U.S. Navy officers and sailors aboard a landing craft still at port in England, pose with chart of their destination in Normandy, France, during World War 2. They all raise their caps for the cameraman. U.S. troops fill deck of a large landing craft infantry (film reversed). Views of other landing craft underway. U.S. troops standing aft on a ship. View of a destroyer escort ship. Landing craft underway in moonlight. Barrage balloon visible overhead. A camouflaged Benham class destroyer passing abeam the camera ship. More views of landing craft and barrage balloons. Officer aboard ship using a telescope. A Destroyer escort and another view of the Benham class destroyer. (These color sequences are reversed) Black and White sequence 02:36 to 03:39 shows members of the Canadian North Shore (New Brunswick) Regiment approaching and landing on D-day, at La Rive Plage,Bernieres-sur-Mer, France. Scenes are interposed with some of U.S. troops wading ashore at Omaha Beach. At time code 03:40, Troops of the U.S. Army First Division, the "Big Red One," are seen wading ashore on Omaha beach, from Higgins boats of the transport ship, USS Samuel Chase. (APA-26). U.S. soldiers reaching the beach from the surf, as two fall to German gunfire.
Chiefs of Allied Invasion Command at the headquarters in England. American General Dwight D Eisenhower meets the soldiers. Military supplies put into action. Trucks, Jeeps and mechanized equipment are assembled. General Montgomery, Deputy Commander General Arthur Tedder and General Eisenhower see new equipment in action. Artillery fired. Aircraft in flight. Paratroopers in sky. General Montgomery, Master of air tactics, General Arthur Tedder and Liberator of North Africa, General Eisenhower. (World War II period).
Pictures taken by military and news cameramen during World War II. France, June 1940: German troops march before the Arc de Triomphe on Champs Elysses after the Battle of France. A German Nazi flag. French Forces of the Interior (FFI) Maquis march in the woods of France. Newspapers run by the underground army. The Maquis members secretly attend a meeting of French collaborationists allied with occupying Germany, to attain information. French Collaborationists listen to the speaker during the meeting, seated beneath a large banner indicating support for the fight against Socialism or Bolshevism, "Le Europe unie contre le Bolchevisme." Nazi posters altered by the FFI to their advantage. FFI resistance fighters raise a flag in a forest encampment. Aerial of London England in an area with many neon lights and neon advertising : Women in elaborate clothes enter a theatre to watch war pictorial films about World War II.
A British film entitled, "People to People." Four British working men, visiting America, are seen in overcoats on the deck of a ship passing the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor during World War II. They are accompanied by four American workers who were returning on the same ship, from a similar visit to England. Closeup of the eight men, named by the narrator, who calls them trade unionists on an exchange visit. Brief view of Chiang Kai-Shek, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Winston Churchill at the Cairo Conference in 1943.Camera pans closeup over Roosevelt and Chiang Kai-Shek. Brief views of Roosevelt, Churchill, and Joseph Stalin at the Tehran Conference in 1943. Closeup of Roosevelt and Churchill, with Anthony Eden standing immediately behind them. Closeup of Stalin and Roosevelt, with U.S. Army Air Force Chief, General Henry H.(Hap) Arnold and British General Alan Brooke, Chief of the Imperial General Staff, conversing behind them. Scene shifts back to the men aboard the ship in New York harbor, with the New York City Manhattan skyline of buildings in the background. Next, the eight men are seen climbing steps to New York City Hall. Inside they are welcomed by New York City Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia. The group is then seen entering a building in Washington, DC, where they sit down at a table with Donald Nelson, Head of the U.S. War Production Board. In the Department of Labor building they meet William Hammatt Davis, Head of the War Labor Board, and also the Secretary of Labor, Frances Perkins. After that they are seen heading into the White House, where they are met by Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt, who comes out of the White House to greet them on the porch. (Narrator says she later invited them inside for tea.) The men are next seen climbing the Capitol steps. Vice President Henry A. Wallace comes out to greet them and comments about industrial production not only during the war, but in the time of peace to follow.
Four British working men and their four American counterparts on an exchange visit to the United States enter a building in World War II. They are seen inside, seated at a table opposite representatives of American labor organizations including the American federation of Labor (AFL), the Congress of industrial Organizations (CIO) and the Railroad Brotherhood. During the meeting, one of the American workers states that they had just returned from England. One of the American labor representatives asks the English workers what they think about these exchange visits. They respond in support of them, and note they had an similar exchange with Russians as well. They also discuss international labor unity and its importance in winning the war. The British contingent note that they need more time to meet rank and file American workers to make any assessments. The subject of women filling jobs in war industry was viewed as affecting the lives of all women during the war and afterwards.
Logo of United Electrical, Radio, and Machine Workers Union Local 407 in New Jersey is shown. Narrator says it it one of the places a group of 4 English and 4 American Working men were to see on their exchange visit to America. View of their luggage The group is seen examining a map of the United States as they plan to make their visits in pairs to save time. They decide that each British worker would visit the hometown of an American counterpart. One pair leaves to visit Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. The pick up their luggage. Another pair are going to Detroit, Michigan. They pick up their luggage. The third pair is going to St. Louis, Illinois. They pick up their luggage. The final pair are going to Los Angeles, California. They pick up the last remaining pieces of luggage. One pair of workers is seen entering the Chrysler plant in Detroit. The American was welcomed home to America from his trip to England. View inside the plant of an African American woman working beside an older man, where they were making tank and marine engines. The visitors examine the gang drill presses containing multiple drills operated by a single operator. They stop to say hello to the American's daughter who also works at the plant, checking to assure parts met tolerances. It was noted that she was paid the same as any man doing the job. The pair of visitors are met at the American's home by some company union workers. They sit together on the step outside the house and get acquainted. An infant inside the house looks out the window at them. Scene shifts to Los Angeles where another English-American visiting pair is seated outdoors and the wife of the American brings out some bottles of beer for them to all share. Change of scene shows the pair visiting the offices of the Screen Actors Guild in Hollywood, where they meet celebrities Edward Arnold, George Murphy, Dick Powell, Alan Hale, Jane Wyman, Helen Hayes and Lena Horne. Edward Arnold, President of the Guild's Board, speaks with the pair, alone explaining how every actor in Hollywood belongs to the Guild which is affiliated with the America Federation of Labor (AFL). Arnold shows the pair his union card. Closeup of the card.