‘Red Bull Attacks’: A Television Documentary About the 34th Infantry

This is a television documentary from the 1960s. The series was called The Big Picture, and this film is called “The Red Bull Attacks.” It chronicles the history of the 34th Infantry Division — the Red Bull division — and its roots in the Midwest, as well as its movement in Operation Torch in 1942 into the western part of North Africa, across the top of the continent into southern Italy and northward until the Germans capitulated on May 2, 1945 (two days before Babe was killed).

The film was posted in a YouTube channel called “Vintage Military Films.”

According to Wikipedia, the series ran on the ABC television network from 1951 to 1964: “The series consisted of documentary films produced by the United States Army Signal Corps Army Pictorial Service, showing weaponry, battles, and biographies of famous soldiers.”

This episode is nearly 28 minutes long and features some interesting footage of infantrymen slogging through mud and battling German troops. It also recounts the movements of the division pretty clearly, including the defeat the division took at the Kasserine Pass in 1943 — around the time Babe joined the army. The episode includes, as something of an aside, an explanation of some of the medals that the military awards for distinguished service.


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