U.S. Army General Dwight Eisenhower speaks on the V-E day in Paris, France during World War II. General Eisenhower delivers a speech in Paris on the Victory in Europe Day. The General states that he has the proud privilege of speaking for the fighting men in his theater who conquered Western Europe and destroyed more men than they themselves possessed. The Allies selected Germany as their first object because it was the one place that all the Allies could bring their weight to bear. General Eisenhower pays his tribute to the Soviet Russian Army, the Allied Forces in Italy, the French, the British and the Americans on the Western Front and to GI Joe and his counterparts whom he says were the real heroes of the war.
V-E Day celebrations in Paris, France. The Eiffel Tower in Paris. Fountains in front of the tower. A large crowd rejoicing on the victory day. A large crowd in front of a building. Streets filled with people. Men and women move along the streets. A large crowd in front of a gateway across a road. People hold up posters of U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt. A few people move on the streets seated in trucks. A woman reading a newspaper which carries victory news. A man and a woman walk along a path reading the newspaper. Newspaper vendors selling the newspapers. A large group of people buying the newspapers. A woman carrying a small girl. A soldier kissing a woman. (World War II period).
German prisoners of war in Strasbourg, Alsace-Lorraine, France after World War II. A vehicle outside a building on a street in Strasbourg. American and German officers coming out of the building and boarding the vehicle. The officers holding baggages in their hands. The officers getting down from the vehicle. German Commander of Strasbourg Major General Vatterrodt talking to Major McIntire and Captain R. H. Huret. A building in the background. Several German prisoners of war along the side of the road in front of a building. German officers beside a U.S. Army truck. The German prisoners of war getting into the U.S. Army truck. More German prisoners of war lined up to get into trucks to be taken to prisoner of war camps.
A concentration camp for French collaborationists in Drancy, France after World War II. The courtyard of the concentration camp is filled with people. Buildings of the camp in the background. People in the courtyard. Men and women standing and talking. The people walking about in the courtyard. Women in balconies of a building looking at the crowd below. Clothes hanging on railings of the balconies. Men and women collaborationists filing through a doorway escorted by FFI (French Forces of the Interior) men.
Repatriation of French war prisoners and civilians in Paris, France after World War II. French former prisoners waiting at an airfield with their baggage. The buildings on the airfield. A few former prisoners lying down. One of them lies near a French tricolor flag. A U.S. C-47 aircraft on the airfield. The freed prisoners walk towards the aircraft with their baggages and board. An American officer stands near the entrance of the aircraft. A few officers talk near the aircraft. The prisoners board the aircraft one by one. The American officer stands just outside the aircraft and peeks in and checks the passengers. The pilot and the co-pilot at the controls in the cockpit during the flight. The freed prisoners in the aircraft looking out through the windows. One smokes a cigarette and the smoke is drawn out through a small porthole in the airplane window. Interior scenes of the crowded aircraft.
Repatriation of French war prisoners and civilians in Paris, France after World War II. Repatriated French General Meunier disembarking from an aircraft with other repatriates. The General talks to a few men and a woman. General Meunier reviewing the honor guard. The French honor guard presenting arms. French prisoners of war marching past the honor guard. The prisoners getting off the aircraft at an airfield. The prisoners moving in a line from inside the aircraft and getting off. A few prisoners wait outside the aircraft with their baggages.