American soldiers in Italy, during Allied Operation Husky, and Operation Avalanche in World War 2. In landings during invasion of Salerno, Italy, soldiers pause their movements while two use a detector to search for possible buried mines. They detect one and are seen carefully digging it up from the sandy soil. Soldiers unroll steel matting across an area of beach. Close-up of heavy trucks moving across the matting. A bulldozer uses a cable to pull a section of temporary docking out of an LST (Landing ship tank). Troops move across several sections of such docking as they make their way onto the shore. A sherman tank making its way toward the shore . More heavy equipment coming ashore from LSTs, including a US M1 155mm “Long Tom” Gun. The gun being towed on shore, as trucks and jeeps maneuver through shallow water nearby. A long line of jeeps and trucks moving inland. Military vehicles being offloaded from the British Landing Ship Tank (HM LST-200). U.S. troops moving on a beachhead, along with artillery pieces, and vehicles. Soldiers carrying boxes of supplies and ammunition and struggling with large wooden crates of such, in shallow surf, and using a roller conveyor to offload some heavy items from a ship. A landing craft suspended from a cable operated A-Frame on wheels (in the water). At this point the thrust of the film shifts to illustrate the hazards of amphibious operations, in general. Swamped vehicles and a landing craft in the surf. The beach littered with damaged and swamped landing craft and equipment, including, among others, a landing craft from the USS Samuel Chase (APA-26). A huge explosion in the water. Glimpse of a German Junkers Ju 87 (Stuka) dive bomber attacking while being shot down by a U.S. sailor firing an anti-aircraft gun . View from above of sailors firing twin bofors 40mm antiaircraft cannons from an emplacement on a ship. Several German Junkers Ju 87 planes maneuvering as they attack. Quad bofors antiaircraft guns firing from a ship. More attacking Ju-87 dive bombers on the attack. A dramatic explosion and smoke from the Liberty ship SS Robin Rowan after being hit by a German bomb off the coast of Gela, Sicily on July 11, 1943. A landing ship burning from German bombing, off Gela, Sicily, with its deck full of halftrack and personnel carrier vehicles. The film continues the theme of losses encountered in wartime amphibious assaults, by shifting to the Pacific theater of operation, where a Landing Ship Tank (LST) is seen ablaze, off Guadalcanal, after being hit by Japanese shelling. View from beach with barbed wire, ashore, of the burning LST. Sherman tanks lost in a conflagration aboard an LST. Sailors carry a casualty on a litter, and place it next to other fallen crew members, on deck.
Nazi brownshirts riding on a truck yelling anti-Jewish propaganda in streets of Germany during anti-Semitic campaign of 1933. Signs on Jewish-owned businesses encouraging boycott of those businesses. Brownshirt drawing sign on storefront glass of a shop. Sign with skull and slogan "Achtung Juden" posted on front door of Cafe Unter den Linden. Crowd of German citizens interacting with brownshirts, mostly in support, but one brief scene shows a citizen arguing with a brownshirt posted in front of a Jewish-owned shop. Nazis with swastika armbands leading anti-Jewish chants, while some citizens raise their hands in Nazi salutes. Next scene deals with the Nuremberg Laws including the Reich Citizenship Law and the Law for the Protection of German Blood and German Honor. It shows Herman Goering addressing government officials at the seventh Nazi party congress in September 1935, and reading parts of the so-called blood purity laws and standards. Rudolf Hess and Adolf Hitler are seated in the foreground. Goering reads the proclamation that German citizens are only those of German or related blood, willing to serve the Reich and German people. Goering then reads that marriages between Jews and citizens of German or related blood are prohibited. Scene from courtroom during 1946 Nuremberg trials. Next scene shows Jewish citizens being forcefully and brutally dragged, beaten, and evicted from their homes by Nazis. Some have been stripped of their clothing. A woman is dragged by her hair. A man is beaten. Scenes of German citizens and possibly Gestapo beating and harassing Jewish people in the streets. Clearing of the Warsaw Ghetto in April 1943. Close-up of hand turning device to generate explosive charge. Large explosion in Warsaw Ghetto. Views of buildings burning in the Warsaw Ghetto. People carrying bodies on stretchers. A person being dragged by Nazi soldiers out of a sewer holes where they had been hiding. Nazi German tanks and armor rolling through the ghetto, and artillery being fired at a building. Waffen SS, gestapo police, and Wehrmacht participating in brutality. Jewish man being hit and dragged across street.
'The fighting first' about the role of United States 1st Infantry Division in various campaigns during World War II. A soldier of United States 1st Infantry Division. Combat boots of soldiers during the civil war and World War I. A map shows the 1st Infantry Division units moving across the Atlantic Ocean towards North Africa for Operation Torch in November, 1942. Soldiers of 1st Infantry Division go to England and loaded onto ships as they move to Africa. U.S. General Terry Allen aboard a ship. Infantry soldiers fire in Oran, Algeria. Aircraft in flight, explosions occur and a convoy of trucks on advance during the battle in Oran. 1st Infantry Division troops as part of US II Corps battle against Nazi General Rommel's armies in Tunisia, North Africa. Battle scenes against German forces in North Africa in a variety of locations, overlaid with this narration: "we damn near flunked out at the Kasserine (Kasserine Pass). But we learned the score and we started to teach Gerry a few things out of our book. We rammed our way back to Gafsa and down Rommel's throat at El Guettar, where we tore up his crack 10th panzer division." In 1943, men of 1st Infantry Division load onto ships and arrive in Sicily. Troops advance into a town in Sicily after capturing it. Damaged houses in a city in Sicily.
In 1943, Higgins boats from the USS Callaway (APA-35) practice maneuvering in a circle, in waters off San Diego, California. A M3 Stuart light tank being lowered from the ship onto Higgins boat number PA35-1. View of two marines riding on top of the tank as the boat proceeds toward shore. Higgins boat (PA26-23) from the USS Samuel Chase (APA-26) churns the waters during training activities in waters off Algeria, North Africa. Boat No. 23 flies a striped flag of maroon and gold, which seems to identify it as a supervisory boat. Other landing craft, including Boat PA26-11, execute training maneuvers.
Japanese German economic pact being signed in Germany on January 20, 1943. A Japanese delegate walks up stairs and shakes hands with German Foreign Minister Joachim Von Ribbentrop. The two leaders sign the Japanese German economic pact and shake hands.
The Allied Campaign in Italy during World War II. The campaign begins on September 23,1943. British 8th Army troops get onto ships . British 8th Army Commander General Bernard Montgomery. British soldiers land in Calabria, Italy. 8th Army troops advance. Supreme Allied Commander General Dwight D. Eisenhower aboard a ship. The Italian fleet surrenders. U.S. 5th Army soldiers loaded in a ship under the command of U.S. Army General Mark Clark as they head for Salerno, Italy. Allied aircraft provide a cover to the convoy underway at sea. German soldiers and equipment in Salerno. Allied troops land at a beach as the Germans open a heavy fire. Explosions occur at the beach. Allied naval guns are fired at German positions. Nazi aircraft attack to disrupt Allied landings. Royal Air Force and B-17s of the U.S. 9th Air Force aircraft in flight. Aerial view of bombs exploding on German positions. Dead soldiers at the beach. 8th Army soldiers advance inland. Artillery being fired. General Mark Clark with the soldiers after gaining the beachhead. 8th and 5th Army soldiers advance into Italy. A map depicts the position of Foggia, an Allied stronghold.
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