Activities of Allied troops during invasion of Rome and invasion of France in Europe during World War 2. An animated map of Italy illustrates belligerents and battle lines. U.S. troops entering Rome. Buildings and streets in Rome. U.S. Army General Mark Clark shown. Russian troops proceeding from the East. Lines of Soviet Army troops marching. Russian Marshal Zhukov at a desk, reviewing battle maps. Views of Joseph Stalin smiling. Allied landing craft approaching the Cherbourg Penninsula during D-Day invasion of June 1944. American B-26 aircraft of the 9th Air Force flying over battle field and drop areas. Formation of B-26s painted in D-Day white stripes. Gun camera footage from Allied aircraft strafing German aircraft on the ground and in the air in lead-up to invasion. U.S. paratroopers dropping from C-47 aircraft. Close-up views of paratroopers jumping out of aircraft. On the ground, U.S. soldiers crawling in fields, taking up positions, and advancing while receiving and returning fire from enemy Germans. Some American troops firing a mortar on the ground. Supreme Allied Commander, General Dwight D. Eisenhower, together with British Field marshal Bernard Law Montgomery and British Air Chief Marshal Sir Arthur Teddar, at a conference table with key staff.
U.S. military preparations for the invasion of France in 1944 during World War 2. Footage focuses on transport ships and landing craft practice amphibious operations with American troops of the 16th Infantry Regiment. Film begins showing closeup of the American transport ship, USS Anne Arundel (AP-76) anchored off shore at Slapton Sands, England. A landing ship (LCI-590) passes by her and several Higgins boats maneuver in waters nearby. Stern view of the Anne Arundel from an LCI. Closeup of an LCI pulling up next to the transport ship. Next, troops of the 16th Infantry Regiment are seen descending rope net from the transport ship and boarding the LCI. Closeup from the LCI of the troops reaching the deck of the LCI and walking forward. The number on the LCI is "88." Several views from different angles of the troops descending the rope net from the transport ship. View of the USS Anne Arundel with Higgins boats moving all around her. Closeup of LCI moving away from a transport ship. More views of troops descending from a transport ship to a Landing Craft Infantry. View from an LCI headed for the beach, where many troops have already landed. The LCI continues and beaches. Troops and various exercise markers are seen in the background Troops leave the LCI via her side ramps and join many others already ashore.
U.S. Airborne forces in World War 2. U.S. Army Air Forces C-47 aircraft, painted in invasion stripes, take off as darkness falls, on June 5, 1944 (night before D-Day) and assemble in large formation headed toward France. Airborne troops seated inside cabin of a C-47. Some smoke cigarettes. One has "Rocky" stenciled on his helmet. One smokes a cigar. An officer stands in doorway of plane and then jumps, followed by his "stick" of troopers. View from ground of parachutes filling the sky overhead. Momentary view of troopers on the ground in Normandy. German troops, taken prisoners of war, marching in a town under guard, with their hands on their heads. Scene changes to post war training of U.S. Army airborne troops. They are seen practicing how to hit the ground. They practice use of static lines in wooden mockups of aircraft; and jump from towers, and engage in actual airborne exercises, at Fort Benning, Georgia. View of war materiel being airdropped from rear of an aircraft. Special parachutes being used to drop jeeps and artillery pieces.
Activities of the United States Army in the United States during World War II. A U.S. Army band from the 407th Engineer Battalion playing musical instruments and marching. U.S. Army soldiers board railroad trains at a railroad station for transportation toward the war front. A railway steam locomotive pulling train cars. M4 Sherman tanks are seen on them as well as M2A4 (Mae West) tanks sitting partially turned with their guns out of sight away from the direction of travel.Browning M1919 .30 caliber machine guns are seen in their extra turrets. Army trucks and other military vehicles are also aboard the supply trains. The supply train moves through American countryside. Two women seated under hair dryers converse about the war in a beauty shop or beauty parlor. U.S. troops on troop transport railroad trains at night. Interior of a train car. American soldiers read books, sleep, and some play dice. An African American porter watches the game. A chaplain speaks to the soldiers. Civilians buy newspapers at a news stand. Headline on newspaper reads "London Expects Invasion of Europe at Any Hour" (before the upcoming Normandy Invasion of France in June 1944.)
General Eisenhower standing in front of a large wall map briefing officials in front of large wall map, view of newspaper headline of New York Post announcing D-Day Invasion of Europe in June 1944. Allied soldiers storming the beach at Normandy. U.S. soldiers fall to the ground after being hit by enemy fire on a Normandy beach on D-Day. German soldiers with hands up in surrender seen approaching Allied forces on beach. Body of a dead German soldier seen on the roadside as soldiers march by. Aerial views of gathering around Arc de Triomphe in Paris as Allies enter Paris and French citizens cheer during liberation of Paris in August 1944.Adolf Hitler seated with other Nazi soldiers listening to an unseen speaker. Views of French citizens lining roads in Paris and cheering as Allied forces enter the city.
As film begins, heavily camouflaged German Panther tanks (Panzerkampfwagen V Panther) are seen moving along a dirt road in Normandy during World War 2. Next, German infantry walk along a road next to forests and behind a Stug IV assault gun. A stone marker on the ground, at rear of a parked Panther tank, points to Beauquay 5 Km and Aunay 7Km. A German soldier lying prone on side of road firing an M42 machine gun. Another soldier lying prone behind him. Parked Stug IV with gun pointed to right. Some infantry gather behind artillery firing from heavily camouflaged positions. An officer with headphones communicates to gun crews. Shells bursting in the distance. A battery of rocket launchers (Nebelwerfers) begins firing. Closeup of soldier activating remote fire control box. White smoke rising in distance. Infantry moving forward toward area of white smoke. German soldiers examine a dead American soldier lying next to a knocked out Sherman tank. Closeup of large shell hole in side of the tank. German infantryman walks past a destroyed U.S. Army tank. A German soldier exploring inside the turret of a half overturned American tank. A formation of German soldiers at a field decoration ceremony. Soldiers receiving the iron cross award. They exchange hand salutes and handshakes afterwards. Next, Oberleutnant Franz Ludwig Chef 2. Batterie / Sturmgeschutz - Abteilung 1346 and Commander Stug III (Sd. Kfz. 1542/1) is seen showing approval of a soldier who mans a Stug III Ausf G, with numerous white rings painted on its gun barrel (indicating victories in combat). (Franz Ludwig is wearing the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross, awarded on June 24, 1944 for success against British tanks in combat at the forest of Bovent east of the River Orne, Normandy.) Closeups of Franz Ludwig. View of him briefing several soldiers as they stand in front of barrel-striped StuG III. (Note: Franz Ludwig died in combat on August 14, 1944.)