A U.S. invasion convoy off the coast of Salerno, Italy during World War II. The wake of a ship. Troops aboard a landing craft at a beach. A few men go ashore in a half-truck. A Landing Craft Mechanized comes up to the beach and lowers its ramp.
A U.S. invasion convoy off the shore of Salerno, Italy during World War II. Ships in the convoy. Three Italians in a row boat sail past a landing craft. Houses on a hill. Tracer fire at night. Three ships on the horizon silhouetted against the late afternoon sky.
A U.S. convoy heads for the invasion of Salerno, Italy during World War II. DDs (destroyers) underway off the coast of Salerno. LCs (landing crafts) pass. Smoke rises from the beach in the background.
A U.S. convoy heads towards Salerno, Italy for its invasion during World War II. A DD (destroyer), an LCI (Landing Craft Infantry) and LCs (landing crafts) underway at sea. A LST (Landing Ship Tank) passes. A PT (Patrol Torpedo) boat underway. LCs in the background. APs (transport ships) in the background.
U.S. Army 817th Army engineers build airfield within 24 hours near Salerno, Italy, in World War II. Members of the U.S. Army 817th Engineers Battalion are seen employing construction equipment to create a new emergency airfield near Salerno, Italy, during World War 2. A bulldozer uproots trees separating a tomato patch from a wheat field so both can be combined to create a larger space for an emergency airfield. A road grader passes a soldier seated in a piece of parked construction equipment, as it levels the ground. The operator in the parked equipment takes a drink from his canteen. Next, soldiers are seen wielding picks, and other hand tools to untangle clumps of earth and roots. Camera shows them next, working at the edge of the large cleared earthen airfield. They pause to wave to a P-38 lightning aircraft that has just landed at the new field. The P-38 passes on its landing roll, raising a cloud of dust. (Note: Moments after the end of the clip, this, first to land, P-38 had a fatal collision with a water truck, concealed in dust at the side of the runway.
Slate states: “Dust causes crash. P-38 plows into water truck. Pilot escapes. Two killed.” Members of the U.S. Army 817th Engineers Battalion, who have been building an emergency airfield , near Salerno, Italy, during World War 2, respond when the first P-38 airplane to land at the field, crashes into a water truck at the side of the dirt runway. Smoke rises from the crash scene. Camera focuses on the burning P-38 aircraft and the water truck. Soldiers use improvised slings to move the bodies of two victims away from the crash site. Meanwhile, other P-38 aircraft continue to land at the field. Smoke continues to billow from the burning P-38 airplane.