Few C-47 tow gliders flying low over beachhead. View of 42nd Field Hospital U.S. where large number of wounded soldiers lying on litters surrounded by many field hospital tents, following D-Day Invasion in World War 2. Closeup view of Airborne patches of 101st and 82nd airborne units sewn to the arm sleeves of U.S. Army soldiers. Wounded soldiers on stretchers eat rations. (World War II period).
French civilians cheer the arrival of Allied infantry soldiers and armored vehicles in Normandy after the D-Day landings in World War II. French men and women waving to the soldiers and a boy flashed the “V” or “Victory sign”. Smiling French children waving to the soldiers. Soldiers and a 105 mm Howitzer Motor Carriage M7 enter a village. Sign reads “Sainte-Mere-Eglise”. Civilians welcome troops on top of an M4 Sherman tank entering the commune. A Military Police directs traffic in Sainte-Mere-Eglise. French civilian men pushing wheelbarrows with supplies. A soldier speaks to locals. Civilians clapping at the Military Police. Faces of smiling French civilians.
American troops in France soon after the Invasion of Europe by Allied forces in World War 2. An airstrip built by the U.S. troops at St. Mere Eglise near the coast. U.S. P-47 Thunderbolt fighter taxis on the strip. Soldiers bring 500 lb bomb on jeep. They fix the bomb under the plane wing. Two P-47s raise dust as they taxi and take off laden with the heavy bombs. A P-38 Lightning fighter taxis and takes off. The planes fly over hills. Footage switches to black and white, and various aircraft crash and combat scenes are shown. In Spokane Washington at an air show demonstration, a formation of three A-25 aircraft is seen and then two of the A-25s collide in mid-air and breakup. One A-25 impacts and explodes and another crashes and explodes. Fire and smoke at the crash site. Scene transitions to a variety of highly dramatic gun camera footage shots from World War 2. German railroad train is strafed. German planes are hit and downed by American aircraft, as captured by automatic combat cameras on the aircraft. Various German aircraft exploding, in flames and falling to the ground, with some heading straight for Allied aircraft before being shot out of the sky.
A tractor after landing on the beach in Normandy, France during D-Day landings in World War II. The tractor carries soldiers and Jerry cans as Jeeps trail behind it. African American soldiers talking and eating in the foxholes on the beach. Barrage balloons flying over the beach. A sign in German reads “Minen” (“Mine”). General Omar Bradley, wearing his helmet and field jacket, stands next to another officer.
United States soldiers find a wrecked gun on the side of a road in Saint Mere Eglise, Normandy after the D-Day landings in World War II. Another soldier finds the body of a dead German soldier. Dead German soldier found on a roadside. Wreckage of glider Soldiers push part of the fuselage of the wrecked glider.
A road grader levels an airstrip in Normandy after the D-Day landings in World War II. A P-38 fighter aircraft lands on the newly built runway.