Allied troops and equipment being loaded on ships in preparation for the D-Day invasion of Normandy, during World War 2. U.S. soldiers riding in landing craft as they position in the Harbor,Portland, England. Troops wave to the camera. U.S. Coast guardsman at the helm of a landing craft. Landing craft being hoisted aboard a transport ship. U.S. Army halftracks backing onto a Landing Craft Tank (LCT), alongside Stone pier,Castletown, Portland, England. One halftrack has some difficulty , but makes it OK.
Reminders of World War 2, in France, 1945. A high bridge of about eight masonry arches with two bombed out, in mountainous region of France. Camera pans right, showing a number of substantial homes scattered across the valley, with tall mountains behind. Scene shifts to a different, flatter landscape, where about a dozen U.S. Waco CG-4A gliders are seen abandoned in a field, in various states of disrepair. Writing in chalk on the side of one glider reads, "Whispering Yoddles, Fort Worth Texas, Little One Alice". There are no D-day stripes on these gliders, indicating they were probably used subsequent to the Normandy invasion, in other operations such as "Bluebird & Dove" in the South of France, in August, 1944.
The anniversary of D-Day at Utah Beach in Normandy, France during World War II. Graves of the first American cemetery. Miniature U.S. flags near the graves. The U.S. flag at the cemetery.
U.S. Navy film entitled, "the Battle for the Beaches." Several Higgins boat landing craft arrive at a shore and U.S. soldiers leave them to run ashore. Scene is then overlayed by the title slate. View of the White Cliffs of Dover, England. British civilians preparing defenses during World War 2. Civil Youth loading sand bags and erecting sand bag parapets around buildings. Home guard troops march up a road carrying rifles. British defenders occupying fortified positions They stand along a coastline looking out at sea. Street scene in an English village. Guards walking up along a barbed wire fence erected on the outskirts of the village. Film shifts to the German coastal Atlantic Wall defenses. German troops march along sandy shores containing all manner of obstacles at the water's edge. German officers stand on an overlooking cliff, and peer through binoculars. German sentry and large coastal gun barrel under camouflage net are silhouetted against light sky. Three German officers confer over plans for coastal defenses. View from above of slave laborers working and shoveling sand as they build defenses. German soldiers dismantling wooden forms around completed concrete fortifications. Glimpse of a huge German coastal gun being raised by a crane with heavy steel cables, as it is steadied by dozens of workers with hands on its barrel. German troops manning a machine gun in coastal defense position where a twin mounted antiaircraft gun is also seen. Momentary view of two German soldiers walk past rotating barrel of a huge coastal defense gun under a camouflage net. Workers, with shovels, placing fresh concrete to build up a section of concrete barriers along the coast. Allied troops storming a sandy shore from landing craft, as shells explode near them; possibly related to 1944 D-Day. One contingent are British soldiers. American troops landing at a beach from landing craft. Dead allied soldiers lying in the surf. Film shifts abruptly to U.S. Lieutenant General Mark Clark with some officers in Italy. In another switch of war theaters, General Douglas MacArthur is seen congratulating crew of a B-25 named "Smiling Jack." U.S. troops, in a training exercise, storming ashore from Higgins boats directly and closeup at the camera. They take up defensive positions in the sand, and move a jeep towing a field artillery piece.
U.S. soldiers at assembly area in Tidworth, England on D-Day during World War II. M4 Sherman tanks and other equipment on assembly area. Soldiers march to assembly area. Tanks being driven along dirt road.
U.S. tanks in Tidworth, England on D-Day during World War II. British children wave as U.S. tanks proceed along highway, part of the invasion forces.
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