U.S. General Dwight D. Eisenhower is besieged by correspondents and photographers in London, upon his appointment as Supreme Commander Allied Expeditionary Forces during World War 2. He us seen pointing at a wall map of Europe. Then, with flags of Great Britain and the United States behind him, he makes remarks from his desk. He expresses pleasure at the Joint nature of the allied command, and the effectiveness of the U.K. and U.S. forces. He extols the advances made on the Eastern front by Soviet forces. Finally, he expressed confidence in the ultimate victory of the United Nations.
United States soldiers practice the invasion of Europe during World War II. United States troops loaded in invasion barges practice a landing assault in the United States. Invasion barges being towed by barrage balloons as they arrive at a beach. The troops land at the beach as live ammunition is being fired. The soldiers land and cross over barbed wire fences at the beach. Motorized equipment being carried inland from the beach. The soldiers being trained in street to street fighting at an amphibious training center. They fire rifles.
Map shows coast of Europe with discussion of various places for a possible Allied invasion of France during World War 2. Normandy was chosen. German coastal defenses on English Channel and Atlantic shore (Atlantic Wall). German officers inspect defenses. Map highlights Cherbourgh, Le Havre, and Caen in Normandy. American workers building war machinery in defense plants and shipyards. Huge numbers of workers are seen in the yard of a U.S. defense plant. View inside a U.S. factory where numerous M3 Lee tanks are being manufactured on production lines during 1941-42. A welder at work. A woman using a saw and many other workers in a busy machine shop. B-17 bombers being built in a Boeing factory. Liberty ships under construction at a shipyard. A lookout watching the skies above a city, for enemy aircraft. A man and woman working together on a plumbing job. British women in Army uniforms working with typewriters. An American woman driving a forklift and loading a piece of ordnance on a railroad freight car. A rail yard filled with stream locomotives and freight trains. A line of trucks carrying war time cargoes. An army truck being loaded into the hold of a cargo ship. Ships underway in a harbor.
U.S. Air Force operations in the European Theater during World War 2. A bombardier gets out of the nose of a U.S. B-17 Flying Fortress bomber plane. Pilots talk beside a B-17. An animation of number of sorties and tons of bomb drops over enemy target. Aerial point of view (POV) shots from cockpit of a US Army air force aircraft in flight on an attack run flying low over houses and industry of enemy territory in Europe during World War 2. An aerial formation of B-17s, P-39 Airacobra fighters, B-24 Liberator bombers and P-38 Lightning fighters. Chancellor of Germany Adolf Hitler giving an impassioned, animated, emotional speech. German Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels in a conference. American men and women war production workers inside a factory making war materiel. U.S. firing squad fires salute over a grave. An airplane burns and a crew member face down on the grass. U.S. Army Air Force fighters and bombers in flight and bombs away views as bombers drop bombs on German targets .
A U.S. Army Air Force C-45 Expeditor aircraft taxis up and parks near an Honor Guard. Lieutenant General Jacob L. Devers, Commander of U.S. Army Forces in Europe, steps from the aircraft (which displays "V" tail code usually associated with the XXI Bomber Command, 499th Bomb Group). Members of his party, including Major General Ira Eaker, Commander if the U.S. 8th Air Force, and a British civilian official (Member of Parliament?) stand near the airplane as General Devers inspects the honor guard. General Devers then leads the party to where a group of American Air Corps officers is standing. Devers stands aside while General Eaker and the British official and the other members of their party meet and greet the Air Corps officers. (World War II period).
U.S. Lieutenant General Jacob L. Devers, Commander of U.S. Army Forces in Europe, and Major General Ira Eaker, Commander of the U.S. 8th Air Force, escort a British official visiting an air base in the UK. The official speaks momentarily with U.S. ground crewman. Then a U.S. Lieutenant Colonel escorts him in a walk around a B-17, named "Delta Rebel" while the Generals and others stand nearby.(Captain Robert K Morgan, Pilot of the "Memphis Belle" is a member of the visiting party.) The British Official has an extended dialog with escorting officer. All members of the visiting party begin climbing aboard a C-45 aircraft. Change of scene show the party walking from the C-45 past an honor guard. General Devers greets several Air Corps officers standing in a line. He is followed by the British official, with his Lt. Col. escort. Generals Devers and Eaker speak with the Lt. Col. escort and then General Eaker walks with the official to a waiting car (appears to be a 1938 Packard sedan). The official enters the car and drives away, followed by American staff car and another vehicle.