DIE DEUTSCHE WOCHENSCHAU NR 707 - part [Main Title]

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  • Title: DIE DEUTSCHE WOCHENSCHAU NR 707 - part [Main Title]
  • Film Number: GWY 208
  • Other titles: DIE DEUTSCHE WOCHENSCHAU NR 1944/14 - part [Alternative Title]
  • Summary:
  • Description: I. German supplies reach northern sector of Eastern Front. Animated map from Luga to Novgorod. Goods trains loaded with fuel drums, trucks and tanks roll eastwards, reportedly unaffected by air terror attacks of enemy. Armour is unloaded and stands massed behind front; horse-drawn supply carts pass along snow-edged road, as do smiling soldiers. II. Waffen SS Estonian volunteers unload supplies. Estonian soldiers in Volunteer unit (20th Waffen-Grenadier-Division Estnisches Nr 1) unload supplies from rear of half-track marked with unit emblem of letter E and sword, musically accompanied by comrade playing accordion. After unloading of food boxes marked "For frontline fighters in the Great Struggle" men eat from their canteens and smile at camera. Other soldiers cross snow with live goat and cooped chicken, a future meal. III. German soldiers keep watch on frozen Lake Pskov. Snow-suited soldiers skate across ice to roofless igloo position where comrades wait prepared with MG 34. IV. Observation balloon and fighting in the Narva sector. Soldiers struggle to control observation balloon in strong wind, prior to its release above snow-covered landscape on Narva sector of Eastern Front. Balloon marked with Gothic German cross is manned by parachute-equipped artillery spotter equipped with binoculars and telephone for communication with artillery command post, where enemy positions are plotted on map. Order is relayed for artillery to open fire against Soviet armoured attack. 2cm Flak mounted on short section of railway track for extra mobility opens fire; barrel of MG 34 is replaced and gun fired. Waffen SS defend position by firing 8cm mortar; walking wounded soldier in white snowsuit is helped through snow by comrades. Action continues with Luftwaffe opening fire with 2cm Flak against low-flying Stormoviks and German grenadiers supported by Estonian Waffen SS volunteers (20th Waffen-SS-Grenadier-Division Estnisches Nr 1) fighting off Russian attack. 8.8cm Flak is loaded and fired in ground role, Pzkpfw VI opens fire and StuG III followed by grenadiers moves forward to win back position. Camera records Pzkpfw VI Ausf E traversing turret before firing broadside across snowscape, with Russian church tower in background and small unit firing MP 40 and 2cm Flak in foreground by edge of road. Bullet-peppered German road sign indicates that Narva is 5.5 kilometres distant. Views of Bolshevik dead in snow, damaged enemy matériel and captured Maxim Sokolov machine guns support claim that yet another Bolshevik attack on the Narva front has been repelled. V. German dayfighters scramble and intercept USAAF bombers. Vapour trails overhead indicate the approach over the coast and occupied territory of enemy bombers, their destination still unknown. Luftwaffe command post plots their course and sounds alarm, causing pilots to scramble to their Messerschmitt Bf 109s equipped with extra fuel tanks, don headgear, taxi and take off from snow-covered airfield to intercept enemy bombers before they reach their target. Captured US film shows B-17s in flight escorted by Thunderbolts. Camera-gun film records tail attacks against B-24s and B-17s, including close-range shot of latter with undercarriage lowered (surrender ?). Crew member bails out and sole survivor of shot down USAAF plane stands beside his parachute; captured airmen look despondent, while another, lying face downwards and dead, is carried away on a stretcher, "the fate of many". Back at airfield Bf 109 with extra fuel tank lands, Bf 110 tips its wings in victory and returned pilots, awaited by mascot Alsatian, gesticulate to describe their victories. Elsewhere Major Baer, holder of Swords with Oak Leaves to Knights Cross, visits shot-down B-17 marked Miss Ouachita (possibly 323rd Bombardment Squadron, 91st Bomb Group) . Other wreckage includes Lightning marked with pilot Captain C E Jackson on fuselage together with name Jack and Jack of Diamonds card. Interior of another crash-landed terror bomber, a B-24, is inspected by German. VI. Berlin prepares against USAAF air-raid. (Abrupt start) Oberleutnant Graf shoots up barrage balloon which has broken loose over Berlin and which descends in flames. Report that terror bombers have reached Berlin perimeter starts air-raid emergency procedure; combat control room (Divisionsgefechtstand) plots course of approaching planes and orders (live) sounding of sirens in city. Police stop tram with distinctive Berlin bear symbol, passengers step down from bus, horse-cart halts, rail workers lay down tools and citizens calmly enter public air-raid shelters while fire-engines drive past. Meanwhile silhouetted figure in front of map of Berlin showing areas (Tempelhof, Schönefeld etc) reports that wave of planes has now reached Flak zone in south; two girls inside combat control room watch Berlin area signs (Schöneberg, Grünewald) flash on screen with numbers. Outside in daylight barrage of partially underground 8.8cm Flak, marked with victory rings, fires at vapour trails overhead. Fighters also are now in action to south and west of Berlin, as Bf 110s and Bf 109s attack B-17s; camera-gun film records shooting up of Flying Fortress.
  • Alternative Title: DIE DEUTSCHE WOCHENSCHAU NR 1944/14 - part [Alternative Title]
  • Colour: B&W
  • Digitised: No
  • Object_Number: GWY 208
  • Sound: Sound
  • Access Conditions: IWM-GERMAN Attribution: IWM – GWY 208
  • Featured Period: 1939-1945
  • Production Date: 1944-03-22
  • Production Country: Germany
  • Production Details: UFA (Production company)
  • Personalities, Units and Organisations: Baer, Heinz (person) Jackson, C E (person) Hermann, Graf (person) German Army (regiment/service) German SS Waffen Grenadier Division 20 & Estnisches Nr 1 (regiment/service) German Air Force, [dayfighters] (regiment/service) United States Army Air Force, 91st Bombardment Group (regiment/service) United States Army Air Force, 323rd Bombardment Squadron (regiment/service)
  • Keywords: supplies, German, movement [RA] - munitions (object name) supplies, Estonian, movement [FA] - munitions (object name) society, Estonian military - sustenance (object name) defences, German - emplacement: igloo (object name) aircraft, German - balloon: observation (object name) combat, German air: anti-bomber (object name) operations, German air - sortie: scramble (object name) aircraft, United States - combat: Consolidated B-24 Liberator & [wrecked] (object name) aircraft, United States - combat: Lockheed P-38 Lightning & [wrecked] (object name) aircraft, United States - combat: Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress & [wrecked] (object name) aircraft, German - combat: Messerschmitt Bf 109F (object name) prisoners of war, United States - surrender (object name) casualties, United States dead - battlefield (object name) operations, German air - preparation: combat control (object name) aircraft, German - balloon: barrage balloon (object name) aircraft, United States - combat: Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress (object name) combat, German air: anti-bomber (object name) society, German - precautionary: air-raid precautions (object name) Russia & <Eastern Front, Northern sector> (geography) Russia & Lake Pskov (geography) Russia & Narva area (geography) Germany & Berlin, Berlin <Schonefeld area> (geography) Germany & Berlin, Berlin <Schoneberg area> (geography) ice (concept) camera-gun (concept)
  • 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: 1025 ft; Running time: 12 mins
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  • Link to IWM Collections page:

    GWY 208

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