English: Creator(s): Department of Defense. Department of the Army. Office of the Chief Signal Officer. 9/18/1947-2/28/1964 (Most Recent)

Series: Documentary Films, ca. 1914 - ca. 1944 Record Group 111: Records of the Office of the Chief Signal Officer, 1860 - 1985

Date: 1944

Scope & Content (Historic): On the campaign for North Africa. Reel 1 shows planning Churchill visits Roosevelt in Washington. Joint military staffs form plans. Men and materiel are rushed to Brit. and U.S. ports of embarkation. Explains the need for an invasion. Reel 2 shows activities aboard troop ships and amphibious landings at Casablanca and Algiers (Nov. 1942) after French opposition is encountered. U.S. paratroops take Oran. Shows Gens. Eisenhower, Clark, and Giraud at Gibralter prior to the invasion. Reel 3 shows fighting and victory at Algiers. Gens. Eisenhower, Anderson, and Giraud review a joint parade. German films show troops being rushed to Africa, planes bombing and strafing, and Gen. Kesselring in the field. Allied troops enter Tunisia, capture Beja and Medjez-el-Bab, and reach Tunis but withdraw under counterattacks. Tanks battle. Reel 4, winter mud keeps the Allies camped in the mountains. Shows land and air battles. Materiel of war is massed, airfields and roads are built, religious services are held (Gen. Montgomery attends one). Reel 5 shows Christmas activities. Native children and pets are fed. Soldiers sightsee. Shows scenes of the Casablanca Conference. Personages: Roosevelt, Churchill, deGaulle, Giraud, Eisenhower, Alexander, and Cunningham. Churchill visits Gen. Montgomery. Shows Gen. Rommel and German troops behind the Mareth Line. The Allies resume the offensive; Eisenhower's plan is explained. Shows Gens. Doolittle and Spaatz. Reel 6, Adm. Cunningham and Gen. Alexander confer. Troops and artillery fight in the Mareth Battle. New Zealanders capture El Hammas. Shows land, sea, and air operations. Gen. Patton's forces meet British troops, thereby cutting German forces. Reel 7 locates Allied forces along the battle line and shows scenes of battle, particularly in the U.S. capture of Hill 609. Shows land, sea, and air warfare as the final offensive gets underway. Reel 8, planes and tanks reduce German opposition.Shows scenes of thousands of German prisoners, of wrecked equipment, and of citizens greeting Allied troops. Tunisian victory. Credits: [Dir. Roy Boulting, Frank Capra; Comm Bernard Miles, Burgess Meredith]

Contact(s): National Archives at College Park - Motion Pictures (RDSM), National Archives at College Park, 8601 Adelphi Road, College Park, MD 20740-6001 Phone: 301-837-3540, Fax: 301-837-3620, Email: [email protected]

National Archives Identifier: 35846 Local Identifier: 111-M-1012

National Archives Catalog: https://catalog.archives.gov/id/35846