U.S. soldiers in Germany; ruins; mass grave; leisure activities

Identifier
irn1004582
Language of Description
English
Alt. Identifiers
  • 2010.481.1
  • RG-60.1313
Dates
1 Jan 1945 - 31 Dec 1945
Level of Description
Item
Languages
  • Silent
Source
EHRI Partner

Creator(s)

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

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.