Scenes on and around Omaha Beach after it had been secured, following the Allied D-Day amphibious invasion of Normandy in World War 2. Several U.S. soldiers move along the beach in a DUKW amphibious vehicle. A bulldozer seen in the background. About 25 German prisoners of war are seen awaiting evacuation, behind barbed wire on the beach,guarded by a U.S.military policeman. As a shell whines overhead they all instinctively drop to the ground and the shell explodes somewhere out of sight. An 83 ft. U.S. Coast Guard rescue cutter looks for Allied survivors in the water. The British Hospital ship "Prague" and others are seen at anchor, ready to receive patients. Wounded soldiers being carried on stretchers to a landing craft on the beach. A wounded man being transferred from a damaged LCI to another one. Wounded being hoisted in groups of 4 each, from the crippled and sinking LCI(L)85. The are lowered to deck of the USS Samuel Chase (APA-26). Navy Rear Admiral, John L. Hall, Jr., observing the transfer of wounded. Sweeping views of Omaha Beach after the beachhead was secured. Numerous support vessels are seen close offshore. Trucks move along roads; war materiel is stockpiled in open areas; barrage balloons fly aloft; and soldiers move everywhere. Closeup of the LCI(L) 92 ,on the beach,showing the holes blown in her. The LCI(L)553, beached sideways in the sand. Seen beached and damaged, is LCI(L)87, flagship of Coast Guard Captain Miles E. Imlay, deputy commander of the Coast Guard's Omaha Assault Group O-1. Mechanics working to repair the screw from a boat.
Artillerymen of the U.S. 93rd Armored Field Artillery Battalion are seen carrying 105mm artillery shells in their stowage cases. They dump them onto the ground near their 105 mm Howitzer Motor Carriage M7 (aka Priest) parked under camouflage netting. Change of scene shows two soldiers removing shells from a parked delivery vehicle. Several other soldiers stand around a camp fire. Another vehicle and a couple of tents are seen. The horizon is clear and unbroken except for three widely separated trees and two pointed objects (possibly church steeples) in the distance. Four soldiers relax and converse around a campfire. One smokes a pipe.
An Alitalia- Linee Aeree Italiane (LAI) Douglas DC-6B aircraft (I-LEAD) crashes into three houses shortly after take-off from Paris-Orly Airport. The wrecked parts of the burned aircraft. Two men stand near the wreckage. Several views of the wrecked aircraft parts.
American fliers who escaped internment in Switzerland, pose in front of a C-47 aircraft at Annecy Airfield in World War 2. They wear clothes provided by sympathetic civilians, and kid about the way they fit. They are accompanied by a Free-French Commandant (equivalent to U.S. rank of Major) who wears rank insignia on shoulders of his uniform and the Cross of Lorraine and rank insignia on his black beret.
Film opens showing French sign pointing to Orly airport entrance. French Army trucks are seen arriving at the field, carrying young men in civilian clothes. A U.S.Air force C-47 transport plane is parked in the background. The men wave cheerfully from the open backs of the trucks. French tricolor and American flags are seen in the breeze. Near the entrance of the base, a French Army major is overseeing the arrival of the trucks. View of sign identifying the American area of Headquarters of the U.S. Air Force 7415th Air Base Group at at Orly Field. Occupants of the trucks jump down after their tailgates are lowered. They remove their duffel bags and footlockers from the trucks, and stand nearby. View of the paratroopers (in civilian clothes) standing in loose formation near their belongings. Close-ups of many. Some use their own cameras to take pictures. One clowns around with a toy stuffed monkey, eliciting smiles from the others. More close-ups of the men. View from behind the loosely assembled men. One carries a bugle in his personal gear. Close-up of the bugle. Wide view of the men killing time as they wait around. A French Foreign Legion officer in a leather jacket and kepi, alongside a paratrooper officer (in civilian clothes, but wearing a foulard) walks with group of the paratroopers. The entire group of men is seen assembling near a hangar building. Men hand out passports to individual men. Some are handed out by a French paratrooper, in uniform, with beret. U.S. Air Force and civilian photographers are in the background. Several paratroopers show their passports for the camera. The paratroopers break out some of their rations and eat. Some pose around a sign prohibiting public access due to construction. Paratroopers saying farewell to women (some tearful). Close-up of one saying goodbye to wife and child. A group all waving goodbye.
Several days after the liberation of Paris in World War II. Several M3 (M3A1) Stuart Light tanks parked at the side of road. Parisians stroll near the Notre Dame de Paris Cathedral (Parvis Notre-Dame – Place Jean-Paul-II, Paris). Nurses and medics in white garb and U.S. soldiers in a Jeep in front of the cathedral. Armed French civilians drive German soldiers away in and open truck. A crowd of civilians milling about in front of the cathedral. A white Red Cross ambulance van passes through the crowd. American troops on military vehicle, in midst of crowd.
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