U.S. Forces Blast Japanese from Attu [Etc.]

This 1943 newsreel compilation, likely from Universal or Movietone, delivers a trio of WWII victories in black-and-white. Part 1 captures the May 11-30 Battle of Attu in the Aleutian Islands: U.S. troops storm ashore from landing craft, slogging through fog and mud to blast Japanese forces from their last North American foothold—rifles crack, mortars burst amid icy peaks. Part 2 shifts to the Atlantic: depth charges ripple the sea from a U.S. destroyer, forcing a German U-boat—caught stalking a convoy—to surface, its crew scrambling as Allies pummel it, a nod to the Battle of the Atlantic’s turning tide. Part 3 covers Tunis’s May 1943 liberation: British tanks roll in, citizens cheer, and hordes of German soldiers surrender en masse—hands up, trudging past ruins. Gen. Henri Giraud reviews French troops in crisp salute, symbolizing North Africa’s Allied triumph. A brisk, morale-boosting snapshot of multi-front success, it’s wartime cinema at its rawest.