Allied capture of Cherbourg, France, on June 25th, 1944, in World War 2. German prisoners of war marching under guard, with hands on their heads following surrender. Aerial vies of the Cherbourg harbor, extensively sabotaged by the Germans. Allied engineers working to repair the port. Power shovels, welders, and divers seen at work. Troops moving up the peninsula from Cherbourg. Weapons being distributed to French members of the Maquis guerilla resistance, in Allied occupied areas. French irregular soldiers firing against German forces in mountains, and sabotaging German facilities. Numerous dead bodies of French civilian villagers, killed by a Battalion of the Nazi SS Panzer Grenadier Regiment "Der Führer" (an infantry regiment of 2. SS-Panzer-Division "Das Reich"), and destroyed buildings in the French village of Oradour-sur-Glane where the massacre took place. Temporary stakes marking their graves.
Beachhead at Normandy, France, following the Allied invasion in June, 1944 during World War 2. Numerous supply ships are in the water offshore. Landing craft are all along the beach. Military vehicles fill the beach itself. British and American troops, ashore, observe ship maneuvering near a floating dock. British infantry pour from the open ramp of large British landing craft, behind some American troops already landed and walking along the shore. American soldiers aboard a landing craft next to a transport ship. Closeup of one of the soldiers in the craft, who wears "Screaming Eagle" patch of 101st Airborne Division. The open deck of an exceptionally large landing craft is seen jammed with U.S. troops, ready to depart from a transport ship. They wave for the camera. An American army truck driving out of British Landing Ship Tank (HM 415) onto a floating dock. It makes its way behind others headed toward the shore. Closeup of soldier wielding a sledge hammer to secure pierced steel plank (Marsden Matting) onto the beach. A DUKW (duck amphibious truck). German prisoners of war, disarmed and under guard, marching casually toward the beach. Closeups of some passing the camera. View from the beach of some wading out to a waiting landing craft. View on the beach of others approaching the beach for evacuation. View shifts to captured German film depicting German coastal defenses and structures of the so-called "Atlantic Wall." German Field Marshal, Erwin Rommel, accompanied by Field Marshal, Gerd von Rundstedt, as they inspect the fortifications. Views of coastal guns. Several German soldiers, using a 4-wheel dolly, roll a huge shell and powder charge out of a bunker. They roll it toward a camouflaged railway gun. German soldiers climbing steel stairs up to the railway gun and hand-cranking the barrel into firing elevation. Marshal Rommel accompanied by a Navy admiral and a soldier, walks up to the twin barrels of a coastal defense gun. the pause directly in front of the barrels and converse. The Admiral and the soldier both salute, perhaps acknowledging a comment or order from Rommel. Extreme closeup of the gun barrels.Next, back on the beachhead, Briitish soldiers are seen walking along the beach past knocked out German fortifications and standing near other abandoned ones. A British soldier swings a sledge hammer a reinforced concrete structure on the beach. A French man and woman waving at American troops passing them. British soldiers riding in a British Universal Personnel Carrier, MK II. Two Frenchmen wave at the troops. In nearby town, British soldiers are happily greeted by local inhabitants, including a woman with a baby on the sidewalk; children looking out a window; and people gathered at a street corner. A British soldier holds a French boy and offers him a piece of candy. An American M7 ("Priest") self-propelled 105mm howitzer and armed with a 12.7mm anti-aircraft machine gun. It moves through an intersection controlled by an MP (military policeman). Another one named "Apache" follows it. Local French inhabitants cheering the Americans as they pass through the town. An American soldier stands near several children as a DUKW amphibious truck veers somewhat, to avoid them while passing. He bends down to talk to the children and shares some candy with them. Infantrymen walk into a town, keeping close to buildings on both sides of the street. French men,women, and children wave and show "V for Victory" signs as some military policemen walk past.
Allied Invasion of France during World War II. German ammunition stores at an island in Saint Malo harbor are exploded on 17 August 1944. Allied troops explode stores as Germans refuse to surrender. Large smoke column arises.
Allied Invasion of France during World War II. Demonstration of the Crocodile flame thrower used with the Churchill tank on 25 August 1944. Soldier hands over the special fuel tank from the armored trailer to another soldier who refuels flame thrower. Soldiers advance through field and operate flame thrower tanks. They attack on trenches and hill boxes. Huge smoke column rises.
The role of United States 1st Infantry Division (Big Red One) in various campaigns during World War II. Allied ships underway in the Atlantic Ocean. Soldier of United States 1st Infantry division practice an amphibious landing during training in England. Naval guns being fired on D-Day, June 6th , 1944. Troops of 1st Infantry Division climb down landing nets onto a landing craft. Soldiers land at Normandy Omaha beach in France on D-Day. Some soldiers drop to ground, shot crossing the beach. Troops move inland. Tanks being fired among hedge rows. Troops fire guns from dugouts and provide medical aid to a wounded soldier.
The role of United States 1st Infantry Division (Big Red One) in various campaigns in Europe during World War II. United States 1st Infantry Division men fight in France as they advance further inland into the country. Soldiers relax, get a haircut and write a letter back home to their families. On July 25th , 1944 German aircraft launch an air attack. Infantrymen fight in the streets of a city in France. Combat engineers plant land mines. 1st Infantry Division soldiers enter Coutance, Mortain, Etampes, Meaux and Soissons. Soldiers around a monument at the Belgium border. 1st Infantry soldiers advance towards Aachen. Tanks fire as soldiers fight against the Germans in Aachen. Men on a machine gun. On October 25th 1944 Aachen surrenders to the Allies. U.S. Army armored vehicle drives over Nazi flag lying in a street.
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