Plans underway in the United States in 1944 for participation in the invasion of France during World War 2 by Allied forces. A U.S. Army sentry of the Army Service Forces (ASF) patrols a rail line, where military men and equpment are being transported abroad., during World War 2. ASF soldiers drive DUKWs (amphibious vehicles) up a ramp for loading into railroad box cars. A long line of DUKWs being driven for loading. Many men load 55 gallon drums of petroleum products into rail cars. An M3 Stuart light tank being driven on an open rail car. Soldiers loading motorcycles on a train. An Army M3 Half-track Amored Personnel Carrier (APC) driving onto a railroad train. (Narrator notes that it requires 75 trains to transport a single Armored Division by rail.) Men loading a 105 mm Howitzer Motor Carriage M7 (Called Priest, by the British) onto a flat rail car and securing it in place with wooden supports. Army personnel that would participate in an invasion are shown. Paratroopers with their packs. Women's Army Corps (WACs) fill their duffel bags with clothing and other items, and are then seen climbing aboard an open stake truck. An Army band plays and marches giving troops a sendoff at a train station. U.S. soldiers board passenger railroad trains, carrying their field packs and weapons. A steam locomotive pulling a troop train. A train load of Sherman M4 medium tanks and other equipment, including a caterpillar tractor, is seen underway. Unidentified tanks being fastened to rail flat car. Many Army trucks and heavy equipment on train passing a town train station. Military equipment moving on trains over bridges. Two ladies under hair dryers at a salon, discussing boys in service going overseas. United States Army troops bound for the war front are seen boarding railroad trains and also changing trains, monitored by Army military police (MPs) at night. Soldiers inside a moving train car occupy themselves by playing cards; shooting craps; An African American porter watches a game. An Army chaplain talking with some of the soldiers. A soldier reading a magazine. His seat partner keeps falling asleep against him. American civilians at a newsstand. Newspaper headline reads: "London expects invasion of Europe at any hour."
Opening scene shows troops of the U.S. Army 101st Airborne Division engaged at Bastogne, Belgium, during the Battle of the Bulge, in 1944, during World War II. They advance through fires and set up defenses in buildings, firing rifles from apartment windows. Outside, riflemen fire from behind a concrete barrier. Closeup of one firing his M1 Garand rifle. Glimpses of infantry firing mortars and walls falling to mortar fire. Gun crews firing heavy field artillery pieces, some under camouflage nets and others in the open. Intervening slate reads: "VT." and introduces postwar discussion of Signal Corps-developed proximity fuse, using animated cartoon. Shows how it proximity shells increase their explosive envelope compared to regular time fused munitions. U.S. Army gunner fire a number of proximity shells that burst above ground targets in the distance. A cartoon shows the proximity fused munition being used by a fighter aircraft. A Republic P-47 fighter plane is seen firing VT munitions from guns in its wings. Aerial bombs falling. A line of VT bombs exploding above ground.
Camera pans across the Tannenberg Memorial courtyard where Nazi military hierarchy is gathered for the funeral of General Günther Korten, Chief of the General Staff of the Luftwaffe, who died from injuries suffered in the assassination attempt on Adolf Hitler in July 1944. German military Honor Guard and band are seen in background as Marshal Hermann Goering expresses his condolences to the General's widow and relatives. Closeup of a German soldier and of the bereaved. Scene shifts to view from above and behind the flag-draped casket of General Korten, as Goering, standing in front of it, salutes with his Marshal's baton. Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel, Grand Admiral Karl Dönitz, and other senior military officers all salute. Soldiers bring a large wreath forward and Goering places it before the casket and salutes. View of the flag-draped casket with helmet and dagger atop it. Pall bearers lift the casket shoulder height and proceed to carry it into a tomb in the memorial building. In a complete change of scene, Adolf Hitler is seen walking with a medical officer into a military hospital in Rastenburg, where he visits German Army officers, who were injured, in the July 20th bomb plot against him during World War 2. He visits Major General Walter Scherff; Navy Captain Heinz Assmann; Rear Admiral Karl-Jesco von Puttkamer; and General Walther Buhle. He takes time and speaks with each of the wounded officers. Women nurses, assembled outside, render Nazi salutes, and cheer Hitler as he departs.
View from hill, above, of U.S. Army troops, from the 3rd Battalion, 115th Regiment, 29th Division, who have set up a field kitchen and mess along the side of a road (Nieuwenhagerweg) in Eygelshoven, the Netherlands, during World War II. Closeup of the troops in a chow line, receiving food in their personal mess kits. Closeup of one soldier's mess kit with his ration. Closeups of smiling soldiers and views of some eating their meals. [Note: In the first 10 seconds, two churches can be seen in opposite corners of the background.The oldest, on the right, sheltered US soldiers. The other, on the left, was hit by German shelling around December 20, 1944. U.S. soldiers of the 562nd Anti-Aircraft Artillery Battalion, Automatic Weapons (Mobile), Battery D, patched the hole in the church roof.]
Allied air attacks against France during World War II. A map of France shows the location of Orleans. Aerial view of bombs being released by U.S. Army 8th Air Forces B-24 Liberator aircraft. The bombs drop and strike Bicy airfield, Orleans, France, on May 23, 1944. Billows of smoke rise from the airfield. Bombs being dropped on revetments. Smoke and fire occur.
Allied air attacks against France during World War II. A map of France shows the location of Orly. Aerial view of U.S. Army Air Forces B-24 Liberator aircraft in a formation flight. Bombs being dropped on an airfield by U.S. 8th Air Force aircraft on May 24, 1944. Pillars of smoke rise up as the bombs hit the targets. Bomb craters on the field. Smoke rises.
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