Postwar retrospective: Germany, war in Europe

Identifier
irn1000665
Language of Description
English
Alt. Identifiers
  • 1988.184.1
  • RG-60.0020
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 7, Corpsmen carry wounded on stretchers. Troops cross a river and attack and capture Cologne, and advance into Germany. Shows war ruins in Julich, Cologne, and other German cities. Parade of troops through ruined cities. German refugees. Sign on wall: "Hitler ist Kaput". Troops advance. Destruction of cities. Fighting, crossing Rhine. Corpsmen treat the wounded. Red Cross ambulances. Ruins. Soldier playing tuba, others relaxing watching the "Rhine Rodeo." 04:10:52 Reel 8 shows an airborne operation. Allied troops cross flooded areas of Holland in landing craft. US Navy, parachutists. Gen. Eisenhower confers with other generals. German soldiers surrender and are interrogated. Shows German war ruins, crying women, dead soldiers, and destroyed and abandoned German war material. Allied troops welcomed, crowds waving and cheering. Gens. Eisenhower, Bradley, Patton, and others visit a concentration camp and see German atrocities. Liberated concentration camp inmates are loaded aboard ambulances. German civilians with bundles. 04:21:00 Reel 9, More Germans with belongings, fighting each other for food, stealing (anti-German propaganda). Allied soldiers and tanks fight their way through a German city. Fighting. Welcoming Allied soldiers. US and Russian soldiers greet each other in Germany, toasting victory. Stadium, flashbacks show Hitler at a Nazi rally in Berlin. Nazi symbols in Berlin are destroyed, blowing up swastika.

Note(s)

  • Entire film runs 85 minutes. See Story 133, Film ID 156 for Reels 1 through 6 of this documentary. See Stories 33, 3432, and 3433 Film ID 5 for possible duplicate footage. There are many familiar scenes from Signal Corps reels throughout this film. USHMM Protection Copy exhibiting signs of wear and tear- there is dropout beginning with colorbars and carrying through the beginning of RG-60.0020. Dropout evident through first two minutes of story.

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.