United States amphibious and support ships engaged in pre-invasion maneuvers, off England, during World War II. Aerial view of numerous ships with war materiel. Ships heading for a coast. Landing craft head for a beach.
A film titled: 'Army Photographer' depicts activities of army cameramen during World War II. Soldiers fire guns during a war in the European Theater. Smoke rises from bursting of shells on a battlefield. Firing of a cannon. Other soldiers fire rifles and advance on the field. Airplanes fly in formation overhead. An army officer views reconnaissance photographs. Army personnel receive medals. U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt seated with British Prime Minister Winston Churchill. Cameramen take photographs.
Headline reads "Nazi Raid Hits Allied Ships" Three ships are seen on fire with heavy black smoke billowing up. Similar view with PT boat in foreground and then again with an anti aircraft gun in foreground. Fire boats spray water onto ships as they begin to list. Soldiers, possible Italian, dig through rubble of a building. The body of a boy is pulled from the wreckage. View of a single ship on fire.
'Eve of Battle' depicts the Allied invasion of Europe during World War II. Slave labor from Nazi Germany-invaded countries construct Atlantic Wall. German artillery and fortifications in the Atlantic Wall. Nazi German soldiers marching in groups. Nazi leader Adolf Hitler shake hands with Italian fascist leader Benito Mussolini. Allied leaders Franklin D. Roosevelt, Winston Churchill and Joseph Stalin sit together during the Tehran Conference in December 1943. Exiled Allied leaders such as General Charles de Gaulle of France, Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands and Dr. Edvard Beneš of Czechoslovakia inspect Allied troops. Various Allied troops from Poland, Norway, England, United States, and Czechoslovakia prepare to launch an invasion in France. Eisenhower along with other officers plans the European invasion. Allied ships and aircraft on their way to Europe. Allied bombers drop bombs over Nazi German U-boats. Naval battle begins and explosions occur, smoky docks. In England war supplies unloaded. Supplies include weapons, military equipment, and food. A tank and locomotive trains being loaded into a ship bound for Europe. Allied aircraft take off at night. A man directs an aircraft taking off. Allied bombers bombard German targets resulting into fiery flare in Europe. British children playing jump rope as a supply train pass by in the background. Tanks and fighter planes transported by train. Supply boxes unloaded and stacked for transport to the battle front.
A film titled 'D-Day' shows General Dwight D. Eisenhower and his aides planning the Normandy invasion by looking at a map of Europe. Animated map showing Northern Europe. Slave labor building "West Wall" defense system, according to narrator, but scenes appear to show coastal gun emplacements and defenses more consistent with the Atlantic Wall. Hitler and Nazi German officials. Construction sites as defenses are built by slave labor workers under German guard. German coastal defense in Western Europe showing Howitzers, fortifications, and Nazi German guards. Allied tanks, guns, locomotives and other military equipment is massed on beaches in the United Kingdom before D-Day. Fighter planes in airfield. Men unload supplies and war materiel from the United States. Allied locomotives, brake cars, tank cars, and an armada of Naval ships and landing crafts for D-Day. Assault boats and invasion barges are launched from ships in England. A man smokes a pipe. Barrage balloons flying over ships. Troops, transport, artillery, and materiel are loaded into ships bound for Normandy. A fleet of ships move across the English Channel. United States paratroopers land in Normandy. Firing and bombardment between the Allied forces and Nazi Germany. Bomb explodes off the coast of Normandy. Soldiers in landing craft on the way to Normandy. First landings in Normandy on D-Day during World War II. Soldiers rush to the beachhead, climb cliffs, and put out fires. A soldier rolls in the ground. Soldiers disembark from landing crafts and ships. Barrage balloons over the Normandy beachhead.
Battle wrecked tanks and trucks being towed to an assembling point by United States salvage collecting crew members working in Europe. Soldiers sort out wrecked tanks and tents at an army yard focused on salvage and reclamation to avoid waste of materials. Laborers unload damaged clothes and shoes from a train. Laborers and women sort out the clothes which can be altered and reused.