U.S. soldiers wade ashore at Omaha Fox Green Beach on D-Day, from landing craft of USS Samuel Chase (APA 25). during the Invasion of France. Preparations for invasion underway in an idyllic village in England, United Kingdom on June 5, 1944. U.S. Army Air Force C-47 aircraft towing a Waco CG-4 glider over shelters made of wooden shipping containers. "Shanty Town" written atop one tall structure. Glider being pulled out a shipping container. Soldiers moving into empty shipping container. Glimpse of their homemade barrack. Soldiers eating a meal inside a shipping container shelter. Soldiers at barber shop. German defenses of the Atlantic Wall on the French coast. German Army gun crews drilling. German rail gun. Animated map of German fortifications of the Atlantic Wall. Allied officers, including U.S. Major General Lewis Hyde Brereton, Commander, 9th Air Force and British Air Marshal Arthur Coningham, Commander, 2nd Tactical Air Force, in D-day planning. Airborne troops board buses and arrive at restricted airfields. Troops playing musical instruments in jazz band; exercising on field; and playing volleyball. Paratroopers reading mail. Airmen painting invasion stripes for D-day on C-47 aircraft. French francs issued to paratroopers. Soldiers sharpen knives and bayonets. Chaplains conduct religious services. General Dwight D. Eisenhower visiting 101st Airborne troopers. Airborne Pathfinders. Paratroopers march to C-47s, and put on parachute packs. Troopers of the 101st Airborne, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, Headquarters Company Demolition Section ("Filthy 13") in their Mohawk Indian haircuts. Clarence Ware puts war paint on Charles Plaudo, using still-wet paint from their C-47's D-day stripes. Heavily laden paratrooper help one another board airplanes. Pathfinder C-47s taking off at dusk, followed by all others, on June 5, 1944. formations of C-47s. Closeup of several planes. Paratroopers exiting C-47s. Formation of towed gliders. Gliders landing in field. Troops from gliders engaging in fire fights. Naval gun barrage.
View of a port in England, filled with Allied ships and boats to carry war materiel for Allied forces preparing to invade Europe during World War II. A barrage balloon aloft overhead. Yards full of military rolling stock. Scene shifts to wide street view in London including Whitehall Government buildings around the Cenotaph War Memorial (Whitehall, London SW1A 2ET, United Kingdom) in London, England. Inside the British military headquarters the Allied High Command is gathered to plan the invasion of Europe. Supreme Allied Commander, General Dwight D. Eisenhower is pointing at a wall map, as senior Allied commanders, including British Marshal Bernard Montgomery, look on. Republic P-47 Thunderbolt fighter aircraft in D-Day paint stripes take off from an air base. Officers watch takeoffs from control tower porch. Views from Allied aircraft gun cameras show strafing from low altitudes destroying German ground targets, including railroads and airfields. A formation of Martin B-26 Marauder aircraft in flight overhead. Lines of communication such as road junctions being destroyed by bombing. Glimpse of copilot at controls in a bomber. Scene shifts to June 6, 1944 and the D-Day Allied invasion fleet underway across the English Channel. Allied warships bombarding the shores of Normandy, France. Landing Craft Tank (Rocket) firing salvos of rockets. Animated map shows the invasion forces striking the defenses of the German Atlantic Wall. View of British and American soldiers wading ashore from landing craft, and some falling to German gunfire at the shoreline beaches of Normandy. View of German defenders firing from inside a German fortifications. German soldiers firing machine guns from protected places overlooking the beaches of Normandy. Trapped American soldiers firing upwards toward the German positions in cliffs overlooking the beach. Later views of Allied troops in combat further inland. Animated map shows area of allied penetration after 19 days of bitter fighting. Allied Armor, trucks, and supplies moving inland from the beachhead. Barrage balloon above the improvised ports. Allied troops heading toward the port of Cherbourg and guns firing in that battle. American M8 Greyhound armored personnel carriers proceeding into the town of Cherbourg, Normandy, France. closeup of American soldiers firing small arms. Soldiers firing a howitzer point blank. The last of the German garrison troops surrender under a flag of truce, on June 27, 1944. Large group of German prisoners of war with hands clasped over their heads, being escorted under Allied guard from Cherbourg. Docks and facilities needing repair to make the port serviceable. U.S. Army engineers welding port facilities. Closeup of a locomotive operated by French railroad men, moving in the restored port.
Trucks arrive at Toddington Manor (Toddington, Cheltenham GL54 5DN, United Kingdom) in Gloucestershire, England. British children playing jump rope as vehicles transport tanks on the road. Rows of aircraft are transported by vehicles into town. The preparations for the D-Day invasion of France by Allied Forces, during World War II. A crane moves boxes. Boxes move in conveyer belts. Sacks, boxes, and crates stored at a distribution point. A man drives a forklift transporting boxes inside a warehouse. Military supplies arriving in Britain from the United States. Piles of tires, barbed wires, concrete tubes stored in docks and warehouses. Cranes move oil barrels into a pile. Military locomotives and freight cars bound for continental Europe at a railway yard. Soldiers open a crate containing a United States Army truck. A crane lowers a tank. A man inspects a row of military trucks. Rows of M3 half-track armored personnel carriers and M4 Tractors in England. A man helps a tank back up. Rows of tanks, artillery, and guns from the United States. Men stocking shells inside an underground storage. Piles of shells outdoors. A truck transports shell. Rows of fighters at an airfield. A man moves a search light at night. Anti-aircraft guns fire at German night bombers attempting to attack bases in the United Kingdom. Barrage balloons fly above warships. A sailor drops an anti-ship mine in the sea. Minesweepers seek and destroy such mines from the sea. Consolidated PBY-5A attacks a German ship.
Allied forces battle German forces during World War II. Allied soldiers firing artillery under camouflage canopies at Anzio. General Dwight D. Eisenhower inspects a fighter and the bomber aircraft base of 9th Air Force in England. Eisenhower shakes hands with Major Sherman Beaty, commander of the 555th Squadron, and with the crew of B-26 Marauder bomber aircraft with nose art "Son of Satan" (which was downed by flak over Germany on November 18, 1944). Eisenhower sits in a parked fighter aircraft and fires its guns, with instruction from the pilot standing by. Aerial views of American bomber aircraft conducting daylight bombing runs. Point of view (POV) shot through the partially cracked windscreen of an aircraft after it took enemy fire but kept flying. Bombs-away views as American bombers drop bombs over German targets and as U.S. fighter aircraft shoot down German aircraft. Aerial dogfight battles seen. U.S. Army Air Force fighter strafing German aircraft parked on an airfield. A German fighter plane gets hit, setting it on fire. British Royal Air Force (RAF) Avro Lancaster bombers conduct night raids on German targets. A Waco CG-4A glider arrives in England from the United States during World War 2. United States Army soldiers build a Shanty town from glider crates at the base in the United Kingdom. Soldiers enjoy relaxing and recreation inside Shanty houses. A soldier with headset listens to homemade radio and reads a magazine. Soldiers share a meal on a table. Soldiers receive letters from home at mail call time. A barber shop made from scrap where soldiers can get haircuts.
Allied Forces with mechanized units and tanks enter Florence, Italy in World War II. British Army soldiers moving across Tuscan hills and countryside towards Florence. French, Indian, South African, British and Polish Allied soldiers under the command of General Harold Alexander resting and riding on top of tanks to Florence. Italian civilians greet the British and Allied troops in Florence. King George VI of the United Kingdom arrives in Italy and is greeted by General Maitland Wilson. King George VI inspects the Royal Navy Units aboard ships in Naples, Italy on July 23, 1944. Commander-in-Chief of the Mediterranean Fleet Sir Andrew Cunningham accompany King George VI on motorboat inspecting the port of Naples. British Royal Marines and soldiers of the United States 5th Army form a guard of honor for the king’s return. The king boards a British cruiser. King George VI takes a ride in a car with Commander-in-Chief General Alexander. King George VI inspects the 8th Army of United States and Indian troops. He reviews Polish Units with Polish General Władysław Anders and General Oliver Leese. King George VI confers knighthood on General Leese in the field.
General Charles de Gaulle lays a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior at the Arc de Triomphe (Paris, France) during World War 2, following the liberation of Paris. Various signs read “1800”, “1793”, “Vive De Gaulle” (“Long live De Gaulle”), “De Gaulle Au Pouvoir” (“De Gaulle in power”), “Vive Les Alliés” (“Long live the Allies”) and “1944” are displayed in front of the Arc de Triomphe (Place Charles de Gaulle, 75008 Paris, France). A man climbs a lamppost to watch a parade. Boy sitting on tree branch watch the man climb a lamppost. Nurses and medics carry with flags of Allied nations (United States, France, United Kingdom). Arrival of General Jacques Philippe Leclerc, holding a walking cane. Leclerc shake hands with an Allied military figure. Charles de Gaulle arrives in Arc de Triomphe with a wreath. General de Gaulle salutes and lays a wreath in front of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Soldiers and journalists surrounding General de Gaulle take photographs using cameras. General de Gaulle walks with Generals Jacques Philippe Leclerc and Marie-Pierre Koenig, and other French officials.