USSR. Field Marshal
General Walter von Brauchitsch visits units in the south of the Eastern Front.
– He is talking
to officers, in the centre is the Knight’s Cross recipient, Colonel General
Eugen Ritter von Schobert.
– General von
Schobert boards a light aircraft with one pilot, returning to the front. (He was
killed on 12 September 1941 in Ukraine when his light observation staff plane
landed in a Soviet minefield.
– He became the
first Colonel General to die on the Eastern Front.
Field Marshal
General Göring arrives at the headquarters of the Army South Command, he is met
by Field Marshal General Walter von Brauchitsch.
– In the
operational department of the headquarters he is shown the materials of aerial
photography.
– Göring leaves
the headquarters, the soldiers greeted him.
The northern
section of the eastern front.
– Massive raid
aircraft “Junkers” Ju-87 on Soviet positions near Murmansk.
– Bombardment of
the bridge and other strategic objects, bomb explosions (view from the air and
from the ground).
The southern
section of the Finnish front.
– Finnish troops
in the offensive on Viipuri, an old Finnish port in western Karelia.
– Forcing the
river under artillery fire.
– Fighting on
the river bank.
– Removal of the
wire fence.
– Shooting
anti-tank guns on the Soviet DZOTs.
– Soldiers
running on the wreckage of the bridge.
Street fighting in
the city.
– The facade of
a burning house, a church.
– German
soldiers defected to move along the streets.
– Destruction
and fires in the city.
– Broken railway
station, a sign: Vyborg (Viipuri).
– Finnish flag
over the building.
Military operations
in the area of Lake Ladoga, south of Vyborg.
– Crossing
motorised infantry on a pontoon bridge.
– Views of the
area, and again fires by order of Stalin.
– Movement of
German convoys on the roads leading to Leningrad.
German torpedo
boats in the Gulf of Finland.
– Shelling and
sinking of a Soviet patrol ship.
– Established
the location of the Soviet submarine.
– Dropping depth
bombs, the explosion shakes the water.
– The raid of
Soviet bombers and bombarding them with anti-aircraft guns.
– Shot down
Soviet aircraft.
– The return of
German boats to the base.
Military operations
near Leningrad.
– Massive raid
of German bombers on field fortifications.
– Shooting at
the target from machine guns from the air.
– Fire at fuel
depots, black smoke covers half the sky.
– The loop
around Leningrad is steadily tightening.
– German troops
are moving along the road.
– Broken Soviet
bunker, broken tanks.
– German assault
guns and tanks in the village.
– German
artillery on the platform firing at Soviet positions.
– Heavy German
tank breaks fences, collapses the wall of the house.
– Tanks are
travelling on a muddy road, behind a large tank rides tied behind a toy tank.
– Fighting on
the outskirts of Leningrad.
– Artillery hits
the Soviet bunkers, the corrector is pointing at targets.
– Views of
Leningrad and its surroundings from a distance.
– Shoot German
guns on Peterhof Heights, known since tsarist times.
– Hitler’s
generals watching the battle.
Military operations
near Odessa.
– The southern
section of the front.
– Planes over
the Black Sea, below can be seen lines of Soviet fortifications.
– Pilots bent
over the map, the bombs are flying on the road, the fortifications, the railway.
– The aircraft
over the sea, throwing bombs on Soviet transports, burning ship.
The central section
of the eastern front.
– Fighting in
the area of Kiev.
– The map shows
the scheme of encirclement of the Soviet armies near Kiev, a large ring covering
the cities of Roslavl-Kiev-Dnepropetrovsk, this area is compared to the area
between the German cities of Stettin-Cologne-Munich.
– The
encirclement is carried out by the German tank armies of Colonel General Ewald
von Kleist and Colonel General Heinz Guderian.
– They made the
largest encirclement in the history of wars: 5 Soviet armies found themselves in
the cauldron near Kiev. On the 26th of September the battle was over.
– More than 600
thousand soldiers and officers of the Red Army were captured.
– Fighting in
the area of Kremenchug, a Soviet bridgehead 120 kilometres long.
– River Dnieper,
firing German artillery.
– The guns are
in the field.
– Burning tank
camps on the banks of the Dnieper.
– Broken port,
near the shore is burning Soviet oil tanker.
– In the sky
huge clouds of smoke and fire.
– Soldiers look
across the river at the burning city and port, the Germans in the city.
– On the streets
can be seen abandoned strongholds.
After the
capture of Kremenchug on the lower reaches of the Dnieper, the divisions of
General-Feld Marshal Gerd von Runstedt are advancing in a northerly direction.
– The formations
of General-Feldmarschall Fedor von Bock are advancing from Gomel to the south.
– They are to
close the triangle of encirclement of the Soviet armies.
– Wooden small
houses, impenetrable mud on the roads.
– Soldiers pull
out of the mud motorbike.
Fighting in the
area of Chernihiv.
– View of
Chernihiv on the Desna River.
– After
difficult battles, the Germans enter the city.
– Anti-tank
artillery takes positions on the defence of the southern suburbs.
– Soldiers
dragging guns, resting, eating.
– A young
soldier, belted with machine gun belts, smiles.
– View of a
Soviet propaganda poster calling for defence and partisan struggle.
– The ruins of
the city.
– Fighting in
the Chernihiv area.
– View from the
aircraft on the burnt-out hulks of buildings.
– Broken Soviet
equipment, guns, dead horses.
– Wagons are
carrying equipment for the German army.
– Endless
columns of Red Army prisoners.
– The eastern
outskirts of Chernihiv.
– German
soldiers sleeping in the trenches during a respite.
– Delivery of
hot food from the field kitchen directly in the trenches.
Artillery shelling
of Konotop, the Soviet position on the Desna, flying shells.
– Infantry
crossing the river.
– Assault
Konotop.
– Forward
detachment stopped, the way blocked by fortifications.
– Launch of a
signal flare for artillery.
– Assault
battery in action.
– The tanks are
going.
– The fight at
the railway Kiev-Moscow.
– A soldier
throws a grenade in the station house, then it breaks a shell from the gun.
– Fighting
continues in the village.
– The ring
around the four Soviet armies closed.
– Movement of
German troops across the river on a pontoon bridge.
– German
infantry, boldly and swiftly overcoming fortification barriers.
– Fighting for
the western suburbs of Kiev.
– Artillery
shelling of Kiev.
– Panoramic
aerial shot of Kiev in great detail.
– German convoys
moving through the streets of Kiev.
– German
soldiers in Kiev - one of the largest commercial and industrial centres of the
Soviet Union.
– Residents of
the city on the streets.
– All kinds of
Hitler’s troops in action on the eastern front.
– A montage of
short shots of all kinds of troops, symbolising the power of the National
Socialist army.