The Combat Cameramen in WWII - The Men Behind the Cameras [ WWII DOCUMENTARY ]

We all enjoy the historical footage -   showing events from the past. Like to learn from it or just the thought of we are watching people  living history's great moments from decades away. Or if the footage is close to the action we  like the thrill. We all watch it for different reasons. So today I'd like to dedicate this video  to the ones who made it possible for all of us - the combat cameramen. The ones who risked their life through  the war to show the events to the public back then - and

for us years later. Documented what happened  on the fronts to show the life of the ordinary soldiers and generals. While we know some of their  names usually the only thing reminds us of them is the few frames shown at the beginning of the  footage: a name, a date and the unit name chalked on something. They were present in every theater  of the war: with the troops on the ground, on the planes in the air, and on the ships out on  the sea recording everything. The historical film reels and phot

ographs we see today came  from various sources. Sometimes regular soldiers brought their own cameras and took pictures of  the events though this was not that common and mostly only happened with the US troops. On the  american side the war correspondents could be civilian reporters following the military units or  could be members of the Armed Forces. The civilian war correspondents were unarmed, usually wearing  officer uniforms without military markings, and special badges. They were officia

lly civilian  employees of the US War Department and were protected under the Geneva conventions. On the  other hand the cameraman could also be regular enlisted men or officers who were assigned to the  Army's photo companies. These combat cameramen carried standard infantry weapons along with  their camera equipment though this was mostly just for self-defense as carrying a full size  rifle together with sometimes two-three cameras would hamper them in doing their job. though  they were consid

ered as regular members of the armed forces and expected to fight but  that was not their main role, they were there to document the events which was considered  important enough by itself. The same applied to their British counterpart the AFPU - Army Film  and Photographic Unit - where the cameramen were part of the armed forces but they usually only  carried revolvers. There were also quite a few pictures and films recorded by private individuals  mostly from non-combatant personnel, like doct

ors and nurses traveling with the armed forces.  Some of those you can find on here or on my secondary channel: like the IS-2 tank video I  have - recorded by Colonel Alexander Zabin who was a surgeon in the US Army during World War  II. Or the private videos of Beatrice Wachter who was a nurse with the 51st field Hospital. See the  links in the description or at the end of this video. If we're talking about documenting  the war we should take a look at the cameras too that were used in World Wa

r II. To have a  vague concept of the gear they were carrying the cameras weighted about 6-7 lb and the  35 mm film roll weighted about 4 lb and only lasted for a minute so they usually  carried 8 or 10 of those all the time. Speaking about the equipment: the  most popular camera used to take pictures was the "Speed Graphic" which actually  means a series of cameras which started production well before World War II but the  specific model we are talking about is the PH-47. When in 1942 the US ar

my established  the Army Pictoreal service the Speed Graphic cameras were issued as standard equipment. They  were included in the PH-104 photographers kit which included everything you need: the camera,  filters, film packs, adapters, tripod, etc. These cameras actually were not easy to operate  and were very delicate and easily damaged in a combat environment. Also they only held  one negative meaning they had to be reloaded after every shot. But the weight size and  slow operation was balance

d out with the great picture quality of these cameras as the  large 4x5 in negative captured the events in great detail. A famous example of pictures taken  by these cameras is the flag raising on Iwo Jima. For motion pictures the most used equipment  was the Bell & Howell Eyemo 35 mm camera. It came in several models: single lens, three lenses,  electric or spring driven mechanism which could be cranked with an outside accessory. The Eyemos weren't ergonomical, they were quite heavy and only he

ld about 100 ft of film which was enough  for or 2 minutes of recording at 24 frames per second. They were usually handheld as there was not  much time setting up tripods while following the troops. The short shooting capacity is the reason  most World War II footage is made up from several film reels and features very short cuts of scenes.  They technically weren't able to take several minute long shots of the events while handhelding  the camera. If used on a tripod there were several modifica

tions enabling the camera to hold and  run a 400 or 1,000 ft film but those were heavy and cumbersome. An alternative to the eyemo was  the Cunningham Combat Camera which was more lightweight with the use of magnesium. It  was more ergonomical with a simplified loading mechanism and held 200 ft of film but it was  only introduced in 1945 when the war was almost over. The British Army's Film and  Photographic Unit's preferred camera was the De Vry nicknamed "The  Lunchbox" for it's distinctive sh

ape. Just like the eyemo it could take  a standard 100ft film which allow 2 minutes of filming at 24 frames per second.  It used a similar hand crank or spring driven mechanism. When we see color footage  of World War II it was usually shot with the Bolex H16 camera using Kodachrome color film. It was not as common as black  and white and mainly used in more static placements. That's why we have more  color footage from the Pacific where they could set up the static cameras on the  ships to film

instead of carrying them around. These shots from the Pacific  were used to create some amazing color films from World War II: like the "Fighting Lady" But since they had the color cameras there  the cameraman often did take them on foot to the islands and thanks to them we can have a  distant look of the struggles of the Marines too during the island hopping campaign. A great example of  these movies is the feature film: "To the shores of Iwo Jima" You can also find both of these films on my 

secondary channel, I recommend you watch them So when we look at these World War II pictures or  watch all these great footage we should never forget the men behind the cameras. Who  often risked their lives to document these historical events so we can see them decades  later and hopefully learn something from them. Hope you guys enjoyed this video! Please  leave a like and in the comments let me know if there's any interesting  events or vehicles you'd like to see.