U.S. troops and Coast Guardsmen assemble for religious service on a pier in the port of Weymouth, England, three days before the invasion of Normandy, France, in World War 2. A Roman Catholic Military Chaplain conducts the mass. Landing Craft Infantry LCI(L) numbers 89 and 93 are tied up at the dock in the background. (These craft are part of LCI(L) Floltilla 10, operated by the United States Coast Guard.) A small dog stands at the feet of the Chaplain, as he conducts the mass. The service finishes as the Chaplain administers the sacrament of Holy Communion (Eucharist) to the troops. In concluding scenes, U.S. Landing Craft Infantry are seen underway from England, to join Assault Groups for the invasion of Normandy, France. One of the craft is seen to be Number 87 and another number 495.
Preparations in England for the Allied invasion of France during World War II. U.S. Army 82nd Airborne soldiers with equipment as they prepare to board an aircraft. Men load into buses as a motorcycle escort leads a convoy of buses through a farmland. Men get down from the buses and walk into hangar being used as barracks. Soldiers issued new equipment including life vests, ammunition and grenades. Medical supplies are checked. A jazz band of servicemen plays and men do pushups and calisthenics. Men play handball and volleyball. They read and write letters to loved ones at home. Men sharpen, check and work on knives and rifles. They clean and oil the rifles and attach bayonets. Soldiers paint invasion stripe marks on C-47 aircraft readying it for the D-Day invasion of France.
'Eve of Battle' depicts the Allied invasion of Europe during World War II. Slave labor from Nazi Germany-invaded countries construct Atlantic Wall. German artillery and fortifications in the Atlantic Wall. Nazi German soldiers marching in groups. Nazi leader Adolf Hitler shake hands with Italian fascist leader Benito Mussolini. Allied leaders Franklin D. Roosevelt, Winston Churchill and Joseph Stalin sit together during the Tehran Conference in December 1943. Exiled Allied leaders such as General Charles de Gaulle of France, Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands and Dr. Edvard Beneš of Czechoslovakia inspect Allied troops. Various Allied troops from Poland, Norway, England, United States, and Czechoslovakia prepare to launch an invasion in France. Eisenhower along with other officers plans the European invasion. Allied ships and aircraft on their way to Europe. Allied bombers drop bombs over Nazi German U-boats. Naval battle begins and explosions occur, smoky docks. In England war supplies unloaded. Supplies include weapons, military equipment, and food. A tank and locomotive trains being loaded into a ship bound for Europe. Allied aircraft take off at night. A man directs an aircraft taking off. Allied bombers bombard German targets resulting into fiery flare in Europe. British children playing jump rope as a supply train pass by in the background. Tanks and fighter planes transported by train. Supply boxes unloaded and stacked for transport to the battle front.
German M-Class mine sweeper in waters off France in World War 2. It is armed with quad-mounted 2 cm Flak 38 AA guns (2 cm Flakvierling 38). German Navy sailors look up at contrails from high flying Allied aircraft. Officer sights aircraft overhead and hurries to report it. He records his observation in a log. German radio operator transmits information over wireless telephone by morse code telegraph key. A mass of contrails from Allied aircraft is seen in the sky. Scene shifts to a German airfield in France, where Focke-Wulf FW-190 fighters are lined up. Ground crewman shows motion picture gun camera for an airplane. Men push a Messerschmitt Bf 104 out of a hangar. Closeup of German pilots strapping into Me-104s and taxiing for takeoff. FW-190s and Me-109s taking off from airfield. German civilians entering a Flak tower for refuge as a bomb shelter. View from inside as doors close. Trams stopped on street. Hospital staff moving patients to bunkers (bomb shelters). Massive contrails from Allied bombers. View inside a German command post, where women workers and German officers with headphones plot positions of attacking planes on large maps. Flight of German Me-109 aircraft in formation. Gun camera showing A U.S. B-17 bomber being shot from rear with its wing on fire and explosion in its tail. Glimpse of head-on attack against B-17. Two Messerschmitt Bf 110 aircraft in flight. A lone U.S. B-24 Liberator bomber under attack. B-17 with piece of windshield missing and horizontal stabilizer shot away. B-17 bomber formation under attack from the rear. View of pilot and instruments inside German fighter plane. B-17 being shot to pieces in frontal attack. More attacks on formations of B-17s. German women in command post recording combat information on displays. Parachutes of American B-17 crew in sky. Captured U.S. fliers being escorted under guard, and one, with head bandaged, being questioned by German officers (English conversation is heard.) The flier says he is fine They ask another flier if he is wounded. He says only a twisted ankle. Temporary graves of dead American fliers, with wooden crosses and names on them, including one with name George J.Parker.
Entertainment at a jungle training center in the United States. Bob Hope at a microphone with a band behind him. All of them are wearing camouflage suits. He is holding up a helmet. Pattie Thomas walks on a stage wearing a helmet and a camouflage suit. Tony Romano walks on wearing a camouflaged suit.. He carries his guitar. Frances Langford appears. Jerry Colonna and Bob Hope put on their act. Another member of the troop appears. Frances Langford sings. A band and a guitar player joins them. Jerry Colonna and Tony Romano perform an act. (World War II period).
American entertainers in Kwajalein, Marshall Islands during World War II. A staff car arrives and comedians Bob Hope and Jerry Colonna get off the car. Interiors of a hospital. Bob Hope, Jerry Colonna, Frances Langford, Patty Thomas and Tony Romano walk down the aisle between rows of bed cases. They talk to wounded soldiers. Frances Langford sings as Tony Romano plays a guitar. Jerry Colonna performs. The entertainers talk to the soldiers.
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