WAR PICTORIAL NEWS NO 83 [Main Title]
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- Title: WAR PICTORIAL NEWS NO 83 [Main Title]
- Film Number: WPN 83
- Other titles:
- Summary: An edition of the British official newsreel "War Pictorial News", produced by the Ministry of Information, Middle East.
- Description: I. 'NEWS FROM ENGLAND.' Assorted Royal Navy (RN) officers arrive on the flightdeck of an unidentified RN aircraft carrier by using the central aircraft lift. A lighter carrying the British Prime Minister Winston Spencer Churchill and Sir Stafford Cripps (Minister for Aircraft Production) approaches the carrier. Once on deck Churchill reviews a guard of honour taken from RN ratings. Footage of Churchill visiting various RN ships follow, including a visit to HMS Scylla to meet Rear-Admiral R L Burnett. Having visited HMS Martin (pennant number G44), Churchill returns to shore by lighter as RN ratings raise their caps in salute. II. 'THE PINCERS CLOSE IN.' RN tank landing craft (LCT2) are shown at sea apparently moving supplies in support of the Eighth Army in its pursuit of the retreating Axis troops after the Second battle of El Alamein. Partially sunk civilian shipping rest by damaged quaysides in Tobruk harbour illustrating the Allies' difficulties in clearing supply lines to the interior. German sacks of Rye flour lie abandoned on quaysides. Bare chested volunteers unload water supplies from LCT 100 and 117 by rolling the containers down the loading ramps into the surf, other RN vessels in the harbour include an LCM (Landing Craft Mechanised) and a small RN tug. M3A1 Honey light tanks enter the Libyan town of Barce. The crew of an M3A1 cook on an open fire beside their tank. British Ford FGT artillery tractors tow limbers and Ordnance 25-pounder howitzers through the outskirts of the town as the local civilians look on. British troops take the opportunity to wash their uniforms during the halt at Barce. The commentary stresses the essential offensive role of the Allied air forces during the Alamein campaign over air to ground footage of damaged Axis shipping shedding oil in a coastal inlet and wrecked Italian Savoia-Marchetti SM 79 Sparviero bomber aircraft on an unidentified Libyan airstrip. Eighth Army M3A1 Honey light tanks enter Benghazi seventeen days after the victory at El Alamein, driving past an abandoned Italian Fiat Autoblinda AB 41 4x4 armoured car. The commentary outlines the 1942 introduction of the thousand bomber raid and stresses that attacks on the Axis industrial plants has always been an essential part of Allied offensive air planning. RAF ground crews work on a Douglas DB-7 Boston bomber aircraft, a Boston taxies prior to a sortie, visible only in silhouette in the failing light. A map shows the air route of Allied bombers from England to their targets in the Rhineland. Stock shot footage shows an Avro Lancaster Mk 1 bomber aircraft in flight and an Avro Manchester bomber aircraft during a take off sequence. A United States Army Air Force (USAAF) Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress (E or F) bomber is shown in flight with air to ground footage of bombs dropping. The coast of Northern Africa is described as being a potential springboard in the air offensive against Italy. A simulated RAF raid on Italian marshalling yards follows with model buildings and track exploding. The tail-gunner of a Vickers Wellington bomber fires his quadruple .303-in Browning machine guns at night. A map of Italy shows possible infiltration routes for Allied bombers with an ominous question mark superimposed upon the outline of the Italian mainland.
- Alternative Title:
- Colour: B&W
- Digitised: Yes
- Object_Number: WPN 83
- Sound: Sound
- Access Conditions: IWM Attribution: © IWM
- Featured Period: 1939-1945
- Production Date: 1942-12-07
- 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: Churchill, Winston Leonard Spencer (person) Cripps, Richard Stafford (person) Burnett, Robert Lindsay (person) Royal Navy (regiment/service)
- Keywords: supplies, German, storage [FA] - food: [captured] (object name) supplies, British, movement [FA] - POL (object name) destruction, Libyan military - area (object name) combat, British - air strike (object name) Libya & Tobruk (geography) Libya & Benghazi (geography)
- Physical Characteristics: Colour format: B&W Sound format: Sound Soundtrack language: English Title language: English Subtitle language: French & Arabic
- Technical Details: Format: 35mm Number of items/reels/tapes: 1 Footage: 968 ft; Running time: 11 mins
- HD Media:Yes
- Link to IWM Collections page:
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