Soviet Newsreel Nr. 1-2  (January 1944):  A justifiably proud USSR crows its achievements in the ending year of 1943 in this newsreel:  the siege of Leningrad was pierced by a small landbridge to the isolated city; the Caucasus, the Don, the Volga and Voronezh are cleared of Germans; the Germans suffer a huge psychological defeat at Stalingrad and the Red Army goes over to the offensive; the strategic defeat of the fascists in the East is completed at Kursk; Orel and Byelgorod are liberated; Kharkov is re-taken again (for the final time); the important industrial region of the Donets is conquered back; the never-ending threat to Moscow is broken forever; Bryansk is liberated; the Dnepr is crossed and the right bank taken after fierce battles; Poltava and Kyiv are wrested from the Germans; Gomel and other parts of Byelorussia are won back; the foreign ministers of the three Allied nations meet in Moscow, which is followed by the Big Three conference in Teheran; the USSR signs a pact of friendship with the future Czechoslovak state; the First Baltic Front defeats the Germans south of the Neva; Zhitomir is taken back from the fascists.  1943 is a year of almost unbroken triumph; and the new year seems to herald a continuation of the mighty victories.

 IN RUSSIAN WITH SWITCHABLE ENGLISH SUBTITLES. APPROXIMATELY 15 MINUTES. UNSHARP WITH PIXELLIZATION ISSUES.

This newsreel is followed by a German one from the same time period. 

IN GERMAN WITH SWITCHABLE ENGLISH SUBTITLES. APPROXIMATELY 7 MINUTES. UNSHARP WITH PIXELLIZATION ISSUES.

Soviet Newsreel  (February 1944):  The 26^th anniversary of the founding of the Red Army is celebrated amidst an air of victories against the German invaders.  Rovno in the Ukraine is liberated.  German forces at Nikopol are wiped out and over 40 towns in the region liberated. 

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This newsreel is followed by a German one from the same time period. 

IN GERMAN WITH SWITCHABLE ENGLISH SUBTITLES. APPROXIMATELY 7 MINUTES. POOR QUALITY WITH PIXELLIZATION ISSUES.

Soviet Newsreel Nr. 13  (March 1944):  The budget for the year 1944 is discussed and ratified in the Soviet.  The commissariats of defense and foreign affairs are combined into one department.  The highest military award in the USSR, the Suvorov Order, is awarded to a number of generals for excellence in the field.  Extensions are built onto the Moscow subway line.  Krivoi Rog is taken.   

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This newsreel is followed by a German one from the same time period. 

IN GERMAN WITH SWITCHABLE ENGLISH SUBTITLES. APPROXIMATELY 11 MINUTES. POOR QUALITY WITH PIXELLIZATION ISSUES.

Soviet Newsreel Nr. 19  (April 1944):  The news takes the time out to acknowledge the 25^th anniversary of Kalinin’s service to the State.  A third division in the Polish Army serving in the USSR is formed.  A short feature about aviation heroes in the Great Patriotic War.  Vinnitsa is liberated.   

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This newsreel is followed by a German one from the same time period. 

IN GERMAN WITH SWITCHABLE ENGLISH SUBTITLES. APPROXIMATELY 8 MINUTES. POOR QUALITY WITH PIXELLIZATION ISSUES.

Soviet Newsreel Nr. 20  (April 1944):  Spring has finally arrived and the newsreel opens with how kolkhozes in various parts of the country are preparing the sowing of the soil.  A report on Allied bombing raids in western Europe.  The Canadians take Ortona in Italy.  Proskurov in the Ukraine is liberated.  The Season of Mud has begun, creating as many problems for the advancing Soviets as it is for the retreating Germans.   

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This newsreel is followed by a German one from the same time period. 

IN GERMAN WITH SWITCHABLE ENGLISH SUBTITLES. APPROXIMATELY 14 MINUTES. POOR QUALITY WITH PIXELLIZATION ISSUES, AS WELL AS SCRATCHY SOUND QUALITY.

Soviet Newsreel Nr. 29  (June 1944):  The newsreel opens up with a rather brief report about the Anglo-American landing in northern France.  It then goes on to Marshal Zhukov being awarded a high military order and a report about a kolkhoznik donating a second plane to the Soviet Air Force  (this takes up more time than the Anglo-American invasion at Normandy).  The Franklin Medal is given to a Soviet scientist in Philadelphia; and a new steel mill is opened in a rebuilding and recovering Stalingrad.  There is some time dedicated to a report about American Flying Fortresses at a Soviet airfield (though those same bombers won’t be given permission to land at those airfields in three months, when they hope to drop supplies to the Home Army during the Warsaw Uprising

IN RUSSIAN WITH SWITCHABLE ENGLISH SUBTITLES. APPROXIMATELY 7 MINUTES.  GOOD QUALITY WITH PIXELLIZATION ISSUES.

This newsreel is followed by a German one from the same time period. 

IN GERMAN WITH SWITCHABLE ENGLISH SUBTITLES. APPROXIMATELY 16 MINUTES. POOR QUALITY WITH PIXELLIZATION ISSUES.

DVD-R TOTAL DURATION:  123 MINUTES