U.S. soldiers in Germany; ruins; mass grave; leisure activities
Creator(s)
- Frank E. Kenison
Scope and Content
Picture is extremely dark and it is difficult to make out what it is - could be piles of bodies at a camp near a barbed wire fence or some kind of military encampment. Interior of a trailer with a personal effects (gloves, photograph of a woman hanging by the window, books, pistol and holster) possibly belonging to a SS officer (1945). Outside, soldiers unload a truck in Rippig, Germany with framed art, furniture, and other items. A steam shovel is used to clean debris from wrecked homes in an effort to clear the streets in bombed Frankfurt in 1945. There is a very quick incongruous split-second shot of a soldier being thrown into the air. 01:13:24 Soldiers walk about a makeshift aerodrome with C-47 planes. Some planes taxi. Soldiers unloading equipment, including gas. 01:14:29 Mountains of debris and wreckage in Frankfurt, almost completely destroyed by bombing. Glimpse of a theater. 01:15:00 Driving along a country road, past a river dam. Shot of Lt. Col. Kenison's army jeep with a trailer in haul. Another shot of the countryside, then cut to a long shot of people crossing a makeshift bridge over a creek into Bamberg, Germany (1945). Two soldiers relax and cool down by the riverside. There is a large encampment of captured prisoners (or civilians) on the side of the road out in a field. Surrendered German materials and vehicles scattered in a field. 01:17:12 The camera lingers over corpses exhumed from a mass grave. 01:18:36 GIs on R&R enjoy another game of softball. They gather around a truck where they take a drink from a water barrel. They swim at an Olympic diving pool. Some of them sit shirtless and play in a music ensemble while others watch and listen. 01:24:01 CU of the Battalion's flag with an American eagle emblem. Cut to a headquarters room with maps tacked to the walls.
Subjects
- MASS GRAVES
- FLAGS
- MILITARY VEHICLES
- PRISONERS (GERMAN)
- OFFICES
- SOLDIERS/MILITARY (AMERICAN)
- CORPSES
- GERMANY
- SPORTS/GAMES
- RUINS
- MUSIC
- DESTRUCTION
- BRIDGES
- ATROCITIES
- JEEPS
- AIRPLANES
- RIVERS
Places
- , Germany
- Frankfurt, Germany
- Bamberg, Germany
- Rippig, Germany
Genre
- Film
- Amateur.