Canadian Army Newsreels

Discussion in 'Canadian' started by stolpi, Feb 28, 2015.

  1. stolpi

    stolpi Well-Known Member

    Found on You Tube:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R2JgcMwXkEE&list=PL04CC43B7CD63C686

    There are now 69 newsreels uploaded with sometimes unique film material; not only NWE but also Mediterranean.
     
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  2. Cee

    Cee Senior Member Patron

  3. Bernard85

    Bernard85 WW2 Veteran WW2 Veteran

    good day stolpi.very senior member.yesterday 05:08pm.re:canadian army newsreels.a very interest post.i have watched a couple of newsreels and will follow up on the rest over time.thank you for posting regards bernard85.
     
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  4. Buteman

    Buteman 336/102 LAA Regiment (7 Lincolns), RA

    Thanks for posting Pieter. Some really great footage on that site. :)
     
  5. Lotus7

    Lotus7 Well-Known Member

    Thanks for sharing Pieter, very interesting
     
  6. m kenny

    m kenny Senior Member

    Where are the original WW2 reels held. The raw footage that was edited into the newsreels? Is their a catalogue of these holdings anywhere?
     
  7. Cee

    Cee Senior Member Patron

    m kenny,

    The original raw footage taken by Canadian Forces cameramen was destroyed in a fire at a NFB site in Montreal. I'm not sure of year there, possibly early 60s. The newsreels themselves are held at the Library and Archives of Canada and a catalogue (pdf) can be obtained from my link above or from the War Amps site.

    http://www.waramps.ca/military/canr.html

    Some of he newsreels are also available on the LAC YouTube site:

    https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLleZTAHrKS4EH5jAa5OiRfipt0O15HlmW

    Regards ..
     
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  8. Cee

    Cee Senior Member Patron

    m kenny,

    The fire occurred July 23, 1967, in Beaconsfield, Quebec. This article by Dale Gervais explains much better than I could the excitement that is aroused when original clippings taken by CAFPU cameramen turns up elsewhere. In this case in the British Pathe holdings.

    http://www.canadianfilmandphotounit.ca/risen_from_ashes.html

    Regards ...
     
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  9. m kenny

    m kenny Senior Member

    There is a boatload of original British and Canadian footage on Pathe listed as 'unissued/unused'. The problem is that even the unedited raw reels have been edited together as 'Unissued / Unused' material. That is to say footage shot on say June 25th can be follwed by a tagged-on reel from June 23rd. You have to consider every cut as a new unconnected reel Given that Pathe were given the original raw footage in WW2 in theory every reel should be in their archive.
    With the Briish stuff I can use the IWM catalogue to sort out the Pathe stuff and correctly label it. I have sorted through the Pathe unissued stuff and connected a lot of it to the original reel numbers and I know there is a lot of Canadian stuff for the simple reason I can not find a matching description in the IWM lists.
    Most of this film I am sure is Canadian

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RH1oItwYud4


    The bit with the 17 pdr crew I would say is Canadian because there is a still photo of it which I know is not in the IWM B Series and I have searched extensively to try and find the location but there is nothing in British holdings that mentions the 17 pdr scene.
    If their is no Canadian 'reel content' list then I am bu**ered!

    The Pathe Newsreels are no good for reconstruction because most of it is entirely unconnected events joined together with no regard to nationality, location or date.
     
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  10. Cee

    Cee Senior Member Patron

    m kenny,

    I don't know if such a catalogue of original Canadian WW2 clips still exists. If it was in the building that burned I doubt it survived due to the intensity of the fire. Dale might have a clue as I believe he works at the LAC. Anything you find that you think is Canadian content would probably be of interest to him. A search using variations on "17-pounder" in the newsreel catalogue didn't pull up anything. One of the Pathe videos that he mentioned but didn't link to was "US and Canadian Troops In Anzio (1944)" which turns out to be completely mislabelled and actually shows scene from Normandy.

    Regards ...
     
  11. m kenny

    m kenny Senior Member

    I know the Anzio film you mention. It has footage of the rather well known 'beaten-up' German sniper and is for certain Canadian.

    http://youtu.be/6fOi6EVobxI?t=3m42s

    I used to put the correct IWM Reel numbers as comments under these films but You Tube now force you to sign up for Google + before you leave a comment so I no longer bother.




    I have got a copy of the complete IWM film content listing for June 6th (A70 30-1 Production Date: 07-06-1944) to end of August ( A70 212-4 Production Date: 01-09-1944 ) so can be reasonably assured of identifying a clip as being British. Any film I find that has no matching description then must be Canadian

    This is the way the IWM show Reel contents and is from my 'work in progress' document where a You Tube link is included which will become live when I paste it here .


    A70 47-2 Production Date: 15-06-1944 Production Country: GB Description:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZ6YqTq6C3E

    A French woman cooks for the Gordon Highlanders in Normandy.
    Summary:
    Watched by grinning 'Jocks', Mme Raymonde Bertot, a 23 year old French woman found in 51st (Highland) Division's sector of the Orne bridgehead on June 12 while on her way from Paris to visit relatives in Cherbourg, fries eggs over an open stove for men serving with the 1st Battalion Gordon Highlanders' 'D' Company, which is in position north east of Touffréville. Around her neck is a necklace composed of Allied flags in miniature. A private shares with her the egg she has cooked.
    Object number: A70 47-2 Production date: 15-06-1944 Production country: GB Notes: Summary: the French woman seen here was forbidden to continue her journey to Cherbourg on security grounds Production Sponsor: Production Company: References: N/A Related Items: IWM : PHO/ B 5590=5591 - stills taken by Lieutenant Handford





    Note the Pathe clip is several IWM Reels edited together A70 47-2, A70 47-5 & A70 47-8. Lots more work to be done on this.
    The bridge building clips are also in IWM B5581-83 (probably!) and was featured in ATB Magazine 107 15th June Pont Isaac being built over river Seulles. D176 road from Revers to Colombiers..
     
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  12. Cee

    Cee Senior Member Patron

    Whew! that's some excellent research and a major undertaking. My hat's off to you for attempting to unravel all that. Are all the British WW2 films documented online at the IWM Film site? For example I see the one you cite here:

    http://film.iwmcollections.org.uk/record/index/47141

    One thing I found on Pathe in the very well known clips of Canadian troops leaving their landing craft at Juno Beach on D-Day were a few of these slates.

    Beach Landing (1944).jpg

    I thought yes that is more evidence for the use of fixed cameras on several of those crafts that went in one after another.

    Regards ...
     
  13. m kenny

    m kenny Senior Member

    I had to download the film descriptions the hard way. One at a time from an old version of the IWM site. It is very difficult to do linked searches on the site. You have to know what you are looking for and if you know it then why go looking for it again! I know another poster here downloaded a massive B Series listing from the IWM Site but even that has gaps. For some reason the IWM Museum is a bit wary of people who ask for a complete copy of their catalogue of anything. I tried it a while back whilst I was viewing some films and from the frosty reply I gathered they are not that interested in helping us amateurs out! Same when I tried to correct a few photo and film descriptions. They do not seem that interested in outside help.
    Shame really because I have so far managed to get 2500 of the 5000 B series Normandy photos (B5000 to B10000) from books and various online sources. I like to get the correct names for the locations rather than the caption supplied.
    I looked at the Canadian newsreels and to be honest the Normandy footage was not that good. . Nothing I had not seen before and not a patch on the 'unissued' Pathe stuff.
     
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  14. Cee

    Cee Senior Member Patron

    I was just thinking the same on the quality issue. The war newsreels on the LAC YouTube page can be had in 720p and are slightly better, but still somewhat contrasty ... :(

    Regards ...
     
  15. JohnS

    JohnS Senior Member

    Very cool. Thanks for posting.
     
  16. m kenny

    m kenny Senior Member

    I was doing some storyboarding today and noticed that this 8 minute Pathe film

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0IHa0uytpU

    is entirely Canadian

    Shot by Cox (Reels 27 to 29) and Stollery reels 20 to 24.
     
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  17. I'm relatively new to this site and don't know when or where its appropriate to add comment so I will just dive in on this discussion and perhaps some of you will educate me. We are planning a trip from Canada to Europe in April/May 2023 with a plan to follow my Dad's path from England, France, Belgium and Netherlands during his time with the 12th Manitoba Dragoons in WW2. I was googling an area in Belgium that I thought maybe Dad had been when I come across a newsreel related to a Liberation celebration in Blankenberge, BElgium in Sept 1945. There were pics of men marching and I just about fell off my chair when I saw my Dad in this reel. I'm not sure how to attach the actual reel but its #8 Newreel of the Cdn Army Newsreels if that means anything to any of you. I've attached his pic from this newsreel that my son freeze framed for us. Very exciting.

    Its also interesting that on this same newsreel is a story about Exercise Canhar, the transport of vehicles to Czechoslovakia after the war. My Dad was involved in this too.
     

    Attached Files:

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  18. davidbfpo

    davidbfpo Patron Patron

    Kathie,

    Welcome aboard, even if a little late. You would be best advised to start a new thread on your father's journey to liberate Europe/ Assuming you need help.

    Just searched using: "12th Manitoba Dragoons" + "ww2talk.com" only a few results and one when using Dragons: 12th Manitoba Dragons Report on Operational Methods

    If you drop "th" a couple of other threads appear.
     
    Last edited: Feb 21, 2023
  19. Thank you for your suggestion.
     
  20. brithm

    brithm Senior Member

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