CONSTRUCTION OF SELF-PROPELLED GUNS AND TRANSPORT AT BAUSTAB-BECKER FACTORIES IN PARIS AND VISIT BY ALBERT SPEER 1943 [Allocated Title]
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- Title: CONSTRUCTION OF SELF-PROPELLED GUNS AND TRANSPORT AT BAUSTAB-BECKER FACTORIES IN PARIS AND VISIT BY ALBERT SPEER 1943 [Allocated Title]
- Film Number: MGH 4239
- Other titles: BECKER COLLECTION [Allocated Series Title]
- Summary: Work on reconstructing and converting vehicles in the Matford, Talbot and Hotchkiss factories in Paris with a visit to the first by the German armaments minister, Speer.
- Description: Opening titles and simple graphics claim that this film was shown to Adolf Hitler on 2 September 1943 and list the numbers and types of vehicles produced by Alfred Becker's captured vehicle conversion enterprise. At the Matford vehicle factory in early 1943 a variety of unserviceable vehicles are seen. Workers dismantle and strip down vehicles including Unic half tracks. In the spring of 1943 Albert Speer and entourage are greeted by Generalmajor Edgar Feuchtinger and by another high ranking Wehrmacht officer as well as Major Becker himself at the Matford factory. Among the creations examined by the visitors are a French FCM tank and a French Somua halftrack converted into 7.5cm PAK 40 self-propelled guns and a Somua half track fitted with a rack of 32 French 81mm mortars (a 'Reihenwerfer'). At the proving grounds the visitors watch the hybrid AFVs go through their paces, taking a ride in a Renault UE 'Beobachtungspanzer' and in a Somua 7.5 PAK 40 half-track. At the Talbot factory outside Paris (February-March 1943) technicians work on cutting, machining and welding armour plate on to the new open top section of a modified FCM tank. Becker is seen supervising and chatting to the workmen. The first of the 12 FCM 10.5cm self-propelled guns rolls out of the factory. At the Hotchkiss factory, Paris, in summer 1943, stages in the conversion of Hotchkiss H-39 tanks to 7.5cm PAK 40 self-propelled guns are shown. In March 1943 a number of examples of Becker's ingenuity drive past the camera along a woodland road - an FCM 7.5cm PAK 40 'Panzerjäger', an FCM 10.5cm leFH 16 'Sturmhaubitze', a Unic half-track armed with a 2cm Flak 38 and a 'Reihenwerfer' multiple 81mm mortar on a Somua half-track. An FCM 10.5cm 'Sturmhaubitze' manoeuvres across a ditch in a field, nearly burying the muzzle of its gun in the ground.
- Alternative Title: BECKER COLLECTION [Allocated Series Title]
- Colour: B&W
- Digitised:
- Object_Number: MGH 4239
- Sound: Silent
- Access Conditions: IWM Attribution: © IWM (MGH 4239)
- Featured Period:
- Production Date: 1943
- Production Country: Germany
- Production Details:
- Personalities, Units and Organisations: Speer, Albert (person) Feuchtinger, Edgar (person) Becker, Alfred (person)
- Keywords: armour, German - SPG: 7.5cm PAK 40 (sf) auf Geschutzwagen Hotchkiss H-39 (f) (object name) armour, German - SPG: 10.5cm leFH 18 auf Geschutzwagen Hotchkiss H-39 (f) (object name) armour, German - SPG: 10.5cm leFH 16 auf FCM(f) (object name) armour, German - SPG: FCM 7.5cm PAK 40 Panzerjager (object name) armour, German - halftrack: Somua 7.5cm PAK 40 (object name) armour, German - halftrack: Somua Reihenwerfer (object name) armour, German - halftrack: Unic 2cm Flak 38 (object name) armour, French - halftrack: Unic & [impressed] (object name) armour, French - tank: FCM & [captured] (object name) armour, French - tank: Hotchkiss H-39 & [captured] (object name) transport, French military - ~~carrier: Renault UE & [impressed] (object name) Matford Factory, Paris, Département de Ville de Paris, France (geography) Talbot Factory, Paris, Département de Ville de Paris, France (geography) Hotchkiss Factory, Paris, Département de Ville de Paris, France (geography)
- Physical Characteristics: Colour format: B&W Sound format: Silent Soundtrack language: None Title language: German Subtitle language: German
- Technical Details: Format: 16mm Number of items/reels/tapes: 1 Footage: 414 ft; Running time: 17 mins
- HD Media:
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