Evening star., 1943-01-01
Zonuck Log Tells Of Filming
American Landing in AIgiers
Moviemun Returns
Home to Record
Africun Bottle

ATTIC0n O0CCIe
Recording on movie fllm the. op-
erations Of American troops landing
IN North Africa presented such ex-
citing dif1culties as operating a
camera with one hand and tommy
gun with the other, grinding out
negatives under the pounding Of
enemy attacks from above and below
the plane in which they were flying,
and sleeping with unexploded bombs.
Such were recorded in the log of
Col. Daryl F. Zanuck, U. S. Signal
Corps, who was in charge of re-
cording the expeditionary operations
for the officials here and ultimately
for posterity. The War Department,
In making public parts of the log Of
the signal officer, said that he has
returned to the United States to
assemble and edit the motion picture
record Of the operations, all photo
graphed by his unit. The record
includes both land and air combat
operations.
Landing at Algiers.
Among the engagements in which
Col. Zanuck participated was the
actual landing at Algiers during
which he was aboard a plane carry
ing 1t. Gen. Mark w. Clark, Gen.
Eisenhower second in command,
and Tt coo KorrAfy, AndarS~n
commanding the British 5th Army
The engagement was on the after
noon of the day that Gen. Eisen-
hower's expedition put into Algiers
Harbor. AS originally logged, the
operations were disclosed as follows:
I'VE are 20 minutes from Algiers
when the first alarm Is flashed over
our radio-Nazi planes ahead.
I'VE circle in the clouds. Some
times 1t is so foggy we lose sight of
our escort. I look frequently at my
parachute and my escape kit. I
wonder if the letter have in Arabic,
signed by the President, will work
In case we have to bail out. I men,
tally rehearse the directions given in
the escape kit.
Suddenly we come out Of the
clouds. We are over Algiers.
At Battle Stations.
I'VE are ready to f1ght-all the
crew at battle stations, port holes
open. fingers on triggers. Below all
appears calm and peaceful. Then
out Of the port-gun hole I notice
peculiar puffs of black smoke in the
sky nearby. Then more of the same.
Then I see the flash of ack-ack
coming upward from the swarm of
battleships in the harbor below.
Every fifth shell is a colored tracer
and they make a beautiful sight.
Suddenly planes sweep by to our
left-followed by more black puffs,
some quite close to our ship. Geys-
ers Of water rise into the air along
side the transports and battleships
below. 1t dawns on me that our
ships are being bombed from the
air. We are flying high up to avoid
the ack-ack. We circle the Maison
Blanche Airport several times and
start down. Maj. (now 1t. COLI
Kirk Buchak of Omaha, Nebr., has
been asleep through it all. I awaken
him. We land with thud and tumble
out of the plane.
Spitfires Rise to Attack. -.
"Al hell has suddenly broken
loose on every side. Anti-aircraft
guns are blazing away all around
us. Our Spitflres rise to the attack.
Dogfghts fill the air. We stand like
idiots watching it. A Spit gets on
the tail of a Junkers SO right over
us. Black smoke pour from the en-
gine Of the Nazi plane. The crowd
on the field lets out q spontaneous
cheer. We cheer, too.
Suddenly another Nazi plane lets
60 its load above us. We actually
see and hear the bombs coming
down toward us. We throw our
selves fiat. Three bombs land so
yards away. No one is hurt, but I
might add Maj. Buchak is now wide
awake. Some one yells a warning.
A Nazi plane is diving on the field.
I duck under the wing of our Fort
ress and f1atten out alongside the
huge rubber wheel A rather silly
gesture. What fools we are-watch-
Ing an air attack from the very air
port that is being attacked.
Planes now come at us from all
directions. 1t is difficult to tell
which is ours and which is the
enemy's. A Nazi trailing black
smoke with one motor gone dived
over our heads, a Spit hot on its tail.
We open fire on it.
Looks Like Fireworks.
TT is suddenly getting dark The
air is filled with tracer bullets. 1t
looks like Fourth of July fireworks
display. A Nazi plane crashes near
by. Another explodes in the air and
drifts downward. We finally have
enough sense to run off the field
and into slit trench. and one by
one the Nazi planes disappear. We
have beaten them. We have seized
and hold the airport"
The following day Col Zanuck
was to seize and hold the Algiers
radio station. But his greatest
difficulty after accomplishing his
mission, he said. was in assuring the
French staff that it could continue
to carry on its routine functions
and would continue to get its regu-
lar meals.
Then he set out to assemble the
Aim taken during the landing. They
drove to Bone at sunset, and found
the place had just had its tenth air
raid in two days. There he con-
tacted his first group Of cameramen,
who reported they had been bombed
all the way from Algiers, but had
some excellent material. AS they
ate, and studied the Aims, they were
constantly under bomb fire, but no
one paid any attention to the at
tacks.
"1t Is strange" he said. how
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