Real Combat Footage?

[headwest]

Hi Everyone

I have watched many youtube clips of german soldiers in "action", it seems many were staged etc so I was wondering if there are any real, legit, clips of real action?

thanks

[OpanaPointer]

There were, in deed, combat photographers and videographers.

An easy way to tell if a bit of footage is suspect is to consider the cameraman's POV. If he ahead of the troops it's probably staged. (The link-up of Soviet troops when the encirclement of Stalingrad was completed is a classic example.)

[headwest]

ah thats good info, never thought of that but makes sense!

[OpanaPointer]

ah thats good info, never thought of that but makes sense!

My favorite counter to the link-up is a shot of Americans dealing with a sniper "somewhere in Italy". The photog is about 30 feet behind the very serious dudes getting ready to deal with the sniper. One man has a BAR and on the other side of the street a flock of riflemen are ready to cover him. The photog is very, very low.

[headwest]

Very Cool

I wonder if there are alot more video clips in archives somewhere? Did Germany keep its video footage to this day somewhere? or is it all out there now on youtube etc?

[Michael Kenny]

99% of all surviving German footage is from the newsreels. At the end of the war the war they entire stock or original film was destroyed. You might get the odd bit of new stuff turning up now and again but it anyone wants a complete set of wartime German footage buy the Newsreels and you have everything.

[Stiltzkin]

The Pacific theatre offers more transparent footage, but YT keeps deleting those. There is material showing Marines dealing with Japanese anthills or depicting the aftermath of a Banzai charge. Usually after the main strike occured, but nontheless authentic.

[OpanaPointer]

Yep. I divide footage into categories.

Combat footage and stills, shot as the action occurs.

Immediate historical footage, film and stills done as soon after the battle as practical.

Historical footage, recording the place and, to some degree, the people who were there.

Newsreel footage, for the folks back home.

Obviously these can be overlapped to some extent, and when an editor gets hold of it they can be very scrambled.

[eindhoven]

Hi Everyone

I have watched many youtube clips of german soldiers in "action", it seems many were staged etc so I was wondering if there are any real, legit, clips of real action?

thanks

I find this question odd for some reason. Not fragging you for it but trying to understand what you mean. What exactly constitutes 'real combat footage' in your mind?

Deutsche Wochenschau absolutely contains actual combat footage of units and individuals shooting at, being shot back at, and engaging the enemy. That is not staged. Even the famous Poteau KG Hansen footage from Dec 1944 while very obviously 'staged' at various points should be taken into context. The combat area was anything but completely secured after they engaged Task Force Mayes at this point. Kriegsberichter were just as exposed as their subjects when filming or photographing at the front as attested to by many a dead Kreigsberichter.

The footage at Kharkov 1943 is certainly authentic including wounded SS grenadiers being moved back away from direct fire as is the film of Rudolf von Ribbentrop's tanks engaging the enemy. The Totenkopf Tigers supporting infantry in white wash camo is authentic footage as is the surviving Citadel footage. The Normandy hedgerow footage is also very real and the KB who accompanied U-boat patrols sure weren't staging anything. Very real life or death situations or 'real combat'.

[Stiltzkin]

find this question odd for some reason. Not fragging you for it but trying to understand what you mean. What exactly constitutes 'real combat footage' in your mind?

I assume footage which would correspond to today's "war leaks".

[headwest]

Yes, I was mainly referring to the Bulge footage. There are alot of mashup footage clips as well with troops behind the lines or out of the action

I was wondering which were real, in the moment, live actions video shots.

[PatrickBateman]

Personally, I find it fairly easy to distinguish between real and staged scenes from the German newsreels.

For example, watch this German newsreel from 1944.



0:00 to 0:30 is all real, except those shot of the onlooking German soldiers. (teribble btw to see that B-24 going down)
0:55 to 1:12 is a bit harder, its real and staged at the same time, filmed during a lull between fighting
1:38 to 1:43 staged
1:51 the gunners in action is not staged

And so on... its a mix of real and staged scenes.

[OpanaPointer]

The editors "back home" had a job to do, they had to tell the public what was happening, insofar as that was allowed. So they did what they could with what was available. I take it all with a large dose of salt.

[headwest]

Ah, i just looked into Deutsche Wochenschau. I didn't knwo what that was, I def can see alot of live action shots etc going on.

Was this the news agency for germany? Since TV wasnt around were these then shown in theaters for the population?

there is a whole lot of these I never knew existed. thanks much for all the help!