U.S. Army Air Forces Eighth Air Force, VIII Fighter Command operations in Germany during World War II. 22 April 1944: 1st Lieutenant RS Wetmore of the 359th Fighter Group 370th Squadron attacks ground targets. Lt. Wetmore strafes a Germn train. Smoke billows from the burning train. A hit German Luftwaffe Focke-Wulf FW 190 Wurger in a field. Smoke rises from the wrecked aircraft.
U.S. Army Air Forces Eighth Air Force, VIII Fighter Command operations in Germany during World War II. 24 April 1944: Lieutenant O.R. Jones of the 4th Fighter Group 335th Squadron attacks a German Luftwaffe Focke-Wulf FW 190 fighter aircraft. The U.S. aircraft in flight amidst clouds. The FW 190 in sight. The two aircraft in a dogfight. Firing and explosions.
U.S. Army Air Forces Eighth Air Force, VIII Fighter Command operations in Germany during World War II. 24 April 1944: Captain Woody of the 355th Fighter Group 354th Squadron attacks 5 German Luftwaffe Messerschmitt (ME) 109 fighter aircraft. The U.S. aircraft in flight amidst clouds. The ME 109s in flight. Captain Woody attacks the German aircraft. A ME 109 is hit, descends towards the ground. Other ME 109s in flight.
The Liberation of Paris in August 1944. French General Charles De Gaulle leads troops as they march on the Champs Elysees. Soldiers with the French flag. A large crowd of civilians join the celebrations. De Gaulle pays tribute at the Eternal Light at Arc de Triomphe. He is accompanied by French officers and soldiers. Civilians crowd around. De Gaulle and his men parade on the Paris streets. Civilians cheer and celebrate the liberation. Men and women on tanks. U.S. General Eisenhower together with U.S. General Omar Bradley join in the celebration, smile, and talk to American and French military leaders in front of the Arc de Triomphe. The French Resistance flag unfurled on a building. Parisians give the victory sign. The French flag raised on a building. (World War II period).
Results of selective strategic bombing by the British Royal and United States Eighth Air Forces in German-occupied Paris and surrounding areas during World War II. September 1944: Pont de Grenelle bridge over the Seine river. Eiffel Tower (Champ de Mars, 5 Avenue Anatole France, 75007 Paris, France) in the background. The Statue of Liberty replica on the Ile aux Cygnes Island (Pont de Grenelle, 75015 Paris, France). Shell blast damaged buildings and the Obelisk at Place de la Concorde (75008 Paris, France). Cyclists and motorists at the Place. Military cars pass the Arc de Triomphe (Place Charles de Gaulle, 75008 Paris, France) at Champs Elysees. Civilians around the Eiffel Tower. The French flag atop the undamaged tower. Unscathed Notre Dame de Paris (6 Parvis Notre-Dame - Pl. Jean-Paul II, 75004 Paris, France). United States military vehicles in the square before the cathedral. U.S. Army soldiers and French civilians crowding in front of the Cathedral. An FFI (French Forces of the Interior) flag at Notre Dame.
Amphibious and airborne Allied forces land in southern France during World War II. (Operation Dragoon in August 1944). Map of France depicts Allied landings at Normandy on D-Day. Naples: An Allied naval force assembles, poised for landing in Southern France, 10 weeks after the Normandy D-Day invasion. Thousands of landing crafts, trucks, tanks, mobile cannons, military vehicles and equipment in the embarkation area. Barrages in flight overhead. Allied officers supervise as the vehicles are loaded into ships. US, French, British, Greek and Polish troops move up to their ships. The ships underway in the Mediterranean. U.S. Secretary of Navy James Forrestal, U.S. Army General Alexander Patch, French Admiral Andre Lemonnier and U.S. Navy Admiral Henry Hewitt (Chief of the Atlantic Invasion Fleet) aboard the flagship. Allied soldiers stitch sleeve patches. An animated map depicts the Allied invasion of southern France near Toulon in a combined amphibious and airborne assault. Hundreds of transport aircraft carry paratroop forces. The paratroopers get ready, jump, and descend to the ground. The amphibious forces near the French coast. German shore batteries fire at the approaching naval vessels. Explosions on ships and in water. Allied troops crouched in landing crafts. They hit the beach under shell fire and advance in land.
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