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).
French tank crew of the Free French Forces, leave their M4A2 Sherman tank to inspect another that has been knocked out. Both tanks display the logo of French 2nd Armored Division (2e Division Blindée, 2e DB), commanded by General Philippe Leclerc. The destroyed one belongs to the 501ème Régiment de Chars de Combat (501st RCC 3eC) and was knocked out, probably by an 88mm anti-tank shell, on August 13, 1944 in Ecouves forest. Closeups of huge holes penetrating the turret of the tank. The other tank's crew members begin recovering bodies of dead from the stricken tank, which has the name "l'Ourcq" stenciled on its side. They remove the body of one dead soldier and place it on a blanket. They also remove the headless body of another from the tank. (Note: Reportedly, the destroyed tank was number 420583.)
U.S. soldiers in a landing craft approaching Omaha Beach, Normandy, on D-Day, June 6, 1944, in World War II. Support ship firing rockets in background. Barrage Balloon overhead in distance. smoke rising from hillside and many troops already on the shore. View from beach as U.S. troops wade from landing craft and make their way around numerous steel obstacles placed on the beach. Two soldiers felled by German gunfire. U.S. troops of the 16th Infantry Regiment sheltering by an overhanging ledge of chalk cliff at the edge of the beach. Warships and landing craft offshore. View from base of protecting chalk cliff as more troops wade ashore. Troops huddled at base of cliff, some still wearing personal flotation gear. They begin to dig in. Soldiers preparing explosives. View from cliff base of fallen soldiers at waters edge and damaged landing craft in the water. Distant view of bodies of some U.S. soldiers floating in surf at edge of beach.
U.S. Army Air Forces C-47 aircraft painted in D-Day stripes, seen taking off at nightfall on June 5, 1944, carrying Airborne troopers from a base in England, during World War 2. Large formations of U.S. B-17 bombers en route to targets in Europe. Clusters of indendiary bombs falling from a U.S. bomber. View from a bomber of explosions on the ground from bombing at a coastline. Allied paratroopers fill the sky with their parachutes as they jump from formations of C-47 transport aircraft. Thirty minutes before the amphibious assaults at Normandy, Allied warships bombard the shore with heavy naval guns. Troops leave their transport ships and board small landing craft (Higgins boats). Soldiers try to stabilize the rope nets for others climbing down, as their small craft pitch in choppy seas. The boats speed away from their transport ships, and head toward the shore. Smoke rising from the shore where naval shelling has caused explosions and fire. Troops from landing craft of the USS, Samuel Chase (APA-26), wade ashore under enemy machine gun fire, at "Fox Green" section of Omaha Beach. They are far away from the beach itself, because of steel and concrete obstacles placed by the Germans, and relatively low tide.
Results of air assaults by the British Royal and U.S. Eighth Air Forces over industrial areas in and around German-occupied Paris during Wolrd War II. The former Ford factory at Gennevilliers used by the Germans for military vehicles production and maintenance, bombed on June 22, 1944. The aerial attack destroyed an estimated 50% of the factory. Allied officers inspect the bombed factory. Damaged structures, tanks, machinery and war equipment inside the factory.
Results of air assaults by the British Royal and U.S. Eighth Air Forces over industrial areas around German-occupied Paris during Wolrd War II. The Reims locomotive repair shops attacked by the U.S. Eghth Air Force in May-June 1944. Allied soldiers and workers on tracks inside the repair shops. Damaged locomotives. Wrecked turntables and repair installations lie partially buried in debris. Men near an overturned locomotive on tracks. They survey the damage. Damaged equipment and material.