Animated map depicts principal positions of British and French forces on the French-Belgian border in September, 1939 at the start of World War 2, It shows assembly and movement of some forces in Belgium and Holland. Adolf Hitler looks over a planning map with Marshal Walther von Brauchitsch and other officers. Animated map illustrates the disposition of German forces under Generals Bock and Von Rundstedt, and their plan of attack across the Rhine River into Belgium. At German headquarters communications center switchboard operators connect military units to send orders. German soldiers and equipment starts moving with motorcycles, trucks, halftracks and other vehicles. General Franz Halder, Commmander-in-Chief of all German forces, climbs into an open army utility vehicle, after arriving by plane at an airport. An aircraft engine being started. Marshal Hermann Goering, Chief of the airforce (Luftwaffe) converses with an officer at an airport. Junkers Ju 88 bombers taking off and flying in loose formation high overhead. Views from inside one of the aircraft. Closeup of a Heinkel He 111 bomber in flight. View from greenhouse of the aircraft. German paratroopers in the cabin of a Junkers Ju 52 transport plane. Two Ju 52s flying overhead. View from inside a Ju 52 of Belgium and Holland waterways below. Pilot informs the troopers who stand and begin the parachute from the plane into Rotterdam. Closeup of the troopers exiting with chutes starting to open. Three Ju 52s dropping paratroops. Shots of troopers descending under fully open chutes. Aerial view of Rotterdam. German troops running along street and discarding border obstacles with sledge hammers.Military vehicles crossing the border. Tanks used to destroy obstacles. A Stug III crossing the border. German infantry moving cautiously through wooded area. A group drops down to the ground as a shot is heard to ricochet past them. German soldiers firing machine gun. Infantry under fire moving across fields flanking a village. German soldiers under small arms fire, scurry along a deserted steet in a town and seek shelter in doorways. Two carry a wounded comrade. A soldier fires an MG 42 machine gun resting on the shoulder of another soldier. German soldiers stand over two wounded. More German troops running close to buildings for cover.
Film opens with animated map showing Fort Eben-Emael in Northeastern Belgium, during World War 2. It higlights the Albert and the Willem Canals nearby. German troops are shown hunkered down near a path by a canal. Their commander orders one squad to advance. They cross the path and go down the canal embankment. A destroyed bridge seen in background. Next, the squad of four is seen in a small boat, passing the destroyed bridge as gunfire sounds.They reach the other shore and scramble up the embankment. A Panzer IV tank firing point blank to the rear, at a building. View from German held bank of a Canal as German shells strike the opposite shore. A Panzer IV tank moving past the camera and onto a bridge crossing a canal.(Narrator notes that the The 18th Army under Generalfeldmarschall Georg von Küchler and the 6th Army under General Walther von Reichenau, are participating in this campaign.) High ranking German officers riding in an open staff car carrying a gunner with a machine gun. German troops marching alongside a road as others in trucks drive past. German towed artillery moving along a road past local refugees carrying their belongings in horse-drawn wagons. Map highlights waterways and Dutch city of Moerdijk, which it reflects as German territory, along with other places as illustrates areas falling under control of the German armies advancing toward Rotterdam in "Fortress Holland." German soldiers fighting in urban Holland. Two hunkered down by a gas station. The sky illuminated by fires raging from German bombardment. German Commanders consulting with their officers. German soldiers climbing over house roofs and entering therefrom. Army trucks and armor advancing into a city. Two Dutch defenders surrendering. A Dutch officer accompanied by a soldier with a white flag, being escorted by a German officer. A Dutch vehicle with a white flag, leading several past a windmill. Dutch Commander,Colonel Pieter Wilhelmus Scharroo, enters a building with several staff, and sits at a table opposite Generalleutnant Rudolf Schmidt and other high ranking officers, to negotiate terms of surrender. The German officers are seen reviewing maps of the area. Numerous Dutch prisoners of war are seen marching along a road.
Film starts showing diagrams of German army artillery firing plan supporting Battle of France during World War 2. German army officers are seen viewing maps and going over plans. Animated map shows British and French forces in the West and German break-through army poised to the East of the Maginot Line. The animated German break-through forces advance behind artillery. View of a German gun crew firing a 21cm heavy howitzer, and its shells exploding in the distance. Various views of German gun crews loading and firing heavy artillery and the shells striking with large explosions. German infantry soldiers seen moving through area filled with obstacle defenses. A line of German Panzer I tanks moving along a road between the obstacles. More views of German artillery firing. Machine gun firing and fires breaking out at night, and German tanks moving over fires burning on the ground. Machine fun tracer rounds seen in the dark. Many buildings being consumed by flames. Surrendered French soldiers being searched by German soldiers. A large open air compound containing many French prisoners of war taken by the German forces. Various views of the prisoners in the compound.
United States Army soldiers guarding a group of German SS prisoners of war who are being held near a village. Cameraman slate indicates location of "Wittring" (presumably Wittring France, just outside the German border, in the Moselle region), but U.S. government record accompanying the film indicates "Wittring, (?) Germany" (sic). A wheel cart is seen on the street. The German prisoners of war have SS markings on their right lapel and also the SS skull insignia on the cap, identifying them most likely as part of the SS-Totenkopfverbände or SS-TV; also called Death's Head units. (Theories on these captured soldiers include: 1) SS-TV units were primarily in charge of administering the Nazi Concentration Camps in World War II. Hinzert Concentration Camp was possibly the closest camp to Wittring. Perhaps these soldiers came from it or another camp; 2) They may have been part of the 3rd SS Panzer Division. Reportedly, whole platoons and elements of the 3rd SS Panzer division were not following orders and were giving up prior to the Budapest and Vienna battles to avoid Soviet captivity, as early as Jan 1945). Prisoners rub their hands to warm them in the cold. Camera shows a close-up view of one of the prisoners, as an American soldier attaches a Prisoner of War identification tag over around the neck of the prisoner.
Navy training film segment focusing on how to secure parked jet aircraft against wind and weather aboard an aircraft carrier. Blue shirts illustrate how to secure nose tie downs; install duct covers; and otherwise prepare McDonnell F2H Banshee aircraft against wind and weather. View of Jet engine rotors broken after exposure to salt water.
Scenes shot from a U.S. battleship,off the coast of Majuro Atoll, Marshall Islands, during World War 2. Brief glimpse of her guns in forward triple turret. A light cruiser is seen ahead, to starboard. View of an attack transport ship, with her Higgins Boats deployed in a line, and another attack transport seen in the background. The battleship, USS Colorado (BB-45) in camouflage paint (time code 1:40-1:43) and the battleship, USS Tennessee (BB-43)in measure 32 camouflage (time code: 1:44-1:51).
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