WAR PICTORIAL NEWS NO 43 [Main Title]

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  • Title: WAR PICTORIAL NEWS NO 43 [Main Title]
  • Film Number: WPN 43
  • Other titles:
  • Summary: An edition of the British official newsreel "War Pictorial News", produced by the Ministry of Information, Middle East.
  • Description: I. 'WOMEN AMBULANCE DRIVERS.' Members of a transport unit of the South African Women's Auxiliary Army Service (WAAS) are woken by whistle in a barrack room. Close up of an alarm clock shows the time as 6.29am. The commentary explains the role of the WAAS in transporting soldiers wounded in the desert battles to hospitals in the Middle East. WAAS members form up on a barrack square for their morning parade. Smiling WAAS members don overalls before starting maintenance work on their Dodge half ton 4X4 T207 ambulance. The commentary stresses that the members of the transport unit have been well trained in mechanics over scenes of WAAS members changing tyres and working on the engines of their Dodge ambulances. A member of the transport team cleans out a distributor cap during a routine maintenance session while others enjoy a well earned refreshment break. Transport unit members are inspected by their unit commander as they parade in front of their vehicles. Dodge half ton 4X4 T207 ambulances drive from the parade ground in convoy. Seven members of the transport unit walk arm in arm on their way to a "night on the town." II. 'VICTORIA CROSS FOR MAJOR-GENERAL CAMPBELL. The commentary outlines the fact that King George VI has approved the award of the Victoria cross to Major-General John Charles Campbell DSO MC, commander of the Seventh Support Group of the Eighth Army. Campbell receives his award from General Sir Claude Auchinleck on a parade ground lined with massed ranks of Infantrymen. The commentary outlines the circumstances which led to Campbell's award, stemming from action around the aerodrome at Sidi Rezegh. Following the award ceremony Campbell is cheered by the assembled infantrymen. Campbell chats informally to General Auchinleck after the ceremony. III. 'ANTHONY EDEN VISITS MOSCOW FRONT.' Soviet Commissar for Foreign Affairs, Vyacheslav M Molotov, meets Anthony Eden and Ivan M Maisky, Soviet Ambassador to London, at a snow covered Moscow railway station (22 December 1941?). Warmly clad Red Army Guards line the station platform as a guard of honour for the visiting dignitaries. Anthony Eden salutes the Union Jack and Soviet national flag as a military band plays God save the King and the Internationale. Eden and Molotov converse amicably as they walk along the station platform. Anthony Eden, seated at a desk, gives his interpretation of the mood of the Russian people and the general war situation in Russia (live). Eden links Russian war aims with British, stressing the common objectives and the common determination of both nations and peoples to defeat the enemy. Anthony Eden is given a tour of the front line and inspects the frozen corpses of German soldiers and a knocked-out German PzKpfw III tank. IV. 'UNITY, UNION.' The British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and United States President Franklin Delano Roosevelt pose for pictures seated together at a desk. Churchill arrives by motorcade at Capitol Hill to address the United States Congress on the subjects of Mussolini, Japan and British success in the desert war. Speaking from a podium, his speech is well received by the assembled Senators. Behind Churchill sit W P Cole, Speaker of the House, and Henry Wallace, Vice President of the USA. Elsewhere, a mixed crowd of civilians and soldiers gather around a radio presumably to hear Churchill's address. Footage from Canada shows Canadian military pattern trucks (CMPs with number 11 cabs) carrying troops along a narrow country track as the commentary stresses Canada's alertness against any threat from Japan. Various views of large calibre coastal guns follow. A US Navy graduation ceremony at Annapolis, (Maryland) follows attended by the Secretary of the Navy, Frank Knox. Naval cadets receive graduation scrolls from a raised podium, on completion of the ceremony the cadets throw their caps in the air in the traditional manner. The commentary states that Americans are learning the lessons on air raid precautions from Britain over scenes of an ARP warden on patrol on an American street in the "danger zone." The ARP warden dressed in civilian clothes, knocks on a door to tell a housewife that that lights are visible from her window. Elsewhere, recruits for the armed services fill a large auditorium at an undisclosed location. A banner in the auditorium bears the legend "Remember Pearl Harbour, Be Ready!"
  • Alternative Title:
  • Colour: B&W
  • Digitised: Yes
  • Object_Number: WPN 43
  • Sound: Sound
  • Access Conditions: IWM Attribution: © IWM
  • Featured Period: 1939-1945
  • Production Date: 1942-02-23
  • Production Country: GB
  • Production Details: Ministry of Information, Middle East (Production sponsor) War Pictorial News (Production company) Martin, Charles (Production individual) Keating, Rex1910-02-142005-01British newsreel commentator, WW2 period (Production individual)
  • Personalities, Units and Organisations: Auchinleck, Claude John Eyre (person) Campbell, John Charles "Jock" (person) Eden, (Robert) Anthony (person) Molotov, Vyacheslav Mikhailovich Scriabin (person) Maisky, Ivan M (person) Roosevelt, Franklin Delano (person) Churchill, Winston Leonard Spencer (person) Knox, Frank (person) Cole, William Purington Jr. (person) Wallace, Henry A (person) South African Army, Women's Auxiliary Army Service (regiment/service) United States Navy (regiment/service) Canadian Army (regiment/service)
  • Keywords: ceremonies, British - event-related: investiture (object name) delegations, British international - political (object name) casualties, German dead - battlefield (object name) delegations, British international - political (object name) Russia & Moscow (geography) USA & Washington, DC <Capitol> (geography)
  • Physical Characteristics: Colour format: B&W Sound format: Sound Soundtrack language: English Title language: English Subtitle language: French & Arabic
  • Technical Details: Format: 35mm Number of items/reels/tapes: 1 Footage: 883 ft; Running time: 9 mins
  • HD Media:Yes
  • Link to IWM Collections page:

    WPN 43

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