U.S.Army Air Corps P-47s with engines running, taxiing our for takeoff. Army personnel in Runway control unit with signal light.(Few seconds of film reversed.) Among the aircraft seen is P-47D, number 42-28543 named “Pat” piloted by Capt. Gordon S Stevens,of Smithfield,North Carolina, of the 63rd Fighter Squadron, 56th Fighter Group, stationed in England.(He was killed in action, 18 September 1944.) Views of the P-47s enroute to join up with B-17 bomber formations. P-51s and P-38s taking off. P-51s inflight to relieve P-47s of escort duty.US pilot with mission profile inked on back of his hand. Narrator (Ronald Reagan?) describes the way successive relays of U.S. fighters relieved each other performing bomber escort duties. Scenes from captured German film shows alarm sounding and German fighter pilots scrambling in Me-109s and FW-190s to intercept the U.S. bombers. Escorting U.S. P-51s jettison their long range drop tanks preparing to meet attacking German interceptors. Gun camera footage shows many German fighters being destroyed.P-47s, P-51s and P-38s firing their guns. Several Me-109s in formation. German gun camera clip showing many B-17s being shot to pieces by 22mm gunfire and falling, often in flames.
Execution of a spy in Toul, France, during World War 2. A slate reads Graham (presumbly cameraman) Execution. Military Policemen (MPs) lead a single spy, Josef Wende, to the execution location in the farmyard of a farmhouse in Toul, France. A Catholic Priest in black accompanies the MPs. At the execution point, a Lieutenant Colonel and two other officers stand with the Priest as he speaks with the prisoner. The Priest offers prayers for the German spy, who was a Pole drafted in the German Army and caught behind American lines posing as a Polish slave laborer. The face of Wende is covered using a cloth. The MPs tie the legs of the spy. The firing squad fires at Wende from a distance. The body of Wende leans forward and falls to the ground after it is hit. Afterwards The Lieutenant Colonel returns with a medical corpsman who checks bullet wounds on prisoner's chest and checks for a pulse. MPs pick up the dead body of the spy, cover it with a white sheet and carry it on a stretcher. The Priest prays as MPs pass carrying the body. (Note: Reportedly, Lt. Col. Elbert L. Nelson, Headquarters Third Army, was assigned to head a contingent of several soldiers to witness this and another execution at Toul, on November 11, 1944. He is likely the Lieutenant Colonel seen in this sequence.)
D-Day minus 4 (June 2, 1944). A U.S. Transport ship and landing craft at a harbor in the South of England, during World War 2. A jeep, with American soldiers in it, is hoisted aboard a ship. View of men riding a jeep as it is lowered into the hold of the ship. A diesel engine being loaded aboard the ship. A welder making repairs to the ship's superstructure. A cargo net filled with boxes of K-rations being hoisted aboard the ship.
D-Day minus 1 (June 5, 1944) U.S. Invasion craft jammed into harbor at Weymouth, England, the day before D-day, during World War 2. Troops sitting on deck of LSI(L) 88, drinking coffee and playing dice game. One soldier looking through binoculars, at an English woman,in doorway of her flat, who is looking back through her binoculars. Several other women in the flat complex are hanging laundry out to dry.The American soldier cups his hands and tries to call out to the woman.One of his friends joins in the fun. Scene shifts to Formation of U.S. B-26 bombers in flight. A city is viewed from a bomber, with smoke rising from bomb bursts. Formation of U.S. B-17 bombers escorted by P-47 fighters. Scene shifts back to troops at port of embarkation, where large group is seen at a Catholic mass being held on a pier by U.S. chaplain.LCI(L)s numbers 49, 89, and 93, are seen tied up in background. A U.S.Coast Guard officer briefs his crewmen. Several of the invasion fleet ships begin moving out of the harbor. A U.S. Navy Captain, conversing with Major General Clarence R. Huebner, Commander, U.S. 1st Infantry Division, on deck of a ship. Buckley-Class Destroyer escort, in camouflage paint, is seen with other other escorting warships. Barrage Balloons fly aloft. View from LCI(L) departing pier in Weymouth. Several others preparing to depart as well. LCI(L) 498 is seen closeby. Columns of invasion craft underway. Captain Miles Imlay,USCG, deputy commander, Assault Group O-1, and Commander of Flotilla 10, on the bridge of his flagship, LCI(L) 87. The U.S. Attack transport USS Samuel Chase (APA-26) is seen. Soldiers loading rounds into an ammunition belt. Crew members on an invasion ship man an antiaircraft gun (as friendly aircraft fly overhead). An 83-ft Coast Guard rescue cutter. U.S. Battleships. Soldiers napping on deck of the USS Samuel Chase. Below decks, a Coast Guard Commander joins others being briefed with help of a mockup of the Normandy coastline.
U.S. Army Air Forces C-47 aircraft painted in D-Day stripes, seen taking off at nightfall on June 5, 1944, carrying Airborne troopers from a base in England, during World War 2. Large formations of U.S. B-17 bombers en route to targets in Europe. Clusters of indendiary bombs falling from a U.S. bomber. View from a bomber of explosions on the ground from bombing at a coastline. Allied paratroopers fill the sky with their parachutes as they jump from formations of C-47 transport aircraft. Thirty minutes before the amphibious assaults at Normandy, Allied warships bombard the shore with heavy naval guns. Troops leave their transport ships and board small landing craft (Higgins boats). Soldiers try to stabilize the rope nets for others climbing down, as their small craft pitch in choppy seas. The boats speed away from their transport ships, and head toward the shore. Smoke rising from the shore where naval shelling has caused explosions and fire. Troops from landing craft of the USS, Samuel Chase (APA-26), wade ashore under enemy machine gun fire, at "Fox Green" section of Omaha Beach. They are far away from the beach itself, because of steel and concrete obstacles placed by the Germans, and relatively low tide.
Montage of scenes illustrating Office of Strategic Services (OSS) airlift activities in Burma during World War II. C-47 with number 26 on its tail seen on landing roll at an airfield. A C-47 (serial number: 41-19476) with number 33 on its tail. Men in khaki are loading supplies in the aircraft and several wearing parachutes board the aircraft. View of a C-47 with number 42 on its tail taking off from well established airport. A man with parachute stands in open cargo door of the aircraft during takeoff. (This segment of film is reversed.) A C-47, tail number 31 is seen cruising in flight. View from inside an airplane cruising over fog filled valleys and then later over jagged mountains. View of C-47 number 31 from cabin of another C-47. View of passengers inside C-47 cabin. A fighter escort of Two USAAF P-51s passes close to the C-47. Inside a C-47, crew members prepare supplies and then airdrop them behind enemy lines. View from below of supplies being dropped from a C-47. Views of airdrops from inside and outside C-47 aircraft. Commandos including indigenous personnel,parachute from C-47s. Views from camera strapped to leg of one paratrooper. View from ground of a parachutist descending. (Note: C-47 serial number: 41-19476 was assigned to the 10th Air Force, 443rd Troop Carrier Group in Burma, during world War 2, and was lost on on a mission, January 18, 1944, piloted by Ferde A. Larsen, of the 2nd Troop Carrier Squadron.)
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