World War Ii German Newsreel Siege of Sevastopol Schwerer Gustav Gun (1942)

Synopsis

Made for the home market in Germany during WWII, this silent newsreel shows the Siege of Sevastopol. The film starts with a title card indicating that Sevastopol was the "strongest fortress in the world" before segueing to a shot of Axis Stuka aircraft on their way to bomb the city. At:53 Austrian ace Gordon Max "Mac" Gollob is shown in the cockpit of his plane. At 1:02 the tail of his Messerschmidt Bf-109 aircraft attests to his 100 victories. He claimed his 100th victory on 20 May, 1942 and a short time later on 23 June was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords following his 107th aerial victory. At 1:08 large numbers of Bf-109s get airborne for the attack while on the ground Axis artillery rains shells on the city. At 1:35 a massive shell is moved into position. At 1:50 the city burns. At 1:57 the Schwerer Gustav, an 80-centimetre (31.5 in) railway gun, prepares to fire. Schwerer Gustav was the largest-calibre rifled weapon ever used in combat and, in terms of overall weight, the heaviest mobile artillery piece ever built. It fired the heaviest shells of any artillery piece ever! At 3:34 an explosion on the horizon shows that the artillery strikes have had their effect. At 3:54 huge shell holes are shown in the ruins of the city. At 4:35 German troops cautiously enter the outskirts of the city. At 5:05 a grenade is tossed over a wall. At 5:40 German troops reach the docks where a shattered naval gun (and behind it a sunken warship) bear…

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Details

Running time

6 minutes

Collection

Ephemeral Films

Subjects on the Internet Archive

• Stock Footage