Postwar retrospective: Germany, war in Europe

Identifier
irn1001203
Language of Description
English
Alt. Identifiers
  • 1988.184.1
  • RG-60.0133
Dates
1 Jan 1947 - 31 Dec 1947
Level of Description
Item
Languages
  • English
Source
EHRI Partner

Creator(s)

Scope and Content

US propaganda/documentary film about World War II. A post-war U.S. narrative of intentions in Germany. Reel 1, Opening credits. HASs, MSs, Berlin's war ruins, rubble, buildings, street signs laying on ground. Allied victory celebrations in Paris and London. Lots of waving, happy crowds, parade. Flashbacks to war scenes show soldiers marching, amphibious landings, Allied planes bombing enemy cities, parachutists, airborne operations, and masses of war material being transported by railway, truck, and ship. Plane crashes. Soldiers embarking and disembarking from transports and landing craft, and relaxing. Gen. Eisenhower. 03:11:22 Reel 2 shows scenes from allied airborne and amphibious invasion of Normandy and of the allied advance inland. Includes scenes of Army corpsmen caring for wounded troops, taking German prisoners. US soldiers posing with Swastika flag. Loading Nazi (German) POWs onto ship. Ruins of cities. French civilians welcoming soldiers with wine. Artillery bombardments. 03:21:22 Reel 3 shows Germans surrendering, allied artillery bombardments, soldiers dancing with girls. Allied troops advancing through France. Includes views of various activities of soldiers in the field, corpsmen treating the wounded, relaxing, attending religious ceremonies. Artillery barrage in France, air attacks. French war ruins, advancing through villages, soldiers marching. US troops parade through Paris, shots of happy crowd (French civilians), waving, cheering, Gen. de Gaulle salutes. Allied amphibious invasion of Southern France. 03:31:18 Reel 4 shows Germans surrendering, burning German tanks, French civilians greeting soldiers, Bing Crosby and USO girls entertaining troops, Gens. Eisenhower and Montgomery conferring, shots of bridge over the Rhine, allied aerial and ground attacks on the Germans around Aachen, medics, refugees with bundles, allied assault and capture of Metz, and the Stars and Stripes' headlines announcing the victory. Advancing deeper into Germany. 03:40:21 Reel 5 shows allied tanks and jeeps moving through a German city and along German roads. Gen. Patton talks to troops. Allied troops and tanks advance in Germany, take German prisoners, eat, rest, play, and celebrate Christmas. Advancing through Germany. German refugees walking, riding in carts with belongings. Wounded corpsmen, fighting. Includes views of burning German war material, dead Germans, shooting German war criminals. Troops and tanks advancing over snow covered German fields. 03:50:01 Reel 6, advancing in snow. POWs are marched to the rear. Airplanes parachute supplies to troops. More POWs. Cemetery with German crosses. Airplanes, aerial shots of dropping bombs on Germany (day and night shots). Soldiers advancing on ground, crossing Ruhr river.

Note(s)

  • Entire film runs 85 minutes. See Story 20, Film ID 4 for Reels 7 through 9 of this documentary. See Stories 33, 3432, and 3433 on Film ID 5 for possible duplicate footage. There are many familiar scenes from Signal Corps reels throughout this film.

Subjects

Places

Genre

This description is derived directly from structured data provided to EHRI by a partner institution. This collection holding institution considers this description as an accurate reflection of the archival holdings to which it refers at the moment of data transfer.