France declares war. Bus loads of troops leave the city en route to the front. People walking on a bridge. They buy vegetable and other articles from the market. They gather outside a building. Soldiers standing nearby. Soldiers marching. Buildings along the street side. Tanks advance towards the front. Planes in formation. Buildings set on fire. Firemen try to control the fire. Soldiers preparing for the attack. A soldier talks on the radio.
A Swiss Border guard walks toward camera, on the French side of the Franco-Swiss border crossing near Annecy, France, during World War 2. He confers with an officer of the U.S. Army Air Force. A tram arrives on the Swiss side and stops at the border. A large group of American pilots and crew step from the tram with their baggage. They are barred from moving further, by Swiss guards. But one man in a raincoat, walks past the guards and greets U.S. officers and an official, outside a customs office at the border. A Swiss border guard supervisor directs guards to move the flyers to a walkway. Another American Army officer arrives and greets those already there. The flyers being repatriated from Switzerland, walk en masse across the border and climb aboard a bus waiting on the French side.
U.S. 18th Field Artillery units position 155's (artillery guns) near Viffort in France during World War I. Artillery supplies arrive at Courboin. Terrain near Conde-en-Brie. 111th Infantry troops man trenches at Viffort. The 150th Field Artillery bombards Suippes.-Thierry.
Cherbourg after capture in World War 2. United States soldiers view Cherbourg from Fort du Roule (50100 Cherbourg-en-Cotentin, France). View of Cherbourg after invasion. Distant aerial views show heavy smoke in Cherbourg. Captured German troops (German prisoners of war - POW) leave Naval Arsenal area in Cherbourg under American watch.
U.S. Army General Dwight D. Eisenhower and others en route visit a beachhead in France during World War II. General Eisenhower, U.S. Army General George C. Marshall, U.S. Navy Admiral Ernest King and U.S. Army General Henry H. Arnold on a U.S. warship in the Atlantic Ocean en route to the beachhead. The captain of the ship watches towards the sea through binoculars.
Series 'Why We Fight' episode "Prelude to War" depicts the battles during World War II. United States soldiers parade on street lead by a band. Japanese bombing attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on December 7, 1941. The London Blitz with buildings destroyed and burning. The Eiffel Tower in Paris with Nazi flag flying atop it. German troops marching into Paris, through the Arc de Triomphe. Japanese warplanes bombing shanghai, China, in 1937. Chinese residents running for shelter. Glimpse of German "Schwerer Gustav" 80 cmrailway gun firing during German offensive against Soviet Union in 1941. German forces entering Czechoslovakia in 1938. German mounted troops entering France in 1940. Heavy guns firing. German ships en route to Norway 1940. German Ju-52 aircraft flying low over trees. Montage showing rapid succession of war scenes, including heavy guns firing, smoke rising, explosions, an aircraft shot down and crashing straight down, German armor on the move, German Ju-52 aircraft dropping paratroopers into Holland and one flying over Athens, Greece, with Mount Lykabettus in the background. More of the same with Narrator mentioning Belgium, Albania, Yugoslavia, and Russia (where citizens are seen digging anti-tank trenches and fortifications). Cavalry charging across a field. A German tank rolling forward. A German Dornier Do-17 bomber taking off, and bombs falling.
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