WAR PICTORIAL NEWS NO 49 [Main Title]

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  • Title: WAR PICTORIAL NEWS NO 49 [Main Title]
  • Film Number: WPN 49
  • Other titles:
  • Summary: The Rape of Russia.
  • Description: 'THE RAPE OF RUSSIA.' An edition devoted to the Russian front and the recapture of the town of Kalinin (North West of Moscow) by Russian infantry. A Russian infantry cable laying team negotiate snow covered terrain using a dog sled. The team arrives at a cable laying point obviously within range of enemy guns, and field telephone wires are laid using a spool carried as a backpack by one of the infantry men. The wire laying operation is covered by a snow camouflaged rifle detachment armed with Karabin obr 1938g 7.62mm carbines. Having connected the wires to a field telephone, a Russian infantryman communicates with other detachments while his comrades take up defensive perimeter positions in the surrounding area in case of surprise attack. The commentary highlights the grim determination of the Russians to retake ground lost to the German invader. A snow camouflaged Russian officer climbs into a semi-recessed anti-aircraft position that houses a Zenitnaya Pushka obr 1931g 76.2mm anti-aircraft gun. Elsewhere, a Gaubitsa obr 10/30 122mm Howitzer fires from the cover of a tree line with its shells impacting in the distance. Russian infantry advance under a creeping barrage, hurling grenades which explode with dark plumes in the surrounding snow. The frozen corpses of dead German soldiers are displayed. The Russian advance continues, covered by a machine gun detachment firing a Stankovy Pulemyot Maksima obr 1910g 7.62mm heavy machine gun with an armoured screen. Russian infantry advance into the cover of ruined buildings as the commentary states that the Russian people are filled with the desire for retribution for the destruction of their towns. A Russian cavalry detachment rides across a bridge as scores of Russian infantry stream past abandoned German soft-skinned vehicles. A German PzKpfw III tank smoulders after being recently knocked-out and a burnt-out German Mittlerer Zugkraftwagen 8t SdKfz 7 half-track lies abandoned by the roadside. A Russian infantry detachment walk past abandoned German Pak 35/36 3.7cm anti-tank guns carrying captured MG 34 7.92mm general purpose machine guns on their shoulders. A large pile of captured German equipment is displayed which includes MG 34 machine guns, Kar 98k 7.92mm rifles, ammunition boxes and Stielhandgranate 24 stick grenades. Russian troops in heavy sheepskin coats inspect more captured Pak 35/36 3.7cm anti-tank guns. Wrecked German soft-skinned vehicles and a partially damaged Pak 38 5cm anti-tank gun are displayed. The commentary describes the German invaders as being "crusaders of the crooked cross, deluded victims of the most devilish creed ever spawned in the mind of man." Various scenes of dead German infantry lying in the yard of a Russian lodge (Isba) follow. A German PzKpfw 38t tank stands where it was knocked-out some time before. Captured German prisoners are marched to an Isba covered by a Russian infantryman armed with a Pistolet-Pulemyot Shpagina obr 1941 7.62mm sub-machine gun (PPSh-41). A mass grave for soldiers of the Thirty Ninth Battalion of the Third Panzer Army is displayed, showing the date of their burial as 28 November 1941. Russian civilians cheer snow-camouflaged infantrymen as they leave for the front. The commentary contrasts the formal burial of German troops with the murder of Russian Women civilians who were left to rot unburied over scenes of a well laid out German SS cemetery at an undisclosed location. Russian women civilians talk to infantry officers clad in sheepskin overcoats, as civilians and troops unload supplies from a lorry. Russian civilians pull sleds piled with their belongings past stalled tramcars somewhere in the town of Kalinin. A Russian infantryman knocks down a German sign from a telegraph pole using the butt of his rifle. A mixed contingent of male and female troops listen to an address given by a political commissar as the red flag is raised once more over Kalinin. Russian infantry dressed in snow camouflage smocks march past ruined buildings towing a Degtyarova Pulemyot obr 1939g 7.62mm heavy machine gun on a sled.
  • Alternative Title:
  • Colour: B&W
  • Digitised: Yes
  • Object_Number: WPN 49
  • Sound: Silent
  • Access Conditions: IWM Attribution: © IWM
  • Featured Period: 1939-1945
  • Production Date: 1942-04-06
  • 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: Red Army (regiment/service)
  • Keywords: celebrations, Russian - liberation (object name) operations, Russian military - sortie (object name) communications, Russian military - wire (object name) casualties, Russian dead - civilian (object name) casualties, Russian graves - mass (object name) casualties, German graves - battlefield (object name) casualties, German dead - battlefield (object name) destruction, Russian military - area (object name) Winter (concept)
  • Physical Characteristics: Colour format: B&W Sound format: Silent Soundtrack language: None Title language: English Subtitle language: French & Arabic
  • Technical Details: Format: 35mm Number of items/reels/tapes: 1 Footage: 792 ft; Running time: 9 mins
  • HD Media:Yes
  • Link to IWM Collections page:

    WPN 49

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