Caucasus Front
Creator(s)
- Deutsche Wochenschau (Producer)
- George R. Wheeler
Scope and Content
Animated map of the Caucasus region. The campaign in the Caucasus began in the summer of 1942, preceding Stalingrad. An airfield with a plane. Three men in flight suits study a map; one of them holds a dog. According to the narrator, they are preparing to fly a reconnaissance mission around the Terek river, looking for artillery emplacements. View of a plane from the ground, then the interior, with two men in the cockpit. Aerial view of the Terek river and surrounding area. The copilot studies the ground through binoculars. The scene switches to German soldiers on the ground, listening to radios. The reconnaissance mission in the plane has found something, which is relayed to the soldiers on the ground, then to a group of soldiers who are gathered around a map. German volunteer soldiers fire at Soviet positions with heavy and light artillery. 10:38 Soldiers hiking in the high mountains of the Caucuses (identified by the narrator as the Golbasi). They ascend steeply, using the pickaxes that they carry as staffs. They reach a sauna that has been built especially for German soldiers. They are shown exiting the sauna and walking naked to a nearby stream. They jump in the water and splash each other. 11:49 The narrator announces: "Storm clouds over the Golbasi." A shot of the mountain. Soldiers, preparing for a mission, don white snow suits over their uniforms and pick up their weapons. They make their way across the snowy mountains toward some kind of enemy position. They exchange shots with the enemy and force him back; there is a distant shot of black-clad men in retreat. The last image is of the snowy, cloud-obscured mountains, accompanied by triumphant music.
Note(s)
Original film canisters located in Museum offsite storage. Donor of the collection had no information as to the copyright status. The numbers found in the "Source Archive #" field of the USHMM database are the original German newsreel numbers and production dates, as found in Bucher, Peter. "Wochenschauen und Dokumentarfilme 1895-1950 im Bundesarchiv-Filmarchiv" Koblenz: Bundesarchiv, 1984.
Subjects
- RIVERS
- DOGS
- AIRPLANES
- ARTILLERY
- LUFTWAFFE (GERMAN AIR FORCE)
- MAPS
- SNOW
- SS (SCHUTZSTAFFEL)
- MOUNTAINS
- MILITARY RECONNAISSANCE
- SOLDIERS/MILITARY (GERMAN)
- RADIOS
Places
- , Caucasus
Genre
- Newsreels.
- Film