WAR PICTORIAL NEWS NO 216 [Main Title]

Log in to create clips, download free screeners and save clips/films in Collections. Click here to find out more.

  • Title: WAR PICTORIAL NEWS NO 216 [Main Title]
  • Film Number: WPN 216
  • Other titles:
  • Summary: An edition of the British official newsreel "War Pictorial News", produced by the Ministry of Information, Middle East.
  • Description: I. 'INSIDE GERMANY.' A Russian Army horse-drawn field kitchen moves through a devastated Berlin street. Extended footage shows bomb and shell damaged buildings and burnt-out German soft-skinned vehicles. A bullet-pocked road sign reading "Unter den Linden" lies on the ground. Views of the badly damaged Reichstag building and the lightly damaged Brandenburg Gate follow. Russian infantry congregate outside the Adlon Hotel in Berlin. Russian infantry walk past a knocked out German Jagdpanzer IV tank destroyer. Partially sunk Merchant shipping is shown at Kiel Harbour (Schleswig-Holstein). A harbour buoy bears the legend "Kiel." Panning footage shows KM Emden under scrim camouflage netting. Views of the capsized KM Admiral Scheer follow. Operational footage shows the attack by Royal Air Force (RAF) Bomber Command Avro Lancaster aircraft on the Berghof (Hitler's chalet) and Waffen SS barracks at Berchtesgaden on the night of April 25 1945 (footage shows bombs dropped from 1, 5 and 8 Group aircraft impacting in the target area). Members of the United States (US) 101st Airborne Division move works of art and statues looted from various European countries by the Germans. A sign reads "Herman Goering's (sic) Art Collection through the courtesy of 101st Airborne Division" (environs of Berchtesgaden ?). US infantry display the mass of cutlery, spectacles, jewellery and gold teeth fillings collected from the inmates of Buchenwald concentration camp by the Nazi camp guards. Mass is said over a line of coffins holding the corpses of former Buchenwald inmates. German civilians are forced to file past the opened coffins. II. 'CZECHOSLOVAKIA.' Brief footage shows cheering Czech civilians lining the streets of Prague to view the return of President Edvard Benes who drives through the streets in an open tourer. The President's car is driven towards the Old Town Square (Staromestské N mestí). III. 'RANGOON FREED.' British Fourteenth Army M4 Shermans move through open Burmese countryside as Royal Air Force (RAF) South East Asia Command (SEAC) Republic P-47 Thunderbolt Mk II fighter aircraft fly overhead. Aerial footage shows bombs dropping and impacting on Japanese jungle positions. A SEAC de Havilland Mosquito aircraft overflies landing craft carrying members of the 26th Indian Division towards the landing beaches during Operation Dracula (amphibious landings near Rangoon). Blindfolded Japanese prisoners crouch on the deck of a ship. British infantry disembark from a landing craft with very muddy conditions underfoot. SEAC C-47 Skytrain transport aircraft drop supplies by parachute which are collected by Burmese civilians and loaded onto the back of Indian Army soft-skins. Supplies are off-loaded from berthed merchantmen at Rangoon Docks.
  • Alternative Title:
  • Colour: B&W
  • Digitised: Yes
  • Object_Number: WPN 216
  • Sound: Sound
  • Access Conditions: IWM Attribution: © IWM
  • Featured Period: 1939-1945
  • Production Date: 1945-06-25
  • Production Country: GB
  • Production Details: Ministry of Information, Middle East (Production sponsor) War Pictorial News (Production company) Martin, Charles (Production individual) O'Malley, Patrick (Production cast)
  • Personalities, Units and Organisations: Benes, Edvard (person) German War Navy, Admiral Scheer (regiment/service) German Navy, Emden (regiment/service) Red Army (regiment/service)
  • Keywords: spoils, German (object name) ships, German naval - cruiser: Emden (object name) ships, German naval - battleship: Admiral Scheer (object name) administration, United States - occupation (object name) destruction, German military - area: bomb (object name) casualties, International dead [relic] (object name) casualties, International dead - civilian: [abuse] (object name) celebrations, Czechoslovak - liberation (object name) supplies, Burmese, movement [FA] - food (object name) operations, British military - sortie (object name) prisoners of war, Japanese - movement (object name) Second World War, South East Asia & Rangoon, Capture of & 1/5/1945 = 3/5/1945 (event) Germany & Berlin, Berlin <Adlon Hotel> (geography) Germany & Berlin, Berlin <Brandenburg Gate> (geography) Germany & Berlin, Berlin <Reichstag> (geography) Germany & Kiel, Schleswig-Holstein (geography) Germany & Berchtesgaden, Bavaria (geography) Czechoslovakia & Prague, Bohemia (geography) Rangoon, Burma (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: 921 ft; Running time: 10 mins
  • HD Media:Yes
  • Link to IWM Collections page:

    WPN 216

  • Related IWM Collections Objects:
Register