Battle for Kharkov
Creator(s)
- George R. Wheeler
- Deutsche Wochenschau (Producer)
Scope and Content
Map showing the "southern sector of the front." Troops marching in the area of "Donez" (Donets'k) and "Ckarkow" (Kharkov). Odessa and the Dnieper River also appear on the map. German troops marching and riding bicycles along a road. Shots of horse-drawn carts and soldiers on horseback from a ground-level perspective. A German soldier rides a camel down the road, because "the Asian border is not far away." A plane flies overhead; we see the line of horse-drawn carts and a gasoline storage facility from its perspective. From the perspective of the ground again, we see German soldiers rolling barrels of fuel. German planes dropping bombs on Soviet positions. Extended sounds of planes flying, higher pitched sounds as they dive, explosions as bombs hit. Cannons firing, jerky pan of horizon. The narrator says that on the 24th of October the Germans started the battle for Kharkov, and that the town was taken on the same day. Germans fighting in the town, which, according to the narrator, is one of the most important armaments and economic centers. Further fighting and destruction in the town, including a damaged streetcar and the destroyed train station. Kharkov is in German hands, says the narrator, despite the English and Bolshevist liars, who did not report the fall of the city for six days, and reported that the Soviets left the city for strategic reasons. Our images show the opposite, says the narrator, as the Nazi flag is raised.
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
- SOLDIERS/MILITARY (GERMAN)
- STREETCARS
- BICYCLES
- SOVIET UNION
- AIRPLANES
- CARTS/WAGONS
- TRAINS
- ARTILLERY
- MAPS
- MARCHING
- BOMBINGS
- DESTRUCTION
- RIVERS
- FLAGS
- HORSES
- CAMELS
Places
- Kharkov, Soviet Union
Genre
- Film
- Newsreels.