Clear aerial views of midtown and lower Manhattan, New York City 1930, but with smoke coming from Hudson River pier of New York Harbor where the North German Lloyd liner Munchen (sometimes Muenchen or München) is seen on fire, shortly after docking in New York after the voyage from Bremen, Germany. Ship emits smoke and fire at the pier. Firefighters spray water to extinguish fire. Views of the piers and slips and dock areas on the Hudson River at New York City and close up views of the firefighters battling the blaze on the Muenchen. The ship subsequently sank at dock. She was raised later in 1930, repaired in dry dock, and returned to service under the new name SS General von Steuben. The ship was sunk in 1945 by the S-13 submarine of the Soviet Union.
U.S. flag being lowered as bugler sounds and narrator alludes to the death of U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, near the end of World War II. American troops and tanks rolling through German cities identified by narrator as Madeburg, Nuremberg and Leipzig, at end of World War 2 in Europe. U.S. troops cleaning out last vestiges of resistance in street fighting. Numerous German citizens lining sidewalks in city and waving white flags. On April 25, 1945, U.S. Army Second Lieutenant William Robertson with soldiers Frank Huff, James McDonnell and Paul Staub, meet Soviet Lieutenant Alexander Silvashko and several Soviet soldiers on the remnants of the Elbe bridge of Torgau. A U.S. Army Brigadier General mingling with Soviet officers. On April 26,1945, Major General Emil F. Reinhardt Commander of the U.S. 69th Infantry Division, walks with Soviet Major General Ruskovof the Soviet 58th Guards Rifle Division near Torgau. They are accompanied by other U.S. and Soviet officers. U.S. and Soviet officers exchange mutual salutes. U.S. and Soviet soldiers mingle, as a Soviet soldier plays accordian and some drink toasts, smoke cigarettes, and pose together. View of the Nazi party rally grounds in Nuremberg where a U.S. soldier is seen near the huge Swastika atop the Zeppelin Grandstand. Flashback views of Nazi rally there. Heinrich Himmler, Adolf Hitler and Viktor Lutze at the rally. Three American soldiers walking along the same walkway in the rally grounds. Explosion seen as the Nazi swastika symbol atop the Zeppelinfeld grandstand in Nuremberg is blown up by American troops.
A new German army unit in uniform is assembled in a large hall, late in World War 2 (January 1945), comprised of Volkssturm ("people's army") conscripts (mostly youth and elderly). Rifles are stacked in the foreground. A German officer at a podium gives a speech. The soldiers raise their hands and pledge allegiance to their country and leader (Hitler). The hand of a soldier on the German flag. The rifles are distributed to the individual Volkssturm soldiers.
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.
British Royal Air Force Gloster Meteor twin jet aircraft taking off and landing at an airfield in Britain, in June, 1945, right after the end of World War II in Europe. Several American soldiers sit on grass beside the runway and watch. One takes pictures. The clip shows a Meteor, so wrong clip!
United States Army Air Force 365th Fighter Group over German held targets in February 1945. Aerial view of smoke rising from bombed buildings on the ground. View of green fields. A bomb damaged building.