Allied forces battle German forces during World War II. Allied soldiers firing artillery under camouflage canopies at Anzio. General Dwight D. Eisenhower inspects a fighter and the bomber aircraft base of 9th Air Force in England. Eisenhower shakes hands with Major Sherman Beaty, commander of the 555th Squadron, and with the crew of B-26 Marauder bomber aircraft with nose art "Son of Satan" (which was downed by flak over Germany on November 18, 1944). Eisenhower sits in a parked fighter aircraft and fires its guns, with instruction from the pilot standing by. Aerial views of American bomber aircraft conducting daylight bombing runs. Point of view (POV) shot through the partially cracked windscreen of an aircraft after it took enemy fire but kept flying. Bombs-away views as American bombers drop bombs over German targets and as U.S. fighter aircraft shoot down German aircraft. Aerial dogfight battles seen. U.S. Army Air Force fighter strafing German aircraft parked on an airfield. A German fighter plane gets hit, setting it on fire. British Royal Air Force (RAF) Avro Lancaster bombers conduct night raids on German targets. A Waco CG-4A glider arrives in England from the United States during World War 2. United States Army soldiers build a Shanty town from glider crates at the base in the United Kingdom. Soldiers enjoy relaxing and recreation inside Shanty houses. A soldier with headset listens to homemade radio and reads a magazine. Soldiers share a meal on a table. Soldiers receive letters from home at mail call time. A barber shop made from scrap where soldiers can get haircuts.
General Secretary of the Communist Party Joseph Stalin, President Franklin D Roosevelt of the U.S. and Prime Minister Winston Churchill of the UK seated on porch of Soviet Embassy building in Tehran, Iran, 28 November 1943, during World War 2. Scene shifts to group of Yugoslav Partisans and closeup of their leader, Marshal Tito, at their mountain headquarters. Yugoslavian Marshal Tito smoking a pipe while standing on the porch of his headquarters with American Office of Strategic Services (OSS) Officer, Army Major Linn M. Farish, U.S. Liaison to the Partisans, and British Brigadier General Fitzroy Maclean, Winston Churchill's special envoy to the Yugoslavia leader. Next scene shows French resistance fighters with their flag on a mountaineer's pick. It reads,""Vaincre ou Mourir"" and displays a cross of Lorraine. Closeups of French resistance fighters at attention and also relaxed, smiling, and singing. Scenes of various such groups joining in the June 6, 1944 Allied invasion at Normandy, France. Aerial glimpse of D-day task force crossing the English Channel. Animated map shows Germany being attacked by Russian forces from the East, by the other allies from Britain in the West and from Italy, in the South. Allied forces moving across a pontoon bridge and engaging German forces in France. A U.S. M3 Gun Motor Carriage firing its 75mm gun. American troops firing machine guns, carrying wounded on stretchers and using flame throwers. Troops, including ambulatory wounded moving under enemy fire. Paratroopers of the 101st Airborne Division in France. One carries a wounded buddy. American troops firing a variety of artillery from under camouflage netting. French underground forces engaged in Paris. Closeup of one wearing a French Adrian helmet firing a rifle. Another throws a grenade out an apartment window. An American tank moving under the base of the Eiffel Tower as French Resistance fighters run across the area. French citizens celebrating the liberation of Paris. View from an American jeep as French people cheer. Closeups of French people. A bombed out bridge. A battlefield cemetery. Destruction and death in the wake of combat. Fallen French civilians lying on pavement. A U.S. tank slowly driving through a masonry wall. Soviet forces advancing through destroyed buildings. Chinese troops marching along the Great Wall. British troops on parade in tropics. Asian ally troops marching. Huge formation of marching U.S. soldiers. United Nations flags in the breeze.
Several American school children, including one in a Boy Scouts of America uniform, recite the pledge of allegiance during World War 2. Scene broadens to encompass a school yard filled with elementary school students reciting the pledge in front of an American flag flying high on a pole. As scene fades images appear of battleships firing guns; an F4F airplane taking off from an aircraft carrier; landing craft approaching a beach; American soldiers fighting with small arms and a flame thrower, in jungles of New Guinea; a U.S. gun crew firing heavy artillery; and a U.S. P-38 aircraft on a rainy runway, spraying water as it takes off, in the Aleutian Islands. U.S. troops firing automatic weapons on a Pacific Island. A B-17 pilot wearing an oxygen mask in his cockpit, flying in a formation creating contrails at high altitude over Germany. Waist gunner firing at an attacking German fighter plane that explodes in air. U.S. troops in jeeps moving over jungle road. U.S. ski troops on snow in Iceland heading downhill toward their tents in the snow. American troops during amphibious landing in the Philippines. U.S. troops aboard army halftracks on desert in Iran. American paratroopers dropping from C-47 aircraft over France. U.S. soldiers marching through two large gates with cadre of Chinese soldiers in China. American troops fighting in Italy and firing a 155mm howitzer. U.S. infantry following a sherman tank over a war-torn landscape with shells bursting nearby. Crowded, busy street scenes of traffic and pedestrians in Manhattan, New York City, and Chicago, Illinois. Army tanks being manufactured by war production workers in a Detroit war production plant or factory. A Los Angeles shipyard filled with workers at shift change. Closeups of individual American soldiers in combat helmets. U.S. troops descending rope nets from transport ships to board landing craft, and approaching the beaches of Normandy, France, under fire, on D-day, June 6, 1944. Views of the Statue of Liberty, including closeups.
American soldiers of the U.S. 90th Infantry Division, walking atop captured Fort Obergentringen, Near Thionville, on the west side of the Moselle River, in World War 2. Next, the Fort's German Krupp 105mm guns are seen firing numerous shells at German positions in Thionville, east of the river. American soldiers with binoculars observe the shell strikes from the fort. Smoke rising from the shelling. [Note: A September 17, 1944 wireless report about the fort's capture , to the New York Times, by Frederick Grahamby, stated that "The fort's name is Gingringen and from 1870 to 1919 it belonged to Germany." However, it is actually Fort Obergentringen (Fort Guentrange) on the hills of Guentrange, overlooking Thionville, and built in 1899.]
Allied campaign in Italy during World War 2. Supreme Commander of the Allied forces General Dwight D. Eisenhower emerges from War Room tent, with General Mark Clark, on the central front in Italy. An officer briefs the General. A map of Italy depicts the location of Cassino and Rome. The map depicts the course of the Rapido River and the Allied strategy to drive away the Germans from the area. Allied soldiers fight in the streets and at "Hangmans Hill". British soldiers in combat. British medics try to assist a wounded comrade. Damaged buildings and wounded soldiers. A map of Italy depicts Allied landings at Anzio. An LST ( Landing Ship Tank) beached at Anzio as American and British troops unload. German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel and General Field Marshal Albert Kesselring of Germany. Allied equipment advances in Anzio. German soldier divisions are seen advancing on roads to attack the new Allied threat to their flank. German Luftwaffe fighters seen overhead as they bomb an Allied convoy in a harbor in Anzio. Aerial closeup of German Junkers JU 87 dive bomber aircraft as it dives toward Allied ships. On ship view of Allied navy guns on ships opening fire on attacking Nazi German airplanes. View from beach of may explosions at and near Allied ships in harbor. Aerial view of formation of German aircraft diving toward battle. Closeup view of British antiaircraft gun operator as he sights cross hairs and presses foot control to open fire on German aircraft. Buildings and military vehicles near Allies on beach blown up and on fire during air raid. A DUKW ( amphibious truck ) burns in a street. Allied soldiers fight against the Germans, holding the beach. The Allies lay down an artillery barrage. Dead and injured soldiers of the Allied Army. Ship packed with injured U.S. Army soldiers on the deck moves toward a hospital ship anchored off shore. Allied prisoner soldiers (most American POWs) taken prisoner by the Germans are marched on a street under German guard. In Cassino, Germans continue to hold Benedictine Monastery atop hill in Cassino. Aerial view of American B-27 bomber aircraft as Allied air raid drops bombs on and near the Abbey to drive out the Germans. Bombs impact and billows of smoke rise up. Nearly 543 Allied aircraft bombard the city of Cassino one month later to attack the remaining Nazis. Allied forces prepare for an all out assault. Supply convoys seen moving on roads toward front. British and Polish troops marching toward front. Additional American forces marching. French Expeditionary Corps soldiers taking up positions. Equipment arrives and soldiers being regrouped for the assault. The assault is launched and Allied artillery fire seen lighting up the sky at night with brilliant flashes and explosions on May 11, 1944. Allied commander Field Marshal Harold Alexander looks on as Allied forces push forward on the morning of May 12.
United States soldiers enter the village of Saint-Marcouf, in the Manche department in Normandy, France during World War 2. Soldiers pass by sign “Saint-Marcouf”. United States troops carry rifles. French villagers walking. Soldiers talk to an old French man and woman. Soldiers sitting on the street side of what is now known as the “Route du 5 Juin 1944”. Soldier smoking a cigarette during a break. Groups of soldiers crowd outside a damaged house. Soldiers talking to a French man. A soldier talks to children. A little girl points upwards. A statue of the Virgin Mary stands among the rubble. A statue of Jesus Christ on the Cross leaning sideways inside a church wrecked. Words by George C. Marshall, Chief of Staff of the United States Army says “No compromise is possible and the victory of the democracies can only be complete with the utter defeat of the war machines of Germany and Japan”. A “V” is superimposed over marching soldiers and a ringing Liberty Bell.