Allied invasion convoy of ships underway in the Mediterranean Sea during World War II. Amphibious landing of Fifth United States Army at Salerno during Allied invasion of Italy. General Mark Clark and Vice Admiral Henry Hewitt seen talking at time of "Operation Avalanche." An animated map shows Sicily, Salerno and Naples. The soldiers memorize every mountain and valley. Ships and supplies pour in. Night time invasion underway as U.S. soldiers invade Italy under attack from German soldiers. Soldiers seen on tanks advancing. General Eisenhower and Admiral Cunningham seen in discussion on a ship as terms of surrender of Italy are carried out, and Italian ships head toward Allied ports.
United States Army Air Forces Major General Claire Lee Chennault Commander of the 14th Air Force in China during World War II. Airmen of the 14th Air Force lined up on a field with aircraft in the background. Chennault inspects the 14th Air Force. A Captain with a medal pinned onto him. Chinese pilots shake hands with Major General Chennault. In Washington DC Major General Chennault receives the Mitchell Trophy for the services rendered by the 14th Air Force. U.S. Army Air Force B-17 Flying Fortress aircraft in flight and drop bombs over Sicily and Sardinia in Italy. Explosions occur.
Clip opens with brief World War I scene, circa 1917, of new American army recruits receiving army uniforms being issued by a U.S. Army Quartermaster. Clip then covers U.S. Army Quartermaster Corps' combat operations in various Theaters of Operations during World War II. Quartermaster Corps soldiers with rifles under the cover of a military truck during battle. Troops in trucks. An aircraft in low flight over a field. A U.S. Army truck. A Quartermaster fires an anti aircraft gun. Explosions occur and smoke rises. A British tank in a field. Soldiers beside a truck. Cans and barrels stacked on the ground. An enemy German tank in a field. Soldiers take cover. Quartermasters with guns in a trench. They come up the trench in prone positions. Dramatized battle scene with several Quartermaster corps casualties beside a wire fence. Soldiers prepare a mortar gun. An anti aircraft gun on an army truck. A soldier takes aim and fires a rifle during training. The Quartermaster flag hoisted on a pole. Actual footage shows aerial view of Bataan, and then ground views of groups of remaining U.S. Army soldiers around time of surrender of Bataan in April 1942. American soldier seen with their hands up and under guard of Japanese soldiers during Bataan surrender. Landing crafts arrive at a beach in North Africa. Supplies being offloaded at various battle fronts of World War 2. Soldiers and supplies off-loaded on the beach. Quartermasters seated on supplies boxes. Landing crafts arrive at a beach in the South West Pacific. Troops move across the beach. Troops disembark from landing crafts and move across a beach in Sicily, Italy. The Quartermasters unload boxes of supplies during various beach landings. They unload supplies and fire artillery on a beach head in Italy. Troops in trucks. A convoy of trucks loaded with supplies. Ammunition, ration and personnel in trucks move from Algeria to the front in Tunisia. Explosions occur and smoke rises. Trucks advance through smoke at night and in difficult conditions. Quartermaster General Major General E. B. Gregory speaks about the Quartermaster Corps. He says that the Quartermasters distribute goods to the army during training and combat. The movement of the Corps should be so regulated so as to deliver the goods at the right time in the right quantity.
Film opens with animated map depicting paths of Allied forces invading Italy from Sicily. View from beach as American soldiers run ashore from landing craft. Shells explode nearby. Glimpse of large building with barbed wire strung in front and smoke rising from explosion. Soldier near a jeep under fire. Numerous others obscured by smoke as they wade ashore under fire. M4 Sherman tank being driven ashore from a Landing Ship Tank (LST). A soldier on shoreline signals with flags while standing in front of an LST with its ramp open. LST 375 is seen in background. American soldiers firing a 90 mm M1 anti-aircraft gun set up on the shore. Bomb exploding offshore. View from high above a city of a bomb striking and sinking an oil tanker ship. Another bomb exploding nearby. Dense black smoke billowing from a bombed ship in a harbor. More bombs exploding near ships.View from a ship as a bomb explodes only yards away from her. Smoke issuing from a bombed burning transport ship. A pair of wading M10 tank destroyers move along the beach. Soldiers ride on an M10 tank destroyer through an Italian town. Animated map shows range of Allied advance up Italy from the boot. It then shows a circling movement to strike at Nettuno, Italy. Views of American troops being welcomed in Nettuno. Glimpse of an Landing Ship Tank (LST) driving onto a beach.
Allied invasion at Salerno, Italy, during 2nd World War. Scenes of U.S. Sherman tanks, military vehicles and troops, moving easily through Sicily. Animated map depicts allied invasion routes from Bizerte, North Africa, to two points on opposite sides of Italy mainland. Convoys emerge from smoke screens in bay of Salerno, Italy. Allied warship creating heavy black smoke screen. Decks of LSTs crammed with trooops and vehicles. Allied warships bombard Salerno coastline. Commandos, Rangers and Seabees, in first assault wave are targets of German guns and dive bombers. Pontoon boat dropped from LST, with 35 Seabees aboard, strikes a mine, and is destroyed, setting off conflagration on the LST. Other LSTs (Landing Ship Tank) discharging vehicles to the beach over floating causeways, under enemy fire. Destroyed U.S. Sherman tanks, vehicles and a U.S. P-40 aircraft , litter the beach. A Seabee uses semaphore flags to direct an LST to beach area. Seabees build shelters for war materiel and dressing stations where allied wounded are treated. Seabees continue to unload supplies to beachhead. Brief view of Lieutenant General Mark Clark, 5th Army commander, on the beachhead. Allied casualties being tended. Stretcher bearers carry wounded. Allied troops advancing on roads in Italy. Admiral Moreell, chief of the U.S. Navy's Bureau of Yards and Docks, concludes narration of the Seabee documentary, from his office in Washington, DC
President Franklin D. Roosevelt and English Prime Minister Winston Churchill meet in Casablanca, Morocco. German troops and German POWs being driven out of North Africa by the Allies. President Franklin Roosevelt and Prime Minister Winston Churchill seated in chairs on the lawn of the White House at a planning session. Various war scenes from many theaters of battle action in World War II: Allied vessels and planes in the Pacific. Higgins boat (LCVP) in water and American troops invading Sicily and coming ashore on its beaches. Soviet infantry and artillery advance on the eastern front, firing at German enemy positions.