Fall of Benito Mussolini in Italy. Mussolini seen speaking to a crowd and shaking his fist. Sicily surrenders to Allied troops during World War II. German soldiers holding white surrender flags march forward. Civilians in Italy cheer the arrival of smiling American soldiers. Scene changes to American B-25 bomber aircraft dropping bombs over Japanese positions in Pacific Theater. Close view of bombardier calibrating position and bombs away from bomb bay doors toward Japanese-held targets. Gun camera footage of Allied aircraft attacking Nazi German Wolfpack submarines in the Atlantic Ocean. Allied aircraft, including B-25 bombers, bombing German industry and cities during a night raid. In England, United Kingdom, church service is held open to the sky in the ruins of bombed out Coventry Cathedral, which had been destroyed by German Luftwaffe blitz bombing of Britain. Clergy, robed choir members, and British parishioners seen at the enthronement service of Bishop of Coventry Neville Gorton in 1943, enclosed only by the exterior walls of St. Michaels, Coventry Cathedral.
'The fighting first' about the role of United States 1st Infantry Division in various campaigns during World War II. A soldier of United States 1st Infantry Division. Combat boots of soldiers during the civil war and World War I. A map shows the 1st Infantry Division units moving across the Atlantic Ocean towards North Africa for Operation Torch in November, 1942. Soldiers of 1st Infantry Division go to England and loaded onto ships as they move to Africa. U.S. General Terry Allen aboard a ship. Infantry soldiers fire in Oran, Algeria. Aircraft in flight, explosions occur and a convoy of trucks on advance during the battle in Oran. 1st Infantry Division troops as part of US II Corps battle against Nazi General Rommel's armies in Tunisia, North Africa. Battle scenes against German forces in North Africa in a variety of locations, overlaid with this narration: "we damn near flunked out at the Kasserine (Kasserine Pass). But we learned the score and we started to teach Gerry a few things out of our book. We rammed our way back to Gafsa and down Rommel's throat at El Guettar, where we tore up his crack 10th panzer division." In 1943, men of 1st Infantry Division load onto ships and arrive in Sicily. Troops advance into a town in Sicily after capturing it. Damaged houses in a city in Sicily.
Slave laborers digging during the construction of the Atlantic Wall in World War II. German engineers oversee the construction. Men working around a large gun turret. Nazi German fortifications, bunkers, and artillery posts along coasts facing the Atlantic Ocean in Europe. The 380 mm gun at the Todt Battery near Cape Gris-Nez, Pas de Calais, France. 40.6 cm SK C/34 gun “Battery Lindemann” (German unit MKB 6 / MAA 244) as part of the Dover Strait coastal guns. German emplacements and troops marching along Normandy in France. A German soldier uses binoculars to watch the English Channel. Adolf Hitler and a Nazi German general. Adolf Hitler greets Benito Mussolini as the latter exits a plane in Vichy France. Allied leaders Winston Churchill, Franklin Roosevelt, Joseph Stalin, and General George C. Marshall at the Tehran Conference in 1943 during World War 2. Armies from various European countries march and prepare themselves for war against Germany. Supreme Commander General Eisenhower and other Allied generals during a meeting. Fleet of ships in sea ready to land in Normandy on D-Day. Navy and coastal command aircraft drop bombs on Nazi German submarines. Anti-aircraft guns fire at Nazi bombers. Docks damaged by German bombing receive aid from Allied countries. Cranes and hooks lower relief supplies, medicines and warfare material at dock. Warships loaded with artillery and warplanes lowered in ships by hoists. A locomotive train is being lowered from a ship. A military band plays music in a dock. Soldiers move towards the ships. British and Royal Canadian and Australian bombers at their base take off for bombing on Nazi bases at night. A soldier directs a bomber taxiing in runway. Aerial views of British bomber aircraft bombing targets in Germany at night, with immense explosions.
U.S. aircraft attack Nazi submarines in the Atlantic Ocean during World War II. A U.S. Army Air Force airplane in flight over a United States convoy while it is underway in the Atlantic Ocean. A man aboard an airborne airplane sends a message after sighting a German submarine. A U.S. Army Air Force dive bomber takes off from aboard an aircraft carrier. A gun being fired at the submarine. Bombs being dropped. A bomb in mid air. Explosions occur at sea as two submarines are destroyed.
A German submarine submerges in the Atlantic Ocean during World War 2. Interior views show listening apparatus aboard the submarine and U-boat crew at work in different duties. Depth charges shake the submarine. The submarine surfaces. An enemy tanker is spotted at dusk. Torpedoes are fired by U-boat. The tanker is hit, explosion is seen and it bursts into flames. View of sinking tanker ship in flames under night sky. (German captain is possibly Reinhard "Teddy" Suhren.)
YMS and SC units during mine sweeping activities in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Norfolk, Virginia. Two flag buoys in water with two United States Navy YMS (Auxiliary Motor Minesweeper) underway at sea. Mines explode as a pillar of smoke and water rises up. Four YMS in column underway at sea as mines explode. A buoy towed in the foreground. Mines explode with YMS in the background. Mines continue to explode. Two YMS underway as mines explode in the background.