WAR PICTORIAL NEWS NO 26 [Main Title]

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  • Title: WAR PICTORIAL NEWS NO 26 [Main Title]
  • Film Number: WPN 296
  • Other titles:
  • Summary: An edition of the British official newsreel "War Pictorial News", produced by the Ministry of Information, Middle East.
  • Description: I. 'GENERAL SMUTS IN THE MIDDLE EAST.' General Jan C Smuts arrives at Heliopolis airfield (Cairo), where he is met by Sir Miles Lampson, and is introduced to Air Marshal Sir Arthur Tedder, and Admiral Sir Andrew B Cunningham and other officers. Sir Miles Lampson is shown greeting Mrs Smuts. General Smuts inspects a British Army guard of honour armed with Lee-Enfield Mk III .303-inch rifles. General Smuts tours Eighth Army desert positions as Curtiss P-40 Tomahawk aircraft overfly the position. Cheering South African troops line the roadside as General Smuts is driven past in an open tourer. General Smuts later talks to a gathering of South African troops using a public address system (mute). The General is given three cheers at the end of his talk. II. 'NEWS FROM BRITAIN.' Indians newly arrived in Britain present Ernest Bevin with an honour at an undisclosed location. Interior footage of an aircraft factory shows Indian engineering trainees receiving instruction. Indian factory workers use milling machinery in an unidentified British factory (The Fairey Aviation Co. Ltd. Hayes, Middlesex ?). A Royal Air Force (RAF) Coastal Command Lockheed Hudson aircraft overflies a convoy of merchant ships at sea. A Royal Navy (RN) rating wearing a duffel coat uses an Aldis lamp to signal. An RN lieutenant takes a reading from the ship's compass. RN rating A J Hanley cleans parts of a dismantled anti-aircraft gun. RN rating fire a 2-pounder pom-pom anti-aircraft gun at the sky. Other RN ratings optimistically blaze away with hand-held Lewis Mk I .303-inch light machine guns at an unseen aerial target. III. 'TOBRUK.' A pair of British (or Australian) infantrymen lie on a beach in the environs of Tobruk. The word "Tobruk" is written in the sand by an infantryman using a bayonet. British infantry sail past a wrecked Italian naval vessel in Tobruk Harbour. Brief footage shows the stern of the sunk Italian merchant vessel "Liguria" registered in Genoa. Panoramic footage shows damaged quayside buildings at Tobruk Harbour. British infantry off-load supplies from a barge in Tobruk Harbour. Bare chested British (or A Australian) troops take some sun on a beach in the environs of Tobruk. British infantry walk towards a mosque in the centre of Tobruk. Panoramic footage shows damaged buildings and wrecked Italian soft-skinned vehicles. Exterior footage shows an army movement office that has a chalked sign affixed to its wall that reads "Business as usual during air raids and shelling". British troops have a chat as they man a light anti-aircraft position situated on a roof overlooking the beach at Tobruk (light anti-aircraft weapons include a Bren .30-inch light machine gun and captured Italian Fucile Mitragliatori Breda 6.5mm modello 30 light machine gun). Italian Air Force (Regia Aeronautica) twin radial engined bombers lie wrecked on an airfield near Tobruk (aircraft are probably Caproni Ca 135 bis bombers). Brief footage shows a knocked-out German PzKpfw III tank. Indian troops cook using a traditional clay oven. Members of the Royal Artillery pose for photographs with their goat mascot. British infantry play cards in desert dug out. British infantry leave desert positions carrying Lee-Enfield Mk III .303-inch rifles and a Bren .303-inch light machine gun. British artillery crews run to a captured Italian Canone da 75/27 modello 06 75mm where they sight the weapon using a hand-held stick. British artillery crews fire an Ordnance QF 25-pounder howitzer mounted on carriage 25-pounder Mk I at unseen enemy targets. An ammunition store (or soft-skin vehicle carrying ammunition) explodes violently on the horizon.
  • Alternative Title:
  • Colour: B&W
  • Digitised: Yes
  • Object_Number: WPN 296
  • Sound: Silent
  • Access Conditions: IWM Attribution: © IWM
  • Featured Period: 1939-1945
  • Production Date: 1941-09-08
  • Production Country: GB
  • Production Details: Ministry of Information, Middle East (Production sponsor) War Pictorial News (Production company) Martin, Charles (Production individual) Martin, Charles (Production cast)
  • Personalities, Units and Organisations: Smuts, Jan Christiaan (person) Tedder, Arthur William (person) Lampson, Miles Wedderburn (person) Cunningham, Andrew Browne (person) Bevin, Ernest (person) Australian Army (regiment/service)
  • Keywords: delegations, South African international - state (object name) industry, British - aircraft (object name) operations, British naval - routine (object name) society, Indian - education (object name) society, British - education (object name) engineering, civil, Indian (object name) operations, British military - routine (object name) operations, Australian military - routine (object name) Libya & Tobruk (geography)
  • 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: 813 ft; Running time: 9 mins
  • HD Media:Yes
  • Link to IWM Collections page:

    WPN 296

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