The German Army In Action 1944
War Department Bureau of Public Relations film, no. 915: The German Army In Action. Nazi Germany newsreel compilation. Some have sound. Not the greatest quality and 1 reel is missing.
Description from National Archives: “Reel 1 (silent) shows German troops moving up to the French invasion coast, German coastal fortifications, coastal guns firing, wrecked allied landing craft and equipment on the beaches, smashed allied vehicles along roads, ruined French villages, German antiaircraft and rocket launchers firing, French refugees fleeing, U.S. prisoners being marched to the rear, and bicycle troops moving up.
Reel 2 is missing.
Reel 3, German troops load munitions on camouflaged trucks, allied planes attack, and the truck convoy scatters to the side of the road as antiaircraft lays down a barrage. German tanks and trucks move up by night. German paratroops ambush U.S. tanks in the woods with bazookas and panzerfausts. U.S. prisoners are marched to the rear. A French village burns. V-1 bombs are launched.
Reel 4, German troops line up at a funeral for those killed in the anti-Hitler bomb plot; Goring speaks and lays a wreath; bearers carry a coffin to its crypt. Hitler tours a hospital and visits injured bomb plot victims, addresses a cheering crowd, and confers with Goebbels and Goring, and his staff officers. The Berlin garrison marches in review for its commander. German troops retreat on the Russian front destroying everything as they withdraw; troops dig trenches and fire machine guns and artillery on the advancing Russians.
Reel 5, German troops drive livestock to the rear in France as allied planes bomb German columns. French refugees flee. U.S. prisoners are marched to the rear. German fighter planes take off and strafe allied positions. German troops fight in the streets of burning villages. German fighter planes take off to engage allied bombers.
Reel 6, a German destroyer in the North Sea sights allied bombers, radios German airfields, and planes take off and down allied planes. Captured U.S. pilots are questioned; dead allied airmen are buried.
Reel 7, civilians dig trenches on the eastern front and German civilians are evacuated by a Baltic Sea convoy. Latvian troops in the German Army march in review. German planes take off and strafe advancing Russians.
Reel 8 German officers confer around a map. German troops and equipment move up towards the Russian front. Bazooka and panzerfaust men ambush and destroy advancing Russian tanks in the woods as German dive bombers attack Russian columns. German tanks and troops advance near Aachen and fire on allied troops. Allied prisoners are marched to the rear past smashed allied vehicles and equipment. Goebbels addresses a victory rally in Cologne.” National Archives Identifier: 13699
