Eastern Front battle of Soviet army as it repels the German Wehrmacht from a Soviet city, and captures German POW's. The German prisoners are marched into Soviet camps in winter snow covered landscape under guard of Russian Army soldiers. Aerial view of massive invasion force in English Channel on D-Day for the the Invasion of Normandy. View from landing craft of American infantry going ashore. Allied soldiers taking fire from German enemy during D-Day beach landings. Allied armies moving inland through France seen in combat with Germans in French villages and towns. Many German prisoners rounded-up and seen marching toward prison camps under British and U.S. Army guard.
Opening scene shows some German infantry surrendering with hands raised. Next scene shows people thronging Times Square in Manhattan, New York City, celebrating VE Day, or Victory in Europe Day, on May 8, 1945, when Germany surrendered to end World War II, in Europe. Image of the first atomic explosion (Trinity) on ‎July 16, 1945, in New Mexico, United States. Scene shifts to deck of the U.S. Battleship, USS Missouri, where Japanese foreign minister, Mamoru Shigemitsu, is seated and signing the instrument of surrender., on September 2, 1945. Closeup profile of General Douglas MacArthur. Another glimpse of Mamoru Shigemitsu signing. Next, MacArthur is seen signing the document. He turns and presents the pen to Lieutenant General Jonathan M. Wainwright , who is standing behind him alongside British Lieutenant-General Arthur Ernest Percival. Brief glimpse of the San Francisco War Memorial and Performing Arts Center with flag appearing to be at half staff and a long awning extending from its entrance to the sidewalk. View of representatives at the first United Nations meeting there . Views of audience in auditorium shows many notables. Closeups of Soviet Ambassador, Andrey Gromyko and Soviet Foreign Minister, Vyacheslav Molotov.. Next, President Harry S. Truman is seen broadcasting a greeting to the delegates, from the Capitol, Washington, DC, on April 25, 1945. The delegates are seen listening to the broadcast and then applauding.
World War 2 era newsreel clip notes that each of the two major leagues in baseball have more than 260 men in the armed forces serving in the war. View of NY Giants pitcher Bill Voiselle (#17), Boston Braves pitcher Al Javery (#18) and others who continued playing during the war. Announcer poses trivia question -- who is the all-time National League leader in home runs, walks, runs, and three other categories? Viewers given five choices to consider while clock ticks. The answer? Not Ty Cobb -- it's the New York Giants' player-manager Mel Ott, seen hitting with his distinctive kick swing and running to first base.
Episode of "The Big Picture", a U.S. Army series of news release programs. U.S. Army cameraman recording Nike missile launch. Atomic cannon fires shell creating atomic explosion and classic mushroom cloud.. Army troops spill out of Sikorsky YH-19 helicopters. U.S. Army infantry soldiers ascend hill firing their rifles. Atomic experiments at Camp Desert Rock in Nevada, United States. U.S. Army Master Sergeant Stuart Queen seated at a desk in his office. He speaks about a series of atomic experiments ("Desert Rock 6") held in barren lands of Nevada at Camp Desert Rock. Celebrating victory in Europe, during World War 2, American troops parade down the Champs Elysees in Paris, France, with the Arc de Triomphe behind them. Happy Parisians watch the parade. War scenes in Japan: footage of explosion and mushroom cloud rising after atomic bomb blast over Nagasaki on August 9, 1945. Barren land on the ground in Hiroshima after the August 6, 1945 atomic blast there . B-29 bombers in flight. Atomic bomb test detonation. Atomic artillery gun M65, also called the Atomic Cannon or Atomic Annie, fires and creates nuclear explosion on distant target.Viking missile launch. U.S. soldiers on parade. Headquarters sign at U.S. Army atomic experiment station at Camp Desert Rock, Nevada, displaying 6-pointed star with "A" in center.. Several atomic test explosions. Soldiers on hillside witness a non-nuclear explosion. Buses carry troops along a road past a sign warning of radiation hazard. Army captain, instructor, briefing troops before the start of atomic maneuvers.. Maps of planned maneuvers. Engineer surveyors lay out ground zero target. View of the ground zero area which is the target area for testing. Signal men lay communication lines to receive and transmit teletype messages. Men operate machinery and dig trenches in which troops will take cover. Other men cover them with sand. [Note: According to the U.S. Department of State, Office of the Historian, from February 18 to May 15, 1955, the United States conducted Operation Teapot, a nuclear test series at Yucca Flat and Frenchman Flat on the Nevada Test Site in the continental United States. During the test period 14 nuclear shots and 1 non-nuclear shot were detonated. Several thousand scientific, military (army, air force, navy, marines), and civilian contract personnel participated in the organization, planning, and execution of the test series. Military exercises undertaken during and following the shots took place under the name Desert Rock 6.]
Harry S Truman appointed President of the United States. The U.S. Capitol building in view. Trees in the foreground. President talks on the phone. Harry Truman attends the 1944 Democratic convention with his daughter, Margaret Truman. People gather holding boards and placards of Truman in hand. A board reads: 'Truman for Vice President'. Franklin Roosevelt seated in a car during his fourth inauguration parade, on January 20, 1945, with motorcade proceeding on Constitution Avenue in Washington DC, and then driving up to the White House. Past events show President Franklin Roosevelt talking to Vice president Truman. Flag at half staff on the U.S. Capitol following death of President Roosevelt. Truman addressing a joint session of the Congress. General Marshall, Admiral King, Secretary of War Stimson all arriving at the White House to meet with President Truman. Also seen are James Byrnes and Truman receiving Lord Halifax, Anthony Eden, Secretary of State Stettinius in the White House. Truman speaks to joint session of congress on April 16, 1945 and expresses desire to continue the efforts and direction set by Franklin Roosevelt, saying, "With great humility I call upon all Americans to help me keep our nation united in defense of those ideals which have been so eloquently proclaimed by Franklin Roosevelt...." He also states, "So that there can be no possible misunderstanding, both Germany and Japan can be certain, beyond any shadow of a doubt, that America will continue to fight for Freedom until no vestige of resistance remains. Our demand has been, and it remains, unconditional surrender. We will face the problems of peace with the same courage that we have faced and mastered the problems of war. In the memory of those who have made the supreme sacrifice; in the memory of our fallen president, we shall not fail."
Overseas activities of United States Coast Guard in World War 2. February 19, 1945, U.S. Marines invade Iwo Jima in Pacific Theater. Naval guns and aircraft bombard Iwo Jima. Mountain in the background. Aircraft in flight. Marines and Coast Guardsmen aboard landing craft. Marines landing on Iwo Jima under heavy Japanese fire. Destroyed landing ships litter water's edge. Marines hunkered down and treating wounded, under fire. LSTs and other ships at established beachhead. Vehicles drive onto beach. April 1, 1945, Marines attack Okinawa. Navy warships bombard Okinawa with heavy guns and continuous rocket fire. Beachhead is established against light resistance. Japanese kamikaze aircraft attack American invasion ships. Several ships are hit and sunk. Surviving sailors are helped aboard rescue boats. Antiaircraft fire from American ships fills sky with smoke and flak. A kamikaze aircraft crashes in the sea. Sky filled with American bombers. Aerial view of Atomic bomb explosion over Nagasaki Japan on August 9, 1945. Raising American Flag on Japan homeland.