US airforce; Ohrdruf on fire; bones at Buchenwald
Creator(s)
- United States. Army Air Forces. (Producer)
- Browning (Camera Operator)
- Arthur J. Mainzer (Camera Operator)
- Carter (Camera Operator)
- United States. National Archives and Records Administration. Motion Picture Reference
- Armistead (Camera Operator)
Biographical History
Arthur Mainzer (1923-) was a cameraman in the 4th Combat Camera Unit of the 9th Air Force. The Combat Camera Unit was tasked with creating Air Force training films at Hal Roach Studios. After completing training at the Air Force Photo Technical School in Denver, CO and the First Motion Picture Unit in Culver, City, CA, Mainzer was deployed to Europe. He was filming bomb damage by the Allied Air Forces with Captain Ellis Carter when they heard about Buchenwald and drove there by jeep on April 13, 1945. Mainzer and Carter filmed conditions at the camp on Kodak color film stock using two handheld 16mm film cameras. The footage was then sent to headquarters in London for processing.
Scope and Content
Slate reads: "OSS USAF LT. ARMISTEAD ROLL #19" AVs, view from planes of bombs being dropped over Germany. B-26s and B-17s in the air and on ground. American soldiers on airfield unloading airplane with baggage. 05:03:56 Slate reads: "CAPT. BROWNING C-22 A-83 APRIL" Pilot in cockpit. Soldiers unloading a plane and boarding a truck, smoking, gesturing for the camera. On airfield, moving equipment with trucks. 05:06:45 Slate reads: "CAPT. BROWNING C-21 A-83 APRIL" American soldiers getting off a truck with bags, working at the airfield, marking document. CUs of soldiers as they smoke, dole out supplies, and play with a puppy. Pilot speaks with another. Soldiers wire equipment and prepare planes for takeoff. One marks a plane with chalk, "Happy Birthday Hoimann! from Duffy's Tavern" Baby shoes hang in cockpit, more INT shots of the cockpit. 05:12:23 Slate reads: "CAPT. BROWNING C-24 A-83 APRIL" followed quickly by another slate reading: "OSS USN LT. ARMISTEAD ROLL #24" Soldier demonstrates shooting a rifle from the plane. INTs and CUs of cockpit, pilots, dog. Loading planes with bombs. 05:15:12 Slate reads: "CAPT. BROWNING C-25 A-83 APRIL" LS of planes taking off and landing. Slate reads: "CAPT. CARTER PROD #186 ROLL C-30 4-12-45" Airplanes in flight. 05:18:23 MS, pan of burning buildings at Ohrdruf. 05:19:48 MS, pile of bones at Buchenwald, CU.
Note(s)
This is not 18 SFP 9121 as indicated on the videotape slate.
USHMM replaced the online streaming video with a new, higher resolution digital file produced for the VHH project. The 16mm film source from NARA was scanned by the Austrian Filmmuseum in 2021.
Subjects
- TRAINS
- CORPSES
- SOLDIERS/MILITARY
- CIVILIANS
- BOMBINGS
- DESTRUCTION
- BUCHENWALD
- AERIAL VIEWS
- TRUCKS
- LIBERATION
- BARRACKS
- TOWNS
- CONCENTRATION CAMPS (LIBERATION)
- SOLDIERS/MILITARY (AMERICAN)
- SURVIVORS
Places
- Ohrdruf, Germany
- , Germany
- Buchenwald, Germany
Genre
- Film
- Unedited.