German Army South advances in Ukraine
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.
Pan of the Ukrainian landscape with a Christian cemetery and camp below it. Two German soldiers tour the area. Railroad tracks. 00:09:55 Quick shot of a band playing in an open market. 00:09:57 Destroyed Allied fighter plane. German trucks move out of camp through muddy roads. 00:10:23 CUs of German officers talking. One smiles at camera from a truck. Destroyed and muddy motorcycle towed by a van. 00:10:46 Soldiers eat. Tanks. 00:11:00 A woman carrying a baby examines destroyed fighter plane. Ukrainian fields and a low-flying plane. German soldiers kill a cow. End of reel. Landscape. Train yard. German tanks, camouflage and rubble. 00:12:17 Ruins of an open colonnade and rubble in Ukraine. A town in the distance. More rubble and a crashed plane. 00:12:38 Civilians crowd around a German car stuck in mud. Dark shots in field. Cannon at a campsite. Soldier looks down the barrel of the cannon. HAS, group of civilians crowd around military vehicles. Countryside. 00:13:42 More birds nest on roof. LS, Ukrainian landscape and soldiers. 00:14:28 Soldiers mark graves with helmets. CU name plaque. 00:14:38 Surveillance from a makeshift defense, helmet. Driving across field in a Mercedes. Civilians tour countryside. 00:15:14 Officers sleeping, talking, and reading. Tanks and motorcycles move out along dirt roads.