View of a port in England, filled with Allied ships and boats to carry war materiel for Allied forces preparing to invade Europe during World War II. A barrage balloon aloft overhead. Yards full of military rolling stock. Scene shifts to wide street view in London including Whitehall Government buildings around the Cenotaph War Memorial (Whitehall, London SW1A 2ET, United Kingdom) in London, England. Inside the British military headquarters the Allied High Command is gathered to plan the invasion of Europe. Supreme Allied Commander, General Dwight D. Eisenhower is pointing at a wall map, as senior Allied commanders, including British Marshal Bernard Montgomery, look on. Republic P-47 Thunderbolt fighter aircraft in D-Day paint stripes take off from an air base. Officers watch takeoffs from control tower porch. Views from Allied aircraft gun cameras show strafing from low altitudes destroying German ground targets, including railroads and airfields. A formation of Martin B-26 Marauder aircraft in flight overhead. Lines of communication such as road junctions being destroyed by bombing. Glimpse of copilot at controls in a bomber. Scene shifts to June 6, 1944 and the D-Day Allied invasion fleet underway across the English Channel. Allied warships bombarding the shores of Normandy, France. Landing Craft Tank (Rocket) firing salvos of rockets. Animated map shows the invasion forces striking the defenses of the German Atlantic Wall. View of British and American soldiers wading ashore from landing craft, and some falling to German gunfire at the shoreline beaches of Normandy. View of German defenders firing from inside a German fortifications. German soldiers firing machine guns from protected places overlooking the beaches of Normandy. Trapped American soldiers firing upwards toward the German positions in cliffs overlooking the beach. Later views of Allied troops in combat further inland. Animated map shows area of allied penetration after 19 days of bitter fighting. Allied Armor, trucks, and supplies moving inland from the beachhead. Barrage balloon above the improvised ports. Allied troops heading toward the port of Cherbourg and guns firing in that battle. American M8 Greyhound armored personnel carriers proceeding into the town of Cherbourg, Normandy, France. closeup of American soldiers firing small arms. Soldiers firing a howitzer point blank. The last of the German garrison troops surrender under a flag of truce, on June 27, 1944. Large group of German prisoners of war with hands clasped over their heads, being escorted under Allied guard from Cherbourg. Docks and facilities needing repair to make the port serviceable. U.S. Army engineers welding port facilities. Closeup of a locomotive operated by French railroad men, moving in the restored port.
The role of United States 1st Infantry Division (Big Red One) in various campaigns during World War II. Allied ships underway in the Atlantic Ocean. Soldier of United States 1st Infantry division practice an amphibious landing during training in England. Naval guns being fired on D-Day, June 6th , 1944. Troops of 1st Infantry Division climb down landing nets onto a landing craft. Soldiers land at Normandy Omaha beach in France on D-Day. Some soldiers drop to ground, shot crossing the beach. Troops move inland. Tanks being fired among hedge rows. Troops fire guns from dugouts and provide medical aid to a wounded soldier.
American Troop Carrier crews gather for a briefing on August 14, 1944, the day before the Operation Dragoon invasion of Southern France, in World War 2. The captions then refer to their return to the United Kingdom later that month, and to the United States in October 1944. The air crews are seen assembled outdoors at an airfield in Italy. The weather is hot and some of them are shirtless. Some airmen are seen wearing Khaki shorts or singlets. Views of the Statue of Liberty and Manhattan, New York City skyline, taken when some aircrew members returned to the United States in October 1944.
Normal life of civilians resume after German surrender in some parts of France during World War II. Aerial view of flak in sky. Close-up view of two U.S. Army Air Force B-25 Mitchell bomber aircraft in flight. (Narrator incorrectly states they are British Lancaster bomber aircraft.) View from bomb bay doors of bombs away shot as the B-25 bomber aircraft drop bombs on U-boat pens at Brest. Explosions and smoke rise. The aircraft drop bombs over ground installation over enemy area. Canadian soldier scenes: Troops advance through a burning coastal town in France. Buildings collapsing and gunfire in streets. Smoke rising. Ruins of destroyed French town are seen. Allied Army tanks advance and fire artillery. German prisoners of war from Wehrmacht 7th and 15th armies being marched under watch by Canadian forces. Among the German prisoners is a 13 year old Russian boy who was forced to work by the Nazis. German prisoners in a soup line and seen drinking from mugs. Some appear to be very young boy soldiers. U.S. Army soldiers in Le Mans: American soldiers are welcomed by civilians of France. Happy French civilians waving to U.S. forces including a happy young woman who runs forward and pats a U.S. Army tank with her hand. Men and women collaborationists who assisted the Germans are rounded up by French and marched away. U.S. Army soldiers seated at stools in a French bar drink as the bar maid pours more into their glasses. French civilians line up at shops and groceries to buy food and goods in Le Mans. Pictures of General De Gaulle for sale. American women in U.S. Army uniforms (possibly nurses or Womens Army Corps WAC members) look in shop windows at French fashions. Voting cards: U.S. Army troops read pamphlets that read "requirement of soldiers to vote" and "Soldiers Voting". The U.S. Army GI's receive and mail postcards to their homes requesting absentee voting ballots for the upcoming November 1944 election. The soldiers line up to secure their application cards for absentee ballots.
Allied invasion of Normandy, France during World War II. U.S. General Joseph McNarney, Deputy Chief of Staff at a desk as he outlines the importance of June 6, 1944 the day Allied forces attacked the Germans in Normandy. He speaks about the decision to knock down the Nazis first and then the Japanese during the World War. He says that the invasion of Normandy was planned in November 1943. He also states how General Dwight D. Eisenhower, Supreme Commander of the Allied forces in Europe, planned and executed the invasion. He also speaks about how the U.S. Army Air Forces and the Royal Air Forces aircraft bombarded the coasts of Normandy prior to the D Day invasion. Past events show American soldiers getting onto landing crafts in England as they leave for the invasion. The soldiers aboard the ships in the English Channel. The soldiers read the Bible and comics, sleep and cook aboard the ships. On June 5th , 1944 the ships head towards Normandy for the invasion. In England gliders carrying paratroopers take off from an airfield to bombard the German positions in Normandy. British soldiers receive ration and work on motorbikes. TNT (trinitrotoluene) charges being prepared by soldiers tasked with demolition duties. British soldiers check their guns and other weapons prior to the invasion. Jeep and artillery being loaded onto aircraft.
First scene of film shows waves rolling in on a shoreline. Next, four transport ships are seen underway in the Atlantic ocean. A transport ship is docked next to a large pier where war materiel is piled up and some allied soldiers are standing in formation, while others are proceeding across the pier. Closeup of the soldiers on the move reveals that they are British soldiers in battle gear. A wider view from atop a building shows the area to be industrial in nature, with smoke rising from foothills in the distance. Change of scene shows several U.S Landing Craft Infantry Large, LCI (L)s numbered: 322; 85; 86; and 325, docked in England, preparing for the D-day invasion of Europe in June, 1944. A formation of four American B-24 Liberator bombers is seen in flight. Clusters of bombs are seen falling from aircraft and exploding on the ground below. Paratroopers are viewed as they jump from an airplane. A convoy of LCI (L)s underway in the English Channel. Closeup of one (LCI number 31) is seen from a low flying airplane. Another view of LCIs silhouetted against light-reflecting water. American soldiers wading ashore, unopposed, from LCI number 36, during the continued invasion of Southern France, in August, 1944. Post D-day view from overflying aircraft of Allied troops assembling and moving inland from the Normandy beachhead. Closeups of Surrendering German soldiers carrying a white flag. Closeups of German prisoners. One of them displays his uniform sleeve identifying him as a member of Hermann Goering Division. He also wears the Iron Cross and another medal.