- Description
- The amateur films shot by German infantryman Corporal Eugen Biedenbach of 419 Infantry Regiment record his training and active service in the German campaigns against Yugoslavia and on the southern sector of the Eastern Front. The films also containg pre- and post-war scenes of Biedenbach family life in Stuttgart (where the family of Eugen's wife owned a clothes store) as well as recreational activities.
Reel 14: Company sports day continues in Pettau, Slovenia. Regimental football (rugby) championships. Soldiers lightly dressed. 01:55 Practice crossing of the River Drau by rowing boats. 02:30 Officer arrives on fast moving river; men rest on land. More games, soccer.
03:05 Ju 87 Stuka flies overhead. Men scrubbing their uniforms. Outside the barracks. 04:00 City scenes - Sunday leave in Marburg, seeing sights. Destroyed bridge over river. Men enjoying themselves. Shoes shined. 04:25 Double spires on church, damaged bridge again, various pans. 04:50 Lovely city roofs. 05:00 Soldiers, spring blossoms. Practice marches, with troops resting in sunshine. Boots off, naps, eating. 05:48 Departure by train for Slovakia. Inside railcar, moving shot out open door.
06:05 Dusty road, lots of good shots of the military advance with soldiers marching, caravans, horses, thatched roofs, men cheerful. Marching through Slovakia and Poland by horse and on foot. Tarnopol. Crossing the River San by pontoon bridge. Destroyed Russian tanks on the road. 06:50 Erecting camouflaged tents during three-day pause during advance. Soldier in glasses (friend of Biedenbach?) Clambering over destroyed Russian tanks. Cyrillic sign welcomes Germans ("you") to Vinnytsya (Vinnitsa). Soldiers billet themselves in farmyard, before marching on past Ukrainian women watching at the roadside, and 08:50 passing many destroyed Russian tanks loaded on a train. 09:07 Men make sewing repairs to their uniforms, while the studs on their boots appear worn. 09:30 Writing letters. Soldiers prepare own meal with chicken boiled over fire.
10:20 Another knocked out Russian tank. German Pzkpfw III and other armor pass. 10:46 Row of scarved Ukrainian women look on from side of road as soldiers march past in mud. 10:51 German soldiers march though Uman. 11:06 Pause in country beside haystack. Sunny. Men rest in tents near low thatched Ukrainian house. Field radio.
- Duration
- 00:11:42
- Date
-
Event:
Summer 1941
- Locale
-
Slovenia
Slovakia
Vinnitsa,
Ukraine
- Credit
- Accessed at United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of Imperial War Museums
