The anniversary of the D-Day at Utah Beach in Normandy, France during World War II. Girls in U.S. and French flag dresses. Wreaths are placed at the foot of a monument by U.S. and French representatives. U.S. and French troops pass in review. A crowd at the ceremony. U.S. and French representatives stand beside the D-Day monument to U.S. Army's 1st Brigade of Engineers and salute. They climb down stairs. French General Paul Le Gentilhomme salutes. Artillery guns in the background. Soldiers stand beside the monument and salute. The soldiers hold the U.S. and French flags.
Aviator Charles Lindberg in Paris after his trans-Atlantic flight. Lindbergh honored at a dinner attended by the distinguished men of France. The guests seated at a table. Lindbergh's plane 'Spirit of St Louis' parked in the background. Guests including French President Gaston Doumergue. U.S. Ambassador to France Myron T. Herrick bids farewell to Lindbergh. Men prepare his plane for the flight. A large crowd looks on as his plane taxiing at Le Bourget aerodrome (Paris-Le Bourget Airport, Rue de Prague, Zone Aviateurs, Le Bourget, F-93350). The Spirit of St. Louis takes off for Brussels, Belgium.
People gather in the grandstand of the Hunaudieres horse racing track near Le Mans, France, in 1908, to watch Wilbur Wright's demonstration of the Wright Flyer airplane. It is a major social event. An article about Wright in the newspaper. They take a passenger with them for 36 miles. An airplane in the field. Men work on the plane. Views of the Wright Flyer aloft, with a passenger.
A group of German army troops seem marching casually at Champ de Mars, Paris, during 1940, in World War 2. Sounds of a fife and drum corps are heard in background. The Eiffel tower looms in the background. Some soldiers are on bicycles. View shifts to a nearly empty Champs Elysees, with Arc de Triomphe (Pl. Charles de Gaulle, 75008 Paris, France) in the distance. German military vehicles move along the edge of the road. Camera moves closer to the Arc de Triomphe. Suddenly the scene shifts back a year, to the 1939 Bastille Day parade, in Paris. It shows British Grenadiers in uniform with bearskin hats, parading on the Champs Elysees, along with French Colonial Senegalese Riflemen wearing the Fez. Also seen are French Sailors, and infantry. Then, from a high point overlooking the parade, vehicles are seen pulling artillery. Back at street level, French 2-man Renault UE Chenillette tankettes are seen in formation. They are followed by a formation of Panhard AMD armored cars. Scene reverts to the present (1940) with German occupation troops marching past the Arc de Triomphe. As the German troops pass, German Field Marshal (Generalfeldmarschall) Fedor von Bock, Commander of Army Group B, is seen briefly saluting, as he reviews the troops from the sidelines. Another General stands with him. Spectators and column of German troops seen from Eiffel Tower. A German officer on horseback, leading his troops. Marshal von Bock, saluting. Various closeups of parading troops. View from an aircraft flying over the city of Paris, with Arc de Triomphe near center of the view. German troops towing artillery and caissons by teams of horses. Glimpse of the Arc de Triomphe, and Eiffel Tower. Horse-drawn wagons, carrying German troops and towing field artillery at the Place de la Concorde. The French Naval Department building (Hôtel de la Marine, 2 Pl. de la Concorde, 75008 Paris, France) seen behind them. Parisians watching solemnly from sidewalks. German sentries posted at the Hôtel des Invalides. (Les Invalides, 129 Rue de Grenelle, 75007 Paris, France). French policemen giving directions to a German soldier, holding a map. German troops moving along the side of a commercial district street. Two French women smiling as the camera focuses on them. German soldiers marching cheerfully, along a French country road with a chorus heard singing in the background.
Parisians react to the assassination of French Socialist leader and outspoken war critic Jean Jaurès by Raoul Villain in France at the onset of World War 1. Throngs of people grab newspapers from vendors in Paris. The Le Petit Parisien front page announcing the declaration of war by Germany against France and the French decree to mobilize troops, with the headline, "La France décrète la mobilisation...." Crowds in Paris reacting to news. Reservists in civilian clothing, one with a child on his back, and uniformed soldiers, holding Lebel Model 1886 rifles with small French flags sticking out of their muzzles, marching in Paris. Aerial view of crowds of military-age men march to the Bureau Militaire to report for mobilization. French Bureau Militaire signs directing inductees. French reservists depart Paris by train, possibly from Gare du Nord train station. Enlisted Frenchmen waving good-bye from a moving train.
Victory march by Allied forces after Liberation of Paris during World War 2. United States soldiers and tanks crowd in front of the Arc de Triomphe (Place Charles de Gaulle, 75008 Paris, France). Tanks moving away from the Arc de Triomphe. French General Jacques Philippe Leclerc marches with a large crowd in Montparnasse, Paris. Parisian men and women watch from sidewalks and balconies. General Leclerc and marching crowd pass by the Le Select brasserie (99 Boulevard du Montparnasse, 75006 Paris, France). Soldiers in armored vehicles accompany General Leclerc and men marching in along the Boulevard du Montparnasse. Soldiers in tanks moving on the Avenue des Champs-Élysées. French crowds hold banners saying “Vive la France”. French tricolor and British Union Jack flags hang outside a shop.
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