Uploaded June 2024 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Isoroku Yamamoto (1884-1943) was a Japanese Navy Marshal and one of the most famous Japanese commanders during WWII. He joined the Japanese Navy in 1904, serving on the cruiser Nisshin during the Russo-Japanese War, were he was wounded at the Battle of Tsushima, losing two fingers on his left hand.
Between 1919 and 1921 he studied at Harvard, and was twice Naval Attache in Washington DC. During these times, he traveled around the US a lot, learning about American culture and industry.
His first own command was the cruiser Isuzu in 1928, followed by the aircraft carrier Akagi from December 1928 to November 1929.
He participated at the London Naval Conferences in 1930 and 1935, because he spoke fluent English.
He was opposed to the war with China and Japan joining the Axis, which led to him being critisised by many other Japanese officers. He was made commander of the Combined Fleet in August 1939. promoted to Admiral in November 1940. Yamamoto was especially interested in naval aviation, and he was involved in the development of the Mitsubishi G3M and G4M bombers.
His most famous role in WWII was being the mastermind behind the attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941. Yamamoto was against a war with the US, because he was aware of Americas industrial power, and knew that just attacking the American fleet in the Pacific and taking American bases would not be enough to win against the US.
Nevertheless, he obeyed his orders, and planned and carry out the attack against Pearl Harbor. This made him a prime target and one of the most well-known Japanese admirals in the US.
After Pearl Harbor, he continued to command the Combined Fleet, including during the terrible loss at Midway.
He conducted an inspection tour throughout the South Pacific in early 1943, but American Navy intelligence deciphered codes about his exact route, and the Americans launched Operation Vengeance, a plan to kill him.
On April 18th, 1943, his G4M transport plane was shot down during flight over Bougainville by American bombers. His body was found the next day by Japanese troops and cremated; his ashes were returned to Tokyo, where he was given a state funeral on June 5th.
This video shows footage from Japanese propaganda newsreels aired on June 8th, depicting his state funeral.
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Subtitles made by me.
Isoroku Yamamoto (1884-1943) was a Japanese Navy Marshal and one of the most famous Japanese commanders during WWII. He joined the Japanese Navy in 1904, serving on the cruiser Nisshin during the Russo-Japanese War, were he was wounded at the Battle of Tsushima, losing two fingers on his left hand.
Between 1919 and 1921 he studied at Harvard, and was twice Naval Attache in Washington DC. During these times, he traveled around the US a lot, learning about American culture and industry.
His first own command was the cruiser Isuzu in 1928, followed by the aircraft carrier Akagi from December 1928 to November 1929.
He participated at the London Naval Conferences in 1930 and 1935, because he spoke fluent English.
He was opposed to the war with China and Japan joining the Axis, which led to him being critisised by many other Japanese officers. He was made commander of the Combined Fleet in August 1939. promoted to Admiral in November 1940. Yamamoto was especially interested in naval aviation, and he was involved in the development of the Mitsubishi G3M and G4M bombers.
His most famous role in WWII was being the mastermind behind the attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941. Yamamoto was against a war with the US, because he was aware of Americas industrial power, and knew that just attacking the American fleet in the Pacific and taking American bases would not be enough to win against the US.
Nevertheless, he obeyed his orders, and planned and carry out the attack against Pearl Harbor. This made him a prime target and one of the most well-known Japanese admirals in the US.
After Pearl Harbor, he continued to command the Combined Fleet, including during the terrible loss at Midway.
He conducted an inspection tour throughout the South Pacific in early 1943, but American Navy intelligence deciphered codes about his exact route, and the Americans launched Operation Vengeance, a plan to kill him.
On April 18th, 1943, his G4M transport plane was shot down during flight over Bougainville by American bombers. His body was found the next day by Japanese troops and cremated; his ashes were returned to Tokyo, where he was given a state funeral on June 5th.
This video shows footage from Japanese propaganda newsreels aired on June 8th, depicting his state funeral.
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Subtitles made by me.
![German Newsweek No. 649- 10 February 1943 [Full HD] (New Factories, Night Combat, North Africa)](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/i6bXEvPuH7o/mqdefault.jpg "German Newsweek No. 649- 10 February 1943 [Full HD] (New Factories, Night Combat, North Africa)
The German Newsweek (Die Deutsche Wochenschau) was the unified newsreel of Germany from 1940-1945.
The concept of a weekly newsreel was much older, dating back to WWI, and in the 1930s, there were several different weekly newsreels in Germany. With the outbreak of WWII, these were unified and from June 1940 shown under the title of The German Newsweek.
It was one of the most important aspects of German propaganda. Each week, over 2000 copies were sent to theaters and movie houses throughout Germany and shown to the general public, as private TV ownership was extremly rare during WWII.
Over 700 episodes were produced, and many of the historical WWII footage we nowadays have comes from the Wochenschau.
This is issue No. 649 from February 10th, 1943. This particulary issue has been digitized from the original 35mm film to 1080p, resulting in a very good video quality.
It shows footage from new factories built unter the directions of Reich Minister Speer, a speech by Goebbels in a tank factory, footage of Grand Admiral Dönitz taking over the supreme command of the Navy, footage from North Africa, including arrival of convoys in Tunisia and combat footage against British/American planes, and the capture of a British pilot.
This issue also shows footage from the Eastern Front, including units having to deal with heavy winter weather, defensive combat footage, and footage from a German field airport during heavy winter weather. - Subtitles made by me.
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Subtitles made by me.")
![Ufa Sound Week No. 470- 7 Sep. 1939 [Full HD] (Invasion of Poland, Fighting in Danzig, Mobilization)](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/iSMrydqfwyY/mqdefault.jpg "Ufa Sound Week No. 470- 7 Sep. 1939 [Full HD] (Invasion of Poland, Fighting in Danzig, Mobilization)
The Ufa (Universum Film AG) was a German movie and TV company, founded in December 1917. It was founded by several companies, with the German goverment secretly involved; and its initial goal was to produce pro-German propaganda movies that would be shown outside of Germany.
After the end of WWI, however, the focus shifted on producing movies for Germany for commercial profit.
In 1927, Ufa had financial difficulties and was facing bankruptcy, the company was bough by right-wing media mogul Alfred Hugenberg, who continued production as normal, but also Newsreels of the Ufa to advertise his own party and later the Nazi party.
After the Nazis rose to power, Ufa, like all other movie companies, came under strict goverment control, and in March 1937, Hugenberg had to sell the majority of his stakes in Ufa to a goverment-controlled company; the Ufa thus came under direct goverment control.
The Ufa Week was produced from September 1925 onwards, initially as silent newsreel, from September 1930 onwards with sound, hence the name was changed to Ufa Sound Week.
Like all newsreels in Nazi Germany, it was not a neutral news source, but rather full of Nazi propaganda. After the outbreak of WWII, the content that all newsreels produced was unified, and in mid-1940, all newsreels were unified to The German Newsweek.
This here is Ufa Sound Week No. 470, released only a few days after the start of WWII in Europe and is one of the first wartime newsreels.
It shows scenes from Danzig and tells the Nazi propaganda lie that Poland allegedly wanted to conquer Danzig and that the Germans had to defend it.
Also shows scenes of alleged bombing of German villages by Polish planes, and footage of various combat events within Danzig, such as the Battle for the Polish Post Office and the Shelling of the Westerplatte.
Further scenes shown are war preparations within Germany, such as air raid preparations and armament production, and footage of German troops advancing in Poland and German planes bombing Polish positions.
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Subtitles made by me.")
![“Tran and Helle”- German Propaganda Short about Denunciation- July 1940 [Full HD]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/iXhX1hcr3CQ/mqdefault.jpg "“Tran and Helle”- German Propaganda Short about Denunciation- July 1940 [Full HD]
Tran and Helle was a popular series of propganda shorts in Nazi Germany, aired from October 1939 onwards.
The shorts always followed the same basic script: Tran, played by actor Ludwig Schmitz (1884-1954) was portrayed as a gullible, easy to fool character, who would regularly believe British propaganda, while Helle was portrayed as a good German who would regulary explain the truth (in the Nazi propaganda sense) to Tran.
The shorts were only a few minutes long and were usually played in front of newsreels or movies.
The series was stopped in Autumn 1940, because it was getting extremly popular and the Nazis feared people could identify with Tran and his anti-Nazi views.
This is a short from July 1940, dealing with the topic of denunciation. While the Nazis Secret Police, the Gestapo, relied heavily on tips and denunciations from the general public to track down people with anti-nazi views, like communist sympathizers, pacifists, anti-nazi conservatives etc., many reports were simply filed by people due to personal aversion against other people.
Obviously, such reports were rather useless for the Nazi authorities, and they ran multiple campaigns to discourage people from reporting people simply due to personal feud. This video is part of these activities; Tran is reporting his neighbor out of personal dislike for a minor reason, while Helle reminds him that he shouldnt do such things, as they are useless and bother the authorities.
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Subtitles made by me.")
![Panorama Color Monthly Newsreel No.4- January/February 1945 [Full HD]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/jgAwra8WYkI/mqdefault.jpg "Panorama Color Monthly Newsreel No.4- January/February 1945 [Full HD]
The Panorama Color Monthly Newsreel (Panorama-Farbmonatsschau) was a German propaganda newsreel produced during WWII.
Color film was already invented in the mid 1930s and was commercially avaliable, although color cameras and film were extremly expensive.
Nevertheless, during WWII, more and more German propaganda footage was shot in color, and by 1944, the Propaganda Ministry wanted to create a newsreel completly in color.
The Panorama Color Newsreel was only produced in four episodes, from November 1944 to January/February 1945.
The newsreel was more focused on cultural events, civlian footage, footage from workplaces etc. and contained few military footage/footage from frontlines.
This video is the last issue prodcued, No.4 from January/ February 1945.
It shows scenes from a glass factory, a circus performance, footage from various frontline areas, including the Italian alps, footage from a burning village in Norway after a Soviet air attack, and footage from German Navy net layers.
There are also some annotations from the German Federal Archive before and after the episode.
- Subtitles made by me.")
![German Newsweek No. 727- 10 August 1944 [Full HD] (U-Boat Arctic Sea, Combat West/ East Front)](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/jqOcB4Ni5mM/mqdefault.jpg "German Newsweek No. 727- 10 August 1944 [Full HD] (U-Boat Arctic Sea, Combat West/ East Front)
The German Newsweek (Die Deutsche Wochenschau) was the unified newsreel of Germany from 1940-1945. The concept of a weekly newsreel was much older, dating back to WWI, and in the 1930s, there were several different weekly newsreels in Germany.
With the outbreak of WWII, these were unified and from June 1940 shown under the title of The German Newsweek.
It was one of the most important aspects of German propaganda. Each week, over 2000 copies were sent to theaters and movie houses throughout Germany and shown to the general public, as private TV ownership was extremly rare during WWII.
These newsreels were, of course, not a neutral news source, but would rather spread Nazi propaganda, trying to create the impression that Germany was winning the war and that Germany was fighting a just war, without mentioning the countless war crimes and crimes against humanity commited by German forces.
285 wartime issues were produced, from September 1939 (No. 470) to March 1945 (No. 755).
This is issue No. 727 from August 10th, 1944.
It shows footage of new defensive positions and trenches being constructed in the East, reserves moving to the frontlines in the East and combat footage, including footage of destroyed Soviet heavy tanks. Other scenes show footage from the Normandy front, including French militia, and frontline inspections by Field Marshall Kluge.
The last part is a lengthy section from inside a German U-Boat operating in the Arctic Ocean.
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Subtitles made by me.")
![German Propaganda Footage about the Tiger Tank - 21 April 1943 [Full HD]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/js6uPjrIzog/mqdefault.jpg "German Propaganda Footage about the Tiger Tank - 21 April 1943 [Full HD]
The German Tiger tank is one of, if not the most famous tanks of WWII. With its powerful 8,8cm gun, thick frontal armor of up to 100mm and its characteristic design, it was one of the most powerful tanks of the war, but it also suffered enormously under technical problems, and the engine was underpowered, often leading to mechanical failures and breakdowns.
The Tiger was often featured in German propaganda, being portrayed as an invincible war machine and an example of alleged superior German engineering. This has an effect untill today, with the Tiger tank still being one of the most well-known tanks of WWII, despite its limited overall effect.
The following footage, aired in April 1943, is an example of that, showcasing Tiger tanks during various trials. It shows Tiger tanks moving across difficult terrain, shooting at targets and even driving through a house.
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Subtitles made by me.")
![German Advance in Greece and Occupation of Athens- 30 April 1941 [Full HD]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/kQ-EGthaNtc/mqdefault.jpg "German Advance in Greece and Occupation of Athens- 30 April 1941 [Full HD]
When Germany invaded Yugoslavia, they also a long-planned attack against Greece on April 6th, 1941. This was both to help Italy, who have been struggling with their invasion of Greece, and to prevent the British Army gaining Airfields in Greece, from which they could strike Romanian oilfields.
The Greek and British troops offered fierce resistance, but they were outnumbered and outgunned by the combined German-Italian forces, which fielded more men and better equipment, especially tanks and aircrafts.
The following is German propaganda footage of the German advance through Greece, showing fighting with Greek and British troops, and the German occupation of various towns and cities, including the capital Athens, which was occupied on April 27th. This footage was shown in German propaganda newsreels, broadcasted on April 30th, 1941.
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Subtitles made by me.")
