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:
It starts with a section about the "Magic Circle", a group of German magicians, showing off their tricks and performing in German field hospitals.
The next scene focuses on Sergeant Rodewald, a wounded Knights Cross recipient, who, will still being wounded, volunteered to work in a factory.
This is followed by scenes of infantry training from the Reich Labor Service, combat footage of retreating German troops fighting partisans in the Balkans and Albania, including footage of Albanian troops fighting with Germans.
The next scene shows footage of German supply convoys for Courland, followed by combat footage from the besieged German Atlantic bases fighting off American planes.
The last section is about the Western Front, including scenes of a German Assault Gun Battery, and winter combat footage from the Vosges mountains.
Remarks:
02:20 Comedy and magical shows were often shown in field hospitals to raise moral among the wounded soldiers. This was rather common among all war-waging nations during WWII, not just Germany.
02:47 Otto Rodewald (1918-1997) was a German communication troops NCO during WWII. Not much is known about his life, but he was awarded the Knights Cross in March 1944. As the platoon leader of the communication platoon of Grenadier Regiment 948, he was far behind the frontlines near Tarnopol, when a Soviet tank attack broke through German lines. Rodewald, having never received Panzerfaust training, had a wounded German soldier explain the handling of a Panzerfaust to him, and destroyed five attacking T-34 tanks within 45 minutes; he was wounded by splinters while attacking the sixth. He was awarded the Knights Cross for that. Not much is known about his later life, but he survived the war and died in April 1997.
02:53 Rodewald used a single-shot Panzerfaust, not the Panzerschreck as claimed here, to destroy the five Soviet tanks.
03:34 The Reichsarbeitsdienst, (Reich Labor Service, RAD) was a German paramilitary organization, which was used to build infrastructure and buildings. During the war, the RAD was used to construct field positions, fortifications, trenches etc., and more and more RAD personnel was used as frontline troops, mainly in AA-gun batteries, but also to fill up gaps in regular Wehrmacht units. Especially after the catastrophic losses in 1944, RAD units were often thrown directly in the fight in a desperate attempt to close the frontlines. Of course, RAD units were never trained for combat and only received short and basic infantry combat; hence, their losses were quite high compared to regular Wehrmacht units. In mid-1944, the RAD took over military basic training, in an attempt to free up the training units and instructors of the Wehrmacht for frontline use.
04:34 Feldmeister, literally translating to “Field Master” was a rank of the RAD, equivalent to an Army Lieutenant.
04:35 Walter Garz (1920-1979) was a German NCO during WWII. Just like with Rodewald, not much is known about Garz’ life, but he was awarded the Knights Cross in December 1942 as a platoon leader in the 1st Battalion of Panzergrenadier-Regiment 74. Like most RAD Knights Cross holders, he was serving as a regular army soldier in an army unit, but is portrayed here as an “RAD Knights Cross holder” for propaganda purposes.
04:43 After the Soviets broke through the frontlines in Romania in August 1944, and Romania subsequentially switching sides, the Soviets came close to the Yugoslavian border in September 1944. After the capitulation of Bulgaria, the German occupation forces in Balkan received order to prepare for a withdrawal from Greece and the Balkans towards Croatia and Hungary. Despite having to leave behind much material, and the attacking Soviet, Bulgarian and Yugoslav partisan units capturing many main roads and logistical hubs, the Germans managed to avoid a Soviet encirclement, and successfully retreated from Greece and the Balkans, making contact with the 2nd Tank Army in Bosnia and Hungary in November 1944.
04:44 This gun 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.
04:45 The Germans initially tried to retreat through Niš, a huge logistical hub in Serbia and the main road from Greece towards Hungary, but the city was already captured by Bulgarian forces in mid-October 1944. Ultimately, most German units retreated through the last road available to them, from Skoplje over Mitrovica, Kraljevo and Užice towards Sarajevo in Bosnia.
04:47 When the Soviets and Bulgarians attacked towards Yugoslavia, local Partisans also conducted major offensives against the retreating Germans, however, they were unable to fully block the German retrea.
04:48 This is a StuG III Ausf. F. The StuG III was the most built German armored vehicle during WWII. Initially designed as an assault gun with a short-barreled 7,5cm infantry support cannon, but starting with the Ausf. F, it received a normal 7,5cm tank gun, and was mainly used as a tank destroyer afterward. The StuG III Ausf. F was only built in small numbers, around 250 vehicles between September and December 1942, and it was then replaced by the Ausf. G, which was built around 9,400 times between late 1942 and 1945.
04:50 In this shot, the armored side skirts can be seen. These were thin armored plates, usually 5mm thick, added on several German tanks during WWII to protect against enemy AT-rifle, which were used heavily especially by the Soviets.
05:13 Albania had been occupied by Italy in April 1939, and when the Italians switched sides in September 1943, German troops occupied the country. The Albanian population was generally pro-German, mainly due to political support from Austria-Hungary for an independent Albanian state before WWI, and the Germans let the Albanians generally rule themselves during the occupation. The Albanians had their own army, and also local police and militia units, like shown here.
05:14 The officer on the left belongs to the 1st Mountain Troops Division, recognizable by the unit insignia (an Edelweiss flower) on his right arm. The unit was stationed on the Balkans since April 1943, being mainly used to fight Partisans, disarm Italian troops, and being on standby in Greece against a potential Allied landing. In September 1944, the unit was stationed along the Yugoslav-Bulgarian border, defending themselves against a strong Soviet attack, retreating behind the Morava River in October 1944. During these retreats, a large part of the unit, around 5,000 men, were cut off and encircled by Soviet units south of Belgrade, including the divisional commander. The rest of the division managed to pull back, fighting defensive battles in the area of the Rivers Sava and Drina, before moving back towards Hungary in late October and November 1944. The division spent the reminder of the war in Hungary.
05:45 While building AA-gun positions was one of the tasks of the RAD during war time , starting from 1943 onwards, entire AA-gun batteries were formed of RAD-men, initially only behind the frontlines, but with the bad progression of the war, RAD-AA batteries were also increasingly used at the frontlines to fight enemy ground targets.
06:00 Detonating explosive grenades above enemy trenches was an often-used tactic. The idea behind it was that such an explosion would send many grenade splinters from above into enemy lines, thus having a greater effect over a larger area ten a “normal” artillery shelling.
06:10 These guns are 8,8cm FlaK 36 AA-guns. While initially designed to be used against enemy planes, the 8,8cm FlaK 36 became one of the most famous German weapons during WWII, especially because of its excellent anti-tank capabilities. 20,754 guns were made between 1933 and 1945, roughly half of them went to the frontlines, the other half was used for AA-defense within Germany. As shown here, the 8,8 cm FlaK was also often used as an artillery gun. While it wasn’t designed for that role and was less effective than regular artillery, often, regular artillery was not available, especially later in the war.
06:30 Courland is a peninsula in western Latvia. From July 1944 to the end of the war, the Courland pocket was a frontline in which to German armies (16th and 18th) were cut off from the rest of the Army Group North during Operation Bagration and continued to fight there until the rest of the war. Despite strong Soviet attacks, the front largely remained intact until the German capitulation. The Soviets would attempt six offensives, the first one started on October 16th, 1944, the last one on March 18th, 1945. The Soviets were unable to break the German frontlines, and all six Courland offensives were successfully repelled by the Germans. By the time of this newsreel, in late November 1944, the second Courland offensive, had to be stopped by the Soviets due to heavy rainfalls; they would attempt the next attack on December 21st.
06:32 The wooden crates that can be seen on the right and in the background most likely hold rockets for German Nebelwerfer rocket artillery.
06:43 As the Germans enjoyed a Naval superiority in the Baltic Sea, and the Soviets lacked both ships and anti-ship aircrafts, the Germans could relatively easy move around troops and supplies from and to the Courland peninsula until the end of the war.
06:53 The gun on the left here is a 2cm Flakvierling 38, a quadruple AA-gun, made up of four 2cm AA-gun barrels, giving it a lot of firepower.
07:25 As written above, the Germans enjoyed Naval superiority in the Baltics, which they also used to shell Soviet land units close to the coast. The main German Navy forces in the Baltics at that time consisted of the Battle Group Thiele, named after its commander, Vice Admiral August Thiele (1893-1981). It consisted of three heavy cruisers (Lützow, Admiral Scheer and Prinz Eugen), two Type 1936A and two Type 1936B destroyers (Z25, Z28, Z35 and Z26) and four torpedo boats. This unit was active from March 1944 to late April 1945. The shelling done by this unit was tremendous, for example, from October 10th to October 15th, the Prinz Eugen alone shelled 28 land targets, firing 1196 shells from its main 20,3cm guns.
In this Die Deutsche Wochenschau video:
It starts with a section about the "Magic Circle", a group of German magicians, showing off their tricks and performing in German field hospitals.
The next scene focuses on Sergeant Rodewald, a wounded Knights Cross recipient, who, will still being wounded, volunteered to work in a factory.
This is followed by scenes of infantry training from the Reich Labor Service, combat footage of retreating German troops fighting partisans in the Balkans and Albania, including footage of Albanian troops fighting with Germans.
The next scene shows footage of German supply convoys for Courland, followed by combat footage from the besieged German Atlantic bases fighting off American planes.
The last section is about the Western Front, including scenes of a German Assault Gun Battery, and winter combat footage from the Vosges mountains.
Remarks:
02:20 Comedy and magical shows were often shown in field hospitals to raise moral among the wounded soldiers. This was rather common among all war-waging nations during WWII, not just Germany.
02:47 Otto Rodewald (1918-1997) was a German communication troops NCO during WWII. Not much is known about his life, but he was awarded the Knights Cross in March 1944. As the platoon leader of the communication platoon of Grenadier Regiment 948, he was far behind the frontlines near Tarnopol, when a Soviet tank attack broke through German lines. Rodewald, having never received Panzerfaust training, had a wounded German soldier explain the handling of a Panzerfaust to him, and destroyed five attacking T-34 tanks within 45 minutes; he was wounded by splinters while attacking the sixth. He was awarded the Knights Cross for that. Not much is known about his later life, but he survived the war and died in April 1997.
02:53 Rodewald used a single-shot Panzerfaust, not the Panzerschreck as claimed here, to destroy the five Soviet tanks.
03:34 The Reichsarbeitsdienst, (Reich Labor Service, RAD) was a German paramilitary organization, which was used to build infrastructure and buildings. During the war, the RAD was used to construct field positions, fortifications, trenches etc., and more and more RAD personnel was used as frontline troops, mainly in AA-gun batteries, but also to fill up gaps in regular Wehrmacht units. Especially after the catastrophic losses in 1944, RAD units were often thrown directly in the fight in a desperate attempt to close the frontlines. Of course, RAD units were never trained for combat and only received short and basic infantry combat; hence, their losses were quite high compared to regular Wehrmacht units. In mid-1944, the RAD took over military basic training, in an attempt to free up the training units and instructors of the Wehrmacht for frontline use.
04:34 Feldmeister, literally translating to “Field Master” was a rank of the RAD, equivalent to an Army Lieutenant.
04:35 Walter Garz (1920-1979) was a German NCO during WWII. Just like with Rodewald, not much is known about Garz’ life, but he was awarded the Knights Cross in December 1942 as a platoon leader in the 1st Battalion of Panzergrenadier-Regiment 74. Like most RAD Knights Cross holders, he was serving as a regular army soldier in an army unit, but is portrayed here as an “RAD Knights Cross holder” for propaganda purposes.
04:43 After the Soviets broke through the frontlines in Romania in August 1944, and Romania subsequentially switching sides, the Soviets came close to the Yugoslavian border in September 1944. After the capitulation of Bulgaria, the German occupation forces in Balkan received order to prepare for a withdrawal from Greece and the Balkans towards Croatia and Hungary. Despite having to leave behind much material, and the attacking Soviet, Bulgarian and Yugoslav partisan units capturing many main roads and logistical hubs, the Germans managed to avoid a Soviet encirclement, and successfully retreated from Greece and the Balkans, making contact with the 2nd Tank Army in Bosnia and Hungary in November 1944.
04:44 This gun 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.
04:45 The Germans initially tried to retreat through Niš, a huge logistical hub in Serbia and the main road from Greece towards Hungary, but the city was already captured by Bulgarian forces in mid-October 1944. Ultimately, most German units retreated through the last road available to them, from Skoplje over Mitrovica, Kraljevo and Užice towards Sarajevo in Bosnia.
04:47 When the Soviets and Bulgarians attacked towards Yugoslavia, local Partisans also conducted major offensives against the retreating Germans, however, they were unable to fully block the German retrea.
04:48 This is a StuG III Ausf. F. The StuG III was the most built German armored vehicle during WWII. Initially designed as an assault gun with a short-barreled 7,5cm infantry support cannon, but starting with the Ausf. F, it received a normal 7,5cm tank gun, and was mainly used as a tank destroyer afterward. The StuG III Ausf. F was only built in small numbers, around 250 vehicles between September and December 1942, and it was then replaced by the Ausf. G, which was built around 9,400 times between late 1942 and 1945.
04:50 In this shot, the armored side skirts can be seen. These were thin armored plates, usually 5mm thick, added on several German tanks during WWII to protect against enemy AT-rifle, which were used heavily especially by the Soviets.
05:13 Albania had been occupied by Italy in April 1939, and when the Italians switched sides in September 1943, German troops occupied the country. The Albanian population was generally pro-German, mainly due to political support from Austria-Hungary for an independent Albanian state before WWI, and the Germans let the Albanians generally rule themselves during the occupation. The Albanians had their own army, and also local police and militia units, like shown here.
05:14 The officer on the left belongs to the 1st Mountain Troops Division, recognizable by the unit insignia (an Edelweiss flower) on his right arm. The unit was stationed on the Balkans since April 1943, being mainly used to fight Partisans, disarm Italian troops, and being on standby in Greece against a potential Allied landing. In September 1944, the unit was stationed along the Yugoslav-Bulgarian border, defending themselves against a strong Soviet attack, retreating behind the Morava River in October 1944. During these retreats, a large part of the unit, around 5,000 men, were cut off and encircled by Soviet units south of Belgrade, including the divisional commander. The rest of the division managed to pull back, fighting defensive battles in the area of the Rivers Sava and Drina, before moving back towards Hungary in late October and November 1944. The division spent the reminder of the war in Hungary.
05:45 While building AA-gun positions was one of the tasks of the RAD during war time , starting from 1943 onwards, entire AA-gun batteries were formed of RAD-men, initially only behind the frontlines, but with the bad progression of the war, RAD-AA batteries were also increasingly used at the frontlines to fight enemy ground targets.
06:00 Detonating explosive grenades above enemy trenches was an often-used tactic. The idea behind it was that such an explosion would send many grenade splinters from above into enemy lines, thus having a greater effect over a larger area ten a “normal” artillery shelling.
06:10 These guns are 8,8cm FlaK 36 AA-guns. While initially designed to be used against enemy planes, the 8,8cm FlaK 36 became one of the most famous German weapons during WWII, especially because of its excellent anti-tank capabilities. 20,754 guns were made between 1933 and 1945, roughly half of them went to the frontlines, the other half was used for AA-defense within Germany. As shown here, the 8,8 cm FlaK was also often used as an artillery gun. While it wasn’t designed for that role and was less effective than regular artillery, often, regular artillery was not available, especially later in the war.
06:30 Courland is a peninsula in western Latvia. From July 1944 to the end of the war, the Courland pocket was a frontline in which to German armies (16th and 18th) were cut off from the rest of the Army Group North during Operation Bagration and continued to fight there until the rest of the war. Despite strong Soviet attacks, the front largely remained intact until the German capitulation. The Soviets would attempt six offensives, the first one started on October 16th, 1944, the last one on March 18th, 1945. The Soviets were unable to break the German frontlines, and all six Courland offensives were successfully repelled by the Germans. By the time of this newsreel, in late November 1944, the second Courland offensive, had to be stopped by the Soviets due to heavy rainfalls; they would attempt the next attack on December 21st.
06:32 The wooden crates that can be seen on the right and in the background most likely hold rockets for German Nebelwerfer rocket artillery.
06:43 As the Germans enjoyed a Naval superiority in the Baltic Sea, and the Soviets lacked both ships and anti-ship aircrafts, the Germans could relatively easy move around troops and supplies from and to the Courland peninsula until the end of the war.
06:53 The gun on the left here is a 2cm Flakvierling 38, a quadruple AA-gun, made up of four 2cm AA-gun barrels, giving it a lot of firepower.
07:25 As written above, the Germans enjoyed Naval superiority in the Baltics, which they also used to shell Soviet land units close to the coast. The main German Navy forces in the Baltics at that time consisted of the Battle Group Thiele, named after its commander, Vice Admiral August Thiele (1893-1981). It consisted of three heavy cruisers (Lützow, Admiral Scheer and Prinz Eugen), two Type 1936A and two Type 1936B destroyers (Z25, Z28, Z35 and Z26) and four torpedo boats. This unit was active from March 1944 to late April 1945. The shelling done by this unit was tremendous, for example, from October 10th to October 15th, the Prinz Eugen alone shelled 28 land targets, firing 1196 shells from its main 20,3cm guns.
Source :
https://digitaler-lesesaal.bundesarchiv.de/en/video/4011/699895
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5uN6Ez2fK5w&t=11s
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