American soldiers in Italy, during Allied Operation Husky, and Operation Avalanche in World War 2. In landings during invasion of Salerno, Italy, soldiers pause their movements while two use a detector to search for possible buried mines. They detect one and are seen carefully digging it up from the sandy soil. Soldiers unroll steel matting across an area of beach. Close-up of heavy trucks moving across the matting. A bulldozer uses a cable to pull a section of temporary docking out of an LST (Landing ship tank). Troops move across several sections of such docking as they make their way onto the shore. A sherman tank making its way toward the shore . More heavy equipment coming ashore from LSTs, including a US M1 155mm “Long Tom” Gun. The gun being towed on shore, as trucks and jeeps maneuver through shallow water nearby. A long line of jeeps and trucks moving inland. Military vehicles being offloaded from the British Landing Ship Tank (HM LST-200). U.S. troops moving on a beachhead, along with artillery pieces, and vehicles. Soldiers carrying boxes of supplies and ammunition and struggling with large wooden crates of such, in shallow surf, and using a roller conveyor to offload some heavy items from a ship. A landing craft suspended from a cable operated A-Frame on wheels (in the water). At this point the thrust of the film shifts to illustrate the hazards of amphibious operations, in general. Swamped vehicles and a landing craft in the surf. The beach littered with damaged and swamped landing craft and equipment, including, among others, a landing craft from the USS Samuel Chase (APA-26). A huge explosion in the water. Glimpse of a German Junkers Ju 87 (Stuka) dive bomber attacking while being shot down by a U.S. sailor firing an anti-aircraft gun . View from above of sailors firing twin bofors 40mm antiaircraft cannons from an emplacement on a ship. Several German Junkers Ju 87 planes maneuvering as they attack. Quad bofors antiaircraft guns firing from a ship. More attacking Ju-87 dive bombers on the attack. A dramatic explosion and smoke from the Liberty ship SS Robin Rowan after being hit by a German bomb off the coast of Gela, Sicily on July 11, 1943. A landing ship burning from German bombing, off Gela, Sicily, with its deck full of halftrack and personnel carrier vehicles. The film continues the theme of losses encountered in wartime amphibious assaults, by shifting to the Pacific theater of operation, where a Landing Ship Tank (LST) is seen ablaze, off Guadalcanal, after being hit by Japanese shelling. View from beach with barbed wire, ashore, of the burning LST. Sherman tanks lost in a conflagration aboard an LST. Sailors carry a casualty on a litter, and place it next to other fallen crew members, on deck.
U.S. Army Air Force 340th bomb group bombs over Italy, operating from Catania in September 1943. Aircraft of 340th bomb group in flight. American bomber in flight above target bridge. Destruction of bridge in Amantea, Italy. (World War II period).
Zenbei Horikiri, the new Ambassador of Japan to the Kingdom of Italy, presents his credentials to King Victor Emmanuel III in Rome, Italy during World War II. Hokiri stands with an Italian officer during the ceremony at the Quirinal Palace. To his right, behind him, similarly dressed, is Shun'ichi Kase,secretary to Japanese Foreign Minister Yōsuke Matsuoka. (Shun'ichi later served as chargé d’affaires in Italy commencing in 1943.) Japanese and Italian officers are part of the two-nation entourage that emerges from the palace following the event. They proceed down the steps of the Quirinal Palace (Palazzo del Quirinale, Piazza del Quirinale, 00187 Roma RM, Italy) and across the Piazza del Quirinale, where camera shows a glimpse of one of the statues at the Obelisk and Fountain of Castor and Pollux (containing sculptures of Castor and Pollux as horse tamers). Next, a motorcade of the officials' cars drives out of the palace complex, past two guard posts.
Relief activities of the Allies in Italy during World War 2. Opening scene shows a sailing Schooner under Allied Navy control, docked at a port in Italy following the Allied invasion of Italy in 1943. This schooner is being loaded with Allied Military Government (AMG) medical supplies. Closeup of wooden crates containing the supplies. American medical corpsmen checking a stream of water for mosquitoes, and then spraying the area from a DUKW. A hospital building and interior with Italian women holding their infants as they await checkups and vaccinations against disease. Italian citizens in a street anxiously seeking food from the AMG. Local Italian police work to control the crowd in which some persons become unruly and have to be removed. American troops of the U.S. 5th Army marching along Italian roads. Troops riding on a Sherman tank and on a truck pulling an artillery field piece. Supply yard stacked high with food supplies for U.S. troops. (Narrator states it required 750 tons a day to feed the 5th Army.) Views of Naples harbor cluttered with 30 large ships and 300 smaller ones blown up or scuttled by retreating German forces. Firemen manning hoses to fight fires at the waterfront. Smoldering ruins in the port. Three months later, U.S. forces are seen operating supply missions through the port. View from a hill of the port with barrage balloon overhead. Closeup of flour being offloaded from holds of ships by derricks. Italian soldiers unloading the flour bags and placing them aboard trucks for transport to Italian commercial food companies. A U.S. Army Captain at a table with Italian businessmen who purchase the flour from AMG at a fair market price. Italian purchasers examining the flour. Flour being transported to bakers who bake it into bread. Young men busy making and baking loaves of bread. Loaves stacked up at the bakery. A big tray of fresh loaves being sampled by Italian officials and distributed to local Italian civilians who enjoy it.
Troops of Italian Co-Belligerent Army. The Italian First Motorized Group, the first Italian unit to fight alongside the Allies after the armistice of September, 1943, moves to the front in early December, 1943. Italian soldiers stand on roadway. They look at maps and talk. Two soldiers with dog. Italian officer speaks to the soldiers. Soldiers listen to officer, holding pen and papers. Soldiers unroll telephone wires. Soldiers load barracks bags on truck. Truck loaded with soldiers drives past. Men wave the soldiers. A convoy of trucks moves along road. Civilians with carts move in opposite direction. Trucks parked in Italian town. A soldier waves the flag. Soldiers talk with civilians. Soldiers stand on sidewalk. Trucks cross bridge. (World War II period).
Soldiers of the Italian Co-Belligerent Army. The Italian First Motorized Group, the first Italian unit to fight alongside the Allies after the armistice of September, 1943, move to the front in early December, 1943. Trucks loaded with soldiers driven. A convoy of trucks and jeeps moves along road. Soldiers seated in trucks with guns. Trucks pass signs of nearby towns: 'Venafro-Mignano' and 'Pietravairano'. (World War II period).