One of a series of films made for home use and sold in department stores before and during WWII, this silent newsreel shows the formal signing of the Pact of Steel, the alliance between Germany and Italy. The pact was signed by Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini on May 22, 1939, and formalized the 1936 Rome-Berlin Axis agreement, linking the two countries politically and militarily.
The film starts with images of the two leaders signing of the Pact of Steel on 22nd of May, 1939 before then showing a huge parade in honor of Victor Emmanuel and Mussolini. King Victor Emmanuel III is seen at 1:02. The “honor parade” continues at 1:50 with Italian tanks rumbling past and aircraft flying overhead. At 2:30, the Condor Legion is shown departing the city of Leon, Spain, after a successful campaign on the side of Generalissimo Francisco Franco and the Nationalist Army. At 3:08 the Robert Ley, a cruise ship of the Nazi Party leisure organization Kraft durch Freude, is seen arriving back in Hamburg. The Legion is given a hero’s welcome and Hermann Goring, chief architect of the air arm and head of the Luftwaffe, appears at 3:56.
The Pact of Steel known formally as the Pact of Friendship and Alliance between Germany and Italy, was a military and political alliance between Italy and Germany. The pact was initially drafted as a tripartite military alliance between Japan, Italy and Germany. While Japan wanted the focus of the pact to be aimed at the Soviet Union, Italy and Germany wanted it aimed at the British Empire and France. Due to this disagreement, the pact was signed without Japan and became an agreement between Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany, signed on 22 May 1939 by foreign ministers Galeazzo Ciano of Italy and Joachim von Ribbentrop of Germany.
In May 1939, the Robert Ley sailed together with the KdF ships Wilhelm Gustloff, Stuttgart, Der Deutsche and Sierra Cordoba and the ship Oceana to Vigo, Spain, where the fleet arrived on 24 May and unloaded medical and other materials for the nationalist government. On 26 May, the troops of the Condor Legion came on board, 1416 men on the Robert Ley, returning to Hamburg on 30 May.
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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
