Germans advance into Ukraine

Film | Digitized | RG Number: RG-60.1411 | Film ID: 2983

Overview

Description: Two soldiers pose for the camera with their heads stuck out of holes in a military-issued tent. A third man pours water on them. In FG, automobile. Panning the campsite. CU of the Edelweiss insignia, indicating that these are troops of the 1st Mountain Division of the Army South. 00:00:47 Mass at the campsite with crowd of seated German soldiers. They pray and accept Eucharist. 00:01:12 Pan of the landscape and surrounding woods. Watch tower. Deep tire tracks in the mud. 00:01:34 Two soldiers survey with binoculars. Soldiers in tall grass with rifles. 00:02:00 Armored tank. CU bullet holes in a radio. 00:02:17 Ukrainian civilians pose briefly near military car. 00:02:27 Landscape and smoke in distance. Bird nesting on roof. 00:02:44 Scenes of battle destruction from van, body face-down by road, belongings scattered. 00:02:56 CUs of a group of soldiers and displaced men with bicycles walking by road. Another body by tank. 00:03:05 Soldiers gather at campsite. Men carry an empty stretcher. Soldiers patrol area, vehicles driving on road. CU soldier. Another digs a grave. 00:03:42 Troops in vans/tanks drive into town. End of reel.
Duration: 00:03:48
Date: Event: June 1941
Locale: Ukraine
Credit: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of John-Paul Himka
Contributor: Camera Operator: Unknown German soldier

Language: Silent
Genre/Form: Unedited.
B&W / Color: Black & White
Image Quality: Good
Time Code: 00:00:12:00 to 00:04:00:00
Film Format: Master
Master 2983 Video: DVD - NTSC
Master 2983 Video: DVD - NTSC
Master 2983 Video: DVD - NTSC
Master 2983 Video: DVD - NTSC

Conditions on Access: This archival media can only be accessed in a Museum reading room or other on-campus viewing stations.
Copyright: Copyright Undetermined
Conditions on Use: Owner of copyright, if any, is undetermined. It is possible this is an orphan work. It is the responsibility of anyone interested in reproducing, broadcasting, or publishing content to determine copyright holder and secure permission, or perform a diligent Fair Use analysis.

Keyword: AUTOMOBILES DESTRUCTION MEDICAL CARE MILITARY ADVANCES MILITARY VEHICLES RELIGIOUS SERVICES SMOKE SOLDIERS/MILITARY (GERMAN) TENTS UKRAINE

Legal Status: Permanent Collection
Film Provenance: The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum received a DVD copy of this film from scholar John-Paul Himka in 2013. The film was discovered at the Ukrainian Canadian Research and Documentation Centre (UCRDC) in Toronto, Canada by a researcher working on the topic of the Waffen-SS Division Galizien. The film was originally donated to the UCRDC by a Ukrainian community activist. The UCRDC has since stated that the film cannot be located in their archive.
Note: Movement of the German Army South on the Eastern Front in 1941 filmed with a handheld camera. From the flower insignia on some of the vehicles, the scenes seem to focus on units of the 1.Gebirgs-Division or 1st Alpine Division, which was in Lemberg/Lvov (then Vinnitsa and Uman) with Army Group South, as of June 1941. It was probably part of XXXIX.Gebirgs-Armeecorps or 49th Mountain Army Corps. The Army South's mission was to capture Kiev, the capital of the Ukraine, and to drive out Soviet troops in advance of the Army North and Army Center's invasion into Eastern Europe and Russia.
Copied From: 16mm
Film Source: John-Paul Himka
File Number: Legacy Database File: 5630
Special Collection: Steven Spielberg Film and Video Archive