USAAF P-47 Thunderbolt fighter planes operating at Florennes/Juzaine Airfield (A-78), Belgium, during World War 2. Identifiable units include the 411th Fighter Squadron (U9); the 373rd Fighter Group; the 387th Fighter Squadron (B4) and 388th Fighter Squadron (C4) of the 365th Fighter Group. A number of P-47s, (mostly bubble canopy D models) seen taxiing. (The second one's tail number looks like 42-26571, but that aircraft was downed in October 1944. So it is probably 26579.) Crew chiefs ride the wings of most P-47s to guide the pilots during low speed taxi when they would otherwise have to zig-zag to see ahead. Destroyed building silhouetted against the sky.Two flights of four P-38s circle overhead and peel off for landing.View through breached wall of a jeep towing a bomb cart past a parked P-47. Airmen walking across the field. Clear view of 388th Fighter Squadron P-47 taxiing. Another P-47 taxiing past a small damaged building
A film depicts the Battle of the Bulge in the area of Bastogne, Belgium by U.S. troops during World War II. Belgian civilians are evacuated from an area. Civilians and soldiers in an area. Guns on a field. U.S. aircraft flying in formation to deliver supplies, ammunition, and food to U.S. Army forces including 101st Airborne Infantry soldiers fighting in the battle of the Bulge. Soldiers watching the airplanes through binoculars. Point of view shot from inside a glider hooked via a tow rope to an aircraft in flight, preparing to cut loose for glide to the ground. Aerial view of the target area. The airplanes in flight overhead. Supplies are being dropped via parachutes. View inside supply aircraft as troops push supplies out of doors. Gliders loaded with supplies and equipment landing in a snow covered area in time for Christmas 1944. Combat in the snow with a night artillery barrage by American soldiers firing at the Germans. U.S. soldiers using flame throwers at night directed at Germans. Dead bodies of German soldiers lying on the snow covered battlefield the next day. German prisoners of war standing under the guard of the U.S. soldiers, some of German prisoners found wearing civilian clothing or wearing pieces of U.S. uniforms. The 101st Airborne Infantry soldiers march in a victory celebration in town. A board reads: "Bastogne Bastion of the Battered Bastards of the 101st."
A sign identifies the village of Bande, in Belgium, during World War 2. View of snow-covered village rooftops from a distance. Closeup of a cafe in the village. Bodies of 34 young men from the village are seen lying in the cellar of the cafe. All had been executed on Christmas Eve, by a unit of the Nazi SD (Sicherheitsdienst) affiliated with the SS (Schutzstaffel) in retribution for the deaths of three German soldiers killed by Belgian maquis (Resistance fighters) on September 5, 1944. (Bande had been occupied by U.S. forces soon thereafter, but was retaken by German forces in the December Ardennes offensive, setting the stage for the massacre.) British troops that re-occupied the village on January 10th, 1945, are seen removing the bodies from the cellar and placing them on the snow-covered street. Wooden coffins are stacked up at the side of the building. Some closeups of the victims are seen. Scene shifts to a snowy field where the bodies are on the ground and men wrap them in sheets and place them in coffins. Closeup of British soldiers placing cover on a coffin and affixing an identification tag on it. Next, the Village Priest presides over a mass funeral for the victims, as villagers stand along the line of coffins. Women in black grieve over the victims. British soldiers carry the coffins to army trucks.The villagers follow behind the trucks as they proceed to the graveyard for burial. The coffins are placed on the ground at the cemetery.
The first memorial erected to commemorate U.S.prisoners of war executed by the Nazis during the battle of the bulge (mostly elements of the American 285th Field Artillery Observation Battalion (FAOB), executed by the Kampfgruppe Peiper (part of the 1st SS Panzer Division). This was also known as the Massacre at Baugnez, or the Malmedy Massacre. A wooden cross and a sign reading 'USA - Belgium. To the prisoners of war of overseas who liberated the East districts and were the victims of Nazis cruelty." The wooden cross at the monument to commemorate the massacre of 115 American prisoners at Baugnez on December 17th 1944 during the Battle of Bulge, in World War 2.
Allied campaign against the Axis in 1944 during World War II. Exteriors of Dumbarton Oaks in Washington DC. Representatives of the United Nations at a meeting inside the mansion. A railroad train arrives and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill gets off the train in Quebec, Canada for the Quebec Conference. Churchill confers with U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt about Allied plans during the war. French FFI or Maquis groups in France. President Roosevelt, seated in front of a large celebrating crowd of people in the U.S., acknowledges them after being reelected President for a third term. People celebrate his victory and hold election victory signs as they cheer. American Civilians (mostly women war production workers) work in war production factories to produce aircraft, tanks and other equipment in the United States. Rows of aircraft engines, cockpits, and gun turrets being produced. On December 16, 1944, German forces launch a major-counter attack through the Ardennes forests, resulting in the "Battle of the Bulge" in Belgium. View of German soldiers and a German Jagdpanzer IV tank destroyer rolling by. German soldiers advance past destroyed Allied tanks and trucks.
Beginning of the German counterattack into Belgium, during winter of 1944-45 of World War 2. Opening scenes show German artillery barrages by Grille (Cricket) self-propelled artillery firing 15 cm sIG 33 infantry guns. This is the beginning of German Field Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt's Ardennes Counteroffensive (aka the Battle of the Bulge) in December, 1944. German soldiers riding on Jagdpanzer IV tank destroyer moving forward in Ligneuville, South of Malmedy, Belgium. German infantry walk past a knocked out tank on their way toward the front, where smoke rises ahead. They pass burning American armor and vehicles destroyed by the German Luftwaffe (Air Force). Sounds of artillery fire are heard. Closeup of one soldier carrying an MP44 7.92 x 33 mm (7.92 Kurz) caliber assault rifle. The German infantry move along a ditch parallel to a burning column of U.S. armor and vehicles on the road, where it was wiped out by German aircraft. A United States 3" anti-tank gun abandoned at the roadside. German soldiers retrieve American cigarettes from a knocked out U.S. tank, and share them. At TC:02:00 the German gunner with a belt of ammunition around his neck, is Hans Tragarsky aka Walter Armbrusch, a soldier in the Kampfgruppe Hansen battle group formed during the Battle of the Bulge from SS-Panzergrenadierdivision Regiment 2, an infantry regiment of SS Pz Rgt 2 "Das Reich". (His image is well known but his identity is subject to debate.) German troops relax as they smoke cigarettes. A group of German soldiers sharing cigarettes, atop a Stug III tank destroyer. A German army Type 82 Volkswagen Kübelwagen drives past detritus of combat, near a village church. Glimpse of damage in City of Antwerp from a German rocket.