A damaged French town in 1944 during World War II. Aerial view of bombs falling over the French town. Smoke billows up from explosions. Rubble on the streets and damaged buildings. French civilians clear debris. Frenchmen ride bicycles. Civilians near a pond. A damaged railroad station.
A damaged French town in 1944 during World War II. French civilians stand near a bombed out building. Rubble on a street. Trucks loaded with men drives past the bombed out building.
A damaged French town in 1944during World War II. Smoke rises from a burning building in the far background. The burning French building. French civilians remove their belongings. Wounded and injured people are evacuated. A damaged railroad station with wrecked locomotives.
French Marshal Philippe Petain in a French town in 1944 during World War II. Philippe Petain in a car flanked by motorcycle police drives on the streets as a crowd cheers. Damaged buildings alongside a street. Petain shakes hands with civilians. Petain speaks into a microphone and addresses the crowd.
Allied troops land in Normandy during reinforcement operations in June 1944, in the weeks after D-Day, in World War 2. The U.S. 3rd Armored Division on Landing Ship Tanks (LST) heads towards Normandy. Tanks, trucks, vehicles and equipment on the LSTs. British crew and officers including the Captain on deck. The Captain looks through binoculars. A sailor looks through a telescope. The beach at Normandy filled with battle ships, carriers and Landing ships wait for the tide to recede off shore to avoid unloading equipment in deep water (landing ramps having been destroyed by earlier storms). Barrage balloons overhead. Soldiers build ramps on the beach. Half tracks, trucks and other vehicles driven off the LSTs and across the ramps on the beach.
The Liberation of Paris in August 1944. French General Charles De Gaulle leads troops as they march on the Champs Elysees. Soldiers with the French flag. A large crowd of civilians join the celebrations. De Gaulle pays tribute at the Eternal Light at Arc de Triomphe. He is accompanied by French officers and soldiers. Civilians crowd around. De Gaulle and his men parade on the Paris streets. Civilians cheer and celebrate the liberation. Men and women on tanks. U.S. General Eisenhower together with U.S. General Omar Bradley join in the celebration, smile, and talk to American and French military leaders in front of the Arc de Triomphe. The French Resistance flag unfurled on a building. Parisians give the victory sign. The French flag raised on a building. (World War II period).