UNITED NEWS [Series Title]

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  • Title: UNITED NEWS [Series Title]
  • Film Number: UNY 142
  • Other titles:
  • Summary: Edition of US-produced wartime newsreel, featuring the opening of the Ledo Road from India to China through Burma; a party of Chinese officers studying in America at Northwestern University in Chicago; wounded American airmen working on aircraft production; the retraining of US Army 'war dogs' for retirement as family pets; and the launch of an Allied offensive in western Europe after the German Ardennes offensive in the winter of 1944-1945.
  • Description: Part 1: United News main titles. 'Supplies roll to China over Stilwell Road'; map of Burma, India and China with Ledo, Myitkyina and the Burma Road marked. At Ledo General Dan Sultan congratulates Colonel Lewis Pick, the chief engineer. A lorry decorated with 'First Convoy over the Ledo Road - Pick's Pike - Life line from India to China' (the word 'from' is noticeably smaller than all the others). Close-up sign 'Ledo - Mile 00.00'. The convoy moves off. Sultan waves it farewell. Scenes on the road; a sign reads 'Take my advice soldier / Whenever you drive / Don't be foolish / And you'll stay alive / 25 mph'. Crossing a large Bailey bridge built on wooden uprights. Sign 'Warazup sub-base - speed limit 10mph'. Lorries refuel. Underway again in foggy conditions and at night. Aerial view of the road. Part 2: 'Chinese officers and airmen trained in U.S.' a party of Chinese officers and airmen arriving at Northwestern Technological Institute (with close-up of sign). The men are lectured and shown a lathe. Airmen in parachutes sit cross-legged at an airfield. Close-up Chinese airmen. The men are issued papers (certificates?). The men fall out. Part 3: 'Wounded airmen at work in air production'; at Denver, Colorado, wounded American airmen receive physiotherapy. Ambulances arrive. Exterior shot of 'The Colorado Builders Supply Co.' The men clock in and do engineering work. Part 4: 'Dogs of war train for return home'; on a sandy beach an American soldier with an Alsatian dog. The dogs, chained and held by handlers, are goaded into biting leather pads. Dog on patrol with handler. Close-up of a discharge certificate attesting to the 'honorable discharge' and 'faithful service' of war dog 'Flick, tattoo no. 59R'. A group of dogs, watched over by a man and a woman (the latter throws a ball) play in a small lake or pond. An Alsatian (presumably Flick) runs through a forest and sits for a close-up on a tree stump. The Alsatian is put into a travelling box in the back of a station wagon; close-up Flick looking out from his box. At a suburban house Flick is let out of his box and runs happily towards a family which includes two young girls. Flick is fussed over. Flick lies, perfectly calmly, in a garden and is clambered over by a young toddler. Part 5: 'Allies launch west front offensive'; panning shot show troops advancing across a snow-covered field. American troops crouching in the snow. Map of eastern Europe with spotlight effect on the Crimea. Churchill, Stalin and Roosevelt (ostensibly the Yalta conference but looking rather like the footage from Teheran 1943). Animated map of Europe shows a pair of scissors or callipers closing on Germany. British troops of Second Army on the march, with a pair of dogs, near Hongen. A German soldier emerges from an earth bunker to surrender to two British soldiers. Two Germans walk past camera with hands up; one wears a large red cross on the front of his greatcoat, the other is in a bloodstained white shirt. Surrendering Germans run towards camera. Close-up surrendering Germans. American troops of 7th Army in action in snow; on-screen caption gives location as Wingen. A cameraman films a group of Americans using a ladder as a battering ram. Dead bodies in the snow. Civilian refugees at Wingen; they are put aboard a lorry and driven away. A woman runs past camera pushing a pram. American troops in action near a small bridge; on-screen caption reads 'Hagenau'. Withdrawing American troops dynamite the bridge; the demolition is spectacular. Aerial footage of vehicles on a road; on-screen caption gives location as Malmedy. Aerial views of shell craters in the snow and a damaged bombed town. Near a road snow-covered corpses of American prisoners of war are found and nearby a group of German prisoners stands under guard. Close-up German prisoners. End title.
  • Alternative Title:
  • Colour: B&W
  • Digitised:
  • Object_Number: UNY 142
  • Sound: Sound
  • Access Conditions: IWM
  • Featured Period: 1939-1945
  • Production Date: 1945-02-16
  • Production Country: United States of America
  • Production Details: Office of War Information (Sponsor) United Newsreel Corporation (Production company)
  • Personalities, Units and Organisations: Sultan, Daniel Isom (person) Pick, Lewis Andrew (person) Churchill, Winston Leonard Spencer (person) Roosevelt, Franklin Delano (person) Stalin, Josef (person) British Army, Second Army (regiment/service) United States Army, 7th Army (regiment/service)
  • Keywords: Chicago, Illinois (geography) Denver, Colorado, United States of America (geography) Ledo, Assam, India (geography) Myitkyina, Burma (geography) Warazup, Burma (geography) Kunming, China (geography) Malmédy, Liège, Belgium (geography) (geography) Haguenau, Bas-Rhin, France (geography) Operations in Northern Burma 1943-1945, Burma 1942-1945, Second World War (event) Battle of the Bulge 1944-1945, German Ardennes Offensive, North West Europe, Second World War (event)
  • Physical Characteristics: Colour format: B&W Sound format: Sound Soundtrack language: English
  • Technical Details: Format: 35mm Number of items/reels/tapes: 1 Footage: 700 ft; Running time: 8 mins
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    UNY 142

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