Soviet Newsreel (January 1942): The worst days of the German invasion seem to be in the past (they aren’t actually: the summer of 1942 will be much worse). With the Germans pushed back from Moscow, the news takes the time to honor the 18th anniversary of Lenin’s death and to use the occasion to push the people on to further victories against the fascist invaders. The newsreel crews then visit towns liberated in the winter offensive by the Red Army. For the first time, conclusive proof of atrocities against the Soviet population are confirmed and filmed. Rostock is also (temporarily) liberated and the drive westward continues.
IN RUSSIAN WITH SWITCHABLE ENGLISH SUBTITLES. APPROXIMATELY 11 MINUTES. UNSHARP AND WITH SOFTNESS.
This newsreel is followed by a German one from the same time period.
IN GERMAN WITH SWITCHABLE ENGLISH SUBTITLES. APPROXIMATELY 22 MINUTES. VARIABLE QUALITY, BUT OVERALL GOOD.
Soviet Newsreel Nr. 79 (November 1942): The tide is about to turn for the Soviets in Stalingrad … but not quite yet. The worst summer of the Campaign has just past. The Germans are in the Caucasus and have captured 90% of Stalingrad. The newsreels no longer have the desperate tone of a year ago, but the situation is not much better. Still, this newsreel takes the time to acknowledge the 25th anniversary of the Bolshevik Revolution. It tells us about the efforts of the Soviets’ allies in North Africa and the efforts of Soviet soldiers on the Leningrad Front and in Novorossiysk to repel the invaders.
IN RUSSIAN WITH SWITCHABLE ENGLISH SUBTITLES. APPROXIMATELY 11 MINUTES. UNSHARP AND WITH SOFTNESS.
This newsreel is followed by a German one from the same time period.
IN GERMAN WITH SWITCHABLE ENGLISH SUBTITLES. APPROXIMATELY 19 MINUTES. SOFT QUALITY WITH SOME SNOW.
1943 marked the beginning of the end for the Germans in the East. By February, the Germans trapped in Stalingrad would surrender. The taking of 90,000 soldiers and officers into captivity at Stalingrad, and the retreat from the Caucasus to avoid another huge trap by the Red Army, were to have a psychological effect, which would be matched by a strategic defeat five months later at Orel. Those combined events truly marked the end of Hitler’s ability to ever again launch a significant offensive on the Eastern Front.
Soviet Newsreel Nr. 6 (January 1943): This newsreel starts off with a commemoration of Lenin’s death 19 years earlier. Unlike the same event commemorated a year earlier (see Soviet Wartime Newsreels 2), the edge of panic is now gone, replaced by a well-deserved confidence in the abilities of the Red Army and its leadership. Though the Soviets did not completely raise the siege of Leningrad until a year later, they did manage to open a narrow corridor to the city in January 1943, and that is also relayed in this newsreel.
IN RUSSIAN, BUT WITH GERMAN VOICE OVER AND SWITCHABLE ENGLISH SUBTITLES. APPROXIMATELY 9 MINUTES. UNSHARP, BUT DECENT QUALITY. A LOT OF SNOW.
This newsreel is followed by a German one from the same time period.
IN GERMAN WITH SWITCHABLE ENGLISH SUBTITLES. APPROXIMATELY 10 MINUTES. UNSHARP AND SOMEWHAT WASHED OUT.
Soviet Newsreel Nr. 8 (February 1943): The time of triumph has finally arrived for the Red Army. While there will be bloody defeats in the future, this is a time to celebrate. The newsreel starts off with the announcement, that the German fascists have been completely exterminated at Stalingrad. The newsreel then goes on to show the victories in the Don River bend, which prevented relief columns from reaching the trapped Axis forces on the Volga.
IN RUSSIAN, BUT WITH GERMAN VOICE OVER AND SWITCHABLE ENGLISH SUBTITLES. APPROXIMATELY 8 MINUTES. UNSHARP, WITH SERIOUS PIXELLIZATION ISSUES. A LOT OF SNOW.
This newsreel is followed by a German one from the same time period.
IN GERMAN WITH SWITCHABLE ENGLISH SUBTITLES. APPROXIMATELY 12 MINUTES. UNSHARP, BUT VERY GOOD QUALITY.
Soviet Newsreel (Spring 1943): This newsreel opens with a visit by government officials and the Metropolitan of Kyiv and Galicia visiting a number of towns to document atrocities committed by the German fascists and their allies. Dzhatsk, Vyazma, and Rzhev are walked through and the pictures and descriptions of these atrocities are rather gruesome. The depressing news from this first part of the newsreel is offset by the triumphant display of booty won at Stalingrad. The events in North Africa are briefly covered before a return to Stalingrad, where the cameramen visit an orphanage for children of Stalingrad fighters.
IN RUSSIAN, BUT WITH GERMAN VOICE OVER AND SWITCHABLE ENGLISH SUBTITLES. APPROXIMATELY 9 MINUTES. SOFT, BUT DECENT FILM QUALITY AND HAS PIXELLIZATION ISSUES.
This newsreel is followed by a German one from the same time period.
IN GERMAN WITH SWITCHABLE ENGLISH SUBTITLES. APPROXIMATELY 5 MINUTES. UNSHARP, BUT GOOD QUALITY.
Soviet Newsreel 40-41 (June 1943): Very brief (and most likely, incomplete) newsreel from June 1943 covers an exhibition of captured German war trophies from the frontlines. All kinds of tanks, artillery and other weapons are on display
IN RUSSIAN, BUT WITH GERMAN, HARD SUBTITLES AND SWITCHABLE ENGLISH SUBTITLES. APPROXIMATELY 3 MINUTES. UNSHARP FILM QUALITY AND HAS SERIOUS PIXELLIZATION ISSUES.
This newsreel is followed by a German one from the same time period
IN GERMAN WITH SWITCHABLE ENGLISH SUBTITLES. APPROXIMATELY 19 MINUTES. SOFT WITH PIXELLIZATION ISSUES.
Soviet Newsreel 47-48 (July 1943): The German defeat at Stalingrad may have been the psychological turning point of the war in the East; but the failure of the Germans to break the Soviet lines to any significant extent at Kursk was beyond doubt the strategic turning point. This newsreel opens innocently and coyly enough with cultural news, but then eventually goes to the real matter of interest at hand: The Battle of Kursk
IN RUSSIAN, BUT WITH GERMAN VOICE OVER AND SWITCHABLE ENGLISH SUBTITLES. APPROXIMATELY 11 MINUTES. RELATIVELY SHARP WITH SOME SNOW AND PIXELLIZATION ISSUES.
This newsreel is followed by a German one from the same time period.
IN GERMAN WITH SWITCHABLE ENGLISH SUBTITLES. APPROXIMATELY 14 MINUTES. UNSHARP WITH PIXELLIZATION ISSUES.
Soviet Newsreel 49 (July 1943): This newsreel opens with the rather official, and dubious, celebration of the incorporation of the Baltic States into the USSR. Then there are laudatory reports about the work of kolkhozes doing their part to help the Motherland and the fronts. A report about Stalin making a Guard Regiment out of an Air Force unit; and more concluding news about the spectacular halting of the Germans at Orel/Byelgorod.
IN RUSSIAN, BUT WITH GERMAN VOICE OVER AND SWITCHABLE ENGLISH SUBTITLES. APPROXIMATELY 9 MINUTES. RELATIVELY SHARP WITH SOME SNOW AND PIXELLIZATION ISSUES.
Unlike the first disc of this series, this time, the Soviet newsreel has the last word.
DVD-R TOTAL TIME: APPROXIMATELY 151 MINUTES
