NAPLES IS A BATTLEFIELD [Main Title]

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  • Title: NAPLES IS A BATTLEFIELD [Main Title]
  • Film Number: CVN 218
  • Other titles:
  • Summary: The problems of reconstruction in Naples, the first great city to be liberated, now in Allied control.
  • Description: Scenes of Naples, "one of the most beautiful of Italian cities", lying in ruins after Allied bombing and destruction caused by retreating Nazis. October 1, 1943: Allied armies enter city. "The Allied armies had freed their first big city in Europe; one million people came under their care." Food and water shortages: typhoid and typhus threatened. Allied soldiers bring food and help in distilling salt water pumped up from bay. Ships unloaded using DUKWs. Problem of Nazi booby traps: scene of devastation after post office exploded, October 7. Evacuation of city for safety reasons while power is restored. Radio broadcasts recommence; people return to city. Reconstruction: bulldozers, rail workers etc. Scenes of city life: markets, shops, presses rolling. Black GIs talk with local woman. "A decade of fascism is at an end." Domestic life: washing, children playing etc. Naples is a city once more but further battles are to be won, against starvation, disease etc. "We of the United Nations and the peoples that we liberate must fight these battles together..."
  • Access Conditions: IWM Attribution: © IWM
  • Featured Period: 1939-1945
  • Production Date: 1944
  • Production Country: GB
  • Production Details: Ministry of Information (Production sponsor) Army Film Unit (Production company) Royal Air Force Film Production Unit (Production company) Clayton, Jack (Production individual) Boulting, Roy1913-11-212001-11-05British film producer-director (Production individual) Baylis, Peter (Production individual) Verrall, Robert Thomas1916Service Number: 263821. British film editor served with Army Film And Photographic Unit in GB 1939-1946 (Production individual)
  • Personalities, Units and Organisations: British Army (regiment/service) Royal Air Force (regiment/service) Royal Navy (regiment/service) United States Navy (regiment/service)
  • Keywords: administration, Allied - occupation: Naples (object name) transport, United States military - amphibious: DUKW (object name) engineering, civil, Italian (object name) destruction, Italian military - area: bomb (object name) society, United States military - friendship (object name) society, Italian - domestic (object name) society, Italian - sustenance (object name) reconstruction, Italian (object name) Italy & Naples, Campania (geography) Deprivation (concept)
  • Physical Characteristics: Colour format: B&W Sound format: Sound Soundtrack language: English Title language: English Subtitle language: None
  • Technical Details: Format: 35mm Number of items/reels/tapes: 1 Footage: 1216 ft; Running time: 15 mins
  • HD Media:Yes
  • Notes: Credits: taken by cataloguer from COI, and not present on film itself. Documentation/associated material: COI file - shotsheet etc
  • Link to IWM Collections page:

    CVN 218

  • Related IWM Collections Objects:

    Documents.26333 (System.Xml.XmlElement)
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