WAR PICTORIAL NEWS NO 217 [Main Title]

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  • Title: WAR PICTORIAL NEWS NO 217 [Main Title]
  • Film Number: WPN 217
  • Other titles:
  • Summary: An edition of the British official newsreel "War Pictorial News", produced by the Ministry of Information, Middle East.
  • Description: I. 'NEWS FROM ENGLAND.' A map of South East England and Northern France shows the direction (via Dungeness, Boulogne, Calais) of the undersea pipe line for oil and petrol supplying the Allied Expeditionary Force in Europe (PLUTO- Pipe Line Under The Ocean). Panoramic footage shows the PLUTO pumping station at Dungeness which has been designed to look like a holiday camp complete with "Brown's Ice Cream" parlour and dummy holiday chalets. Interior footage shows PLUTO pipeline being manufactured. Male factory workers unwind steel pipe from a large industrial bobbin. Insulation tape and hot bitumen is applied to the steel piping to protect it from corrosion by sea water. Tugs of the Royal Navy (RN) manoeuvre the bulky sea-going PLUTO bobbin which has been dubbed HMS Conundrum by the RN. PLUTO pipeline is unwound from the floating bobbin and marker buoys are deployed from the stern of an RN tug. A map shows the fuel pipe lines extending to Ghent, Antwerp and Eindhoven. A member of the Royal Army Service Corps (RASC) plots PLUTO flow direction and pumping pressures on a wall-mounted chart. Stock shot footage shows British infantry carrying Lee-Enfield No.IV .303-inch rifles and reloading canisters for a PIAT (Projector Infantry Anti-Tank) as they walk past an M4 Sherman tank fitted with extra-wide track links. FIDO (Fog Intensive Dispersal Of) equipment is ignited at a fog-shrouded Royal Air Force (RAF) Bomber Command airfield. Heat rises from the petrol-fuelled FIDO burners as fog is slowly dispersed. Aerial footage shows parallel lies of FIDO burners acting in their secondary role as runway markers. An Avro Lancaster bomber aircraft lands between FIDO burners (no squadron codes). II. 'INDIA- REPATRIATED PRISONERS.' Mr R G Casey, Governor of Bengal, boards a merchantman in Calcutta Harbour carrying British and Indian prisoners of war. Prior to boarding the merchantman, the men were liberated in Rangoon from three years of Japanese captivity. Smiling, but emaciated ex-prisoners talk to nurses on board the unidentified merchant ship. An Indian Army Medical Corps (IAMC) doctor inspects bare chested Indian Army personnel. Wounded ex-prisoners are taken off the ship by stretcher and loaded into waiting ambulances. Lightly-wounded ex-prisoners are given refreshments in the back of an ambulance. III. 'JERUSALEM-KING'S BIRTHDAY PARADE.' Lord John S S P V Gort, High Commissioner for Palestine and Transjordan takes the salute at a march-past in Jerusalem (Palestine) held in celebration of King George VI's birthday. Civilian crowds sit on the roof of a nearby building owned by Shell International to get a better view of the parade. Humber Mk IV 4x4 armoured cars and White M3A1 4x4 scout cars drive past the saluting base. Contingents drawn from the Royal Navy (RN) and army march past as Royal Air Force (RAF) Consolidated B-24 Liberator aircraft overfly the event. Members of the Transjordanian (Hashemite Kingdom of the Jordan) Camel Corps and Arab Legion bring up the rear of the march past.
  • Alternative Title:
  • Colour: B&W
  • Digitised: Yes
  • Object_Number: WPN 217
  • Sound: Sound
  • Access Conditions: IWM Attribution: © IWM
  • Featured Period: 1939-1945
  • Production Date: 1945-07-02
  • Production Country: GB
  • Production Details: Ministry of Information, Middle East (Production sponsor) War Pictorial News (Production company) Martin, Charles (Production individual) O'Malley, Patrick (Production cast)
  • Personalities, Units and Organisations: Casey, Richard Gavin Gardiner (person) Vereker, John Standish Surtees Prendergast (6th Viscount Gort) (person)
  • Keywords: equipment, British military - navigational: FIDO (object name) engineering, military, British: PLUTO (object name) prisoners of war, British - repatriation (object name) ceremonies, British - event-related: King's birthday parade (object name) Dungeness, Kent, England, UK (geography) India & Calcutta (geography) Israel & Jerusalem (geography) Palestine & Jerusalem (geography)
  • Physical Characteristics: Colour format: B&W Sound format: Sound Soundtrack language: English Title language: English Subtitle language: Arabic
  • Technical Details: Format: 35mm Number of items/reels/tapes: 1 Footage: 935 ft; Running time: 10 mins
  • HD Media:Yes
  • Link to IWM Collections page:

    WPN 217

  • Related IWM Collections Objects:

    ABY 103 (ARRIVAL OF RELEASED PRISONERS OF WAR AT CALCUTTA [Allocated Title]) JIN 58 (CALCUTTA: FREED PRISONERS OF WAR ARRIVE FROM RANGOON BY HOSPITAL SHIP KARAPARA [Allocated Title])
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