Opening shows animated map of Alsace front at junction of Belgium, Germany, and France, in World War 2. Allied forces are schematically shown sweeping toward Wissembourg, Haguenau, and Strasbourg. Next, several U.S. Army M4A3(75) medium tanks are seen driving toward the camera on a rural road, during a pull back by the 7th Army in the first week of January, 1944, from advanced positions at the front. Some are filled with infantry riding atop them. The last of them is seen crossing a bridge 13 miles Northeast of Haguenau. The engineers of the 79th Division place demolition charges to destroy the bridge. Closeup of them placing and then remotely igniting the charge. A huge explosion ensues that completely destroys the bridge. Scene shifts to several U.S. soldiers of an engineer combat battalion preparing 100 pound of TNT in a captured blockhouse at Lauterbach, Alsace. Closeup of engineer carrying the explosives into the blockhouse and preparing the remote detonation device. The engineers string wire in the snow and setup their remote detonation device. One depresses a plunger to ignite the charge and blow up the blockhouse, which explodes in a huge cloud of black smoke. Next, elements of the 79th Infantry Division supported by tanks, are seen moving forward to counter German gains Southeast of Haguenau. (On January 5th the German forces had established a bridgehead across the Rhein (Rhine) river near Gansheim, Germany.) Scene shifts to Drusenheim, Germany where U.S. forces are engaging a Battalion of occupying German forces. Machine gun fire is heard constantly, as American infantry battle the hidden German defenders and tanks drive them from defensive positions near a bridge at the far end of town. Infantry move from behind tanks toward the bridge and are seen crossing it. An M4A3(75) medium tank risks crossing the narrow bridge and is immediately followed by many 79th Infantry troops. The battle continues on the other side of the bridge.
The occupation and liberation of Paris during World War II. Germany occupies Paris in June 1940. A Nazi flag on the Eiffel Tower. Adolf Hitler with Nazi officers. Germans unfurl the Nazi flag on the Alsace-Lorraine Memorial. Hitler and his officers driven through the Place de la Concorde and past the Arc de Triomphe. Parisians close their shops. A man removes a Vichy poster and scribbles on a wall. Parisians listen to U.S. General Dwight Eisenhower's broadcast from London on June 6, 1944: The Allied task forces advance towards France on D-Day. Naval guns shell Normandy. Allied troops land on the beachhead and advance inland. Some fall to German gunfire. Headquarters of the Paris Underground. Members of the French Forces of the Interior (FFI) discuss, plan, document, prepare grenades, check guns, and wear badges of freedom with the FFI symbol. The French underground barricade streets. Men, women and children build barricades using various material. They inspect their guns and take their positions behind sand bag barricades on sidewalks. FFI soldiers honored. Burning vehicles on the roads. Street fighting between the FFI and the Germans. Corpses on the street. FFI men holding flags. Medics carry a wounded on stretcher. German tanks roam the streets. Wrecked vehicles and war equipment. FFI soldiers fire at German tanks. German snipers fire while French forces equipped by the U.S. are liberating the city. Explosions on the street. Civilians take cover. FFI fighters inspect a German soldier's corpse. They take German prisoners. French troops and military vehicles close in on Paris. Civilians watch and cheer as they enter the city. Barriers built by the FFI are pulled aside to let the troops pass. French forces in American tanks pass the Eiffel Tower. Explosions and machine gun fire during the street fighting. French soldiers fire at Germans hiding in buildings. Several German prisoners. German officers and soldiers surrender. Parisians watch as they are herded to prisons. Prisoners clean street.
U.S. Seventh Army builds a 4.5 inch test rocket launcher using M14 launch tubes in Alsace, France during World War II. U.S. 156th Field Artillery Battalion soldiers adjust the M14 calliope launch tubes mounted on a jeep. The soldiers load the rocket launcher. Elevation is adjusted by a gear near the front seat of the jeep. The driver closes the port cover and wind shield. He makes an electric contact. The 4.5 inch test rocket launcher mounted on the jeep is fired.
Large number of captured German soldiers is marched along a pathway,in Mulhausen (Mulhouse), Alsace, guarded by French soldiers of the 1st Army, during World War 2. They are followed by groups of French irregulars, who also perform guard duties as a contingent of the German soldiers is marched through the center of town, past Mulhouse Cathedral.German prisoners are herded into a narrow alleyway where they are searched and processed by French troops.
French and United States Army 3rd Army troops liberate Strasbourg, France during World War II. Tanks of the French 1st Army moves from the Swiss border. Sign reads “Mülhausen Elsaß” (“Mulhouse, Alsace”). Troops find the body of a dead German soldier along the road. They advance in the Metz area. The 9th army advances through villages in bordering Germany. Soldiers walk on the battlefield. German prisoners of war (POWs) walk along with the soldiers. Civilians holding the French flag return to their homes after the battle. Strasbourg sign in German reads “Straßburg Schiltigheim”. Bell tower of the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Strasbourg, France. Damaged buildings near the Cathedral. The street is littered with pile of handheld, small Nazi flags with swastika emblem. Men gather outside buildings discussing amongst themselves. Third Army troops walk in the mud. Weather overshoes are distributed to troops. Soldiers put on all-weather boots. More German soldiers and officers are captured in Metz. United States Ninth Army troops enter the town of Weisweiler, Germany. Soldiers moving through backyards, chicken houses and engage in house-to-house fighting. A mortar crew fire mortars behind trench made of sandbags. A wounded soldier crawls himself to reach an aid station. Medical aid stations at various places on the battlefield. Medics treat a wounded soldier. A dying soldier lies down on the street. Soldiers carry a patient to top of a tank. They march forward on the battlefield as officers on Jeep watch on.
French troops operating in Mulhouse, Alsace-Lorraine, France, during World War 2. Burning buildings in village. The spire of a church. Smoke rising from the burnt areas. A man directs several boys to help fight the fire. Village residents fighting fires with buckets of water. Colonial North African infantry of the French 1st Army accompanied by an M4 Sherman tank on street outside gated official-looking building. They enter through gates cautiously. Elsewhere, a local Frenchman pours glasses of white wine for American soldiers sitting in a jeep. Scene shifts to the French troops, along with a cameraman, who are sheltering under sniper fire, near building. Their M4 tank (named "Marne") also provides some cover. Momentary glimpse of German soldiers taken prisoner.
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