SERVICE OF GERMAN SOLDIER ON EASTERN FRONT, AND PRE- AND POST-WAR FAMILY AND RECREATIONAL SCENES [Allocated Title]

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  • Title: SERVICE OF GERMAN SOLDIER ON EASTERN FRONT, AND PRE- AND POST-WAR FAMILY AND RECREATIONAL SCENES [Allocated Title]
  • Film Number: MGH 6556
  • Other titles: AMATEUR FILM BY CORPORAL EUGEN BIEDENBACH [Alternative Title]
  • Summary: Amateur film shot by German infantryman Corporal Eugen Biedenbach of 419 Infantry Regiment records his training and active service in the German campaigns against Yugoslavia and on the southern sector of the Eastern Front, plus pre- and post-war scenes of his family life in Stuttgart (where his wife's family owned a clothes store) and recreational activities outwardly unaffected, seemingly, by both the Nazi regime and the Allied Military Government of Germany.
  • Description: Reel 1: Skiing at Ruhestein in the Black Forest; spring blossom in the Remstal valley, where Eugen's wife Erna (née Schultheiss) turns to camera. Train with tanker trucks passes. Eugen assembles his collapsible canvas kayak on riverbank at Calw; kayaking down the river, and capsizing. Scenes in town squre at Hirsau in the Nagold River valley (Black Forest), with boys in Hitler Youth visible. Kayaking excursion down the Nagold River continues, past Bad Liebenzell and Pforzheim, where Eugen and Erna visit the old town. Kayak (canoe) bears swastika pennant on its bow (presumably insignia of kayak club to which Eugen belonged). Reel 2:"First cine film. (1935)" Family scenes include Erna walking in town (Stuttgart?) and entering shop (Biedenbach family shop?), grandparents with Biedenbach toddler boy Hans-Jörg with pinafored servant in background, wife wearing dark glasses in boat and a family picnic in the country [label date query as Hans-Jörg born 1941]. Marching and athletics in stadium. Special open-air exhibition(Sonderschau) of the Deutsche Arbeitsfront (DAF) at the Reichsgarten-Schau exhibition area in the Gruga Park, Essen combines funfair and circus attractions for visitors (including the Biedenbach family) with static displays by German industrial companies. More family scenes and football match in stadium. Another family outing to a large funfair bedecked with vast swastika flags and including such attractions as "Rocket flight to the moon" and "Hollywood on stilts". Family celebration indoors by two adult couples. (Kodak colour end logo). Reel 3: "Erz, 1936. Würm, 1937." Another kayaking expedition by Eugen, filmed by himself and Erna. Passing railway viaduct and town. Reel 4: "Holiday by the North Sea, 1937." Eugen and Erna (before birth of first child Anita in April 1938) relax on boat trip (with swastika pennant) and on North German dykes beside North Sea (distinctive thatched houses). Marked fishing boat indicates location is bathing resort of Wyk on North Friesian island of Föhr. Parents play with boy (a four year old cousin, identified as Dietrich Hofmann) seated beside large swastika created like sandcastle on the beach. Heinkel He 51B seaplanes (S6+G28, G27, E45, etc) of the Luftwaffe stand moored by the open shore. Holiday continues with voyage on larger vessel Cobra [bombed and sunk Schiedam, 1942], views of large city port (Hamburg?) with harbour containing large two funnel liner, smaller Kraft durch Freude cruise ship and shore scenes including a German travel office (Reisebüro) and the exterior of a large exhibition area adorned with swastikas. Reel 5: "Holiday on the River Isar, 1938." [Date should be 1948] Eugen and a male friend travel by train to Bad Tölz for a holiday canoeing down the rapids of the River Isar to Munich, where they dismantle their canoes. Reel 6: "Davos, 1936. Garmisch-Partenkirchen winter sports week, 1938." Erna with dark glasses on balcony of chalet in the Swiss resort. Cross-country and downhill skiing. Arrival by train at the German resort of Garmisch-Partenkirchen; skiing, snowing and international ski-jump competition marked by German and Italian flags. Reel 7: "Walsertal, 1938." Eugen and Erna on mountain walking holiday in Walsertal, Austria. Reel 8: "Anita II, 1939". Family film of two-year old daughter Anita with baby cousin (identified as Evelyn Hofmann), Biedenbach family scenes in Killesberg Park (Stuttgart), farmers scything hay in unison, Anita learning to walk and beside Christmas tree (December 1939) placing dolls in pram. View of Marktplatz in Stuttgart, with Otto Breitling Clothes Shop visible. (Some badly faded colour). Reel 9: "Anita and Hansi II" Family film of Eugen (home on leave from Army, April 1942) with daughter Anita and son Hans-Jörg as infants. Playing indoors with pram and learning to read. Christmas tree (December 1942?). Country excursion, crossing bridge over River Neckar. Indoors, parents with children. Reel 10: "Skiing at St Anton, 1939." Skiing competition at Austrian resort (now Greater Germany). Snowplough. Eugen and Erna in train. Reel 11: Training at Feldstetten (Baden-Württemberg): Heavy mortar firing with 8 cm Granatwerfer practice in snow in field outside town. Parade ground practice outside barracks block. Practice with MG 34, still in heavy snow. Cleaning barrel of grenade launcher. Eugen in spectacles poses for camera. [Winter 1940-1941]. Reel 12: Springtime in Feldstetten: off-duty and training scenes in and around town. Truck with otter symbol (regimental badge?). Laichingen (Baden-Württemberg). Exercise across open land. Preparations for departure: loading blankets. Horse-drawn carts and other vehicles (none mechanised), followed by marching infantry move towards Schelklingen, after pause for meal from field kitchen. [Spring 1941]. Reel 13: Loading up on train at Schelklingen; troops in cattle trucks play accordion and portable gramophone. Departure for campaign in Yugoslavia, stopping at railway station of Svetinje - Jeruzalem (Slovenia) before crossing the River Semmering on a pontoon bridge. Local women smile at invading Germans. Walking in town. March from Friedau to Varasdin. Soldier has his sore feet bandaged. Crossing River Drau by pontoon bridge which replaces destroyed bridge nearby. Troops rest and eat outside at trestle tables. Sawing wood for repairing destroyed bridge. March back to Pettau (Slovenia). Riding instruction for the NCOs. Company sports day. [Spring 1941]. Reel 14: Pettau - Company sports day continues. Regimental football championships. Practice crossing of the River Drau by rowing boats. Ju 87 Stuka flies overhead. Men wash their uniforms. Outside the barracks. Sunday leave in Marburg, seeing sights. Destroyed bridge over river. Practice marches, with troops resting in sunshine. Departure by train for Slovakia. Marching through Slovakia and Poland by horse and on foot. Tarnopol. Crossing the River San by pontoon bridge. Destroyed Russian tanks on the road. Erecting camouflaged tents during three-day pause during advance. Clambering over destroyed Russain tanks. Cyrillic sign welcomes Germans ("you") to Vinnytsya (Vinitsa). Soldiers billet themselves in farmyard, before marching on past Ukrainian women watching at the roadside, and passing many destroyed Russian tanks loaded on a train. Men make sewing repairs to their uniforms, while the studs on their boots appear worn. Soldiers prepare own meal with chicken boiled over fire. Another knocked out Russian tank. German Pzkpfw III and other armour passes. Scarved Ukrainian women look on. German soldiers march though Uman. Pause in country beside haystack. Men rest in tents near low thatched Ukrainian house. [Summer 1941]. Reel 15: Soldiers prepare and eat food in the summer heat and fraternise with their Italian comrades in arms, whom they are relieving. Tschigirin (Ukraine) [September 1941]. Soldiers prepare their individual defensive positions on the River Dnieper; Eugen writes a letter. Signs of damage to buildings caused by Russian air attack on the Battalion. March towards the Dnieper. Crossing the Dnieper by dinghy and Schlauchboot. Marching on, now with horse carts camouflaged against Russian air attack. Exhausted troops rest, then select portions of meat carcass for cooking. Bridgehead. Crossing the River Sula. Close-ups of Russian prisoners passing German troops; others emerge with white surrender flags from a foxhole, none looking anxious. Destroyed Russian artillery and surrendered rifles. German military roadsign warns against overtaking for next ten kilometers; "whoever blocks the road, is blocking the ammunition!" Crossing another bridge, German advance continues. Russian prisoners, including young boys smiling at camera, shovel soil into large pit. Dennissovka. Poltava. Krasnograd. Germans shovel mud off road, but still require oxen to drag staff car through deep mud. March towards the River Mius, in cold dry weather. Advance continues through snow and wind. Burial ceremony outside snow-covered village: covered corpse of Oberfeldwebel Franz Rödder (killed December 1941) is laid in grave beside two other German dead lying beneath wooden crosses. Soldiers emerge from billets in Garmasch under snow, into sunshine. Reel 16: Garmasch. Elderly Ukrainian peasant. Move to Latonovo, with patches of snow still lying. Werchne Schiroky. In large town of Stalino (Soldatenheim or German soldiers' rest centre cum theatre). Edusch. Muddy period at start of year. German military road sign to Uspenskaja and Pervomaisky, as well as medical centre. First soldiers to take leave, April 1942: Eugen stands with his comrades in train marked for Berlin. Krinski. Rostov. Advance continues towards Caucasus. Fieseler Storch flies low overhead and Sdkfz armoured cars move forward. Crossing the River Kuban. Krasnodar. "Berg Gudsewa". Glebovka. Novorossiyisk. Goryachiy Klyuch. Passing camels on the plains. Scenes of fraternisation between German soldiers and local families. Advance moves into the more mountainous region of the Caucasus. [Summer 1942]. Reel 17: Crimea: Alipskaya, Durrtsch, Daschli, Dair. [1942-1943] Ukrainian girl harvests grapes, assisted by bare-torsoed German soldiers including Eugen, in late summer. Eugen washes his hands outside single storey Ukrainian house. Horse-drawn cart bearing German soldiers and a smiling Ukrainian couple passes by. Ukrainian boys polish boots of German soldiers. Then colour: German soldiers practise galloping on horses. Field kitchen. Extended sequence of soldiers practising jumping a fence on sun-parched field outside Ukrainian village. Black and white: large gathering of well dressed young Ukrainian girls dance outside, accompanied by elderly male trio playing large drum and two clarinets. Girls hold currency notes in their hands,collected by Crimean men wearing skullcaps. Faded colour: extended riding sequence. Mule turns irrigation water wheel. Infantry practise attack exercise in open field outside village. Mechanical thresher is refuelled, then wheat is milled and the straw removed by strong women. Horse cart filled with grain is emptied. Women prepare hay stacks with new straw, while boys thresh it. Reel 18: Degeto Weltspiegel Nr 5. Okt 1939. 1 Jahrgang: Danzig ist wieder deutsch. Newsreel on amateur gauge for home screening records German occupation of Danzig at start of WWII. Reel 19: "Family scenes, 1945-1948." Family film of Eugen and Erna outdoors, and Anita indoors playing dolls. Views of bomb-damaged buildings in Stuttgart, including post-war shot of Biedenbach house. More Biedenbach family scenes: picnic, son Hans-Jörg in father's canoe, Anita dressed up as fairy queen for Fasching Carnival. Reel 20: "Family scenes: Advent, Christmas, railway, skiing, 1948." Family film of Christmas tree (December 1948), Hans-Jörg with electric model train set, and children skiing. Mother indoors, with radiogram in background. Reel 21: "Ellenhausen". [1949] Family film of summer holiday by Chiemsee. Baroque palace (Herrenchiemsee?). Sign to Rudesburgersee (lake). Reel 22: Skiing, 1935-1947. Horse-sledge through village, identified by title as Christmas in Jungholz (Austrian Tyrol) , 24-31 December 1935. Ski classes, learning to snow plough on skis., waxing skis.Ski race round Wiesensteig circuit, 18-19 January 1936. Reel 23: Degeto Weltspiegel: Mit der Schmalfilm-Kamera auf den Nanga Parbat. German cameraman Peter Müllritter with Siemens 16mm camera in mountaineering team records scenes from failed and fatal attempt by German mountaineers on Nanga Parbat in Himalayas, 1937. [Enclosed Degeto sheet recommends playing on gramophone of Prologue to Third Act of "Arabella" by Richard Strauss as accompaniment.]
  • Alternative Title: AMATEUR FILM BY CORPORAL EUGEN BIEDENBACH [Alternative Title]
  • Colour: B&W
  • Digitised:
  • Object_Number: MGH 6556
  • Sound: Silent
  • Access Conditions: NON-IWM
  • Featured Period:
  • Production Date: 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949
  • Production Country: Germany
  • Production Details: Biedenbach, Eugen (Production individual) Biedenbach, Erna (Production individual)
  • Personalities, Units and Organisations:
  • Keywords:
  • Physical Characteristics: Colour format: B&W Sound format: Silent
  • Technical Details: Format: Std 8mm Number of items/reels/tapes: 23 Running time: 355 mins
  • HD Media:
  • Link to IWM Collections page:

    MGH 6556

  • Related IWM Collections Objects:

    Documents.14987 (Private Papers of E Biedenbach) 2006-12-03 ()
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