Thunderbolt (1947)

A WW2 documentary on the P-47 Thunderbolt fighter/bomber pilots in missions (Operation Strangle) from their base in Corsica to Northern Italy in 1944, destroying railroads, bridges, trains, vehicles and hard targets.

Directors:

John Sturges (as Capt John Sturges), William Wyler (as Lt Col William Wyler)

Writer:

Lester Koenig (as Master Sergeant Lester Koenig)

Stars:

James Stewart, Lloyd Bridges, Eugene Kern

Cast

Cast overview:
James Stewart	...	James Stewart

Storyline

A documentary series on the operations of the 57th Fighter Group in 1944. Stationed in Corsica, their missions largely consisted of low-level attacks on the Italian mainland, far behind the front-line. Their targets were German supplies and the infrastructure carrying it. This was part of Operation Strangle, the idea of which was to weaken the German front-line forces through depriving them of supplies, thus helping the Allied offensive through Italy. The 57th Fighter Group flew one of the greatest fighter-bombers of the war, the iconic Republic P-47 Thunderbolt.

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Plot Keywords:

airplane | 

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Genres:

Documentary | Short | History | War

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

26 July 1947 (USA)

Also Known As:

Colpo di fulmine

Filming Locations:

Corsica, France

Company Credits

Production Co:

Carl Krueger Productions,U.S. Army Air Corps

Technical Specs

Runtime:

44 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Filmed in 1944, not released until 1947.

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Connections

Referenced in Five Came Back: The Price of Victory (2017)

User Reviews

Interesting war-time documentary

The setting is the Italian Campaign in World War Two. More specifically this is about a series of planned air strikes carried out using the P-47 Thunderbolt bombers launched from Corsica in 1944 that went under the codename Operation Strangle. The idea was to destroy the bridges, train tracks and vehicles on the roads at the narrowest section of the Italian peninsula, which in effect would cut off supplies to the German army located in the South of that country, allowing the Allies to advance big distances north.

Like other wartime documentaries such as Attack in the Pacific (1944) this film shares similar strengths and weaknesses. On the one hand, it's obviously very raw, one-sided and propagandist to an extent. But on the other hand, it has a lot of fascinating real footage. This included planes fitted out with multi-camera set ups involved in the missions. We witness attacks on various targets which show pretty clearly the dangers involved. This also includes some indiscriminate bombings, where farmhouses seem to have been routinely blown up in case they were holding explosives, etc. We also see footage of the real men involved which adds an extra poignancy. You will get a more detailed overview of events in a documentary made nowadays but there is still some invaluable footage here. And it was a very important campaign to the overall war effort, so it's good to see it being documented for that reason alone.