Die Deutsche Wochenschau is the title of the unified newsreel series released in the cinemas of Nazi Germany from June 1940 until the end of World War II, with the final edition issued on 22 March 1945. The co-ordinated newsreel production was set up as a vital instrument for the mass distribution of Nazi propaganda at war.
In this Die Deutsche Wochenschau video:
This is issue No. 567 from 17th July 1941, only a few weeks after the start of Operation Barbarossa, the invasion of the Soviet Union.
It shows enlistment of volunteers for the fight against the Soviet Union in Denmark, Norway, the Netherlands and Spain, and units from Axis countries taking part in the invasion, such as Italy, Romania and Slovakia.
It then shows extensive combat footages from all parts of the Eastern Front, from the Finnish-German advance in the North to the Romanian-German advance in the south, aswell as various air combat, artillery action, breakthrough of German forces in the battle of Bialystok Minsk, destroyed soviet tanks, trains, trucks, planes etc.
Remarks:
01:18 This is an office of the DNSAP, the Danish Nazi party.
01:22 As a lot of Europeans, especially right-wing/conservatives, held strong anti-communist views in the 1930s and 40s, a lot of Europeans volunteered to fight against the Soviets. By the end of 1941, almost 41,000 foreigners served in the Wehrmacht and Waffen SS.
01:24 The sign reads, in Norwegian: “Enlistment for Regiment ‘Nordland’ here”
01:36 These men wear uniforms of the NSB, the Dutch Nazi party.
01:51 This is referring to the Spanish Civil War, in which Nationalist Forces with the backing of Germany and Italy won against left-leaning Republican forces backed by the Soviet Union. The Spanish Civil War was often portrayed of the fight as Nationalists against Communists/Socialists by Nazi propaganda.
01:59 This banner reads: “Falangists Volunteers against Russia”. Falangists refers to the Spanish Falangist militia.
02:00 This sign reads: “The German army salutes the Spanish volunteers”.
02:08 The Blue Division, officially Spanish Volunteer Division, or 250th Infantry Division, was a unit of volunteers from Spain during the Invasion of the Soviet Union. Formed on June 24th, 1941, it was made up by a lot of professional Spanish soldiers and many volunteers already fought in the Spanish Civil war. The unit mainly fought around Leningrad. Due to pressure of the Allies and conservative politicians in Spain, the unit was returned to Spain in November 1944, however, up to 3000 Spanish soldiers refused to return and continued fighting in various German units.
02:27 These guns are 149mm Italian Obice 149/13, a heavy field howitzer. Originally designed by Skoda in 1912-1914 and built in WWI for the Austro-Hungarian Army, Italy captured many of these guns during WWI and received more as reparations; in 1939, the Italian Army had 490 of these guns in service, and they were considered one of the most modern guns in the Italian arsenal.
02:31 Italy originally contributed an Expeditionary Corps to Operation Barbarossa with 3 divisions (3rd Cavalry, 9th Infantry and 52nd Infantry) and 62.000 men. The 9th and 52th Infantry division were semi-motorized divisions. This was later expanded to an army (Italian Army in Russia) in July 1942, which had 10 Divisions and 235.00 men. This army was largely destroyed during the Battle of Stalingrad, after which the remaining troops were sent home to Italy in February 1943.
03:32 Romania, after Germany, contributed the most troops to Operation Barbarossa, with two entire armies, the 3rd Army with two infantry divisions, two cavalry and three mountaineer brigades, and the 4th Army with 5 infantry divisions and two garrison brigades. In total, Romanian forces deployed for Operation Barbarossa were 325,700 Romanian soldiers, supported by 365 aircraft, 2,307 artillery and AT-guns, and 223 light tanks and tankettes.
03:48 Slovakia was a puppet state of Germany, formed after the German annexation of Czech in March 1939. It was the only Axis besides Germany to take part in the invasion of Poland, where it contributed 3 divisions, and again sent the “Slovak Expeditionary Army Group” with 45,000 men to fight against the Soviet Union. Most of these troops were used for security and rear area duties, but some elements, such as the Slovak 1st Infantry Division, saw heavy combat in the Kuban bridgehead.
03:52 This is a German 8,8cm Flak 36 AA/AT-gun. Slovakia received some of these guns in 1939 from Germany.
03:58 Hungary contributed a so called “Fast Corps”, compromised of two motorized brigades, the 1st and 2nd, and the 1st Cavalry brigade, in total around 45,000 men. It was part of the Hungarian Third Army during the invasion of Yugoslavia, and during Operation Barbarossa, they had some successes, such as a combined encirclement with German forces during the Battle of Uman in August 1941, trapping over 200,000 Soviet soldiers. Some other victories followed, but the Hungarians lost many men during fighting, so the Fast Corps returned to Budapest in November 1941.
04:01 Refers to the fact that Hungarian soldiers fought, as part of the Austria-Hungarian army, together with Germany in WWI.
04:16 The truck in this scene is a Ford V-3000 series, a group of trucks built by the German Ford factory for the Wehrmacht.
04:44 This truck, bearing an SS-license plate, belongs to the SS-Combat Group “North”, and can be identified by the unit insignia on the front fender. It was formed in Norway in February 1941 out of two SS-Standarten, and had the strength of a Brigade, it was used during Operation Barbarossa as part of the XXXVI. Army Corps. It was later expanded to the SS-Division “North”, and in January 1942 renamed to the 6th SS- Mountaineer Division “North”.
04:53 The tanks in these scenes are light Panzer II. It was originally designed in the mid-1930s as a stopgap until more powerful Panzer III and IV were ready, but it ended up being the most numerous German tank at the beginning of the war. 1,856 were built between 1935 and 1942. It only had up to 15mm of armor and was only armed with a 2cm autocannon, making it already obsolete by the beginning of WWII.
05:03 The knocked out Soviet tank on the right in this scene is a light amphibious T-38 tank. Designed between 1934 and 1936, 1,340 were made in 1937-39. It only had between 3 and 9mm of armor, two crew members and was armed with a single 7,62mm machine gun. The weak armor meant that it was easily penetrable by rifle or MG fire, and as it only had one MG, it was extremely ineffective in combat. Many of these were captured by the Germans, and it wasn’t used in combat after 1941, instead used as tractor to tow guns or for training and guarding rear areas.
05:09 This is a newspaper/frontline news, it reads “From the Artic Ocean to the Black Sea- The largest deployment the world has ever seen”.
05:57 The planes in this scene are German Bf-109 fighter planes.
06:01 I’m not 100% sure, but this looks to me like a Soviet Pe-2 bomber.
07:05 The tank in this scene is a Panzer III Ausf. F. A successor of the Panzer III E, there were only a few upgrades, with the same armor thickness of around 30mm, and the same 3,7cm KwK 36 main gun. 435 of these Ausf. F were made in 1939-40, making it one of the most numerous German tanks built in the early war.
07:28 This Finnish officer on the right holds the rank of Captain.
07:31 This is a Ju-87 dive bomber. Nicknamed Stuka, it was the main German ground attack plane during the early phases of WWII. Designed in 1935 and build between 1937 and 1944, around 6,000 were made. While a successful design in the early stages of the war, it later became outdated, and wasn’t used as a dive bomber after 1943.
09:07 The unit symbol is that of JG 2 “Richthofen”, named after famous WWI flying ace Manfred von Richthofen. However, this unit was stationed on the Channel coast from 1941-1944 and never fought on the Eastern Front, so this scene was most likely not actually filmed on the Eastern Front.
10:11 This Romanian officer holds the rank of Captain.
11:42 This is a SdKfz 7, a half-track artillery towing vehicle, with 12,187 built between 1938-1945, towing a 15cm sFH 18, Germanys standard division-level heavy artillery, with 6,756 built between 1933 and 1945.
11:46 The sign reads, in Ukrainian: “Glory to Hitler- Glory to Ukraine!”
12:06 This is probably referring to the fact that many Soviet agrarian policies caused a huge famine in the Ukraine in 1932/33, which caused the death of 3,5 to 5 million Ukrainians. This is historically known as Holodomor, or Ukrainian Famine, and cause widespread anti-Soviet sentiments in Ukraine, leading to many Ukrainians initially welcoming German soldiers as liberators.
13:29 The armored cars on the right are Ba-10 scout cars, armored cars built on a GAZ-AAA truck chassis and armed with a 45mm gun in a turret. 3,311 of these were built between 1938 and 1941, and it was extensively used in the first few months of the invasion, but became rare after 1941 due to many being destroyed in combat. Many were also captured by the Germans and other Axis countries.
13:38 These are T-26 light tanks. Armed with a 45mm gun, it was better than the German used Panzer I, II and 35 and 38(t), but the Panzer III and IV had better guns. Around 10,300 were built between 1931 and 1941, and in the beginning of Operation Barbarossa, the T-26 was one of the most common Soviet tanks, but most of them were destroyed in the first few months of the fighting. Some individual tanks were used until 1944.
14:11 This is a Soviet 203mm M1931 howitzer. Designed in 1931 and with 871 guns made between 1932 and 1945, it was a devastating weapon, firing 100 kilo heavy shells up to 18km. Unlike most guns, it had tracks fitted, allowing it to shoot from every surface without a special platform. The gun was nicknamed “Stalins Sledgehammer” by the Germans.
14:21 This is a heavy KV-2 tank, a Soviet assault tank, armed with a 152mm M-10 howitzer gun. With a frontal armor of up to 110mm, the Germans who encountered it had great difficulties destroying these tanks in 1941. 210 built between 1939 and 1941.
14:25 This reads “2nd/ Regiment General-Göring- Donated to our Führer! Dubno, 29.06.41”
The “(FlaK-)Regiment General Göring” was a German AA-regiment, formed in 1935. It took part during the invasion of France, where its heavy 8,8cm AA-guns were often used to fight of tanks. From June 1941, the Regiment was part of II. Flak Corps, which was attached to Tank Group I for Operation Barbarossa, fighting as part of Army Group South during the initial stages of the German
invasion. In July 1942, the Regiment was increased in size to a Brigade and shortly after to a division, the “Division General Göring”, which perished during the German capitulation in North Africa.
14:37 This tank is a light Soviet BT-7 tank. The BT-7 was the last and most built tank of the BT-series, designed in 1935 and with 5,753 made between 1935 and 1940, making it one of the most common Soviet tanks in 1941. Its armor was weak, but it had a decent 45mm gun and was very fast with a 450hp engine, allowing it to reach up to 86kmh on roads and up to 50kmh off-road. The Soviets lost over 2,000 BT-7s during the first twelve months of the war, and it was not used much after 1942.
14:44 The first scout car is a 4-wheeled SdKfz 222, followed by an 8-wheeled SdKfz 232.
15:00 This tank carries an improvised fuel trailer, allowing it to cover greater distances without having to re-fuel.
15:09 The white “K” on this scout car indicates that it belongs to the Tank Group I. This unit was created in March 1940 for the invasion of France as “Tank Group Kleist”, after its commander, General Ewald von Kleist (1881-1954). Although it was officially renamed to Tank Group I, it was continued to be called “Tank Group Kleist”, and the white K for Kleist remained an official insignia. It was renamed 1st Tank Army in October 1941.
15:13 These are French 155mm GPF artillery guns, introduced in 1917. It was a successful design and also adopted by many other countries, such as the US, Australia, Brazil and others. It had a maximum firing range of up to 19,5 km. It was still used by the French Army in 1940; and 439 of these guns were captured by the Germans, who used some of them for artillery units, while others were placed in bunkers along the Atlantic wall.
15:23 These are 7,5cm le.IG 18, the standard light infantry gun of the Wehrmacht. Around 12,000 were built from 1932-1945.
15:31 This is a 10.5 cm leFH 18, the standard German light field gun of WWII. 11,848 produced between 1935 and 1943, with a further 10,265 produced of its successor, the 10.5cm leFH 18/40, from 1943-1945. The fact that this gun here has no muzzle break indicates that it is an early war model. It also being used for direct fire here, which, despite not being the primary task of the leFH 18, was often done, when other direct-firing weapons were not available.
15:54 The Soviet Army used women in combat roles, most famously as pilots and snipers. Since in Nazi ideology, women’s role in society was purely to raise children and take care of the home, Soviet female soldiers were often portrayed negatively in German propaganda, and many of these captured women were mistreated or killed in German captivity.
16:06 German propaganda often showed captured Red Army soldiers of Asian descent to portray a sense of racial superiority against the “Asian hordes” of the Soviet Union.
16:20 This is a great example of a staged scene, as you can see, the tank was already destroyed before the scene, and the explosion and the soldiers ducking for cover is purely staged for the camera.
16:28 Additionally, you can see people calmly moving on the street in the background, which no one would do in a real combat situation.
16:31 This is again a destroyed heavy KV-2 tank in the foreground, with a destroyed KV-1 in the background.
16:41 The guns on the left are Maxim M1910 heavy MGs. They were often used in a quadruple setup on a truck as improvised mobile AA-guns.
17:31 The battle of Białystok–Minsk was a battle conducted in the early stages of Operation Barbarossa, from June 22nd to July 9th. Germanys 2nd and 3rd Tank Groups encircled 4 Soviet armies with 640,000 men, out of which the Soviets lost 420,000 men (however, around 250,000 men were able to escape the pockets because the Germans couldn’t close it quick enough) and large numbers of tanks, guns, trucks etc. This crushing victory right at the beginning of the campaign enabled the Germans to advance deep into the Soviet Union and led many to believe the Germans had already won the war.
17:40 The white “G” on the back of these trucks indicate that they belong to Tank Group 2, which was originally formed in early June 1940 as “Tank Group Guderian”, named after its commander, General Heinz Guderian (1888-1954). It was renamed to Tank Group 2 in November 1940, but still retained the white G as a unit symbol. It was renamed into 2nd Tank Army in October 1941.
17:43 This is an early model Panzer IV with the short-barreled 7,5cm gun.
18:21 The idea that the Soviets were massing their forces for an immediate attack on Europe, and the Germans anticipated that and strike first, was a commonly repeated theme in Nazi propaganda.
18:26 In reality, the encirclement had gaping holes in it, mainly because the Wehrmacht didn’t have enough motorized infantry to follow the tank divisions to complete the encirclement. This led, as written above, to the escape of around 250,000 Soviet soldiers of the encirclement, something that Hitler blamed on his tank generals. In reality, the lack of motorization of the infantry units that followed the tanks was the main reason for that.
18:28 The symbol on the left fender of the vehicle in front is that of the 2nd SS-Tank Division “The Reich”, which was part of the XXXXVI. Motorized Army Corps, which was part of the Tank Group 2 during the early stages of Operation Barbarossa.
18:34 Indeed, many Soviet roads at that time were in a terrible state, slowing down the advance of Germanys tank and motorized divisions.
19:07 This is an Sd. Kfz. 7 half-track towing an 8,8cm FlaK 36 AA/AT-gun.
19:58 This scout car is an Sd. Kfz. 221, one of the earlies armored reconnaissance vehicles developed by Germany. Designed in 1935, the first vehicles were delivered to the German Army in late 1937. It was armed with only one MG, but its 75hp engine gave it a good mobility. In total, 339 vehicles were built in three series until August 1940.
20:57 “Die Vöglein im Walde” (The birds in the forest) is a 19th century German soldiers song.
21:58 This building is the “Government House” in Minsk. Build between 1930 and 1934, it housed the government of the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic. During the German occupation of Minks, it was used as a Police and Gestapo headquarter. It survived the war without damage and still stands, nowadays used to house the National Assembly of Belarus.
22:37 This is again a light T-26 tank.
23:17 This gun is a 21cm Mortar 18, a heavy howitzer used by the Germans during WWII. Despite its name, it’s not a Mortar, but a howitzer (All German guns with a caliber over 20cm were named “Mortar”). With shells weighing 63 kilos, it was a devastating weapon. 738 built between 1939-1945.
23:41 The Stalin-Line was a line of fortifications built on the western border of the USSR in the 1920s. As the Soviets annexed new territory in the 1930s, such as the Baltic states or eastern Poland, they constructed a new line further west, the Molotov-Line, and took guns out of the Stalin line to install them in the Molotov line. That meant that by the time the Germans attacked, the Molotov-line had weapons, but was unfinished and couldn’t be manned in time, and the Stalin line was in disrepair and without weapons, so neither was much use in stopping the German assault. The strength of the Stalin line was overestimated in German propaganda to make it seem more powerful that the Germans managed to break through.
23:58 This gun is a light 2cm Flak 30 AA-gun.
24:08 This scene looks again very staged to me, soldiers shooting at a tank with rifles doesn’t make much sense.
25:01 The letters “Adj.” on the back and side of the turret refers to this tank being the tank of the adjutant, most likely of the battalion commander.
25:08 This scene, again, is most likely staged. In a real battle, a tank crew would never leave their tanks with their sidearms to hunt down some enemy infantry running away. They would either shoot at them with their main gun or their MG or would leave them alone. But leaving the tank is not only against army regulations, but highly dangerous on a real battlefield.
25:18 This is again a Ba-10 armored scout car.
25:59 These numbers are largely accurate, the Germans indeed captured around 320,000 men during that battle.
26:17 These numbers are lower than the real losses, for example, the Soviets lost over 4,700 tanks in this battle. I believe that at that time, even the Germans themselves didn’t have a clear picture of just how much equipment the Soviets had actually lost.
26:31 This gun is a 37mm M1939 61-K AA-gun, the standard light Soviet AA-gun during WWII. Developed as a smaller version of the 45mm gun 49-K, it was designed between January and October 1938, and around 20,000 of these guns were made between 1939 and 1945.
26:32 This is again a heavy KV-2 tank.
26:42 The Kradschützen Batalion 29 was a German motorcycle reconnaissance unit, formed in February 1941 and attached to the 29th Motorized Infantry Division.
26:49 The tank in the foreground is a T34/76, the tank in the background a BT-2 light tank.
26:51 The tank in the background is again a heavy KV-1.
26:53 This is again a light BT-7 tank.
26:58 This actually looks like a German heavy 15cm sFH 18 artillery piece. It was quite rare to see destroyed German equipment in a Newsweek episode, the censors must have overlooked that.
27:10 This is a T-35 tank, a multi-turreted Soviet heavy tank. Equipped with a 76,2mm main gun, two 45mm guns and 6 MGs, it was the world’s only 5-turreted tank that reached production. Although weighing 45 tons, it only had up to 30mm of armor, and only 59 were built between 1934 and 1939. The tank was very unreliable, and in fact, most of these were lost due to mechanical failure, and not in combat. Despite tanks like the KV-series or the T34 causing much more trouble for the Germans, just because the T35 is rather heavy and large, it was prominently featured in German propaganda.
27:31 In mid-July 1941, the Soviets themselves admitted to loosing 3985 aircrafts, while the Germans claimed 6857, with the real number probably around 5-6000, so the numbers mentioned here are plausible.
27:44 Indeed, the extreme high numbers of destroyed Soviet tanks, planes and guns were often seen as massive overstatement by Nazi propaganda, while in fact, they were largely correct, the amount of military hardware lost by the Soviets in the first few months of the war was simply way higher than anything seen before.
27:58 German troops entered Riga, the capital of Latvia, on July 1st, 1941.
28:09 Riga, the capital of Latvia, was part of the Terra Mariana, a vassal state of the Holy See between 1215 and 1561, parts of which were controlled by the Teutonic Order. However, Riga itself was not directly controlled by the Teutonic Order, but rather by the Archbishopric of Riga, which however was controlled by Germans, and all Bishops of Riga between 1186 and 1563 were Germans.
28:39 Jews were often described as lazy and idling around, and the concept that the “decent Germans” forced the “lazy Jews” to work in the occupied areas was often portrayed in German propaganda.
29:17 The Soviet Union, like Nazi Germany, killed many people opposed to their rule over newly annexed territory. This was a common theme in Nazi propaganda, which of course did not mention that the Nazis were similarly killing people who were opposed to Nazi occupation.
30:16 Immediately after the German occupation in Riga began, Jews were rounded up, deported to concentration camps and killed. The Germans also incited pogroms, in which local civilians would attack and lynch Jewish civilians. One of the most deadliest of these was the Rumbula massacre, in which about 25,000 Jews were killed by German forces and Latvian auxiliary police in the Rumbula forest near Riga.
30:27 Shortly after the German occupation of Riga began, the Germans set fire to all but one synagogue in Riga. This event depicted here is the burning of the Great Choral Synagogue, Rigas biggest synagogue, built between 1868 and 1871. It was set on fire by German troops on July 4th, with 20 Jews locked in the basement, who died in the flames.
30:33 A common lie in German propaganda was that during the Soviet scorched earth tacits, the only buildings not blown up by the Soviets were Communist party headquarters and Jewish owned buildings/synagogues.
30:45 These planes are the Heinkel He-111 bombers. The He-111 was introduced in 1935 and used as a medium bomber throughout the war. While initially a decent plane, by the end of the 1930s it was technically obsolete with weak armor, weak defense weapons and low bomb capacity. Nevertheless, it was Germanys standard bomber during WWII; 6,508 were built until September 1944. It was used both for tactical and strategical bombing.
32:23 The Izvestia is a daily Russian newspaper, first published in March 1917.
33:52 The tanks on this train are BT-series light tank, to me they look like either BT-2 or BT-5.
34:13 These guns are most likely Soviet 85mm M1939 AA-guns. Developed from the 76mm M1938 AA-gun, it was introduced in the Red Army in 1939, becoming the standard Soviet heavy AA-gun during WWII. Around 18,870 were made between 1939 and 1945, and they shot down around 4000 German planes during WWII.
34:33 This gun is a 15cm sFH 18, Germanys standard division-level heavy artillery, with 6,756 built between 1933 and 1945.
34:54 This is an early production model StuG III with the short-barreled 75mm gun.
35:15 This gun is a 3,7cm PaK 36 AT-gun.
35:43 These guns are 10.5 cm leFH 18, the standard German light field gun of WWII. 11,848 produced between 1935 and 1943, with a further 10,265 produced of its successor, the 10.5cm leFH 18/40, from 1943-1945.
37:50 This song is called „From Finland to the Black Sea” and it’s a German propaganda song, made by directive of Joseph Goebbels specifically for the invasion of the Soviet Union.
Source :
https://archive.org/details/die-deutsche-wochenschau-berita-mingguan-jerman-no.-567-17-juli-1941-teks-indonesia
https://digitaler-lesesaal.bundesarchiv.de/en/video/5349/663542
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0BwQM0vkjE
