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 shows wounded soldiers relaxing in a resort area in Austria, female workers working on farms, German U-Boats returning from patrol, various combat footage from the northern parts of the Eastern Front, including Finish troops, aswell as convoys going to North Africa and combat footage from Africa.
00:44 Salzkammergut is a resort area in Austria, close to Salzburg.
03:16 Paris, or more specifically the western suburb of Boulogne-Billancourt, was bombed by the British on March 3rd, 1942. However, unlike claimed here, the attack was not aimed at civilian area, it was rather directed at the massive Renault plant in that area, which produced airplane engines and trucks for the German Wehrmacht, which mostly went to the Eastern Front. The bombing was therefore intended as a help for the Soviet Union. Around 600 people died as a result of the bombing raid. The Renault plant was bombed again by American bombers in April and September 1943.
03:36 Archibald Sinclair (1890-1970) was a British politician and leader of the Liberal party from 1935-1945. Unlike claimed here, he was not the “Aviation Minister” (such a position didn’t even exist, closest would be Minister of Aircraft Production), but Secretary of the State for Air from May 1940 to May 1945.
03:53 This is said in a sarcastic tone.
04:23 The evacuation of Dunkirk, a very famous event, refers to the retreat of over 330,000 allied soldiers, mostly British, from Dunkirk in late May 1940. The evacuation was largely guarded by French soldiers, who held off the Germans long enough.
04:32 I wasn’t able to find out if such an article was written, however, it is true that there was a certain sense of bitterness and anger within the French population at the British, because many French felt abandoned by the British during the fight in 1940.
06:17 The Germans built many coastal gun batteries on the French coast during the occupation, mainly to shoot at allied ships in the British channel and to bombard parts of South England with long range artillery.
07:59 The slogan on the wall reads “Loyalty for Loyalty”
09:20 Hermann Rasch (1914-1974) was a German U-Boat commander during WWII. He joined the Navy in April 1934 and served as an officer on U-106 from September 1940, before becoming commander of U-106 in October 1941. With U-106, he undertook 5 patrols and sunk 12 ships with 78,500 tons in total. He received the Knights Cross on December 29th, 1942. From April 1943 until the end of the war, he served as a staff officer in various positions. He was released as a POW in July 1946 and worked as a journalist after the war.
09:35 Heinrich Bleichrodt (1909-1977) was a German U-Boat commander during WWII. He joined the Navy in April 1933. He commanded U-48 from September 1940 to January 1941, U-67 from January to June 1941 and U-109 until January 1943. He became an instructor and staff officer after that. In total, he sank 27 ships with 158,900 tons. He received the Knights Cross in October 1940 and the Oak Leaves in September 1942.
09:38 I wasn’t able to verify that claim, but it was indeed common for English radio to report about famous U-Boat commanders dying in an attempt to boost British morale. Not all of these reports were accurate.
09:50 I’m not sure which numbers these are referring to, e.g. if these numbers are meant as the numbers of American ships, ships in the Atlantic or Allied ships in general, but in January 1942, German U-Boats sank 48 Allied and neutral ships in the Atlantic, this number rose to 73 in February 1942 and 98 in March, so the number given here seems to be accurate.
10:14 This unit is probably the “SS-Volunteer Legion Netherlands”, which was first formed in June 1941, and sent to the Eastern Front in January 1942. After heavy losses, it was re-formed in April 1943 as “4. SS-Volunteer Panzergrenadier Brigade ‘Nederland’ “, and then in January 1945 as “23. SS-Volunteer Panzergrenadier Division ‘Nederland’”.
11:30 Lake Ladoga provided the only route for the Soviets to bring supplies into the besieged Leningrad, by boat during summer and over the frozen lake by trucks in winter. It was therefore a heavily fought over area, with Finnish, Soviet, German and Italian navy units operating on the lake.
12:28 I’m not 100% sure, but I do believe this gun is a 76mm Divisional Gun M1902, a gun produced in the Russian Empire and later the Soviet Union from 1903-1931.
13:10 This tank is a Panzer III Ausf. F.
15:22 The destroyed tanks in these scenes are Soviet KV-1 Heavy tanks.
15:27 The number of 340 destroyed tanks from February 24th to March 5th sounds realistic. The Soviets had very high tank losses, usually loosing several hundred to thousand tanks per month.
15:45 During the Siege of Leningrad, the city was constantly shelled by German Artillery.
15:49 These guns are probably 15 cm Kanone 18, a heavy artillery gun made by Krupp from 1940 to 1943. 101 were built.
17:01 The Ju-52 was the main German transport plane during WWII. Built in 1931, initially as a normal passenger airplane, it was used as the standard transport plane of the Germans during WWII, when the war started, the German Air Force had 552 Ju-52 available, and a further 2,804 were built until Summer 1944.
17:03 The Ju-52 was certainly not the best transport plane in the world, it was technically obsolete, had only a limited amount of cargo capacity (around 1500 kg), and was very slow with a top speed of only about 265kmh. For example, the American C-47 transport plane was better in every aspect than the Ju-52.
17:51 This is the emblem of a Transport Squadron, but I wasn’t able to find out which one exactly.
18:23 It was common for German gun crews to mark the amount of destroyed enemy planes/tanks on their guns, so, going by the amount of strokes, this AA-gun had destroyed 25 planes so far.
19:52 This infantryman is armed with a K98k bolt action rifle, the standard German army rifle of WWII.
19:58 This is an MG-34 machine gun.
24:25 These tanks are Panzer IV Ausf. F1 with the short barreled 7,5cm gun.
24:41 The German Africa Corps was re-named to “Tank Group Africa” in September 1941 and again to “Tank Army Africa” in January 1942.
25:19 This is a Ju-88 aircraft. It was introduced in 1939 and built untill 1945, with 15,183 planes built. It served a variety of roles, such as bomber, dive bomber, torpedo bomber, night fighter etc.
25:37 The planes shown in this scene are Ju-87 Stuka dive bombers.
27:03 „Panzer rollen in Afrika vor“ (Tanks roll Forward in Africa) was the official march of the Africa Corps, published in 1941.
27:27 These tanks are Italian M14/41 tanks. The M14/41 was a medium tank with up to 30mm frontal armor and a 47mm gun. 744 were built between 1941 and 1942, when it was replaced by the M15/42 tank.
Source :
https://archive.org/details/die-deutsche-wochenschau-berita-mingguan-jerman-no.-601-11-maret-1942-teks-indonesia
https://digitaler-lesesaal.bundesarchiv.de/en/video/5624/665349
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rsgV1pmHhpU
In this Die Deutsche Wochenschau video:
It shows wounded soldiers relaxing in a resort area in Austria, female workers working on farms, German U-Boats returning from patrol, various combat footage from the northern parts of the Eastern Front, including Finish troops, aswell as convoys going to North Africa and combat footage from Africa.
00:44 Salzkammergut is a resort area in Austria, close to Salzburg.
03:16 Paris, or more specifically the western suburb of Boulogne-Billancourt, was bombed by the British on March 3rd, 1942. However, unlike claimed here, the attack was not aimed at civilian area, it was rather directed at the massive Renault plant in that area, which produced airplane engines and trucks for the German Wehrmacht, which mostly went to the Eastern Front. The bombing was therefore intended as a help for the Soviet Union. Around 600 people died as a result of the bombing raid. The Renault plant was bombed again by American bombers in April and September 1943.
03:36 Archibald Sinclair (1890-1970) was a British politician and leader of the Liberal party from 1935-1945. Unlike claimed here, he was not the “Aviation Minister” (such a position didn’t even exist, closest would be Minister of Aircraft Production), but Secretary of the State for Air from May 1940 to May 1945.
03:53 This is said in a sarcastic tone.
04:23 The evacuation of Dunkirk, a very famous event, refers to the retreat of over 330,000 allied soldiers, mostly British, from Dunkirk in late May 1940. The evacuation was largely guarded by French soldiers, who held off the Germans long enough.
04:32 I wasn’t able to find out if such an article was written, however, it is true that there was a certain sense of bitterness and anger within the French population at the British, because many French felt abandoned by the British during the fight in 1940.
06:17 The Germans built many coastal gun batteries on the French coast during the occupation, mainly to shoot at allied ships in the British channel and to bombard parts of South England with long range artillery.
07:59 The slogan on the wall reads “Loyalty for Loyalty”
09:20 Hermann Rasch (1914-1974) was a German U-Boat commander during WWII. He joined the Navy in April 1934 and served as an officer on U-106 from September 1940, before becoming commander of U-106 in October 1941. With U-106, he undertook 5 patrols and sunk 12 ships with 78,500 tons in total. He received the Knights Cross on December 29th, 1942. From April 1943 until the end of the war, he served as a staff officer in various positions. He was released as a POW in July 1946 and worked as a journalist after the war.
09:35 Heinrich Bleichrodt (1909-1977) was a German U-Boat commander during WWII. He joined the Navy in April 1933. He commanded U-48 from September 1940 to January 1941, U-67 from January to June 1941 and U-109 until January 1943. He became an instructor and staff officer after that. In total, he sank 27 ships with 158,900 tons. He received the Knights Cross in October 1940 and the Oak Leaves in September 1942.
09:38 I wasn’t able to verify that claim, but it was indeed common for English radio to report about famous U-Boat commanders dying in an attempt to boost British morale. Not all of these reports were accurate.
09:50 I’m not sure which numbers these are referring to, e.g. if these numbers are meant as the numbers of American ships, ships in the Atlantic or Allied ships in general, but in January 1942, German U-Boats sank 48 Allied and neutral ships in the Atlantic, this number rose to 73 in February 1942 and 98 in March, so the number given here seems to be accurate.
10:14 This unit is probably the “SS-Volunteer Legion Netherlands”, which was first formed in June 1941, and sent to the Eastern Front in January 1942. After heavy losses, it was re-formed in April 1943 as “4. SS-Volunteer Panzergrenadier Brigade ‘Nederland’ “, and then in January 1945 as “23. SS-Volunteer Panzergrenadier Division ‘Nederland’”.
11:30 Lake Ladoga provided the only route for the Soviets to bring supplies into the besieged Leningrad, by boat during summer and over the frozen lake by trucks in winter. It was therefore a heavily fought over area, with Finnish, Soviet, German and Italian navy units operating on the lake.
12:28 I’m not 100% sure, but I do believe this gun is a 76mm Divisional Gun M1902, a gun produced in the Russian Empire and later the Soviet Union from 1903-1931.
13:10 This tank is a Panzer III Ausf. F.
15:22 The destroyed tanks in these scenes are Soviet KV-1 Heavy tanks.
15:27 The number of 340 destroyed tanks from February 24th to March 5th sounds realistic. The Soviets had very high tank losses, usually loosing several hundred to thousand tanks per month.
15:45 During the Siege of Leningrad, the city was constantly shelled by German Artillery.
15:49 These guns are probably 15 cm Kanone 18, a heavy artillery gun made by Krupp from 1940 to 1943. 101 were built.
17:01 The Ju-52 was the main German transport plane during WWII. Built in 1931, initially as a normal passenger airplane, it was used as the standard transport plane of the Germans during WWII, when the war started, the German Air Force had 552 Ju-52 available, and a further 2,804 were built until Summer 1944.
17:03 The Ju-52 was certainly not the best transport plane in the world, it was technically obsolete, had only a limited amount of cargo capacity (around 1500 kg), and was very slow with a top speed of only about 265kmh. For example, the American C-47 transport plane was better in every aspect than the Ju-52.
17:51 This is the emblem of a Transport Squadron, but I wasn’t able to find out which one exactly.
18:23 It was common for German gun crews to mark the amount of destroyed enemy planes/tanks on their guns, so, going by the amount of strokes, this AA-gun had destroyed 25 planes so far.
19:52 This infantryman is armed with a K98k bolt action rifle, the standard German army rifle of WWII.
19:58 This is an MG-34 machine gun.
24:25 These tanks are Panzer IV Ausf. F1 with the short barreled 7,5cm gun.
24:41 The German Africa Corps was re-named to “Tank Group Africa” in September 1941 and again to “Tank Army Africa” in January 1942.
25:19 This is a Ju-88 aircraft. It was introduced in 1939 and built untill 1945, with 15,183 planes built. It served a variety of roles, such as bomber, dive bomber, torpedo bomber, night fighter etc.
25:37 The planes shown in this scene are Ju-87 Stuka dive bombers.
27:03 „Panzer rollen in Afrika vor“ (Tanks roll Forward in Africa) was the official march of the Africa Corps, published in 1941.
27:27 These tanks are Italian M14/41 tanks. The M14/41 was a medium tank with up to 30mm frontal armor and a 47mm gun. 744 were built between 1941 and 1942, when it was replaced by the M15/42 tank.
Source :
https://archive.org/details/die-deutsche-wochenschau-berita-mingguan-jerman-no.-601-11-maret-1942-teks-indonesia
https://digitaler-lesesaal.bundesarchiv.de/en/video/5624/665349
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rsgV1pmHhpU
