Film opens showing armorers riding atop bombs being towed by an M6 Bomb Service Truck, at Denain-Prouvy Airdrome, France (A-83) in March, 1945. The truck drives slowly along the field, past parked Martin B-26 Marauder medium bombers of the 323rd Bombardment Group. One of the airmen plays a harmonica as he rides along. After a while the truck turns to a parked B-26, tail number 41-34942, where the armorers climb down and begin loading bombs on the aircraft.
Slate identifies location as A-83 (Denain-Prouvy Airdrome, France) and date as 29 April (1945). Ground crew armorers are connecting wires to bombs and loading them into the bomb bay of a a U.S. Army Air Forces Martin B-26 Marauder aircraft of the 323rd Bombardment Group. View from under the aircraft as a crewman gives signal to close bomb bay doors and they slowly close and lock. Ground crewman removes a metal chock from the aircraft wheel. Flight crew members climb aboard the aircraft. A crew member writes in chalk on a bomb sitting on the ground. The message is: "Happy Boithday Hoimann from Duffy's Tavern," (conveying the New York accent associated with characters in "Duffys Tavern" radio show). World War 2; WWII; WW2.
A film titled 'First Allied Airborne Army in Operation Varsity, 24 March 1945' about the successful airborne crossing of the Rhine river by the 1st Allied Airborne troops during World War II. Aerial views of aircraft and gliders on ground in areas the narrator describes as East Anglia (England, United Kingdom) and in the Paris, France area. U.S. Army Air Forces C-46, C-47 aircraft and CG-4 gliders on a field. British Halifax and Sterling bomber aircraft. A glider with nose art name, "Texarkana Belle." U.S. Army soldiers of the U.S. 17th Airborne Division near the glider aircraft. Soldiers load equipment into gliders and aircraft. Jeeps, vehicles and other equipment loaded onto gliders. Airborne troops waiting near the aircraft, smoking cigarettes and talking as they await takeoff time. Aircraft lined up on a field. Troops put on gear and board the gliders and towing C-47 Skytrain aircraft. Propellers turn as towing aircraft prepare to take off. Men ensure slack lines are taken up properly and engage the gliders being towed. Aircraft tow gliders as they take off. Gliders and aircraft in flight and ground crews waving to the aircraft in the sky.
United States Army soldiers guarding a group of German SS prisoners of war who are being held near a village. Cameraman slate indicates location of "Wittring" (presumably Wittring France, just outside the German border, in the Moselle region), but U.S. government record accompanying the film indicates "Wittring, (?) Germany" (sic). A wheel cart is seen on the street. The German prisoners of war have SS markings on their right lapel and also the SS skull insignia on the cap, identifying them most likely as part of the SS-Totenkopfverbände or SS-TV; also called Death's Head units. (Theories on these captured soldiers include: 1) SS-TV units were primarily in charge of administering the Nazi Concentration Camps in World War II. Hinzert Concentration Camp was possibly the closest camp to Wittring. Perhaps these soldiers came from it or another camp; 2) They may have been part of the 3rd SS Panzer Division. Reportedly, whole platoons and elements of the 3rd SS Panzer division were not following orders and were giving up prior to the Budapest and Vienna battles to avoid Soviet captivity, as early as Jan 1945). Prisoners rub their hands to warm them in the cold. Camera shows a close-up view of one of the prisoners, as an American soldier attaches a Prisoner of War identification tag over around the neck of the prisoner.
Gun camera footage from USAAF P-47 of the 378th Fighter Squadron, 362nd Fighter Group, operating from Verdun Airfield, France, during World War 2. The aircraft flown by pilot named Bullock, on March 31, 1945, strafes lines of communication, striking vehicles on roads and trains moving on rail lines. In second sequence, the same pilot, now identified on slate, with the 377th Fighter Squadron, on April 4th, attacks a lone German Me-109 seen flying in thin cloud below him.
A post-war U.S. Army film (after World War 2) in 1945-1946 contrasts dice and pool playing soldiers with the soldiers who take Army extension classes to prepare for jobs in civilian life following demobilization and discharge from the Army. Group of U.S. Army soldiers in a room as they play pool at a billiards table. Soldiers in a barracks room seated on a bed and on the floor throwing dice in a game of craps. The soldiers play cards and smoke. Contrast is shown with U.S. Army students seated in a class. An officer takes lessons. A soldier takes notes. A young teacher or professor explains a concept with the help of a blackboard. View of the Hôtel Miramar in Biarritz, France (built in 1927 and demolished in 1978). Aerial view of a building with interconnected corridors. Street level view of the University of Calcutta Senate Hall in Calcutta (Kolkata), India (hall designed by Walter Granville; one time home to the Asutosh Museum of Indian Art; demolished in 1960). People walking in front of the Senate Hall as a car and a pulled rickshaw go by. In next scene, a sign reads 'Fox-Hole Campus'. An officer holds a mechanical model and explains a concept to students. A soldier works with equipment and an African American soldier stitches clothes at a sewing machine. A sign "Learn today; Earn tomorrow" as soldiers learn skills to help them in the civilian sector after separation from the armed forces. A solder works on a model. Pamphlets on a desk with the names of different subjects written on them that U.S. Army students can study to learn skills and jobs, including Automobile Repair Shop, Retail Bakery, Service Station, Grocery Store, Metal Working Shop, Shoe Repair Business, Small Sawmill Business, Beauty Shop.