-
Title (Dublin Core)
-
Studios on the battlefield
-
Article Title and/or Image Caption (Dublin Core)
-
Title: Studios on the battlefield
-
Subtitle: Daredevil cameramen shoot history's most photographed war
-
extracted text (Extract Text)
-
CAMOUFLAGED machine-gunners
wriggle to the edge of a thicket and
peer into a clearing below. We see
their faces at close range—strong, alert
faces with the same purposeful glint as
their guns. Then we get a view of the
other side of the small valley where a sec-
ond machine-gun detachment is crouching
among the trees. The men strain forward,
fingering the triggers of their guns. A big,
heavily armed reconnaissance car crawls
into the clearing, and is immediately en-
veloped in a crisscross of machine-gun fire.
Its occupants slump. Several tumble to the
ground. The car jerks to a halt, and the
two ambush parties take over. The image
fades; another “war picture” has ended.
But this is the real thing. Thanks to some
unsung newsreel hero, we have glimpsed a
distant battle scene from the safety of an
air-conditioned American theater.
‘We pick up our morning newspaper. Black
headlines tell of a new offensive, and there
before our eyes rises the smoke of battle in
a four-column picture. A photographer was
on the job. A big warship is attacked and
battered into a flaming mass of steel. There
it is before us. We see our own tanks
blasted and blasting the enemy; we see our
own planes roar over their targets; we see
enemy planes attack and fly away, or fall
smoking from the sky. Lensmen inside and
outside of our armed forces are risking
their lives daily to show us what's going on.
This is the most photographed war of all
time. In the first World War we were lucky
to get views of our troops marching off to
war, of our convoys sailing, of generals
meeting far behind the front, of Y.M.C.A.
doings and Red Cross parties. Once in a
while we saw a picture of some shell-shat-
tered buildings, but never did we get a pic-
ture of actual combat. That last touch of
realism was saved for the fighting forties.
Behind the film front of World War IT
is a story of courage and cunning, skill and
sacrifice, Hitler was the first world leader
to discover in films a new weapon of war.
Some of our cameramen saw his plan in|
embryo while they were covering the 1036
Olympic Games in Berlin, They stumbled
upon it in looking up German cameramen |
they had known in America. Inquiries
brought out the amazing fact that 120 of
the Reich's best lensmen were living at
the same address under military condi-
tions and taking orders from Hitler's offi-
clal cameraman, Leni Riefenstahl. These
Germans formed the nucleus of the force
of 500 cameramen that Hitler sent to the
front when the war started.
Great Britain was slow to realize the’
importance of the new weapon with which
Hitler began terrorizing neutral countries
and emitting propaganda barrages. While
the Germans were shipping off thousands of
feet of film laden with sadistic, nerve-freez-
ing attacks of dive bombers and tanks,
the British were content to distribute films
of troops behind the lines in France, drill-
ing and playing football. When Britain
decided to send an expedition to Norway,
only one cameraman was permitted to go
along—one man to film a continental expe-
dition of the British Army—whereas 32
cameramen had been assigned to cover the
Grand National Steeplechase!
But Britain learned—and so did the
United States. Today our film coverage of
the war has surpassed that of the Nazis.
In the air, on land, and on the high seas,
our cameramen and photographers are in
action, and their films are making a thrill-
ing record, an astounding informative pat-
tern of war for our military leaders and our
citizenry.
Soon after we got info the war, American
newsreel and news-picture agencies worked
out their plans. Co-operating closely with
the War and Navy Departments, the agen-
cies formed pools to receive and distribute
not only the films of their men in the field
but also those of the growing corps of Army
and Navy photographers and cameramen
and those of our Allies. They arranged with
Washington to send men to all the far-flung
fronts to which our fighting men were go-
ing. The pools were set up in New York—
the Roto Pool (for still pictures) and the
Newsreel War Pool. ' Now into the two
pools go all photo material of the war for
immediate public showing, once the cen-
sors have given the green light. Members
of the pools share the expenses of keeping
men at the front and divide coverage
equally.
Charter members of the Roto Pool are
Acme, International News Photos, The As-
sociated Press, and Life Magazine, each of
which has seven photographers in the field.
But the pool is open to any photo agency,
newspaper, or magazine meeting the re-
quirements, chief of which is to share cov-
erage expenses. Insurance is one of the
most costly items, amounting to as much
as $1,200 a year per man. Other expenses,
including equipment, supplies, living costs
and uniforms, bring the total to about $80,-
000 a year for each member—a small price
for the superb pictures obtained.
Civilian war photographers and camera-
men are given the same rating as war cor-
respondents, once they are assigned to a
combat unit. That is to say, they enjoy the
privileges of officers. They must be accred-
ited in Washington before they are eligible
for duty abroad, and they lose their civilian
status to the extent at least that they are
subject to the orders of the military or naval
command to which they are attached and
must accompany it into battle or wherever
it goes, unless ordered to do othetwise.
officers’ uniforms, minus all insignia except
an identifying brassard. But in action they
share the dangers of both officers and en-
listed men. It is remarkable that only a
few have been on the casualty lists.
Five newsreel companies—Fox Movie-
tone, Pathe, Paramount, Hearst's “News of
the Day,” and Universal—comprise the
Newsreel War Pool. Each has two camera-
men on the fronts of the world, with others
available if and when Washington opens
new pool areas.
All newsreel and still-picture films are
subject to stiff censorship regulations, the
authorities here and abroad keeping a sharp
eye out for anything that might give aid
or comfort to the enemy. The usual pro-
cedure in the case of stills is for censorship
to begin with the military or naval com-
mander in the field, thence to the fleet or
zone commander and then to Washington.
Newsreels generally are sent directly to
Washington for review.
Hitler may have been the first to employ
films as a weapon of war, but our own
military leaders have made up for lost time.
Special training schools have been estab-
lished to prepare cameramen and photogra-
hers Tor ihe Hunting fronts
One of the most ambitious Army projects
has been the establishment under the Signal
Corps of new self-contained, mobile photo
assignment units, with cameramen, pho-
tographers, laboratory men, and assistants
equipped to record front-line action. From
their welded platform atop an Army carry-
all cameramen, protected by the Tommy
gun of their driver, grind out scenes of
battle of utmost importance to the mili-
tary leaders—and of absorbing interest to
the public when permitted by the censors
to supplement the films in the war pools.
The Navy, too, has realized the benefits
derived from newsreels and photographs of
actual combat. Some of the most striking
pictures to come out of the war zones are
the work of Navy lensmen. To expedite the
training of naval cameramen, the newsreel
companies have opened their doors to Navy
men, sharing with them their professional
secrets and experience. The classes are held
at race tracks and fires, ship launchings
and weddings. The idea is to give the Navy
men practical experience by having them
accompany a professional cameraman on
regular news assignments and film the same
events that he does. The newsreel pro-
ducer compares the films and sends a
critique to the Navy Department.
-
Contributor (Dublin Core)
-
Jack O'Brine (Article Writer)
-
Language (Dublin Core)
-
eng
-
Date Issued (Dublin Core)
-
1943-03
-
pages (Bibliographic Ontology)
-
108-113, 216
-
Rights (Dublin Core)
-
Public Domain (Google Digitized)
-
Archived by (Dublin Core)
-
Matteo Ridolfi
-
Marco Bortolami (editor)
Popular Science Monthly, v. 142, n. 3, 1943
