BATTLE OF THE UNITED STATES

Year Published: 1944

Format: 16mm

Description: In this Army – Navy Screen Magazine newsreel, we learn about THE BATTLE OF THE UNITED STATES. In this film from 1944, we see narrator J. Edgar Hoover (00:00:37:00) discussing the importance of catching spies in the United States during World War II and the great efforts the FBI went through to stop them. J Edgar also credits the citizens with doing their part in the effort to stop spies in the United States. Vintage footage from 1940 New York can be seen at (00:01:40:00). Footage of an American ship exploding can be seen at (00:02:25:00). Nazi rallies across the United States can be seen starting at (00:02:45:00). Amazing footage of a huge FBI data center can be seen at (00:04:20:00). An animated map of Nazi and Japanese activity in the Western Hemisphere can be seen starting at (00:06:55:00). Once again, Nazi rally footage can be seen at (00:08:00:00). At (00:08:37:00) , we see the FBI receiving information of a planned Axis attack on the Panama Canal and oil lines in Columbia. An FBI sting operation targeting enemy agents in the US can be seen at (00:09:20:00). Footage shot by the FBI from the Duquesne Case can be seen starting at (00:09:55:00). A shot of enemy agents viewing US steamship blueprints can be seen at (00:11:35:00). Amazing footage of German submarines can be seen at (00:13:10:00). The film ends with Hoover (00:14:45:00) talking about how the FBI and American’s are part of a team to stop the enemy. The Duquesne Spy Ring was the largest espionage case in United States history that ended in convictions. A total of 33 members of a German espionage network headed by Frederick "Fritz" Joubert Duquesne were convicted after a lengthy investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). The agents who formed the Duquesne Ring were placed in key jobs in the United States to get information that could be used in the event of war and to carry out acts of sabotage. One opened a restaurant and used his position to get information from his customers, while another worked on an airline so that he could report Allied ships that were crossing the Atlantic Ocean. Others worked as delivery people so they could deliver secret messages alongside mundane ones. One German spymaster later commented the ring's roundup delivered "the death blow" to their espionage efforts in the United States. FBI director J. Edgar Hoover called his concerted FBI swoop on Duquesne's ring the greatest spy roundup in U.S. history.

Complete Record:

Transcription

I want to talk to you fighting many women about the Battle of the United States you may wonder what I mean by this you may wonder why what I'm about to tell you has not been told in detail before the Battle of the United States took place in every community in the nation it was a struggle against enemy agents who had been sent to this country to disrupt our industries destroy our morale and damage the impact of our fighting armies these agents were directed by the same high command that directs the German and Japanese armies in combat their ends were the same not until these enemy agents were brought under control could this information be made public the battle of the United States was a victory for us and there is no one to whom I would rather give this information first and to you remember the United States in 1940 the lights were bright the New York World's Fair was in its second year the Brooklyn Dodgers had a good team there was a bubble crop in the week states Hooters in the new draft army were allowed to wear civilian clothes or weekend passes there were a lot of automobiles a lot of young men around but beneath the familiar surface of American life the beginnings of a bloody war against Germany and Japan were being fought a shortwave radio set being for Germany was discovered in the Bronx an American ship was torpedoed in the Caribbean letters addressed to mail drops in Spain and South America were intercepted these letters contained military information in a house outside of Angelis this soft appointed dictator set himself off in the business of promoting that season and in Chicago in New Jersey I'm Long Island this shameless abuse of the freedom of speech was taking place here in New York City where the soldiers of the Second World War were still occupied peacefully as lawyers barbers husbands and fathers these German paid agents were spreading their poison but to us in the Federal Bureau of Investigation in Washington there was no question of the danger all files told us that wallet Cathy organizer of the Chicago goon was a lieutenant in the German army and the leader of German sabotage in the United States our fingerprint files showed us an innocent appearing persons vying for work in United States war plans had been convicted of espionage in the last World War our charts showed us the location of every key spy and maildrop in north and south america we knew that the Japanese consul in Pearl Harbor was sending military information to Tokyo these time laws made it impossible for us to arrest German and Japanese suspects we would only wait for the day when this undercover war resulted in the open declaration of hostilities four years before the war the world had been overrun with German tourists German and Japanese diplomats and their paid agents disguised as cameraman domestics and industrialists we knew how successful their agents had been in Europe and Asia it was our business to check their penetration into the Western Hemisphere the occupation of South America by fascist forces it had been a grave threat to the security of the United States the Western Hemisphere as yet untouched by formal war was already in the throes of an invasion in this continent German colonists had settled in Patagonia and military installations there could close the Strait of Magellan and the Pacific Ocean enemy agents were using both coasts of South America as extended listening posts to inform the axis of our shipping in the Atlantic and the Pacific more than 300 thousand Japanese colonists had cut into the jungle a belt of strategic settlements reaching from the Brazilian coast into Peru and Ecuador a network of German airlines beginning in Argentina had spread as far north as Colombia in Colombia air bases could dominate the Panama Canal a neighboring and friendly continent could become an armed menace aimed directly at the United States German and Japanese agents had watched South America covetously for years they had become so confident of their ability to conquer the German merchant fleet made no effort to conceal the fact that German agents were a large part of its cargo the symbol of tyranny and war began to appear in the large South American cities and in the backwoods of Patagonia their grip on South America began with German and Japanese colonists settling near strategic rebels and potential landing fields it began with small German owned shops automobile dealers hotels consulates and reached into chemicals and heavy industry their attempts to poison the thinking of some Americans began with pictures of Hitler in a primitive schoolhouse in the interior and mushroomed into a mass rally most South American Airlines were dominated by German interests and staffed with German pilots well planned industrial accidents slowed up production of material for the United States their plan of conquest had advanced until these reports received by the FBI information received from s t89 the Germany plans direct attack on Panama Canal with German and jet planes and also move against ports and oil lines in Colombia I have received a report from confidential source previously found reliable that Germany will build a fleet of 1000 cargo submarines to carry expeditionary force and supplies to Colombia and Venezuela that was the situation in South America in close contact with axis agents in South America were there colleagues in the United States it was less than a month after Pearl 33 of these international criminals were convicted in our courts as foreign agents their conviction was made certain by motion picture film taken by our agents with cameras concealed at their meeting place taking this film was dangerous work much of it is bad as I did and uneven but I have this film here and I would like to show it to you these pictures were taken at a busy New York Street corner the man walking up and down the street is Harry Sawyer a naturalized German American citizen Sawyer visited Germany in 1939 where he was approached by the Gestapo who urged him to return to the United States as a spy before leaving Germany he sent word to us a spy trap was set soyah was working for the FBI walking into this trap is Colonel fritz Duquesne a leader of the spy ring and a professional German spy who had made a business stolen information since before the last war the FBI established Sawyer in a downtown office building in New York City a concealed camera in the next office took these incriminating pictures that's Heinrich closely a cook on the Allina Argentine closings work was to act as Korea carrying military information these spies had a radio station on Long Island which unknown to them was operated by an FBI agent and information was falsified until it was worthless saving the lives of thousands of American seamen American tonnage and American goods the important-looking man is hot would place who worked for the United States line as a cop the money place is given to Sawyer is for the purchase of a Leica camera to be used in his activities as a spy in these pictures Kleiss has brought to Sawyer the blueprints of the steamship america showing the plans of a secret gun emplacements there's two keen again the leader of the ring and the most cautious of them all he is removing diagrams of the m1 rifle an airborne tank a PT boat and a late model plane which he'd concealed in his sock he is describing to Sawyer the gas operating principles of the m1 rifle a secret which might have made a difference in the lives of a lot of Americans had it reached Germany at that time the last by to walk into the trap was Takeo a Zemon of the Royal Japanese Navy assigned in this country as a paymaster all of these pictures were taken you must remember before Pearl Harbor but to the enemy the fighting in Asia and the fighting in France were already different fronts in a single wall they would stop at nothing on May 26 28 1942 two German submarines that the base had Laurie one landing on Long Island the second landed in Florida for saboteurs landed from each submarine they were well equipped with high explosives among the equipment they carried with them were blocks of TNT some of which were disguised to look like lumps of coal these would have been left in department stores railroad stations and other places in your hometowns to kill the women of your family while they were shopping to breed panic and insecurity in this country the submarine saboteurs were in jail two weeks after they landed six of the eight were executed after a military trial the attack against all German and Japanese agents in this country was his vigorous and as victorious as the attacks you have made against the enemy that is only part of the story some of it is still secret but we have a report which up until now has been known only to the highest officials of all government after the fall of France in 1940 at all Hitler the war would soon end in German dominated Europe but there was another country that remained being punished for her crimes against Germany the country Hitler spoke of punishing was the United States you have destroyed the enemy's plans we have guarded the secrets that have given the Army and Navy its striking force in the field we of the FBI feel that were a part of a team make America a great and decent place in which to live we're on that team all of us


1 user has this film:
Periscope Film


No related films.