U.S. Army soldiers arriving in Army trucks, one company at a time, for 24 hours rest on the West band of the Moselle River, after combat on the East bank, during World War 2. The soldiers receive a hot meal, a hot shower and shave,issue of clean clothing, and get to attend a movie.(Poster advertises the film Bathing Beauty, starring Esther Williams and Red Skelton.) The next morning, troops board trucks to return to the front line again. Scene changes to U.S. troops in snow, as winter arrives. Squadron of British Spitfire aircraft seen on snow-covered field as airmen refuel them from hand-carried gas cans. An American Army woman nurse clears snow from military vehicle in Paris. General Jean de Lattre de Tassigny, Commander of French Army B, consulting with Major General Wade Haislip, Commander of the U.S. XV Corps, during Winter campaign in Vosges Mountains. French forces firing a mortar. British forces entrenched and machine gunner trying to keep warm. Uniformed British women volunteers trying to keep warm in their office bunker. Allied infantry entrenched and moving across a field. American soldiers in the Ardennes forest suddenly find themselves under attack by German artillery and tanks (Battle of the Bulge). Shells exploding near camera position. Camera shakes. Soldiers taking cover and a jeep driving by as an explosion rocks the area immediately behind it in the trees of the forest.
Animated map showing disposition of Allied and opposing German forces in Belgium during World War II. Highlighted places include the River Meuse, Bastogne, and Liege. Brief glimpse of German Field Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt, commander of the German Army Command in the West. German troops riding through forest over light snow on a King Tiger II tank. The tank churning up dirt and snow at high speed in another scene. German infantry moving through the forest at dusk. Illustrated map shows national flags delineating battle fronts and the German breakout (Bulge in the line) aiming toward Antwerp Harbor through Liege. Next are series of rapidly changing battle scenes showing American troops in house-to-house combat near houses and stores of towns, moving through smoke and mist, one throwing a hand grenade into an apartment building, helping one another move through buildings, setting off explosives, communicating on a field telephone, moving through burning rubble, and running across snow around industrial buildings. Dramatic camera shakes are seen during some of the nearby explosions. Two U.S. soldiers silhouetted against the snow as place a wounded buddy in a sheltered spot. One places a bandage around the neck of the injured soldier. American medics carrying wounded on litters, across a snowy field containing a several fallen soldiers. One soldier calls for a medic. Corpsmen moving on to a new battlefield. U.S. troops firing machine guns from atop Sherman tanks in a city as infantrymen crouch behind the tanks. Glimpse from inside, of a German soldier firing an Mg34 model machine gun out a building window. Embattled American troops and trucks moving past burning buildings. Closeups of American GIs dashing from building to building and firing from improvised shelter. A bazooka fired out a building window strikes a tank, which is seen burning. Individual soldiers running for shelter as Medical Corpsmen carry the wounded on litter the opposite way. Scene shifts to British forces moving in from further North, through the snow. Glimpse of women and children and aged folks, in Belgium, frightened by the goings on. An old woman holds a small girl who is crying. British infantry advancing into action across a snowy field. A British machine gunner firing from a protected position. U.S. troops entrenched in deep snow. December 24th, clearing weather allowed some Allied air support to aid the troops. Glimpse of aircraft contrails. Formations of Allied aircraft overhead. Aerial view of a formation of British Hawker Typhoon fighter bombers in flight. View from a Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress in flight with others creating thick contrails at high altitude. Pilot and copilot in cockpit of a bomber in flight. American soldiers on the ground watching with binoculars. U.S. Army Air Forces Republic P-47 Thunderbolt overhead, break out of formation and dive to attack German ground targets. American GIs on the ground cheer as they watch. A huge explosion takes place near an American crew manning a heavy gun pointing point blank with zero elevation. American soldiers load rockets into a truck-mounted launcher. Several truck-mounted launchers firing their rocket barrages. U.S. infantry advancing atop tanks, in armored personnel carriers, and on foot. They carry axes, shovels, and similar tools along with their weapons. Army trucks entering a town. The infantry moving through a forest. More troops on vehicles of all kinds moving into a town.
Allied troops advance towards Cologne in World War II, Germany. Map depicts Allied invasion of Western Europe and advance towards Germany. U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Prime Minister of UK Winston Churchill, and Soviet President Joseph Stalin meet at Yalta conference in Livadia Palace, Crimea, Russia. British Marshal Bernard Montgomery is seen consulting with General Dwight D. Eisenhower and Lieutenant General Omar Bradley. A group of American Sherman tanks firing their guns from a field. A building collapsing from shellfire. American troops firing truck-mounted machine guns equipped with huge enclosed drums of ammunition Glimpse of surrendering German soldiers running toward the camera. Barrages from rocket launchers. British soldiers running into a town with shells bursting and fires burning. An American soldier running behind two German soldiers he is taking as prisoners. US Army Air Forces P-47 aircraft diving to attack. View from cockpit of an aircraft flies through an explosion and fireball. Tanks and infantry advancing and firing. A U.S. P-51 fighter plane with white striped wings flies overhead. American troops riding in an M3 half-track. British soldiers manning a gun. Bombardier in a U.S. bomber bent over his bomb sight. View from aircraft of bombs bursting on the ground raising huge smoke clouds. More German soldiers running forward to surrender. Canadian soldiers moving forward through flooding waters. Canadian Commanding General Henry Crerar is seen with an aide. Canadian troops descending a hill into a town and fighting in the streets. Canadian troops firing mortars and artillery. American armor and infantry occupying a German suburb of Cologne. A woman hangs a large white flag from upper window of her house. Destroyed houses and German soldiers running with their hands held up. U.S. troops entering city of Cologne, with Cathedral in the background. Sherman tank moving toward the Cologne Cathedral.
United States 9th Armored Division crosses the Rhine River in Germany., during World War 2. Opening scene shows several amphibious assault craft being moved by crane at a port in Belgium, where they are loaded on tractor trailer trucks and driven across Belgium to support Allied advance into Germany. British sailors ride atop the craft. They are brought into a town where a signalman, standing atop one, uses semaphore flags to transmit a message. Next, a smoke generator is seen creating a smoke screen over the area. Landing vehicles tracked (LVT) are moving over ground adjacent to the Rhine River. A formation of American B-17 bombers flies overhead. View from bomber, showing bombs striking German industrial targets. Closeup of two U.S. soldiers watching from the West bank of the Rhine, as U.S. bomb strike targets on the East Bank. View of smoke rising from bomb strikes. View of bridges destroyed by German forces. Closeup of three U.S. soldiers standing together. A German Messerschmitt Me-110 warplane passes overhead. Wrecked railroad bridge seen from above. The East bank seen from an aircraft. Soldiers refueling from 55 gallon drums. Troops moving through smoke screen. Two soldiers looking at the Rhine where the Ludendorff steel bridge is seen still standing. View of bridge at Remagen, from a cliff on the West bank of the Rhine. Soldiers in a jeep approach the bridge on West bank. View from jeep driving on riverbank underneath the bridge. Soldiers running across the footpath on the bridge. View from vehicle driving across the bridge. Troops and equipment crossing the bridge into Germany on East side of the Rhine. Large sign posted on bridge tower, reading: "Cross the Rhine with dry feet, Courtesy of the 9th Armored Division." Group of American soldiers watching as others cross the bridge. Several British Lancaster bombers are seen over the Rhine River. Inflight closeup of one releasing a large bomb. Camera tracks its fall to explode on target. Medical Corpsmen hurrying along the river bank, carrying a stretcher. Troops entering small boats and amphibious assault craft to cross the river. A U.S. Army Air Forces P-47 aircraft diving. A pilot wearing an oxygen mask seen in a cockpit. Troops in an LVT crossing the Rhine. More views of American and British troops crossing the Rhine by water. Troops being organized as they move out on the Eastern shore. A column of British troops moving on a road and escorting German prisoners. Two of the prisoners looking up as a formation of U.S. C-47 aircraft fly overhead. View inside a C-46D transport as troopers jump from its double rear paratroop doors. View from aircraft as paratroops descend with chutes open. A C-46 flying low over a German town, towing a Waco CG-4A glider. Army vehicles crossing river on a pontoon bridge. Closeup glimpse of a British officer. British troops riding in army trucks. (Note: Vehicles: seen in this film include: Diamod T 981, M20 MB GPW, M8 Armored Car Landing Craft, LVT, Rogers Trailer M9, M4 Sherman, Quad Mount, DUKW, WLA, CCKW )
Allied forces advance deeper into Germany after crossing the Rhine. Bergen-Belsen Nazi concentration camp in Germany during World War II. Allied planes in sky. Allied troops advance in Germany after crossing Rhine River. U.S. soldiers held prisoners by Germany are liberated from a POW camp by British forces. Scenes of jubilant freed American prisoners cheering their British rescuers and having food and drink. Some of the freed prisoners hold a newspaper announcing the death of U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt. Displaced civilian persons walk on roadways as refugees carrying few possessions. They had been slave laborers for the Germans. Some walk along slowly with no shoes. Prisoners freed from Belsen concentration camp by the British 11th Armored Division. The German prison Camp Commandant, Josef Kramer, seen under guard by British soldiers. Emaciated and unburied corpses on the grounds of Bergen-Belsen camp. Emaciated man seated. Emaciated corpses being thrown into a mass grave. German women made to view the atrocities are seen crying and weeping. Prisoners behind barbed wire. Medics tend to a prisoner. Various views of different concentration camp victims. U.S. planes in flight.
Invasion of Germany by Allied forces during World War and unconditional surrender by Germany during World War 2. At TC: 00:19 thru 00: 21, Generalfeldmarschall Albert Kesselring, Commander of Axis forces in Italy, is seen outside a building in the mountains. Rear view of the war-damaged Reichtag building and View of the Brandenburg Gate as Soviet troops occupy during Battle of Berlin. General Dwight D. Eisenhower conferring with an unidentified General. Lieutenant Generals George S. Patton and Omar Bradley are with him. Soviet soldiers waving to Americans on opposite sides of the Elbe River. American soldiers paddling an inflated boat across the river. U.S. 69th Infantry division and Russian 58th Guard Division troops under Major General Rusakov embracing meet at the Elbe River in Torgau Germany on April 26, 1945. Several succeeding views of American and Soviet soldiers celebrating together, shaking hands, hugging, and offering toasts and drinking together to celebrate their alliance in defeating the Germans. A group of American and Soviet soldiers posing for pictures atop a concrete foundation with a banner across it reading: "Our Greeting to the Heroes Army of United States of America." A battery of tanks firing their guns. Two British soldiers confer in a town during battle; one has a cigarette in his mouth and the other is pointing in a direction. A Soviet IS-2 tank moving past a burning building. Destroyed street sign pointing at Hamburg. Local citizens waving white flags. Allied armor crossing a bridge over the Rhine River. British Marshal Bernard Montgomery and German General Eberhard Kinzel sign a document of surrender at Lüneburg Heath on 4 May 1945. Civilians moving about on streets of Berlin after Germany surrenders in World War 2. A British soldier posts an announcement from Allied occupying forces declaring the dissolution of the Nazi Party. Closeup of German citizens looking at the announcement. Local people standing amidst rubble near damaged buildings. A British Cromwell tank moving past the camera. Glimpse of a German family. Sherman tanks moving along a roadway. American Lieutenant Generals Leonard T. Gerow and William Simpson in Berlin. Trucks and tanks driving past fires. A long line of German prisoners of war marching beside a field under guard. German General Alfred Jodl and others leaving a car and entering General Eisenhower's Headquarters in Reims, France, May 7, 1945, where General Alfred Jodl, Chief of the Operations Staff in the German High Command, signs a document of unconditional surrender. Admiral Von Friedeburg of the German Navy, and Major Wilhelm Oxenius of the German General Staff sit beside him.
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