Post-World War II, Franco-Saar negotiations, in 1952. Participants stroll on grounds of a Chateau in France. Principals seen include Johannes Hoffman, Prime Minister of the Saar and Georges Bidault, Foreign Minister of France. (Note: these negotiations were unsuccessful, at the time.)
Momentary glimpse of French Regimental flag held by French collaborator militia German officers and civilians at the Longchamps racetrack in Paris, France. German officers examine damaged areas of the city. Closeup of a heavy concrete structure with writing on it reading: "St. Pierre des Corps" and "Entree de La Gare" (This is the severely damaged entrance to a central train station of the city.) Heavy smoke seen rising from a fire in the background. Somewhat blurred views from a vehicle driving through portions of Paris. One apartment building displays a sign reading "Soldatenheim" (Soldiers' Home). Major buildings displaying Nazi Swastika flags. View from overhead of German army truck, covered in foliage camouflage, driving along a boulevard. Posters on a wall lamenting France's suffering. Parisians going about their ordinary activities, walking in a town traffic circle. View from close overhead of another German army truck covered in foliage camouflage with soldiers riding on its rear. Another view of the posters on the wall.
U.S. soldiers wade ashore at Omaha Fox Green Beach on D-Day, from landing craft of USS Samuel Chase (APA 25). during the Invasion of France. An idyllic English village on June 5, 1944. C-47 aircraft towing a Waco CG-4 glider over shelters made of wooden shipping containers. "Shanty Town" written atop one tall structure. Glider being pulled out a shipping container. Soldiers moving into empty shipping container. Glimpse of their homemade barrack. soldiers eating a meal inside a shipping container shelter. Soldiers at barber shop. German defenses of the Atlantic Wall on the French coast. German gun crews drilling. German rail gun. Animated map of German fortifications of the Atlantic Wall. Allied officers, including U.S. Major General Lewis Hyde Brereton, Commander, 9th Air Force and British Air Marshal Arthur Coningham, Commander, 2nd Tactical Air Force, in D-day planning. Airborne troops board buses and arrive at restricted airfields. Troops playing in jazz band; exercising on field; and playing volleyball. Paratroopers reading mail. Airmen painting invasion stripes for D-day on C-47 aircraft. French francs issued to paratroopers. Troopers sharpen knives and bayonets. Chaplains conduct religious services. General Dwight D. Eisenhower visiting 101st Airborne troopers. Airborne Pathfinders. Paratroopers march to C-47s, and don parachutes. Troopers of the 101st Airborne,506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, Headquarters Company Demolition Section ("Filthy 13") in their Mohawk Indian haircuts. Clarence Ware puts war paint on Charles Plaudo, using still-wet paint from their C-47's D-day stripes. Heavily laden paratrooper help one another board airplanes. Pathfinder C-47s taking off at dusk, followed by all others, on June 5, 1944. formations of C-47s. Closeup of several planes. Paratroopers exiting C-47s. Formation of towed gliders. Gliders landing in field. Troops from gliders engaging in fire fights. Naval gun barrage.
Aerial view of many USAAF Troop Carrier Command C-47 aircraft,together with gliders, parked on a field in England. The aircraft and gliders are all painted in D-Day stripes. Views on ground of C-47s taking off towing gliders behind. Formation of C-47s and gliders overhead. Views from an aircraft in a formation. Below, the Portland Bill lighthouse & directional beacon (code-named Flatbush) is seen as the formation departs the English coast. (Note: film view of Portland Bill light is reversed. Roundabout should appear to right of the lighthouse.) Closeup of a glider in the formation. View from a ship, in the English Channel, as an airplane crashes and explodes on the French coast. Aerial view of landing craft on the Normandy beach, as the formation passes overhead. View of French fields flooded by the Germans. Aerial view of parachutes from U.S. Army paratroopers who had dropped into France the night before (June 5th), but no sign of the troops themselves. Masses of gliders on the ground. View inside a glider as it cuts loose from its C-47 tow plane. View from ground as gliders cut loose and maneuver for landing. View of a glider that crashed into a German Headquarters building, and view of another landing in water. Allied gliders destroyed (some burning) and damaged by German gunfire and passive defenses (15 foot poles planted closely in landing zones). A German artillery piece concealed at the edge of a landing zone. American troops, from the gliders, marching into Saint Marcouf, France. Montage of Allied advances and gunfire. Road sign pointing to Sainte Marie-du Mont and Carentan. U.S. troops moving through French town of Sainte Marie-du Monte. U.S. troops riding in a captured German Ketenkrad tracked motorcycle.
A film on the development of air power of the United States. A still photograph of Orville Wright flying the first aircraft on 17 December 1903 at Kill Devil Hills in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. Two men turn propellers and start the engines of Wright "A" aircraft in France. Catapult launching tower behind the aircraft. Spectators in stands during the first public demonstration of Wright Brothers airplane, at Le Mans, France. The takeoff and the flight of Wright Brothers "A" aircraft. Orville Wright and U.S. Lieutenant Frank P. Lahm seated in Wright "A" aircraft at Fort Myer in Virginia. Orville Wright and Lt. Lahm in Wright "A" aircraft in flight over Fort Myer.
Film opens with slate showing date: 6 June 1944, in World War 2. German newspapers report that combined forces of Britain, and the Soviet Union finally decided to launch their invasion of Europe. Headlines say "Invasion launched at Moscow's orders." A map highlights cities along the coast of France. Formations of Allied warplanes shown in flight overhead. Light signals seen in the dark as German forces send information about the attacks. Closeups of German military men communicating by radio and telegraph. Defense forces are called to battle stations by alarms and announcements. Responding soldiers grab rifles from a rack and rush through tunnels in their fortifications. They climb to man weapons atop their bunkers. Artillery shells being raised by hoists to them from bunkers below. Searchlights scan the dark sky for Allied aircraft, and anti-aircraft guns fire in the night, including a 2 cm Flakvierling 38, four-barreled gun. German forces firing on Allied paratroopers. German sailors aboard destroyers and fast attack "E" boats fire at Allied warships. Daylight scenes of Allied ships and German shore batteries firing at them. U.S. Porter-Class, and Benham-class destroyers firing at land targets in France. German soldiers loading and firing Atlantic Wall coastal defense guns. An allied ship explodes off the coast. More views of German coastal guns firing and another Allied ship hit and exploding. More coastal gunfire.
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