Monday, 21 September 2026

Die Deutsche Wochenschau – Newsreel No. 658, 14 April 1943


1. New Guinea and Australia.

 

Japanese naval units are advancing toward the coast of New Guinea.

 

American bombing of Japanese ships.

 

Japanese troops land in New Guinea.

 

Japanese troops advance through the jungle.

 

Capture of a British airfield destroyed by the Japanese air force.

 

Japanese planes take off to bomb the port of Darwin, an important British stronghold in Australia.

 

Pilots in the cockpit.

 

A view from the plane of the northern coast of Australia, looking toward the port of Darwin.

 

Bombs are falling on the port.

 

2. The Eastern Front.

 

The central sector.

 

A thaw on the front; streams are flowing.

 

Spring mud.

 

Vehicles are driving along a flooded road.

 

Soldiers advance along laid planks; their boots sink into the mud.

 

Soldiers help motorcyclists pull their vehicle out.

 

Laying plank roads on strategic routes.

 

At positions between Lake Ladoga and Lake Ilmen.

 

On Lake Ladoga.

 

Soldiers are scooping water out of the trenches, using a pump, and carrying water out of the dugouts in buckets.

 

Cleaning weapons, artillery pieces, and helmets; washing tanks.

 

Inspection of personal weapons.

 

A soldier washes his hair by pouring water from a mess kit over his head, while another shaves his comrade.

 

A soldier stands near a willow tree with swollen buds and breaks off a twig.

 

Artillery opens fire on Soviet positions.

 

Damaged Soviet tanks stand after the battle.

 

The bodies of Soviet soldiers.

 

Terrain ravaged by battle.

 

Disabled Soviet tanks.

 

The famous tank killer, First Lieutenant Nigeman (wearing glasses), recipient of the Knight’s Cross.

 

Commander of the 2nd Army, General of the Infantry Walter Weiss, greets soldiers who distinguished themselves in destroying tanks; he shakes Nigemann’s hand.

 

3. Northern Finland and Karelia.

 

The Lapland Front.

 

Soldiers with Haflinger horses.

 

Small and hardy, they are well-adapted to the conditions of this land and find their way even on narrow trails.

 

They arrive at a German military base carrying their loads.

 

Weapons, ammunition, and mail are unloaded every six days.

 

The horses rest.

 

A Karelian forest in winter; a reindeer moves among the trees.

 

Scouts in camouflage gear set out on a combat mission.

 

They must destroy a recently established Soviet base.

 

They march through the snow.

 

The gun is set up; the barrage begins.

 

A grenade launcher fires.

 

Infantrymen launch an attack and capture the enemy base.

 

Soldiers march along a trench and enter a dugout.

 

A captured gun; the bodies of Soviet soldiers lie in the snow.

 

A wounded soldier is placed on a sled and pulled by ropes.

 

A dog sled pulls the sled carrying the wounded soldier.

 

4. Norway.

 

One of the fjords.

 

Wounded soldiers are loaded onto a hospital ship.

 

The ship at sea.

 

Disembarkation at a German port.

 

A medical train en route; further transport of the wounded across Germany.

 

5. Austria.

 

Mussolini’s visit to the Führer, April 7–10, 1943. The train arrives; Hitler waits on the platform.

 

Mussolini steps out of the train car.

 

Meeting between the Führer and the Duce at Kessheim Palace near Salzburg.

 

Ribbentrop and Keitel greet Mussolini.

 

Colonel General Kurt Zeitzler, Chief of the General Staff, reports on the situation at the fronts.

 

6. Germany.

 

The Führer’s headquarters.

 

Grand Admiral Karl Dönitz with the Führer.

 

Dönitz is awarded the Oak Leaves to the Knight’s Cross for his exceptional achievements in submarine warfare.

 

The Führer converses with the Grand Admiral.

 

A newsreader reports on the successes of the German submarine fleet.

 

7. Additional film – Im Wald von Katyn a black-and-white short documentary film about the Katyn massacre from 1943, directed by Fritz Hippler.

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