British warships sailing towards Salerno Beach in Salerno Italy. Soldiers fire from anti-aircraft guns mounted on the deck sides. View of smoke rising from another ship, soldier talks over radio, and several army trucks parked on the Landing Ship Tank (LST). Troopships, assault boats, and Destroyers visible in the flotilla. Warships heading towards the Salerno harbor. A soldier with a bandaged hand drinks from a bottle. The LST captain looks through binoculars. Text LST-2 written on the bow of the ship. (World War II period).
British soldiers at the captured Montecorvino Airfield near Salerno, Italy. Two soldiers standby at antiaircraft artillery. One is looking through binoculars. Soldiers place a windsock on the ground. A British Spitfire plane lands on the airfield. Pilot gets down from cockpit. Italian officers demonstrate to British officers the disassembly of a German bomb. A man fuels the spitfire and it takes off again. (World War II period).
Lieutenant General George S. Patton addresses troops from an outdoor stage and then awards Silver Stars for gallantry to members of the U.S. Army 39th Infantry, 9th Division, in Capo Playa, near Cefalu, Italy. Patton awards the medals and then the soldiers form into groups from their respective home states, which include New Jersey, South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and New York. The army band is seen standing near the soldiers. The soldiers parade in front of the officers. Awarded soldiers take off their helmets and pose for photographers. Close-ups of soldiers with medals while flags from the honor guard wave in background. (World War 2. WWII. WW2.)
Allied Military Government efforts to rebuild Sicily after capturing it from Axis forces during World War 2. Italian men needing employnent board an open truck for transport to a job site. Workers standing with American soldiers preparing to work. A huge crowd of men pushing and shoving outside an Allied Military Government (AMG) labor hiring headquarters where they were offered decent wages to begin rebuilding after the war's destruction. Italian men, as well as American soldiers, rebuilding roads in the Alpine region of Italy, where German forces had destroyed them as they withdrew. U.S. Army engineers using a bulldozer, to clear and smooth a road. A large dump truck spreading new gravel for a highway bed. A team of workers manning a cable to pull down a damaged portion of a building. A British Army officer and a Colonial soldier in a turban, set explosive charges to destroy a bomb-damaged building. They detonate the charges and bring down the entire large building. Bulldozers at work on huge piles of rubble. A steam shovel being employed to clear large piles of debris. Men at work in Palermo, to clear entire streets buried in rubble. Men clearing rubble near piles of twisted steel building girders. Rubble being moved by horse-drawn carts and dumped into the sea. Italian masons at work building new homes and refurbishing old ones. In views three months after the original Allied landing in Sicily during July,1943, Palermo is seen well on the way to restoration. School children, including girls with brooms, walking to a place needing cleanup. Views of them cleaning steps and windows. Citizens picking up debris from streets and sidewalks. A man using a hose to clean a street and sidewalk in the city.
Most of the clip is underexposed, and dark. Several officers of the Italian Republican Army are being detained in a secure room after surrendering to U.S. forces of the 92nd Infantry Division, in Ivrea, Northern Italy, after all Nazi German forces had capitulated, shortly before the end of World War II, in Europe. Three are seen seated at a table. Brief view of two looking out of a barred window.
British troops of the Eight Army on vacation in Venice at the end of World War 2 (Europe). On leave British soldiers fill several gondolas for rides along the canals of Venice. A British soldier on the gondola salutes to the camera while another soldier flashes the “V” sign. A smiling British soldier waves at the camera before giving a thumbs up. Italian gondoliers stand in the rear of each boat and propel and maneuver them with long poles. British soldiers riding a gondola in the Grand Canal. The Palazzo Giustinian and Ca’ Foscari University of Venice are seen behind the British soldiers in the Grand Canal. Views of buildings along the canals and of bridge under which the boats pass. Another segment shows a steam-powered tour boat moving rapidly along a canal. In change of scene, shot from a gondola, Italian civilians are seen standing in a large gondola water taxi moving along a canal. Italians are also seen seated in a normal size gondola underway. More views of buildings lining canals, including the Hotel Canal Grande (Campiello S. Simeone Grande, 932, 30135 Venezia VE, Italy). Another gondola carrying three British soldiers, passes the camera. A large, powered tour boat passes, with Allied troops aboard, flying the American flag.
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