Dating from the WWII era and sold to Germans for enjoyment at home, this silent reel of newsreels shows various news events and Kriegsmarine activities. The first short newsreel is titled “The German Navy Patrols the Sea.” The film shows German warships patrolling the North Sea and the English Channel the early part of the war. It contains images at 1:55 of the British aircraft carrier HMS Courageous which was sunk by submarine-launched torpedo on 17 September 1939. At 1:59, footage of the crew and Captain Otto Schuhart of the U-29, which sunk the ship, being congratulated by Adolf Hitler. At 2:49 the German surface fleet and U-boats are shown during a pre-war exercise. At 3:34, Großadmiral Karl Dönitz, Supreme Commander of the Kriegsmarine, is shown in a touring car. At 3:37, the film shows damage to the Bürgerbräukeller beer hall, site of an attempted assassination of Hitler and other Nazi leaders by Georg Elser. Elser’s time bomb exploded, killing eight people and injuring 57, but Hitler had cut short his speech and had already left. Coffins of the deceased are shown draped in German flags at 4:20. At 4:48, Hitler comforts a relative of a victim. At 5:12, a title card “The Enemy England” shows German aircraft raiding British shipping prior to the start of the Battle of Britain. At 5:27 a large German Dornier Do 26 flying boat is seen, as well as other amphibious aircraft and seaplanes. At 6:35, the film (identical to film 20434a) shows U-boats in action, including shots of a group of U-boats in formation as they head out to sea, shots inside of the boat as it dives, and the captain lining up a torpedo strike on the periscope. At 8:30, German submarine U-41 is shown diving, a Type IXA built in 1939. At 10:30, the U-38, also a Type IXA, crew mans a deck gun for a confrontation on the surface. At 11:30, “Hussars of the Sea” show German E-boats in action. In German these were called Schnellboot, or S-Boot, meaning “fast boats”. At 15:07, E-boat commanders are decorated. During World War II, E-boats claimed 101 merchant ships totalling 214,728 tons.

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This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD and 2k. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com