DIE DEUTSCHE WOCHENSCHAU NR 727 [Main Title]
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- Title: DIE DEUTSCHE WOCHENSCHAU NR 727 [Main Title]
- Film Number: GWY 229
- Other titles: DIE DEUTSCHE WOCHENSCHAU NR 1944/34 [Alternative Title]
- Summary:
- Description: Careless talk trailer set in café. Handsome dark-haired man with moustache (not unlike Anthony Eden), seated at table in smart café with attractive girl, complains that coffee tastes bad. When his companion replies that she too prefers coffee brewed from beans, he insinuates, while placing a paw on her knee, that he could make her a better cup from the same coffee mixture. She politely declines his invitation, then listens to him say that soon there will be proper coffee, only now the trains are taking troops to the front. Recently one morning he counted one after the other at least ...... - a bowler-hatted shadow (the enemy) then looms over the screen before, commentary warns, his loose talk can give away information which might cause much damage (to the German war effort). Commentary concludes "don't gossip! Warn everyone who does not keep his mouth shut! Hush!" I. German civilians dig anti-tank ditch against Russians. Regardless of age, sex or occupation Germans show dedication to Total War effort by digging defenses against Bolshevik onslaught. Boys of the Hitler Youth march with spades raised and singing to huge ditch being dug by old men and young girls. Aerial view shows depth and suggests length of defensive line, said to stretch for hundreds of kilometres. II. German armour counterattacks on Eastern Front. Animated map of Eastern Front from Narva to Warsaw. Motorised reinforcements pass along road towards battle raging between Baltic and the northern edge of the Carpathians. SS-Sturmbannführer Meyerdress, holder of Oak Leaves to Knights Cross, stands in command turret wearing earphones. Artillery fires against attacking Russian tanks, causing pall of smoke on horizon. Pzkpfw Vs move forward and two Russian prisoners are brought in by Waffen SS after village taken by Russians is recaptured. SS Panzergrenadiers are briefed before assault, then fire MP 40 and MG 34, the latter weapon resting on shoulder of comrade in place of tripod. Grenadiers enter blazing village; young soldier wearing Theodor Eicke cuffband (of 3rd SS-Panzer-Division Totenkopf) shows near-miss caused by bullet hole in mess tin. SS-Gruppenführer Gille, defender of Kovel Pocket, stands with his men, including panzer officer, looking at map. Infantry called up by radio cross muddy field and plain blooming with flowers, accompanied by several Schwimmwagen, for counterattack. Pzkpfw IVs and Vs, and Sdkfz 251 halftrack, move across open plain; Meyerdress in command turret; Pak and StuG III fire and within thirty minutes Soviet armoured column which had penetrated town is destroyed. Panzer commander with Diamonds to Knights Cross pauses with his men; infantry move into village with stick grenades and weapons ready and pass blazing Russian tanks, including JSU self-propelled gun with knocked off turret. German soldiers clamber over holed Russian tank. Soldiers wearing tank destruction sleeve insignia then drink from bottles in heat and smoke of battle. Motorised SS pass by (tracking shot), with blazing tank in background. III. Interrogation of French resisters and German anti-tank attacks in Normandy. Animated map from Brest to Antwerp. Black-uniformed members of the Milice, which has proved itself repeatedly since the Invasion, emerge from barbed-wire protected building and parade. Close-up shows sleeve badge (unidentified). Captured terrorists (members of French Resistance) come out of building with hands raised and are marched off for questioning. Elsewhere on a country road in France an ambushed car with shattered windscreen indicates the risk to security; German field police check papers of vehicles and pedestrians, including an elderly bearded man, and a farm owner who reportedly assisted the terrorists has his farm burnt. False French currency distributed by the Americans (new French currency five france note bearing republican symbols Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité) is found by an SS guard. On road in Normandy German reserves marching with smiles to the front take cover as Reichsarbeitsdienst Flak battery, equipped with 10cm predictor, opens fire against US bombers; wreckage of shot down twin engine twin plane (Mitchell?) smoulders. Supplies are brought forward and newly arrived unit commander briefed. Elsewhere on the Normandy front Generalfeldmarschall von Kluge inspects a unit, and looks at map with SS officer. German sign warning soldiers of their visibility to enemy ensures that soldiers crawl forward with pistol and stick hand grenades at ready. Observation post detects approach of enemy tanks, engaged by German artillery fire, causing explosion on road. Elsewhere wrecked British bren carriers lie in the road. German infantry and paratroops armed with anti-tank Panzerschreck weapons attack enemy tanks said to have broken through; abandoned Sherman lies in field, while a tank at edge of wood explodes; an unnamed Grenadier wears two tank destruction sleeve insignia and Iron Cross. Pzkpfw V Panther tanks (including number 226) move past to counterattack. Item concludes over artillery and flamethrower flashes in the night as commentary speaks of enemy's heavy losses in men and matériel, and consequent need for reinforcements, now endangered by German Navy's new weapons (midget submarines and one-man torpedoes) which reportedly have sunk several cruisers and destroyers. IV. German U-boat under air-attack in North Sea. (Recreation is compilation of stock-shot and studio material, with recorded voices.) Two-man watch on U-boat on surface in day-for-night light sights enemy and commander calls crew to battle stations. After torpedo is fired, air alarm sounds, U-boat dives, sound of torpedo detonation is heard and crew wait in silence. Commander, who wears German Cross in Gold, raises periscope, then emergency is called as depth charges dropped by plane explode, breaching hull. Hole is quickly repaired, log entry of seven depth charges entered, tanks blown and U-boat surfaces safely and victoriously.
- Alternative Title: DIE DEUTSCHE WOCHENSCHAU NR 1944/34 [Alternative Title]
- Colour: B&W
- Digitised:
- Object_Number: GWY 229
- Sound: Sound
- Access Conditions: IWM-GERMAN Attribution: IWM – GWY 229
- Featured Period: 1939-1945
- Production Date: 1944-08-10
- Production Country: Germany
- Production Details: UFA (Production company) Böllinghaus (Production individual) Grigoleit (Production individual) Jäckisch (Production individual) Kock (Production individual) Liphardt (Production individual) Martin, Robert William GeorgeDuring his service with the London Regiment R W G Martin was associated with the following Army numbers; 374 when Colour Serjeant; 393167 when Company Quarter Master Serjeant; 6933 when Company Quarter Master Serjeant; 6641503 when Company Quarter Master Serjeant. (Source: Medal card of 'Martin, Robert W G', National Archives reference WO 372/13) (Production individual) Moser (Production individual) Pfiffig (Production individual) Wenig (Production individual) Zeiss (Production individual)
- Personalities, Units and Organisations: Gille, Herbert Otto (person) Kluge, Gunther H von (person) Hitler-jugend (regiment/service) Reichsarbeitsdienst (regiment/service) DE.S (regiment/service) French Army, [Resistance] (regiment/service) Milice (regiment/service)
- Keywords: defences, German - emplacement (object name) propaganda, German - precautionary: careless talk (object name) weapons, German - rocket [AT]: Panzerfaust (object name) weapons, German - rocket [AT]: Panzerbüchse (object name) economics, French national - currency (object name) weapons, German - CBW: flamethrower (object name) combat [simulated], German naval - submarine: anti-aircraft (object name) Germany & <Eastern Front> (geography) France (geography) Age (concept) night (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: 1552 ft; Running time: 17 mins
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