On 10 December 1944, Lieutenant General Lucian K. Truscott, Jr. (newly appointed Commander of the 5th Army) arrives by jeep at a U.S. Army encampment in Italy during World War II. He is escorted the headquarters of II Corps, on the Apennine front below Bologna, where he is greeted by Major General Geoffrey T. Keyes. They walk together around a building. The next day General Truscott is seen saluting as he is escorted by Major General Willis D. Crittenberger, Commander 1V Corps. Next, General Truscott is seen at the headquarters of the Brazilian Expeditionary Forces contingent of the 5th Army, where he greets its Commander, General João Baptista Mascarenhas de Morais and his aides. As General Truscott leaves, his jeep passes a Brazilian honor of soldiers who salute him. Brigadier General, Donald Carlson. new Chief of Staff of the 5th Army, accompanies Generals Truscott and Crittenberger to a forward observation post near the village of Castelluccio. They observe from a bunker overlooking a valley, where white smoke is rising. (Narrator states that the smoke screen indicates the position of the Allied line of the IV Corps Sector on 11 December.) Next the three American officers are seen making their way up a mountain side, with smoke rising from the town of Vergato, in the background below, where heavy fighting is taking place. (World War II; WW II; World War 2; World War Two)
Captured German propaganda film designed to encourage the German population near the end of World War 2. The closed Theater des Volkes (Theater of the people) in Berlin is seen at it's start. Steel gates are being pulled across the entrance of the Deutsches Opernhaus (German Opera House). Steel gates are drawn across the entrance to the Schiller Theater on Bismarckstrasse in Berlin. A sign announcing the open hours at a play house, is covered by a cardboard. Likewise a sign at an opera theater is covered. (Narrator states that Joseph Goebbels, Nazi Reich Minister of Propaganda, has been given the title: "Reich Plenipotentiary for Total War.") City trams are diverted to carry war supplies. View of men loading boxes into one. A tram pulling rail cars loaded with freight. An automobile being towed by a tram. Morale boosting slogans posted in various places. (one reads "Relentlessly determined to win victory." Another reads "With the Leader (Fuhrer) to Victory." Joseph Goebbels, addressing a rally of armaments workers in the Rhineland District, tells them (according to the Narrator) "Before we admit the enemy to German soil, and submit ourselves to his will, we will first work our hands bloody and work to our last breath." The assembled workers applaud enthusiastically. Men and women over 65 years of age are mobilized to help with the war effort and seen engaged in light manufacturing. German miners coming off shift volunteer to dig trenches and prepare earthworks. The receive tools and march to a work site. Views of men digging defenses in East Prussia where it became urgent as the Soviet army drew near in October, 1944. In another similar scene, many women are seen working alongside men building defenses. A group of Nazi officers pose for pictures ostensibly working to also dig fortifications. A huge civilian work force is seen digging deep and wide ditches to stop or delay invaders.
Opening scene shows Belgian rescue workers searching for survivors of a German V-2 rocket strike in the city of Antwerp, Belgium, on 17 December, 1944, during World War 2. Some clergymen help steel-helmeted emergency workers carry a victim from the rubble, on a stretcher. Aerial view of the port of Antwerp showing its extensive facilities including rail lines. U.S. Army troops of the American 2nd Infantry Division withdrawing in trucks towards Elsenborn, Belgium, as the German offensive gains ground. Snow covers the ground. Piles of fuel, gas, and diesel cans are seen on fire at a fuel dump near Stavelot, Belgium, where soldiers of Company A, 526th Armored Infantry Battalion, are destroying the fuels to keep them out of the hands of German forces advancing on the town. U.S. Army engineers carry boxes of TNT inside German-built pillbox fortifications and and blow them up. Large explosions seen. An engineer notching a tree beside a road. Others insert explosives and string wire to detonate the charges and create road blocks. Engineers place land mines into holes in a road outside of Elsenborn.
Opening slate identifies site of World War 2 combat as Stavelot, Belgium, 20 miles from the German frontier. American soldiers of the 30th Infantry Division are seen digging protective field positions. M1917 Browning 30mm machine guns are at their positions. U.S. troops set up 90mm guns along the roads, as fog begins to obscure the area. On 21 December, 1944, Two U.S. soldiers walk across a square in the town of Stavelot where American and German forces clashed on December 20th. Views of destroyed buildings, abandoned Tiger II tank of s.SS.Pz.Abt.101 and Stummel half-track and wreckage. Civilians run for cover into a substantial building as German forces renew an attack on the town. (World War II; WW II; World War 2; World War Two)
Allied airborne operation in Netherlands during World War II during Operation Market Garden. Map showing the cities of Arnheim, Nijmegen, and Eindhoven in the Netherlands. The 82nd Airborne Division and 101st Airborne Division prepare for a mission in the Netherlands in World War 2. Troops listening. Paratroops board C-47s and fly to their objectives. Glider troops prepare to take off. They board the U.S. Army gliders (Waco CG-4). Waco CG-4 gliders take off and seen in flight. Aerial views of aircraft and ground below. View of gliders landing at Eindhoven. Troops assemble for their initial objectives. Troops hold rifles and pass away on Jeep. Allied troops enter the town of 't Zand on September 18, 1944 as Dutch citizens greet them.
Activities of First United States Army pressing eastward in Germany during World War 2. U.S. engineers and soldiers build a bridge over the Inde River since all nearby crossings had been destroyed by retreating German forces. Army vehicles cross the completed bridge. Soldiers bring heavy artillery and adjust it. View changes to Mausbach area to the South, where rockets are launched by 3rd Armored Division toward the river. Line of 75 U.S. Army rockets seen being loaded by U.S. soldiers and then fired together. Bright flashes and smoke as rockets are fired. Tanks of the 3rd Division moving out from the town. A U.S. vehicle in the advancing column toward Gressenich is hit by German guns. U.S. Army tanks, lined up like artillery, fire on German forces at Gressenich. Continuous line of 3rd Armored Division tanks, armored vehicles, and 6x6 vehicles come to the front and advance on roads of cities and villages moving eastward, and supporting the U.S. First Army Infantry. 1st Army infantry move through Hurtgen forest near Aachen. Ruined German factory is used as an observtion base by U.S. forces to coordinate attack on Gressenich, which was captured on November 19, 1944. 3rd Armored Division tanks move into open fields to continue offensive toward Werth, with U.S. infantry soldiers staying close to tanks for cover. Soldiers carry the wounded U.S. tank commander after German counter fire hits lead U.S. tank in the column. The wounded soldier is dragged to safety. Men of U.S. Army 1st Division Infantry enter town of Werth under German mortar fire and move from house to house clearing enemy snipers and mopping up in the ruins. U.S. Army soldiers guard a column of German prisoners (POW) who surrendered in Werth. View of ruined and destroyed buildings in German towns like Hamich after defeat. U.S. Army soldiers move through the town on foot with a small church in the background. U.S. Army trucks arrive in a rubbled village with food and ammunition for the offensive drive toward the Ruhr.
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