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Tag in the Skies: Early “OPFOR” Training in WW2

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Today’s film from the National Archives and Records Administration was a creation of the US Army Air Forces in World War II. The Army’s description identifies the plane in the first segment as “an unidentified British light bomber”. Aviation nerds among you will easily identify the aircraft as a German Junkers Ju 88 two-engine bomber. This one appears in British livery, complete with a Royal Air Force squadron code “M”, used for flying schools and advanced training squadrons. The plane is chased by an American P-47 and a British Spitfire fighter. The most likely explanation? This represents an early example of “OPFOR” training. OPFOR (short for “opposition force”) matches fighter aircraft against their likely opponents, training pilots to counteract the enemy’s strengths and exploit their weaknesses.

The film itself was a copy of a 16mm Kodachrome original. The original daylight balanced film would have had a low light sensitivity rating of 25 ISO, which would be most appropriate for filming in bright sunlight. The jerkiness of the recorded material suggests heavy vibration from the chase plane the photographer was shooting from. Several other shots in this reel show the film struggling to find enough light to fully expose the film, resulting in dark scenes and difficulty nailing focus. Those issues made creating this digital copy, from a reversal film print displayed on the flatbed film viewer that NARA provides for screening purposes, challenging as well.

Later shots feature activities surrounding a B-17 squadron, including a few shots of Captain Clark Gable one of numerous Hollywood actors who enlisted, those shots suffer from the exposure and focus problems mentioned above.

Often there is more than meets the eye to the footage NARA makes available. Past records management failures often mean that scene descriptions were written without the notes of the photographer, so the full context of the film record is lost. An expert archival media researcher can often put the pieces of the puzzle back together, adding value for your production or publication. Hire an archival media researcher for your next project!

The “Camp Activities” Mystery: Discovering Normandy Airfields

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Today’s film presents a mystery. The given title of this Army Air Forces (“AAF”) film found at the National Archives and Records Administration (“NARA”) is simply “Camp Activities”. This is the first of four rolls showing the construction and early operation of an Advanced Landing Ground airstrip in Normandy about 10 days after D-Day, making this one of the earliest Allied airfields in liberated France.

The description provided by the AAF provides no location and the only clue is a brief shot of a local church or abbey at 1:25. It looks like the back half of the church tower is missing.

The strip was apparently planted in a farmer’s field. The camp for Army personnel looks like it was setup next to one of Normandy’s numerous canals, but apparently the soldiers and airmen also setup in nearby wrecked gliders, suggesting this was a glider landing ground on D-Day. The film includes numerous shots of WWII aircraft: P-47 fighters, Spitfires, C-47’s, Horsa gliders, and CG-4A gliders in action (and also as wrecks on the ground).

My suspicion is that this was the Carentan Army Airfield (Advanced Landing Ground A-10), which is today the site of the Normandy Victory Museum. These airfields provided life-saving landing alternatives for aircraft and crews in trouble. They were often used to evacuate casualties as well. I’m hopeful that Norman locals can chime in here to help conclusively identify the site!

UPDATE!

Many thanks to my good friend and colleague Tom Hogan who identifed the church as Saint-Côme-du-Mont near Carentan. Further information received from a Normand suggests this is landing strip A-6, aka Beuzeville/Ste. Mère Eglise airstrip, since it was closer to the glider landing ground that figures so prominently in this film.

Context is critical to gain the full impact of archival film for your production. An experienced archival media researcher can leverage the full power of archives for you!

D-Day Landings: Archival Insights from the OSS Film

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Our film today is from an Army Signal Corps roll of 35mm motion picture film, composited from several 100′ film camera reels. As I’ve come to expect, this reel is not fully described in the shot cards, likely because the Army catalogers did not have access to the original photographer’s “dope sheets” describing the film they took. The first three reels were from the “Special Installations” program, which mounted remotely operated, battery powered film cameras on D-Day landing craft.

The program was spearheaded by the Office of Strategic Services (“OSS”) Field Photographic Branch, which was commanded by legendary film director John Ford, and staffed by Hollywood veterans in Ford’s Naval Reserve unit. The officer in charge of the program, which involved significant modifications to the cameras, was Lt. Commander Marcus Armistead. The film depicts British or Canadian troops as they come out of the landing craft. Weather conditions the morning of June 6th were foggy, misty and spitting rain, which is why the film is low contrast. Later reels in this compilation including shots of a glider being towed by a C47 for the invasion and a couple of reels of pre-invasion activities, including troops being issued invasion currency, which they promptly throw dice for! The OSS folded operations in 1946 and the film they created was scattered among the CIA, Navy, Coast Guard, and Army Signal Corps film repositories. I captured the roll straight from the film “flatbed” viewer at the National Archives, so this copy doesn’t necessarily do the original film full justice.

Context is critical to gain the full impact of archival film for your production. An experienced archival media researcher can leverage the full power of archives for you!

The Dark Legacy of the German-American Bund

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This short film was produced by the German-American Bund in the 1930’s as a promotional tool. It was later seized by the Department of Justice as part of an investigation of Fritz Kuhn, the Bund’s leader, on charges of being an unregistered agent of a hostile foreign government. The iconography of the Nazi swastika side-by-side with the flag of the United States underscores the fact that political extremism is an existential threat to a pluralistic, democratic society. Sadly, today the elected government of the United States is taking radical steps that remind us that eternal vigilance is the price of freedom. As John Stuart Mill said “Bad men need nothing more to compass their ends, than that good men should look on and do nothing.”

This is one brief story of among millions waiting to be told by using content available at the National Archives. An experienced professional researcher can leverage archival media to help bring your story alive.

Aftermath of Battle: Pointe du Hoc

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Today we’re continuing our memory visit to Normandy’s Omaha Beach and specifically, the promontory at Pointe du Hoc. If you read our previous post, you know that the coastal artillery battery sited on this high ground was a primary objective for June 6th, the first day of the D-Day assault.

This battery sat atop a 100 foot high cliff and loomed large in Allied planning. The Ranger groups training in the United Kingdom spent months preparing for numerous cliff assault scenarios. The objective was assigned to the 2nd Ranger battalion. Thanks to their training and expert naval gunfire, they achieved their objectives. On reaching the summit, they discovered that a few weeks before D-Day, the captured French artillery making up this battery had been relocated to a nearby orchard. The Rangers found these large guns and disabled them with thermite grenades.

The “featured film” today, from the US Navy motion picture film material at the National Archives and Records Administration, is perhaps the earliest film of the aftermath of the Rangers’ assault. WARNING! This film shows dead casualties of the assault.

The film (identified by my sharp-eyed colleague, Thomas Hogan) opens with a scene of wounded being ferried back to the ships in the English Channel. The action quickly moves to a landing party that appears to be surveying the battlefield. Shell holes and abandoned equipment are all around the tide line. The camera quickly pans the high cliffs from below and settles on a precarious rope ladder. The landing party climbs the ladder, and the following shot scans a scene of desolation. The German strong points have all been demolished, if not by the Rangers, then by naval gunfire support. The party then climbs down the rope ladder, as the camera pans down, recording that the naval gunfire (falling short) had effectively pock marked the tidal zone with large craters. The following shots are heavily overexposed, and depicts a USO show taking place on the USS Texas.

The only available written description for these film is this (from the National Archives catalog): “This unedited film shows coastal gun batteries, dead German soldiers, and wounded US military personnel as they were moved from landing craft to the USS Texas (BB-35).” The film unmistakably depicts the scaling ladder used by the Rangers at Pointe du Hoc. The inadequate description, combined with the unremarkable title given: “Coastal Gun Batteries: Dead Germans” suggests that the initial catalogers may have not had access to any of the written documentation that should have accompanied the film. The film may have been taken by a Chief Photographer or Photographer’s mate from the USS Texas as part of the landing party. The state of the battlefield, with bodies un-recovered, suggest this may have been only a day or two after the Rangers’ assault. Because the invasion was planned for mid-tide, with an incoming tide, the fact that in the film the tide was low, suggests that this could have been shot on the afternoon of June 6th at the earliest.

U.S. Navy still photograph shows the rope ladder used by the Rangers at Pointe du Hoc

Inadequately described film materials are “par for the course” in government film archives and in many other contexts. The practiced, critical eye of a professional media researcher can ensure that your production, article or publication has the content you need to make a high-impact presentation.