground explosions in distance. Pzkpfw IVs fire against fortified Russian position and Germans load and fire Nebelwerfer after taking cover. Grenadiers move towards new positions and advance to attack past calf in field; camouflaged tanks open fire against Russian occupied village before blazing houses are captured. Bolshevik disregard for human life and matériel has led to vast losses in assaults against elastic lines of German defences and weakening of Soviet strength has been main success of past four weeks; film shows wrecked Russian tanks, including Churchill tank abandoned by roadside, effect of Ju 87 dive-bombing and prisoners, with close-ups of Asiatic faces. XI. German fighters shoot down Russian planes. During Luftwaffe attacks against Russian reserves and tank concentrations east and north-east of Bjelgorod, Messerschmitt Bf 110s take off into evening sky and shoot down two Soviet fighters (camera-gun film), then return over airfield giving victory sign by dipping wings.
  • Alternative Title: DIE DEUTSCHE WOCHENSCHAU NR 1943/33 [Alternative Title]
  • Colour: B&W
  • Digitised:
  • Object_Number: GWY 180
  • Sound: Sound
  • Access Conditions: IWM-GERMAN Attribution: IWM – GWY 180
  • Featured Period: 1939-1945
  • Production Date: 1943-08-11
  • Production Country: Germany
  • Production Details: UFA (Production company)
  • Personalities, Units and Organisations: Steiner, Felix Martin Julius (person) Axmann, Artur (person) Schoffler, Paul (person) Kunz, Erich (person) Tietjen, Heinz (person) Wagner, Wieland Adolf Gottfried (person) Abendroth, Hermann (person) Rommel, Erwin Johannes Eugen (person) Brandi, Albrecht (person) Kraftdurch Freude (regiment/service) Hitler-jugend (regiment/service) German War Navy, U-617 (regiment/service) German Air Force, Paratroops (regiment/service)
  • Keywords: ships, German naval - escort: Vorpostenboot (object name) operations, German air - nightfighter control room (object name) destruction, German military - aimed: aircraft scrapheap (object name) aircraft, United States - combat: Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress & [captured] (object name) recreation, German military - leave: Bayreuth Festival (object name) arts, German - heraldry: Nuremberg coat-of-arms (object name) arts, German - music: Wagner & Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (object name) arts, German - music: Wagner & Rienzi Overture (object name) recreation, German military - sport: rafting (object name) medical, German military - long term (object name) arts, German - music: Bavarian band (object name) medical, German military - long term (object name) ships, German civilian - passenger (object name) armour, German - tank: Pzkpfw IV (object name) armour, German - armoured car: Sdkfz 233 (object name) ships, German naval - submarine: U-617 (object name) operations, German naval - return (object name) aircraft, German - glider: Gotha Go 242 (object name) aircraft, German - glider: DFS 230 (object name) aircraft, German - transport: Junkers Ju 52/3m (object name) aircraft, German - transport: Dornier Do 17 (object name) operations, German air - sortie: parachute drop (object name) equipment, German military - personal: supply canister (object name) weapons, German - mortar: 5cm leGrW 36 (object name) aircraft, German - combat: Junkers Ju 87 Stuka (object name) armour, British - tank: Churchill & [Russian] & [captured] (object name) prisoners of war, Russian - movement (object name) aircraft, German - combat: Messerschmitt Bf 110 (object name) North Sea (geography) Germany & <Western Front> (geography) Germany & Bayreuth, Bavaria <Festspielhaus> (geography) Germany & Tolz (geography) Germany & Isar (River) (geography) Baltic Sea (geography) Russia & Leningrad area (geography) Greece & Salonika, Macedonia (geography) Greece & Aegean Sea (geography) Mediterranean Sea (geography) Italy & Straits of Messina (geography) Italy & Mount Etna, Sicily (geography) Russia & Orel (geography) Russia & Bjelgorod area (geography)
  • Physical Characteristics: Colour format: B&W Sound format: Sound Soundtrack language: German Title language: German Subtitle language: None
  • Technical Details: Format: 35mm Number of items/reels/tapes: 1 Footage: 1738 ft; Running time: 19 mins
  • HD Media:
  • Link to IWM Collections page:

    GWY 180

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