WAR PICTORIAL NEWS NO 169 [Main Title]

Log in to create clips, download free screeners and save clips/films in Collections. Click here to find out more.

  • Title: WAR PICTORIAL NEWS NO 169 [Main Title]
  • Film Number: WPN 169
  • Other titles:
  • Summary: An edition of the British official newsreel "War Pictorial News", produced by the Ministry of Information, Middle East.
  • Description: I. 'INVASION NEWS.' A Royal Air Force (RAF) 4x2 David Brown light tractor tows a bomb train of 60-lb 3-in aircraft rockets past a parked Hawker Typhoon Mk IB fighter aircraft (no Squadron codes visible). The commentary outlines the specifications of the Typhoon aircraft and their rocket armament over views of RAF armourers sliding the 3-in rockets onto a Typhoon's underwing launching rail. RAF ground crew load a camera into the Typhoon's wing camera bay. RAF pilots scramble to dispersed Typhoons and Napier Sabre engines are run up (no Squadron codes visible). Stock shots show a pair of Typhoons taxiing and taking off from a grass landing strip. Camera gun footage (CGF) taken from Typhoon sorties shows a rocket attack on an unidentified French hamlet, accurate cannon attack on German soft-skinned vehicles, cannon strikes on a parked Luftwaffe Junkers Ju 52 transport aircraft and a cannon attack on a train locomotive. The commentary describes the intensive Allied bombing effort west of Caen over footage of RAF North American B-25 Mitchell bombers in flight. Allied Douglas Boston bombers fly through flak filled skies. British Ordnance 25-pounder howitzers (square muzzle-breaks) fire from the cover of a treeline during the intensive fighting around Caen. A British (or Canadian) infantryman looks through a sniper scope fitted to a Lee-Enfield .303-in No.IV rifle. British Churchill Mk IV and Mk VI tanks move across open country supported by accompanying infantry. British infantrymen from 49th Division (XXX Corps) march German Waffen SS prisoners (12 SS PZ Div) wearing camouflage smocks along a road in the environs of Caen. A 49th Division ambulance stands parked in the drive of a Calvados farmhouse. II. 'PACIFIC.' Australian troops disembark from a small coastal steamer following the capture of Madang in New Guinea by elements of the Australian 7th Division. Australian infantry inspect abandoned crates of Japanese supplies. Captured Japanese fuel is used to fill the fuel tanks of a riverine craft. Tracer fire rebounds off water as brief footage of an attack on Japanese transport barges is shown. United States Marine Corps (USMC) troops move ashore on Aitape carrying M1 Garand .30-in self-loading rifles and M1 .30-in Carbines. US infantry advance through a jungle hamlet using an M4A1 Sherman tank as cover. USMC troops stand on a LVT-2 amphibious load carrier (Water Buffalo) use Thompson M1 .45-in sub-machine guns to fire into suspected Japanese sniper tunnels. Footage of Japanese dead and wounded follows. Smoking US marines uncover a Japanese Imperial Naval Air Force A6M Zero-Sen fighter that has been abandoned and hastily camouflaged. Nuns and missionaries (Dutch ?) eat food following their liberation from Japanese captivity, the commentary stresses their harsh treatment at the hands of their captors.
  • Alternative Title:
  • Colour: B&W
  • Digitised: Yes
  • Object_Number: WPN 169
  • Sound: Sound
  • Access Conditions: IWM Attribution: © IWM
  • Featured Period: 1939-1945
  • Production Date: 1944-07-31
  • 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 cast)
  • Personalities, Units and Organisations:
  • Keywords: combat, British - air raid (object name) medical, British military - movement (object name) refugees, French - flight (object name) combat, Australian (object name) destruction, New Guinean military - area (object name) prisoners of war, Japanese - surrender (object name) casualties, Japanese dead - battlefield (object name) prisoners of war, British - repatriation (object name) prisoners of war, Australian - repatriation (object name) New Guinea & Madang (geography) New Guinea & Aitape (geography) Normandy, France (geography) mud (concept)
  • 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: 827 ft; Running time: 9 mins
  • HD Media:Yes
  • Link to IWM Collections page:

    WPN 169

  • Related IWM Collections Objects:
Register