This declassified 1944 black and white Combat Bulletin produced by the United States Army Pictorial Service of the Signal Corps for the U.S. War Department (#30 in a series) offers glimpses of successful Allied efforts during World War II, covering British Royal Air Force campaigns and United States ground operations in Europe (TRT: 11:06).
Title cards: “This Film Is Restricted” and “Produced by Army Pictorial Service, Signal Corps” (0:08). Title: “E.T.O. Activities in European Theatre of Operations” (0:37). Title: “R.A.F. Sinks “Tirpitz.” A map shows an attack range extending from England to Tromso in northern Norway (0:44). A British four-engined strategic bomber, an Avro Lancaster, takes off from a runway. A formation of Lancasters in flight (0:55). Aerial photography of a smokescreen in effect. The German battleship Tirpitz fires guns from long range (1:12). Another smokescreen, then clearer conditions offer an opportunity (2:01). Direct hits on the Tirpitz are seen from above in footage from R.A.F. camera planes (2:25). Title: “Front Line Steel Production.” A French front converges on a point in Differdange in Luxembourg. Steel factories along the Moselle River (3:27). A tram carries mine workers. Mine cars loaded with rocks. Inside a foundry, pouring molten steel from bull ladles. A block of molten steel is formed into a beam, placed on a conveyor belt, and hauled away (3:52). Title: “Bombed Belgium Rail Networks.” A map illustrates railroad lines running between Courtrai, Malines, Hasselt, and Louvain (5:08). R.A.F. films survey damage to Belgian rail centers. Destroyed train tracks, decimated boxcars at Malines (5:17). Hasselt shows similarly extensive damage. Courtai’s warehouses in ruins (5:50). Marshaling yards at Couvain show twisted rails and derailed trains (6:44). Title: “Allied Armies Face Rain and Snow.” A map indicates Aachen in Belgium, Metz and Belfort in France (7:21). General Dwight D. Eisenhower, wearing a heavy coat, boards a Jeep while inspecting troops. Soldiers along the roadside salute in the rain. Eisenhower reviews smiling troops (7:32). Eisenhower shakes hands (8:14). Flood conditions show swelling rivers, waterlogged roads (8:19). A plane is pushed through the flood (8:47). Boats of the 90th division prepare boats and rafts to cross the Moselle (9:10). A farmhouse, a tank, rainy conditions, muddy roads. An overturned truck is reclaimed from along a muddy roadside, towed by a tank. Film ends abruptly (10:08).
The German battleship Tirpitz was the second of two Bismarck-class battleships built for Nazi Germany’s navy (or Kriegsmarine) in the WWII era. It was named for Grand Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz, and was launched in 1938. It bombarded Allied positions on the island of Spitsbergen in 1943, but was subsequently attacked by British mini-submarines and the 1944 air raids depicted in this film.
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