WAR PICTORIAL NEWS NO 174 [Main Title]

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  • Title: WAR PICTORIAL NEWS NO 174 [Main Title]
  • Film Number: WPN 174
  • Other titles:
  • Summary: An edition of the British official newsreel "War Pictorial News", produced by the Ministry of Information, Middle East.
  • Description: I. 'FRANCE.' An item that covers the Allied "breakout" from Normandy and to Rennes the closing of the Allied pincer movement on German forces trapped near the Falaise gap. United States (US) infantry sweep for mines in a Street in Rennes (Ill et Villain) as French civilians look on. US soft-skins drive through one of the towns main streets. Rennes is described as being an important road and rail junction that communicates with Paris and the German U-boat pens at Lorient. German Army prisoners are escorted through the streets of Rennes by US infantry carrying M1 Garand .30-in self-loading rifles. Civilian crowds gather to see French collaborators taken under armed guard from the Hotel Royal and to a soft-skinned vehicle parked outside L'Epicerie de Carthage. The collaborators are insulted and attacked by the nearest elements of the crowd. Stock shots show Royal Air Force (RAF) Avro Lancaster bomber aircraft on a daylight sortie (no squadron codes visible) with operational footage showing Allied bombs dropping and impacting. Back in the environs of Caen, British (or Canadian) infantry carrying Lee-Enfield No.IV .303-in rifles move cautiously along a hedgerow-lined road. Numerous German SdKfz 250/1 half-tracks and a PzKpfw IV(H?) tank lie scattered having been caught in the open by aircraft of the Allied tactical air forces. A column of German soft-skins and SdKfz 250/1 halftracks are examined by US troops presumably on the Southern sector of the Falaise gap. Members of a Russian Military Mission are shown around a temporary landing strip of the RAF Second Tactical Air Force (Camilly or Bazenville) and closely examine the rocket projectile (RP) launch rails under the wing of a Hawker Typhoon Mk IB fighter aircraft of 174 Squadron RAF. II. 'ROUMANIA.' The Soviet Army crosses the River Prut in Rumania. The commentary states that the swift Russian advance has struck the Germans a crippling blow comparable to that of Stalingrad. Russian infantry run through a wooded area carrying 7.62mm Pistolet-Pulemyot Shpagina obr 1941g sub-machine guns. A Russian T-34/85 tank enters the deserted streets of Botosani carrying tank descent infantry. Russian infantry cautiously clamber down iron railings forming part of a partially destroyed bridge that once spanned the Prut River. A Russian operated Valentine tank is driven towards one of the crossing areas on the river. Russian gun crews protecting the Russian bridgeheads over the Prut, fire a 137mm Zenitnaya Pushka obr 1939g anti-aircraft gun at a high-flying Axis aircraft. A T-34 76 pulls a rocket-firing truck from the mud of the riverbank, where it has become bogged down. Russian soft-skins drive over a newly constructed bridge. A Russian infantry machine gun detachment pull two Stankovy Pulemyot Maksima obr 1910g 7.62mm heavy machine guns mounted on Sokolov carriages through the cloying mud of the Prut riverbank. A town sign reads "Siret" and Russian infantry walk through its streets. Russian tank descent infantry ride on the hull of a T-34/85 tank as it drives through the main street of Botosani. Rumanian civilians talk to a Russian infantry officer. Rumanian refugees carry their sparse belongings on the back of a horse drawn cart.
  • Alternative Title:
  • Colour: B&W
  • Digitised:
  • Object_Number: WPN 174
  • Sound: Sound
  • Access Conditions: IWM Attribution: © IWM
  • Featured Period: 1939-1945
  • Production Date: 1944-09-04
  • 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: Red Army (regiment/service)
  • Keywords: celebrations, French - liberation (object name) operations, United States military - mines: clearance (object name) law and order, French - detention (object name) delegations, Russian international - military (object name) combat, Russian (object name) destruction, Rumanian military - area (object name) refugees, Rumanian - return (object name) casualties, German dead - battlefield (object name) animals, mammals: horse (object name) Rennes, Ille-et-Vilaine, France (geography) Rumania & Prut (River) (geography) Rumania & Siret (geography) Rumania & Botosani (geography)
  • 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: 780 ft; Running time: 9 mins
  • HD Media:
  • Link to IWM Collections page:

    WPN 174

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