Introducing Private Snafu, the nation's worst soldier and his various versions in different branches of the armed forces. The cartoon, ironic and humorous in tone, was created during World War II and it was designed to instruct service personnel about security, proper sanitation habits, booby traps and other military subjects, and also to improve troop morale. The main character's name is a play on the military slang acronym SNAFU, "Situation Normal: All Fouled Up."
A documentary propaganda film produced by the U.S. Army Signal Corps about the Aleutian Islands Campaign during World War II. The film opens with a map showing the strategic importance of the island, and the thrust of the 1942 Japanese offensive into Midway and Dutch Harbor. Nominated for the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.
Documentary made by the U.S. Army Signal Corps after the North African campaign.
Originally made with a German soundtrack for screening in occupied Germany and Austria, this film was the first documentary to show what the Allies found when they liberated the Nazi extermination camps: the survivors, the conditions, and the evidence of mass murder. The film includes accounts of the economic aspects of the camps' operation, the interrogation of captured camp personnel, and the enforced visits of the inhabitants of neighboring towns, who, along with the rest of their compatriots, are blamed for complicity in the Nazi crimes - one of the few such condemnations in the Allied war records.
U.S. Army training film about avoiding venereal disease, intended primarily for Black servicemen.
Produced by the Army Pictorial Service, Signal Corps, with the cooperation of the Army Air Forces and the United States Navy, and released by Warner Bros. for the War Activities Committee shortly after the surrender of Japan. Follow General Douglas MacArthur and his men from their exile from the Philippines in early 1942, through the signing of the instrument of surrender on the USS Missouri on September 1, 1945. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2013.
Propaganda short film depicting the rise of Nazism in Germany and how political propaganda is similarly used in the United States. The film was made to make the case for the desegregation of the United States armed forces.
The U.S. Army Signal Corps Pictorial Division made this short documentary shortly after the end of WWII to look at the after-effects of the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. There is no credited crew or cast.
Several servicemen relax by playing pool, but one of them goes off to spend time with a prostitute. Later, he discovers he has contracted a venereal disease. A graphic and frank presentation of the types and treatment of venereal disease follows. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in partnership with Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation in 2007.
Live footage from concentration camps after the liberation, and the complex transport and lodging of masses of prisoners of war and other deported people back to their home countries, at the end of World War II. A 45min 35mm print also exists (shown at Cinémathèque française in 2023).
Baptism of Fire is a 1943 American documentary, meant to be an Army training film starring Elisha Cook Jr. It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.
Customs of the Service documentary short
A 1950 propaganda film produced by the US Army Signal Corps mainly concerning the war crimes committed by the North Koreans.
Training Film No. A-3: Poor Instruction, Rifle Litter, First Aid Demonstration, Bayonet Drill, Firing Range Instruction, Drill Squad, Charts and Instruction.
After the suppression of "Let There Be Light" (a documentary about combat-induced post-traumatic stress disorders which presented many inconvenient and demoralizing truths), the U.S. Army Signal Corp created this dramatized up-beat remake of the film. Only this time, the production excluded the involvement of John Houston, the producer of the original documentary.
In this WWII short training film, a Japanese sniper, who has just been captured by an American soldier, explains how easy it was to pick off ten troops from the G.I. platoon, due to mistakes they, themselves, had made.
A silent film showing graphic scenes of trench warfare as the British defeat the Germans.
Made to support WWII war workers, this 1943 War Department Training film was part of a series that covers the care and use of essential tools such as pliers and screwdrivers. It covers common mistakes that people make, how to correct them, and how to care for tools to ensure they last long. The film’s general theme is that while pliers and screwdrivers are handy tools that can be used in a lot of situations, they should still be used for their intended purposes.
Military training film exposing the means used by Nazi agents to extract military information from talkative soldiers.
The Articles of War film short
