German troops of KG Peiper advance in Malmedy, Belgium during World War II. A map points out Belgium, Germany and France. Camouflaged German StuG III Assault Guns advance. Flamethrowers used. German soldiers fire at American positions and bombard. German soldiers pass by a U.S. Army motor convoy in flames near Malmedy. The United States Army soldier prisoners of war in the town under German guard. Red Cross personnel examine the bound bodies of U.S. POW that were found and, separately, of Belgian civilians massacred by the German troops near Malmedy (the so called Malmedy Massacre). The dead are buried in a common grave. Wrecked houses and buildings. News headline reads, "3rd Army deep in Germany." Fire blazing in supply depots left by the retreating United States forces. U.S. artillery and antiaircraft guns fired point blank at the advancing German tanks. The U.S. tank guns and machine guns fire over the snow covered battlefield. Smoke arises from firing. U.S. Army Air Force aicraft and German Luftwaffe aircraft engage in aerial dogfight combat. Contrails across sky. U.S. soldiers in snow covered forest of trees in Battle of the Bulge. General Eisenhower visits troops at the front. News headlines about Russians smashing German lines and 40 Japanese ships sunk. Views of dead U.S. soldiers on Belgian battlefield.
German newsreel about the D-Day Invasion of Normandy. English narration overlaid by the U.S. Office of Strategic Services. German people read bulletin boards and newspapers describing the invasion. A map shows location of England and Germany. Information of assault broadcast in Germany by German radio stations. Announcers shown relaying information at switchboards. Alarm bells ring and German troops in bunkers grab rifles and stand ready to proceed. German antiaircraft guns and artillery fired at incoming Allied aircraft and and explosions seen at night. Allied Airborne troops incoming, according to narration, as nighttime artillery barrage continues. Naval units near mined waters. Germans soldiers in Atlantic Wall fortifications fire artillery and machine guns. Closeup views of German soldier faces, looking determined. Heavy artillery are fired at Allied troop units. Allied naval ships as seen from German perspective on shore in early morning light on D-Day. Shells are loaded into artillery and railroad guns and fired on the Allied warships from German gun emplacements and fortifications on the coast of France. British troops land on shore near the River Orne at the Normandy village of Ouistreham. Heavy bombardment from both sides. Germans examine Allied Landing Craft on the beach. Commentator says the British troops in them were annihilated or taken prisoner. Camouflaged German tanks move into position and fire on invading Allied ground troops. German forces pass wrecked gliders and an Allied parachute hung up in a tree. Allied Airborne troops are shown taken as prisoners by German forces and marched. Pan view of many Allied gliders, some crashed in a large field. British gliders seen. Close views of crashed gliders. German forces roll an intact Allied jeep out of a crashed glider and drive it away. Captured prisoner Canadian troops seen. Shoulder patch of one reads "North Nova Scotia Highlanders", and on another reads "1 Canadian Parachute Battalion Airborne". Interrogation of captured Canadian troops is seen. German holds a prisoner's "Soldier's Pay book". (World War II period).
U.S. troops board a large troop transport ship via a gangplank. Troops on an intermediate deck of the ship. Some are sprawled out relaxing. View from above of more troops boarding a ship. Men and equipment on the pier below. American forces at various far flung places where the U.S. Army Services Forces facilitated their transport and logistic support. Fleeting glimpses of troops in: Ireland; Alaska; Trinidad; and South America. Troops jam the upper deck of a transport ship. Army Service Forces officers in a planning meeting. Naval officers on deck of a ship look through binoculars as U.S. Naval ships bombard the coast of Solomon Islands and landing craft carry marines in an amphibious assault. Next, a man is seen annotating a map of North Africa. Secret maps pertaining to Allied landings in Tunisia and Algeria. Animated map illustrates amphibious landings on North African coast, highlighting Casablanca, Oran, and Algeria. Landing craft carry troops and supplies that are piled up in the sand beach. Soldiers moving military supplies ashore, in fire brigade fashion. Soldiers working at desks in Offices of the Army Service Forces. Filing cabinet in background. Trucks on the move in remote locations. Supply ship being loaded at a terminal. Fuel drums and army vehicles a being loaded aboard ships. Officers seated at a conference table. Ordinary American enlisted soldiers in a griping session at an Army post in the United States. Camera pans over large formation of soldiers. Animated chart shows more than half of servicemen who are part of Army Service Forces (ASF), are unaware of that. Troops marching in review at a tropical location, where reviewing officers wear pith helmets. Chart illustrates lack of unit pride in ASF. Images of various ASF logos. Chart shows results of polling data from soldiers and service members. Signal Corps and Engineers elements of ASF have the greatest unit pride. But most think better of other branches of the Army. More troops marching, in steel helmets and carrying rifles with bayonets affixed. Troops marching overlaid by "50%" indicating that half don't believe their contributions to the war effort are significant. Troops lined up (for pay?). More charts expressing concern about low morale. A heavy gun firing. German paratroopers jumping from a formation of Junkers Ju 52 aircraft. Charts expressing prevailing U.S. troops view that Germany wouldn't be too hard to defeat. Chart showing lack of understanding about why the U.S. is fighting Germany. Image of President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Prime Minister Churchill seated in front of their key military officers at Casablanca Conference in World War 2. Chart shows U.S. soldiers believe that the greatest war effort is expended by the U.S. followed by Russia, with China and Britain providing little. Chart illustrates that only half U.S. troops want to get overseas and fight. Chart shows U.S. War Department films can correct this problem.
A film on U.S. shuttle bombing operations 'Operation Titanic' over Germany from bases in Great Britain, Italy and Russia during World War II. Personnel of the U.S. 8th Air Force in Great Britain. The U.S. 15th Air Force personnel in Italy. The are briefed about the first shuttle bombing run to new Russian airfields. United States Army Air Force General Nathan Farragut Twining addresses the personnel and bids them farewell. United States Army Air Force B-17 Flying Fortresses led by General Ira Clarence Eaker take off. USAAF B-24 Liberators take off from Great Britain. P-51 Mustangs and P-38 Lightning fighter airplanes escort the bombers on their way. The bombing forces bomb the targets in Germany. They return after their mission. Crew and officers look at the aircraft as they fly overhead. The officers look through binoculars. The crew waves towards the aircraft.
German fortifications in the Maginot and Siegfried Lines in World War 2. Illustrated map of Western Europe depicting Great Britain, Netherlands, Ireland, Scandinavia, Belgium and Germany during World War 2. The Swastika symbol is shown on the German-occupied side. German soldiers and slave labor workers digging ditches for fortifications along Atlantic Wall. Shadows of men digging ditches. Men building tank barriers and roadblocks. A man twists a wire in place. Men constructing a bunker. German troops marching on the beach under watch by soldiers with guns. German troops enter a bunker. German soldiers ducking to go through a fortification bunker door one by one. Nazi German soldiers push a field gun to a camouflaged underground bunker. German soldier puts down his telephone. A howitzer in a German fortification facing the coast. Gun turrets moving up. German soldiers with a Karl-Gerät siege mortar called “Thor” during the Battle of Sevastopol. Nazi German railgun “Schwerer Gustav” during the Battle of Sevastopol. German soldiers load a 7.1 ton shell to the “Schwerer Gustav” railgun. A German officer uses a telescope. Dragon’s teeth tank obstacles in the Siegfred Line fortification in Western Germany. Barbed wire fences in a battlefield.
The capture of Avranches, France by U.S. soldiers during Operation Cobra in World War II. The map of Avranches, France superimposed on scenes depicting United States military vehicles moving in Normandy. Half track passes by a road sign “N 137 St. Servan 12 St. Malo 13”. A speeding truck passes by a road sign “Rennes N 137 St Malo”. A large artillery is being pulled by a military vehicle on the N 137 highway in Normandy. Bomber drops bomb over a village in France. View of a map showing “Mortain”. United States infantry engage in street fighting in Mortain, France. A United States soldier fires with rifle upwards during street fighting. A soldier fires bazooka during street fighting. A Churchill Mk VII Crocodile flame thrower tank fires at a house and tree. American soldiers running through burning field during a flame thrower tank attack. Multiple rocket launcher trucks fire rocket artillery. United States soldiers observe rocket artillery on the side of a forest. Map depicts “Argentan” and “Falaise”. Captured German prisoners march away through a destroyed French town. French people welcome United States troops in Paris. Map depicts the Seine River and Paris. Crowds of French men and women giving the “V-Sign” in Paris. French woman clapping her hands. French women crowd a Jeep with U.S. soldiers. Soldiers marching on the Avenue de Champs-Élysées, with the Arc de Triomphe (Place Charles de Gaulle, 75008 Paris, France) behind. Free France General Jacques Philippe Leclerc and an American general salute in the Place de la Concorde (75008 Paris, France). Crowds of Frenchmen cheer and welcome Allied forces after liberation from Nazi Germany. A French man waves his flag while he holds on to tree branches. Map depicting the eastern France, Luxembourg and western Germany superimposed over scenes of marching soldiers. Television host Alexander Scourby delivers a conclusion. Closing credits.