DIE DEUTSCHE WOCHENSCHAU NR 697 [Main Title]

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  • Title: DIE DEUTSCHE WOCHENSCHAU NR 697 [Main Title]
  • Film Number: GWY 198
  • Other titles: DIE DEUTSCHE WOCHENSCHAU NR 1944/4 [Alternative Title]
  • Summary:
  • Description: I. French meeting calls for Europe to unite against Bolshevism. Banner inside Vélodrôme d'Hiver in Paris reads Europe united against Bolshevism. Audience including soldiers of the Légion des Volontaires Français and girl in Milice uniform sees France's new (since 30 December 1943) security chief Joseph Darnand speaking from podium and Marcel Déat gesticulating as he talks from the same platform. II. Serbian volunteer recruits undergo training. Company of Serbian recruits, volunteers who have placed themselves at the disposal of Germany in order to save their land (Serbian Volunteer Corps ?), and wearing variety of uniforms, march through village. Men then dig in and practise firing as part of training for fight against Bolshevik gangs. III. Waffen SS fight partisans in Bosnia. Bolshevik gangs are reportedly terrorising population in Bosnia and setting fire to villages; one village blazes. Waffen SS officers, holders of Knight Cross, stand over map during systematic campaign to destroy well-armed bandits in mountain hide-outs. Mounted troops, especially well-suited to these operations, canter up hill. River police in launch flying swastika flag patrol waterway at dusk. Men of Waffen SS motorcycle unit prepare for big operation, loading MP40, MG34 and rifles onto BMW before setting off along road followed by armour, mainly Pzkpfw IIIs. Men cross marshy area, and pause for quick snack of toast prepared over fire. Old jerry can is used as heater inside Kübelwagen, and is cleaned out. Sdkfz 222 light armoured car with anti-grenade netting protecting turret passes along road and opens fire against bandits, now surrounded and attacked by armoured vehicles and artillery. Close-up of leader of Cossack soldiers taking part in operation, who is moustachioed and wears astrakhan fur hat. StuG III advances over country still partly covered by snow and fires into mountains. Group of bandits come forward to surrender, their only alternative to death. Captured flysheet distributed by Moscow (ie. Yugoslav partisans under Tito's direction) and derided by Germans is an appeal to German soldiers and bears crossed flag on one page. As camera pans over seated prisoners and shows close-ups of those of Semitic appearance, commentary asserts that Europe would be given over to such rabble were it not for Germany's upholding of order. IV. German supplies reach Arctic front overland. Animated map of Finland and Northern Russia. Signpost in expanse of snow indicates distance to German towns including Cologne (3300 kms) and to Murmansk (too dark to see on this print). Ice and snow covered road is screened from enemy observation by screen of branches over scrim netting; sign warns drivers to maintain separation of 100 metres between vehicles. Supply truck and horse-drawn sledge pass each other in opposite directions and camouflage work continues. Overhead conveyor buckets transport supplies up to positions situated at high altitude; horses, vital in these climes, convey goods onwards through the snow. Domestic aspects of military life are next illustrated: soldiers saw and stack wood for heating, while inside a log cabin Luftwaffe personnel sit reading, including service newspaper Wacht im Norden; German Red Cross sisters sit sewing snow camouflage smocks for men; cod-liver-oil is dispensed from labelled bottle to troops who dislike its taste but find it healthy. Gebirgsjäger in the front line are visited by Generaloberst Dietl, who walks along deep trench and dispenses, as always, cigarettes to his men, signifying deep comradeship uniting commander and his soldiers. V. Supplies reach German defence in Nevel sector. Animated map from Vitebsk to Dnepropetrovsk. Germans are reportedly continuing bitter defence of front against Bolshevik winter offensive. Large numbers of armoured vehicles include Sdkfz 165 Hummel marked Fred Lehnert, long line of trucks at standstill, Raupenschlepper-Ost tractors towing artillery and Pzkpfw Vs moving past before reportedly going into action. After sun sets German searchlight in front line scans snow for signs of enemy who reportedly likes to attack in such conditions. Signpost indicates distance to Sebezh (65 kms) and Nevel (49 kms). As supplies continue non-stop towards front by road, Junkers Ju 52/3ms, seen flying over Russian town through which trucks are simultaneously passing, pass overhead to supply forward areas with ammunition. Pzkpfw VI Ausf E Tiger tanks and horse cart pass by. (End of Reel 1) Grenadiers, who have reportedly held front at Nevel in long bitter fighting, pass by in snow and smile at camera. Enemy shelling is answered by German medium artillery fire; huge dump of shell cases, and truck unloading more, suggests scale of artillery exchanges on Eastern Front. VI. German armour counterattacks in Kirovograd sector. In hotly disputed area around Kirovograd grenadiers in snowsuits and mounted on Pzkpfw V wait for counterattack. Camera pans across armour in snowscape. Turret hatch of Pzkpfw IV is closed shut. Two Soviet soldiers ("deserters") approach German lines, with hands raised and Sdkfz 251/1 passing in background. Sdkfz 7/2 with armoured cab passes. Group of Pzkpfw Vs advances away from camera over snow-covered maize storks. Grenadiers advance between Pzkpfw VI Ausf Es spread over wide front. Commentary claims over advancing tanks that counterattack cuts off Bolsheviks; German sniper takes aim with rifle with telescopic sight and fires; two Bolshevik prisoners are brought in (filmed through vision port of Sdkfz 251) and interrogated. Knocked out T-34s lie outside recaptured village. Soldiers of armoured battalion (2/Panzerjägerabteilung 129) stand on parade on battlefield as their comrade Obergefreiter Aubust receives Knights Cross from Generaloberst Reinhardt. VII. Investiture in Leningrad sector. During pause in fighting in Leningrad area Oberfeldwebel Rossbach (2/Panzergrenadier Regiment 7) is awarded Knights Cross. 8.8cm Flak with score rings on barrel opens fire in ground role, and Maultier fires salvoes of 15cm rockets creating barrage of explosions in middle distance. VIII. U-177 takes on fuel and supplies in Indian Ocean, during second cruise (April - October 1943). Bearded holder of Oak Leaves to Knights Cross Korvettenkapitän Gysae stands on conning tower of U-177 scanning Indian Ocean. Report is continuation of earlier Deutsche Wochenschau report on cruise of U-177. Another crew member wears Afrika Korps solar topee. Months' long cruise requires maintenance work underwater so First Watch Officer dons diving apparatus and lead belt and sandals and slips overboard to check rudder. U-177 lies stopped in gentle swell as investigation is completed and diver surfaces. Other repair work is carried out inside bow of submarine, into which sailor descends through hatch on deck before hammering between pressure hull and external hull. Sea pours in through open vents as repair is welded. Cruise resumes until pre-arranged meeting is punctually kept with German supply U-boat in Indian Ocean. U-177 greets Type XIV through loudhailer then supply pipe for transfer of diesel fuel is screwed tight. Fresh breeze gets up as cases of provisions are transferred from rubber dinghy aboard U-177 in heavy swell. Briefcase is passed over from U-177 to dinghy which returns to supply boat in increasingly heavy seas, past seagull in foreground. Supply pipe is undone and U-boats separate as sun starts to set over horizon. On board U-177 newly supplied food is prepared and bread taken from oven and eaten, torpedoes are loaded into tubes and a comrade stands naked under a shower. Cruise continues towards coast of East Africa before alarm and emergency dive on sighting of enemy cargo vessel. Periscope shows steep rocky coastline and seagull passing across hairline sight. Gysae takes over at periscope, orders opening of torpedo tubes and then gives order to fire. Crew time passage of released torpedo then hear detonation as target is hit. Periscope shows crew in lifeboat and, foreshortened by magnification, view of sinking vessel. U-177 surfaces and camera pans along Radames, sinking stern first with name on bow clearly visible. (Egyptian cargo vessel Radames was torpedoed in Atlantic just north of Equator on 20 May 1941 by U-103; the shot was much used by German newsreel editors).
  • Alternative Title: DIE DEUTSCHE WOCHENSCHAU NR 1944/4 [Alternative Title]
  • Colour: B&W
  • Digitised: No
  • Object_Number: GWY 198
  • Sound: Sound
  • Access Conditions: IWM-GERMAN Attribution: IWM – GWY 198
  • Featured Period: 1939-1945
  • Production Date: 1944-01-12
  • Production Country: Germany
  • Production Details: UFA (Production company)
  • Personalities, Units and Organisations: Darnand, Joseph M (person) Deat, Marcel Joseph (person) Dietl, Eduard (person) Aubust, Rudolf (person) Reinhardt, Georg-Hans (person) Rossbach, Karl-Heinz (person) Gysae, Robert (person) French Army, Vichy France, Legion des Volontaires Francais (regiment/service) Milice (regiment/service) Serbian Army, Serbian Volunteer Corps (regiment/service) Yugoslav Army, Serbian Volunteer Corps (regiment/service) German Army, Cossacks (regiment/service) German SS Freiwilligen Gebirgs Division & Prinz Eugen (regiment/service) Yugoslav Partisans (regiment/service) German Army, Gebirgsjager (regiment/service) Red Cross (regiment/service) German Army, Panzerjager-Abteilung 129 (regiment/service) German Army, Panzergrenadier Regiment 7 (regiment/service) German War Navy, U-177 (regiment/service)
  • Keywords: propaganda, French - inspirational (object name) training, Serbian - combat: anti-partisan (object name) operations, German - sortie: anti-partisan (object name) prisoners of war, Yugoslav - surrender (object name) propaganda, Yugoslav - inspirational (object name) transport, German military - car: Kübelwagen (object name) armour, German - armoured car: Sdkfz 222 (object name) supplies, German, movement [FA] - misc (object name) transport, German military - animal: horse (object name) journalism and record, German: press, Wacht in Norden (object name) recreation, German military - casual: reading (object name) operations, German air - sortie: airdrop (object name) aircraft, German - transport: Junkers Ju 52/3m (object name) weapons, German - shell: cases [expended] (object name) weapons, German - SPG: Sdkfz 165 Hummel (object name) transport, German military - prime mover: Raupenschlepper-Ost (object name) equipment, German military - surveillance: searchlight (object name) armour, German - SPG: Sdkfz 7/2 (object name) armour, German - tank: Pzkpfw VI Ausf E (object name) operations, German - sortie: sniping (object name) prisoners of war, Russian - surrender (object name) weapons, German - gun: 8.8cm Flak gun (object name) armour, German - SPG: Sdkfz 4/1 Maultier (object name) ships, German naval - submarine: U-177 (object name) operations, German naval - routine: refuelling of U-boat (object name) ships, German naval - submarine: Type XIV (object name) supplies, German - movement [FA] - POL (object name) operations, German naval - maintenance: submarine (object name) operations, German naval - routine: diving (object name) equipment, German naval - personal: diving gear (object name) Velodrome d'Hiver, Paris, Département de Ville de Paris, France (geography) Yugoslavia & Serbia (geography) Yugoslavia & Bosnia (geography) Finland (geography) Russia & Sebezh (geography) Russia & Nevel area (geography) Russia & Kirovograd area (geography) Russia & Leningrad area (geography) Indian Ocean (geography) night (concept)
  • Physical Characteristics: Colour format: B&W Sound format: Sound Soundtrack language: German Title language: None Subtitle language: None
  • Technical Details: Format: 35mm Number of items/reels/tapes: 2 Footage: 1706 ft; Running time: 19 mins
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    GWY 198

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