From a 1943 newsreel covering the Doolittle Raid on Japan in April 1942. United States Navy aircraft carrier USS Hornet (CV-8) in Japanese waters. B-25 Mitchell medium bomber planes lined up on the deck of the carrier. Lt. Col. James Doolittle and Hornet skipper Captain Marc A Mitscher with the 80 volunteers seated near a 500lb bomb on board. He ties a Japanese medal (awarded to U.S. officers for humanitarian aid to Japanese people) on the bomb. The carrier in heavy seas 800 miles off the Japanese coast. A Japanese patrol boat is sighted and sunk. The survivors are taken prisoners. The crew readies the loaded bombers. General Doolittle in the cockpit as he leads the takes off. The planes take off in rough weather to bomb Japan. The Yokosuka Naval Base bombed and ablaze. The planes bomb armed plants, rail yards and oil refineries all over Japan. Soldiers examine a wrecked B-25 in Japan. U.S. pilots hold traditional Chinese umbrellas and pose with a Chinese man. Chongqing: Soong May-ling, better known as Madame Chiang Kai-shek, awards General Doolittle and his men for the gallant raid. (World War II period).
Results of air assaults by the British Royal and U.S. Eighth Air Forces over industrial areas in and around German-occupied Paris during Wolrd War II. The damaged Hispano-Suiza Aircraft Engine Factory (producer of components for Daimler-Benz, Mercedez-Benz) at Bois Colombe, after three attacks by the U.S. Eighth Air Force in December 1943. The destroyed crankshaft plant, foundry, and tool shop. Aircraft engines overhauled, crafted and ready for shipment, left behind by the fleeing Nazis. Allied soldiers and workers under the bare roof. Damaged equipment and material. Allied officers and civilians survey the damage. Collapsed roof structures. Debris and rubble strewn all over the floor. Bent steel structures. Buildings in the surrounding area. Military jeeps parked in the factory grounds. Damaged structures left standing.
American correspondents in Netherlands to mark 25th anniversary of Allied invasion of Europe in World War II. A steamer underway in a canal. Views in the village of Opijnen, in Gelderland, the Netherlands. A correspondent and his wife come out of a house. American correspondents near a bus. Houses along a road. An American flag at the walled cemetery in Opijnen, beside its 17th century Dutch Reformed Church, where the crew members of an American B-17 bomber from the 323 Squadron of the 91st Bomb Group (H) of the U.S. 8th Army Air Force are buried; shot down July 30, 1943 by the German Luftwaffe. Gravestones bearing the names of American soldiers who lost their lives when their crippled B-17 was shot down, including: Mike Anthony Perrotta, Hermon Daines Poling, Harold Royce Sparks, Robert Urquhart Duggan, Douglas Victor Blackwood, Americo Cianfichi. U.S. Color Guard marches from a town building toward the cemetery. A woman correspondent takes pictures. An American flag flies at half mast. Men, women and children at the cemetery. Dutch children carry flowers in their hands. The mayor of Opijnen speaks into a microphone. He and a woman place flowered wreaths at the graves of dead American soldiers. Two groups of four U.S. Convair F-102 Delta Dagger aircraft fly overhead followed by four F-104 Starfighters of the Royal Netherlands Airforce. Children walk past the graves. Additional propeller aircraft pass overhead honoring the airmen.
Damaged USS Louisville (CA-28) hit by Japanese Kamikase in World War 2. Damaged forward stack of the ship. Float of its scout plane left on catapult, is jettisoned. Large stack of the USS Louisville knocked down. Engine of seaplane blown up by explosion on the signal bridge. Man welds in superstructure. View of other men working to repair damage to the Cruiser.. [Note: The following eyewitness account of the kamikaze attack was recorded by Seamen 1st Class, Enrico Trotta, who was a crew member on the USS Louisville (CA-28) from 1943 to 1946, "At 1923 (hours) two planes which were identified as friendly flew around and one kamikaze dove onto the battleship USS Mississippi BB 41. The other kamikaze plane turned to the Louisville and started to make a run on us. I was on No. #4 - 20 mm AA gun mount on the port side below #2 main battery and I fired 58 rounds to set the kamikaze plane on fire prior to hitting the Louisville’s front smoke stack bending and twisting it and killing 9 men on the 40 mm gun mount mounting on the forward superstructure tripod about 140 feet from our gun mount. The kamikaze also cut our sea plane off and left only the pontoon on the catapult. Three other 20 AA mm gun crews opened up firing 4, 11, and 20 rounds as well. We were not told to fire for we did it on our own. We were only manning the guns at the time and were not on general quarters. Later, the officers came by and said good job."]
Two U.S. Pennsylvania class battleships underway at sea, with other warships in background, during World War 2. One fires to starboard with her 14-inch guns from the forward triple turrets. U.S. Army Air Forces B-24 Liberator bombers flying in formation over mountains. Glimpse of General Douglas MacArthur with General Joseph (Vinegar Joe) Stilwell in gunner's station of a bomber. Montage of brief glimpses showing U.S. forces engaging Japanese forces in: amphibious assaults; firing weapons in New Guinea and other Pacific islands. U.S. warship firing naval guns. U.S. ship firing at attacking Japanese aircraft, with sky full of black flak clouds. Admiral William (Bull) Halsey. Mitsubishi A6M Zero kamikaze aircraft blown up close to flight deck of U.S. aircraft carrier. It misses the ship and crashes in flames, exploding in the water, astern. U.S. General Joseph Stilwell, Madame Chiang Kai-Shek, British Allied commander Lord Louis Mountbatten, and Chinese Generalissimo Chiang Kai-Shek, photographed together in India. Chinese Generalissimo Chiang Kai-Shek seated for a picture with U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Camera moves back revealing British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and Madame Chiang Kai-Shek, also seated. Behind them stand key allied military leaders, including (from the right) Field Marshal Archibald Percival Wavell, Commander-in-chief in India; Admiral Louis Mountbatten, Supreme Allied Commander of South-East Asia forces; George Giffard — commander of Eleventh Army Group; U.S. General Daniel Isom Sultan, deputy to General Stilwell; General Joseph Stilwell, Commander China-Burma-India (CBI) Command; and General Albert Coady Wedemeyer, Chiang Kai-Shek's Chief of Staff. General Joseph Stillwell is seen stepping from a military cargo plane, and being greeted by another officer. Stilwell is wearing a campaign hat. He has the CBI patch on his jacket shouder. A B-24 Liberator bomber takes off from a Chinese base at Liuchow, or possibly, Luiliang, China. (ostensibly carrying Chinese soldiers to India for training). U.S. marked P-40 aircraft are parked beside the runway. They display the shark teeth nose art of the Flying Tiger All volunteer Group of Claire Chennault. But this is 1944 and the aircraft are from the U.S. 23rd Fighter Group. Chinese soldiers are seen being armed and trained in India, with modern small arms. They are also seen fording a river with military supplies and moving in jeeps through jungle-like settings. Various views of Ledo Road construction in Burma. bulldozers, trucks, caterpillar tractors, explosives and men are shown in construction work. A jeep rides along a muddy section of the new road while U.S. and Chinese soldiers patrol on either side to protect it. Allied soldiers firing a small field piece. A C-47 aircraft airdrops supplies to the road builders. General Stilwell, standing with a Chinese officer, looks skyward at the aircraft. A C-46 Commando plane taking off from a field in India carrying supplies. Men loading a jeep aboard a C-46, plus ammunition and other supplies. Rare sight of supplies being loaded into nose cargo compartment of the one-of-a-kind XC-108A transport plane (modified B-17 bomber, tail number 41-2593). A formation of USAAF C-45 transport aircraft flying "over the Hump." Chinese P-36 Hawk aircraft in formation demonstrate firepower. Newly trained Chinese pilots marching and walking on flightline where solid-nose B-25s and P-40s are parked. Chinese and American pilots wave to each other from their P-40 aircraft. A B-25 takes off flanked by two P-40s. Bombs being dropped by Chinese B-25s. Japanese ship being strafed by Chinese fighter plane. Chinese laborers at work building an airfield without machinery. A large group pull a paving roller by hand. Chinese troops in combat with Japanese forces. One firing a Czech ZB vz. 26 light machine gun. Madame Chiang Kai-Shek addressing the U.S. Congress, 18 February, 1943.
On Christmas Eve, 1943,during World War 2, the Chinese 38th and 22nd Divisions are seen marching along a road toward North Burma. A regiment of Merrill's Marauders is seen joining the march from India through Burma. (Narrator says they will engage the Japanese 18th Division.) Along the line of march a road sign reads,"Shinbwiyang, Mile 110." Numerous views of troops struggling through jungles and natural obstacles. They employ pack animals that sometimes had difficulty in rough terrain. Animated map shows the route from Ledo, Assam, India, to the places of Chinese and American engagement with Japanese forces, in the Hukawng Valley. U.S. troops are seen moving under fire from Japanese enemy during active combat and returning fire with rifles, Browning M 1917, and M 1919 machine guns. Some of Merrill's Marauders wear standard M1 steel combat helmets, while others wear older M1917A1 "Kelly" helmets. One is seen firing a Bren gun with top-mounted curved box magazine. Others fire mortars. Chinese troops seen firing small artillery pieces. M3A3 Stuart light tanks of the joint Chinese-American 1st Provisional Tank Group (1st PTG) are seen with infantry walking behind them. Next, Allied casualties on litters are seen being placed in an ambulance. Numerous wounded are seen on the ground. Chinese troops carry a wounded on a litter. Views of Japanese soldiers being burned out of their hiding places by Chinese troops. Numerous views of dead Japanese soldiers. Scene shifts to air support by U.S. Army Air transport command providing aerial resupply from C-47 transport aircraft. C-47 aircraft seen flying over jungles. Monitors at a headquarters location are seen charting the changing positions of the Allied troops on the ground. View in a warehouse where air drop ready supplies are stored. Numerous views of supplies of all kinds being readied for air drop, including mail for the troops. Shipments being loaded aboard a transport airplane. C-47 airplane taxiing out after loading. Troops on the ground in radio contact with a transport plane. A long sequence ensues showing aerial resupply air drops from C-47 transport planes. After that, medical personnel are seen on the ground providing care to seriously wounded under difficult circumstances. Closeup of a surgeon tending to a patient. Many wounded seen on the ground awaiting attention and others in tents. A wounded on litters are transferred from an ambulance to an airplane. A woman nurse with other medics transferring patients. View inside an airplane set up for air evacuation. A nurse gives a wounded patient some water to drink. At a location unreachable by larger transport airplanes, a wounded soldier is placed aboard a single engine Stinson L-5 Sentinel liaison airplane which is then seen taking off and flying away. Animated map shows progress of Chinese troops on the Ledo road.
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