Views of men, women, and children aboard the steamship "SS "Marine Flasher" docked at a pier in New York harbor after a voyage from Bremen, Germany. Her passengers include many refugees and former prisoners of Nazi concentration camps. Many benefited from U.S. Presidential Directive No. 29, issued on December 22, 1945, giving preference to Displaced Persons in obtaining visas. A woman with her child smiles. A boy waves at friends and relatives on shore. A young brother and sister in the ship. An older and younger woman, likely mother and daughter, show the prisoner number tattooed by Nazis on their arms. The tattoos are sequentially numbered, A-26587 and A-26588. Reuniting people hold each other with warmth and weep. A family of 7 children spanning a range of ages, with no parents evident. (Note: this is the Weber family ranging in age from 4-18. In order of age from oldest to youngest they are Alfons, Senta, Ruth, Gertrude, Renee, Judith, and Virginia (Ginger) nee Bela. The family settled in Chicago. All married and had 24 children and now numerous grandchildren. The children and grandchildren live in across the U.S. in Chicago, Maryland, Texas, Alabama, California, Virginia, Minnesota and in London, England. This Information provided in 2014, by Lynn Chapman daughter of Gertrude.) (World War II period).
Map shows Allied army drives toward Germany in World War 2, and Battle of the bulge counter attack by Germans. Smoke rising from ruins. An American Army engineer douses a fire. In the ruins of Malmedy, Belgium, a sign reads: "Tower Room Malamedy, Protestant Church." Map shows Bastogne. Some of 400 C-47 transport aircraft resupply flights are seen in the air after weather clears. They airdrop food and ammunition to U.S Army troops who had been holding their position and preventing Germans from overtaking in the snow at Bastogne. U.S. gliders, that brought medical assistance, are seen on the snow-covered ground. Aerial view snow covered town. View of food bundles and supplies. Elements of General Patton's 3rd Army arriving to break through German lines and reach the embattled 101st Airborne at Bastogne. Dead and captured German soldier prisoners of war (POW). Destroyed tanks and equipment. Later (January, 1945) Commander of the 101st Airborne Division, Major General Maxwell Davenport Taylor congratulates Brigadier General Anthony McAuliffe for his defense of Bastogne. American troops in Bastogne find time to rest up and smile for the camera after enduring difficult battle.
Clear aerial views of midtown and lower Manhattan, New York City 1930, but with smoke coming from Hudson River pier of New York Harbor where the North German Lloyd liner Munchen (sometimes Muenchen or München) is seen on fire, shortly after docking in New York after the voyage from Bremen, Germany. Ship emits smoke and fire at the pier. Firefighters spray water to extinguish fire. Views of the piers and slips and dock areas on the Hudson River at New York City and close up views of the firefighters battling the blaze on the Muenchen. The ship subsequently sank at dock. She was raised later in 1930, repaired in dry dock, and returned to service under the new name SS General von Steuben. The ship was sunk in 1945 by the S-13 submarine of the Soviet Union.
Animated map shows thrust of German forces during invasion of Soviet Russia in World War 2. Stalingrad is highlighted as a turning point. Another animated map shows Soviet territorial gains at the end of the war, as narrator discusses the disposition of those places and their respective populations, as in Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia. He also discusses Soviet zones of occupation. Animated map shows "Iron Curtain." Soviet troops on parade. Soviet ZSU-57-2 self-propelled anti-aircraft guns (SPAAG) on display during a parade in 1945. A stadium filled with people in Soviet-occupied East Germany, in 1949. Friedrich Wilhelm Reinhold Pieck, the first President of the German Democratic Republic, is seen in the stands. Young East German women parade in traditional costumes, clapping their hands, in the stadium. Waterfront scenes show Soviet trade activities with post-war occupied entities. Scenes of conflict as Chinese communist forces expel Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalist Chinese forces (ROC) from mainland China to Formosa (Taiwan), in 1949. A litter-borne casualty and a refugee mother and small girl are seen as they evacuate.
American aircraft in flight strafing woods. Aircraft strafes a vehicle on road. Explosion on road. Aircraft strafing small factories and clusters of buildings, in 1945 near the end of World War II in Europe.
Postwar Allied testing of German Armor at secret Henschel tank testing grounds (Henschel Panzerversuchsstation) in Haustenbeck, a village in the center of the Sennelager training area, West of Oesterholz and Schlangen, and East of Lager Staumühle, Germany. Seen are Valentine tank, Tiger II (AKA King Tiger, or Royal Tiger) Tank and Self-propelled Gun mounted on Valentine chassis tank. The Royal Tiger Tank with broken gun barrel moves on the ground and breaks through a grove of small trees. The tanks circle a Tiger E, chassis number 250001, which has been abandoned and stripped after years of testing. The seventy-six mm antitank gun mounted on a Valentine chassis fires shells at the Tiger E. (Note: These tests could provide data affecting future Allied tank designs.They were organized by Major-General Sir Percy Cleghorn Stanley Hobart, a renowned pioneer in motorized mobile warfare. Paradoxically, his ideas influenced German tank development and tactics before World War 2. Also present was Dr. Arnold from the Henschel and Sons Company that manufactured tanks at its Mittelfeld Works.)
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