The Operation Titanic DVD: Three unique films
All three films with digital sound and video restoration
* Operation Titanic: Shuttle Bombing Missions to Russia (1944, B&W,
40:00) The problem: key Axis strategic assets
were located so deep in Eastern Europe that they either could not be
reached by Allied bombers or involved a lengthy round trip that
exposed aircraft to heavy German attacks twice. The Russians were
closer to these targets, but they were committed to tactical air
support and lacked strategic bombers. The solution was “Operation
Titanic,” aka “Operation Frantic,” one of the most audacious
and least known strategic operations of the war. During the Tehran
Conference, 27 November - 2 December 1943, the
the Americans, British and Russians hammered out plans for a “shuttle
bombing” campaign. This film tells that story.
U.S. 15 Air Force
bombers and fighters based in Italy would bomb targets in the East,
land in Russia, refuel & rearm, and then hit another
target on the way back. 8th Air Force bombers based in the
UK did the same. The Soviets provided three bases in the Ukraine;
heavy bombers at Poltava and Mirgorod and the fighters at Piryatin.
The US provided material to substantially upgrade them. The Fifteenth
Air Force flew its first mission on 2 June 1944 when 130 B-17 Flying
Fortresses, escorted by 70 P-51 Mustangs, bombed the rail yards at
Debreczen, Hungary. The Eighth Air Force flew its first mission on 21
June when 123 B-17s bombed the Schwartzhelde synthetic oil plant at
Ruhland, south of Berlin and 21 attacked the Elsterwerda industrial
area. But, unknown to the Americans, a Luftwaffe He-177 followed the
B-17s to the Russian base at Poltava and after midnight Luftwaffe
aircraft attacked and destroyed 43 B-17s and damage 26.
Frantic flights continued into
September with success, but the June 21st attack by the
Luftwaffe on Poltava had revealed the Achilles heal of the operation.
The Soviets lacked radar working with an organized air defense with
night fighters to defend the bases, and they would not turn that role
over to the Americans. That made the operation too risky and it was
discontinued. But, despite some prickly spots, it marked the high
point of East-West direct co-operation during World War II. In
“Operation Titanic” you'll see unique scenes of Russian and
American fliers and crews working together, shoulder to shoulder,
life at their “secret bases,” along with exciting air action on
the shuttle missions. After the War, this film was buried and
forgotten during the Cold War. Directors who worked on films
sympathetic to the Soviets (though this is no “Mission to Moscow”)
could be black listed and Russians who had had close contacts with
Americans during the War often ended up in the Gulag for that reason
alone. So, nobody had much motivation to share their memories. We're
lucky that “Operation Titanic” has been resurrected to tell this
remarkable story.
Hochfrequenz Kriegsführung (High Frequency Warfare) (1944,
B&W, 25:00, In German) We get many requests for World War II
military films produced by the Axis, but other than a few newsreels,
they are hard to find. We released “Sky Blitz” recently; “High
Frequency Warfare” is our second. Developed by the Luftwaffe, this
film showed the German people how high frequency signals were used
in radio direction finding, signals jamming and radar detection. An
attacking British bomber force is identified, their navigation
signals are jammed, and fighters are vectored to intercept. Radar is
employed to protect convoys in the Mediterranean, and radar jamming
is used to cover the “Channel Dash” of the Battle cruisers
Scharnhorst
& Gneisenau during
their escape from Brest. You'll see a working Luftwaffe air defense
control room and contemporary equipment like Lichtenstein airborne
radar. Most of the participants appear to be non actors. “I don't
speak German, but I found it pretty easy to follow the plot. Seeing
this film is like having a look inside another world.” Zeno
Low Level Photo
Reconnaissance of Bomb Damage, Germany, May 9,
1945 (1945, B&W, 20:00) On May 9,
1945, the day after the German surrender, a B-17G of the 652 BS
(Heavy Reconnaissance), 25th BG was dispatched on a far ranging mission to document bomb damage on
key targets all over Germany from very low altitudes that would have
been impossible during hostilities. These were special Flying
Fortresses that were stripped of most armament and stuffed with gas
so they could fly 12 hour weather missions over the North Atlantic.
On this day, they carried 8th Combat Camera Unit cameramen with 16mm cameras who photographed what
they saw through the Big B-17's perspex nose and the open waist
gunner positions. You'll see remnants of the freak spring snow storm
that fell the day before on the day of the end of the war in the ETO,
surrounding partially bombed out factories near Weimer and Plauen
and the almost intact Luftwaffe base at Bernburg, near the Czech
border, along with many other locations. You can only guess at what
was going through the heads of the men taking these pictures the day
after their war ended and the German civilians who saw them fly
overhead. A unique record.
