Irish people face crisis in Ireland during World War II. People on a street. A horse drawn carriage carrying people on the street. Men and women walk on the street in the background. A man walk in between the parked bicycles. People stand in a group on a path way. The Irish people wait in a line to buy goods. U.S. Minister Gery seated at a desk looks into papers. Prime Minister of Ireland Eamon De Valera looks into papers. The Prime Minister walks out of a building. People crowd outside the building. A policeman controls the crowd. Smiling, happy boy and girl Irish children crowd near the front and beside the policeman. A car drives in between the crowd gathered on the street. Two men stand on a boundary wall and take pictures in the background. The Irish soldiers march. The Colleens pray. The Irish troops stand in formation and pray. The Irish girls kneel down praying.
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.
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.
United States Eighth Air Force officials deliberate and issue field orders to drop bombs during World War II. Writing on the frosted glass door reads “Operations A3”. A sign in door reads “No Admittance Briefing in Progress”. Daily operations conference headquarters of the Eighth Air Force. The commanding general shares his plan of action. Map of the United Kingdom and Ireland is seen behind the general. The assistant of the commanding general uses a long stick to point to a wall map. Eighth Air Force officials review a map on the desk. An official shows the commanding general a place on the map. The general makes a decision. An officer from the general’s officer makes a call. Men and women using teletype to write field orders and messages. Operational staff of air division headquarters discuss important details regarding the new field order. Operational staff member points to a large wall map. Other officers listen during a meeting. The chemical officer puts down his phone after a call.