Opening scene shows peaceful Italian mountains, including one snow-capped, in Spring, 1944, during World War 2. Camera focuses on the town of Monte Cassino and its historic Monastery, on a mountain above the town. (German forces held the Rapido-Gari, Liri and Garigliano valleys and some of the surrounding peaks and ridges that formed the heavily defended Gustav Line.) Animated relief map shows where, by mid January, 1944, American, Polish, and British forces had cleared the enemy from mountains east of Cassino and drawn up on the east side of the Rapido valley. Map shows progress of subsequent Allied attacks that finally reached Mount Castellone and then up Abbey Hill at Monte cassino, itself. Image of German soldier is superimposed on the scene, using binoculars on Abbey hilltop to observe Allied forces. (Narrator states: On February 9th, 75 yards from the abbey, we were stuck.") U.S. Army Air Forces Douglas A-20 Havoc aircraft are seen starting engines. Closeup of Fifth Army leaflet warning the local people to leave the Monte Cassino Abbey to avoid shelling and bombing. View of U.S. troops packing the leaflets into thin-skinned shells to deliver the warning by artillery fire. Next, 105 howitzer guns are seen under camouflage netting, firing bombardments of warning shells. Formation of A-20 aircraft taking off. Aerial view from high above, of B-25 bomber formation in flight. Formations of B-17s, B-24s, B-26s in flight enroute to bomb Monte Cassino. Bombs dropping from B-25 Mitchell bombers. Bombs exploding on Monte Cassino and the Abbey. Batteries of 155 mm guns firing. Formation of 6 B-25 bombers in formation. More bombs bursting on Monte Cassino. Animated map shows German forces taking up their earlier defenses again following the Allied artillery and air attacks. It also shows supplies streaming in to the German Green Devils Parachute Division (Luftwaffe’s 1st Fallschirmjaeger [Parachute-Hunter] division.) The map illustrates all the locations in the town that they occupied and would defend to the last man. Map also illustrates circling positions of Allied artillery batteries. Camera focuses on Polish troops and M4 Sherman tanks moving forward in an offensive. Glimpse of U.S. Army Air Forces mechanics working on a Douglas bomber engine. M4 prime movers towing 155mm howitzer guns. Gun crews camouflaging their positions with netting. Various views of A 240mm howitzer being put in place by a crane. Soldiers deploy detector microphones to locate enemy gunfire sources. They test them, and then enclose them in water-proof containers, bury and cover them. Sound from the microphones being recorded on film at a machine in the Command Post. The data being plotted on a map and corresponding grid locations phoned to Battalion headquarters. View of bombers resuming attacks again, on March 15, 1944. Formations of Douglas bombers, followed by B-25s, seen dropping bombs that explode in the town of Monte Cassino. Artillery firing. Formation of B-24 Liberator bombers in flight. Formation of B-17s dropping bombs. String of bombs exploding in a line on the town. More views of artillery barrages. More lines of bombs exploding. Allied forces storming the shattered town found German soldiers using destroyed structures as shelters to fire from and rubble obstructing the movements of Allied tanks, so the Allied advance was again stopped. Later, a newspaper headline reports resumption of Allied offensive.
The 8th Fighter Command Operations, European Theater. 27-May-1944; Lieutenant R L Baker of 82nd squadron 78th fighter group flies the aircraft. Attacking the ground targets as seen via gun camera footage. Strafing of two flak towers. A decoy aircraft in flight. 29-May-1944; Captain B L McGratten of 335th squadron 4th fighter group flies the aircraft. Attacking ME-109 and FE-190. Aircraft fly fighter protection for formation of B-17's. Chasing and hitting of FW-190. 30-May-1944; Lieutenant J R Cook of 360th squadron 356 fighter group flies the plane. Strafing of large freighter, schooner and two small targets. (World War II period).
August 1944: U.S. soldiers get off a Landing Craft on the French coast. Soldiers on U.S. battleships. U.S. officers discuss among themselves. Soldiers move across the beach. Soldiers sit outside an abandoned unfinished German pillbox. They examine German artillery. A camouflaged German gun IMPLACEMENT. A U.S. Landing Craft hit by a German radio controlled flying bomb. The charred and destroyed craft on the beach. Soldiers unload heavy equipment and vehicles including jeeps and tanks from Landing Crafts. U.S. battleships in the background. Blimps in the sky. Soldiers move across a street. Soldiers in trucks. Engineers construct an airstrip through a vineyard. Heavy machinery and equipment used to remove the rubble and bushes, as well as to level the ground. Military trucks and vehicles on the road. (World War II period).
U.S. Paratroopers boarding C-47 aircraft, on June 5th, 1944 during World War 2. Huge naval task force underway in the English Channel. C-47s loaded with paratroopers taking off, the evening of June 5th. C-47s taking off towing gliders. Formations of C-47s and gliders passing over the Naval task force in the English Channel. Three pet dogs with troops on one of the ships.
German Pz.III, Panther and Tiger tanks firing and Stuka-zu-Fuss rockets firing at Russian positions on Eastern Front, during World War II. Burning vehicle. Panther G of 12th SS Panzer Division (Hitler Jugend) fires on Canadian positions in mid-June 1944, in Normandy. Empty shells.thrown out of tank by German crewman. Scenes of smoke and fire.
Higgins Boats (landing craft) from the USS Bayfield (APA-33) are seen heading toward the shore on the River Clyde in Scotland, where they carried out amphibious landing exercises from 14 March, through 21 March,1944, in preparation for the Allied invasion of Normandy during World War 2.. Snow-covered mountains dominate the background. View of a U.S. Coast Guardsman standing in one of the boats. Several landing craft are seen near the shore in the background. Snow extends almost as low as the beach. Several landing craft moving in loose formation across the water, with rising moon low on horizon in background. View of one Higgins Boat plowing through the water, towards the camera. The moon is now higher in the sky. American troops wading ashore through surf, in the moonlight. Some stars are visible high in the background sky. Troops coming ashore along a wide stretch of beach. Clouds obscure the sky.
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