Aftermath of the Battle of St. Pietro Infine, Italy, after it was taken by soldiers of the U.S. Army 36th Division, 143rd Infantry Regiment and troopers of the 82nd Airborne Division, 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment, during World War 2. Several U.S. soldiers of the 143rd Infantry Regiment, scramble down a mountainside over rubble from destroyed buildings in San Pietro Infine, Italy, following the battle there during December 1943. (These scenes were photographed later, in 1944.) Next, more local people are seen running from a mountain cave, where they had taken refuge during the battle of San Pietro. Old people, women, and children make their way down the rubble strewn hillside and onto a remnant of road surrounded by destroyed buildings. Italian women carry their belongings balanced on their heads as they walk towards the remains of their dwellings. A man leads two cattle. One woman carries a new coffin balanced on her head. An 82nd Airborne trooper warns local people about the danger of mines and booby traps left behind by retreating German soldiers. A soldier removes a booby trap in a doorway. Women trying to clean up and settle in the ruins of their homes. As one woman sweeps debris, an huge explosion occurs, bringing down large portions of a building. U.S. Soldiers dig through debris, with shovels. An MP and infantryman stand with several Italian men as one is grief stricken while they retrieve the body of a loved one from the rubble. A woman weeps. Women nurse and comfort their babies. Small children are seen happily emerging from a cave. A mother admonishes her boy. Women and children are relieved and smiling. Several children scamper down a hill. Others are seen walking about and posing shyly for the camera. Local men clearing rubble and women washing clothes in an outdoor stream as they try to reestablish some normalcy in their lives. A shoemaker resuming business at a small bench outdoors. Men unloading sacks of flour from a truck. People purchasing flour being weighed in an outdoor market. Farmers plowing fields with oxen. A church procession, led by a youth carrying a Christian banner, moves from a bombed out church, between mounds of rubble, . Statue of a Saint at the church.
Commander of the German 18th Army, Colonel General Georg Lindemann, arrives to personally recognize Spanish Army General Emilio Esteban Infantes, commanding officer of the Spanish "Blue Division" (German 250th Infantry Division) for successfully repelling attack by the Russian 55th Army, in the Battle of Krasny Bor on the Eastern Front in February, 1943. Other officers help General Esteban Infantes to place an Iron Cross decoration around his neck. Scenes of German General Field Marshal Albert Kesselring reviewing Italian and German troops in Italy at an airfield and presenting award to some of the soldiers. In next scene, Benito Mussolini enters a room and then is seated in the first meeting of the leaders of the new Fascist Republican Party, including Alessandro Pavolini and Italian Minister of War Rodolfo Graziani. Next segment covers arrival of German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel to Italy, touring fortifications and inspecting defenses in Italy. He is seen reviewing port lookouts and defense points with German artillery. In once scene he passes an elderly Italian civilian and gives him the Nazi salute, which is returned weakly by the Italian. Next segment covers further expansion of Italian defenses, with the laying of barb wire by troops, including one soldier cutting his pants knee on the barbed wire. Also shows demolition of trees using dynamite. Explosions as trees are blown up. Then shows placement of new artillery guns and positions. German soldier reviewing a map while on phone receiving enemy position information. German soldiers in hills fire artillery at enemy position in a valley.
Field Marshall Friedrich Wilhelm Ernst Paulus approaches and enters small building to meet with Soviet officers and surrender German forces to the Russian Army after the German defeat in the Battle of Stalingrad in World War II. Paulus in a room with Soviet officers. Long lines of Nazi German soldiers marching in snow under Soviet guard after surrender. They march slowly past bombed buildings in the city, some with no boots and various injuries. Wide view from a high point over the city of Stalingrad, with a dead German soldier in foreground. Scene shows spring arrival and thaw of snow in Stalingrad. Map shows 186,000 square miles of reclaimed Soviet territory after pushing back and capturing German forces. Various abandoned German tanks, planes, rifles and and machine guns shown covered partially in snow after fall back of German troops. Masses of defeated German soldiers marching in snow. View of dead German soldiers and battlefield graves with German crosses on them. Animated map shows failure of German forces to capture Moscow, the Caucuses, and Stalingrad, in years 1941 through 1943. Scenes showing troops from Allied countries including Soviet, British, and American, and the flags of each of their countries waving.
Slate photographed at Grottaglie, Italy where the U.S. Army Air Forces 321st Bombardment Group is based, in September, 1943, during World War 2. View of a 321st Bomb Group B-25 bomber in flight over a River in Italy. A string of bombs dropping from the B-25. View of the Volturno River below and bombs striking roads, buildings, and a bridge over the river in the vicinity of Capua, Italy.
U.S. Army Air Force 340th bomb group bombs over Italy, operating from Catania in September 1943. Aircraft of 340th bomb group in flight. American bomber in flight above target bridge. Destruction of bridge in Amantea, Italy. (World War II period).
340th bomb group bombs over Cortone, Italy; operating from Catania in September 1943. 340th bomb group aircraft of U.S. Army Air Force in flight to drop bombs over railroad marshalling yards. Aerial view of target marshalling yards in Cortone. Explosions over target. (World War II period).
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