[Epic] RE: History Lesson

From: Kelley, Kevin J., JCS <kevin.kelley_at_...>
Date: Thu, 12 Feb 1998 13:52:53 -0500

Every so often I have to come out of lurking, history being my passion.

> Sauron1 writes
>
> In 1944 the American army sent a very famous Director to land with
> the
> American troops to provide newsreel footage of the War in Europe for
> both
> Home propaganda and Historical footage.
>
He was George Stevens (Shane, Gunga Din and Diary of Anne Frank), who at
the request of Gen
Eisenhower, assembled a special unit to photograph the liberation of
Europe. Given free leave to
roam where he wanted after D D ay. Official shots were in 35mm B&W but
he carried a 16mm color movie
 camera and shot a Kodachrome personal diary.
        These remained in 14 metal cans in his house until after his
death, Discovered by his son
thirty years later, Geo Jr made color stills from the movie frames
and engaged Max Hastings (name
should be familiar to our British list members) to write the commentary.
The book, Victory in Europe,
Steven's & Hastings, was realized on the 40th of D Day (1984) with the
sub title "In Full Color".

> He had a very good friend at
> EastmanKodax that supplied him with COLOUR 16mm film and camera years
> before
> they became available. This man took shots of his own,unofficially and
> unbeknown to US Intelligence.( Who would have confiscated them) The
> developed film was sent home, and after the WAR assembled into the
> larger
> rolls.
>
Color movie photgraphy in WWII by US armed forces, a brief history:
        Army was first, In late '43 US Army Photo service sent four
teams of color movie photgraphers to
 Italy and England to experiment with color film. Navy responded with
"The Fighting Lady" was released in 1944, and is color film (16mm)
 shot by Navy combat camaraman telling the story of the USS Lexington.
        USAF was late with "The Last Bomb" in 1946.
Armed with Camaras Peter Maslowski The Free Press New York 1993

> There are candid shots of military and political leaders chatting
> before
> "posed" publicity/propaganda shots. There are shots of ordinary
> soldiers
> Alive,wounded and dead on both sides. There are even remarkable shots
> of
> German troops evacuating Paris at least two days before the arrival of
> the
> allies.
>
        "Is Paris Burning"
                Paris rose on 19 Aug, FFI had control of major portions
of the city by 22 Aug, the Swedish
        ambassadors brother went thru the German and US lines 23 Aug. to
talk to Ike.
                Liberation call no. D756.5.N6 shows photos by Lee
Miller, Vogue Photgrapher (yes a lady)
        taken 24 Aug in Paris, 2 days before the "Liberation" by the
French. Fr 2nd Arm Div elements (and
         Earest Hemingway) drove into Paris without meeting any
Germans evening of 25 Aug, DeGaulle
         entered 26 Aug, which is the commonly accepted date for the
Liberation of Paris. Germans in Paris
        were cut off a week earlier by allied forces which crossed the
Seine both north and South of Paris and
        surrendered. They took over 7700 casualties from the FFI. The
Allies (US 28th Div) held the parade
        often seen in newsreels several days later.

> Near the end of the last reel there is a series of shots of an
> unofficial, unauthorised visit to a just overrun concentration camp.
> The
> captured German guards are seen standing in front of a deep trench
> they just
> dug,under the watchful eyes of a group of GI's and an American AA
> half-track
> mounting a quad 50 Cal AA. As the jeep carrying two officers derives
> away
> out of the camp, the camera is jerked around as the holder is startled
> by
> the AA firing at the lined up guards, who are driven into the trench
> by the
> impact of 50Cal at short range. A hand clamps over the lens and the
> films
> end.
>
The above photo is not in the book. In every eye witness account of
the liberation of concentration
 camps in the Pentagon library the German SS guards have invariably
fled, although they often left their
"stooges" to face the music. The US troops (although Brits, Fr and
Poles were armed with the Quad 50)
described above must have been incredibly stupid not to expose the film,
as the vehicles would be
enough to identify the unit that is committing a war crime.

Kevin Kelley
Received on Thu Feb 12 1998 - 18:52:53 UTC