Scenes from December 18th 1944,during World War 2. German soldiers of Kampfgruppe Max Hansen, a temporary battle group formed during the Battle of the Bulge (from SS-Panzergrenadierdivision Regiment 2, an infantry regiment of SS Pz Rgt 2 "Das Reich") advance towards Poteau road junction past burning half tracks and Jeeps of U.S. 14th Cavalry group. One man is armed with a Stg44 assault rifle. Cut to squad leader signals advance, in the “wrong direction”. i.e Away from the Poteau junction and back along the road to Recht. Scene shifts to to smoke covered roadway. Germans attempt to start a captured jeep in field. It faces towards right, away from the front lines. An M8 armoured car burns. PK photographer and officer walk past camera, towards the right. Scene cuts to Pz Grenadiers walk away from camera towards the Poteau junction. Smoke covers the road. A Jagspanzer IV/70 comes into view and enters the field after the grenadiers have passed. Cut to grenadiers as they walk along the edge of the roadside ditch, past a burning jeep. Cuts to grenadier crawling under barbed wire fence at roadside, first man, with bandaged hand gets caught on the wire by his greatcoat! Second shot of grenadiers running away from camera in direction of Poteau through the smoke of the burning U.S. vehicles. PK photographer moves into frame before. Cuts to Panzergrenadiers moving towards the cameraman past the vehicles. Half tracks and jeeps loaded with personal equipment baggage. Further shots of the burning vehicles. Filmed looking in the direction of Recht (this is the direction the U.S. convoy was heading when it was attacked).
The appointment of Prince Charles, Count of Flanders as the Regent of Belgium after the liberation of Belgium from German occupation. View of the House of Representatives in Brussels (Place de la Nation 1, 1008 Bruxelles, Belgium). Representatives take their seats inside. Prince Charles, Count of Flanders takes an oath as he is named the Regent of Belgium during the imprisonment of his brother, King Leopold III, in Germany. Prince Charles emerges from the building and is congratulated by officials.
Activities of American first Army in Germany. Aerial and ground views of an Allied supply depot at Liege, Belgium. U.S. Army soldiers arrange supply boxes. Signal Corps engineers work on readying communication lines from the rear to the front and are seen stringing communication lines and preparing communication hubs. New transmission equipment of various kinds are received and installed for news. U.S. Army engineers supervise steel manufacture and sawmill operation in Luxembourg at a protected steel works facility that was taken over by the Allied Supreme Command. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers personnel walk on finished steel beams and check them before shipment front. Plank boards are cut and stacked for use in road projects. U.S. engineers repair a bridge over the Meuse in Belgium that had been damaged in the Battle of Belgium. Train crosses a repaired bridge over the Meuse, and U.S. military and civilian pedestrian traffic seen on the bridge road. Track connectors are installed to better grip in mud and allow passage of Allied tanks and tracked vehicles. Aerial view of Siegfried line and Dragons Teeth. U.S. forces seen using a tank bulldozer and mud to effectively bury Dragon's Teeth tank traps to allow passage through the Siegfried Line. Allied trucks and vehicles are repaired. A convoy of Allied supply trucks passes by through a snowy landscape bringing supplies to the front in preparation for invasion into Germany.
German soldiers surrendering to U.S. Army soldiers in France, during World War 2. Destroyed and burning German army vehicles. German prisoners of war being marched, by U.S. guards, past a fallen German soldier at the side of the road. Aerial view of some of 20 thousand German prisoners of war, contained inside an outdoor area. Rows of captured German military vehicles in a field. U.S. troops passing through a town in Belgium, greeted by cheering local crowd. USO show (including Bing Crosby) with singers entertaining U.S. troops during leisure time.
United States 1st Army soldiers attack a farm house near Franco-Belgian border to drive out German troops during World War II. Soldiers fire as tanks roll and bombs explode. German troops and equipment are captured by Americans.
U.S. Paratroopers of the 101st Airborne Division, en route to Camp Mourmelon, France, after Operation Market Garden,in Holland, during World War 2. They stop briefly near Borg Leopold, a former Belgian Army Depot, East of Brussels, where they receive coffee and doughnuts from a Red Cross Clubmobile. The troopers line up with their personal mess cups and receive hot coffee and donuts. Various views of the troopers receiving their refreshments and mingling together as they enjoy them. One view from inside the clubmobile, looking out at the troopers.