Activities of American first Army in Germany, advancing eastward in late 1944 during World War 2. Animated map shows: 4th and 8th infantry division move out from Stolberg and enter into Hurtgen Forest . U.S. 4th Infantry attack with field guns and artillery. Field gun amidst pile of shells fires toward Hurtgen Forest. 4th Infantry Division troops crawl up a hill in the Hurtgen Forest, sometimes pinned down under enemy German fire. Armor comes to their aid and casualties are treated by medical corps personnel. U.S. Army tanks arrive to support the infantry and they continue forward, where footage shows U.S. mortars and artillery bombing Grosshau, and point of view shot of a U.S. Army machine gun firing at a target in the town of Grosshau. Animated map shows: 5th and 8th Inf. Divisions enter into Kleinhau. Kleinhau is bombarded by a heavy volley of U.S. Army rockets and artillery from units of the 5th and 8th Infantry Divisions. Allied fighter bombers in flight over the area. Artillery is loaded and fired at close-range on target of Kleinhau which was then captured. U.S. Army Soldiers around the ruined buildings of Hurtgen, eating and drinking during a break. Infantry division move towards another towns. U.S. Army soldiers take a moment to relax during the long drive eastward. U.S. soldiers fire mortars from positions along the west bank of the Ruhr.
Film starts showing silhouettes of British tanks on the move, including one with a bulldozer blade. View from Allied warplane as bombs explode on the ground below. In November, 1944, infantry of the First Canadian Army, with Polish and British units fire Bren guns as they advance in Belgium and secure the Scheldt Estuary, to open a shipping route to Antwerp for the Allies. They traverse a river and cross rail lines while advancing. View of destroyed steel bridge across the Maas (Meuse) river with several British troops wading in water nearby. Silhouettes of German prisoners of war marching single file. View from rear of German prisoners walking under guard with hands resting on their heads. British troops running beside the Scheldt river at Antwerp on September 4, 1944, as huge explosions occur in the river behind them. A column of British troops, marching on tree-lined road, enters outskirts of Antwerp, as local people cheer them. Views of the troops being greeted in the city itself. Columns of Belgian refugees are seen returning to their homes. One,injured, is carried by friends in a wooden cart. A contingent of British troops marching in the city. Glimpses of derricks in the Antwerp port and a ship under construction in a shipyard. An animated map shows German counter offensive through Belgium and Luxemburg on September 4, 1944. Refugees leaving again, ahead of the returning German forces. View of a road sign reading: "Bastogne." American military police checking credentials of some refugees as they leave. American soldiers jammed together atop a Sherman tank parked at a checkpoint. After delaying further German advance, through the Ardennes, on September 16th, American troops are forced back and seen leaving , in trucks and Sherman tanks, from Bastogne, past a road leading to Martelange. As weather cleared on September 22nd, a formation of British Hawker Typhoon ground attack aircraft are seen in flight and diving to attack lines of communication with machine gun fire and rockets. Several different views of the aircraft firing and smoke rising from the ground. Animated map of German advance depicts the so-called "Bulge" extending 60 miles into Allied territory. Captured German films show German troops,one carrying a rifle and another a Sig 44 machine gun, as they pass columns of burning Allied trucks, other vehicles and armor. Closeup of German soldier waving to others to follow him, as he runs ahead past burning Allied equipment. Several German soldiers hunker under a knocked out Allied tank, as a German Jagdpanzer 38(t) Hetzer light tank destroyer passes their position. Closeup of German soldier smoking captured American cigarette. German infantry, walk past barrel of destroyed Allied tank. Several gather and smoke American cigarettes. One of them, with a belt of ammunition around his neck, is Hans Tragarsky aka Walter Armbrusch, of German Kampfgruppe Hansen, a battle group formed during the Battle of the Bulge from SS-Panzergrenadierdivision Regiment 2, an infantry regiment of SS Pz Rgt 2 "Das Reich". (This image is well known but his identity is subject to debate.) Glimpse of German officer walking with a soldier at the front, with background engulfed in flames.. Scene shifts to a formation of U.S. Army Air Forces C-47 transport planes seen, in flight, dropping food and ammunition to beleaguered American troops caught in the Battle of the Bulge. Change of scene to German Jagdpanzer IV tank destroyer moving; Panzer IV tanks firing 7.5 cm KwK 37 L/24 guns; and troops riding on a Tiger tank ( Panzerkampfwagen Tiger Ausf. B). German soldiers riding in a streamlined Volkswagen Kübelwagen. German soldier in an open single seat courier car spattered with mud. Close-ups of him smoking a cigar. German soldiers looking at formation of American C-47 aircraft overhead. A U.S. Army Air Corps B-25 bomber in flight. View from Allied bomber dropping bombs that strike ground with many explosions. View from above of a B-24 Liberator bomber in flight. View on ground of shells and bombs exploding in wooded area and low level black flak clouds. Captured 88mm gun being fired by Allied forces. British soldiers in a Landing Vehicle Tracked, cross a stream and climb up a steep bank. View from British "Wasp" flame-throwing Bren-gun carrier, as it fires and resulting inferno of fires. Views from a long distance of other flame-throwers firing across the stream. Closeup view of one firing with fires burning on the opposite shore.
Scenes in France near the end of World War 2, a sign "Cordemais" on a damaged building (likely the train station at Cordemais, France). A white flag of German surrender flies in the breeze. American sldiers stand near the building as a German surrender delegation approaches, led by negotiator Hauptmann Reinhold Mueller, to arrange handover of the St Nazaire enclave. A US Army soldier translator is seen speaking to the German officers and taking notes. French negotiator representatives are also seen, including one in black beret with a paratrooper insignia on his uniform. Red Cross representatives are seen taking notes. German and Allied officers (American, British, French) at the surrender conference. French civilians repair railroad tracks damaged during the war. French refugees are assisted by Red Cross workers. Troops board a train and it departs. A sign "Chantenay" (presumably at the train station in Chantenay-Villedieu). Group of people including boy scouts waiting to greet relief train as it pulls in to station. Close up views of the faces of men and women waiting to greet the train with civilians on board. Red Cross nurses walk quickly on railway tracks after train to greet it as it pulls into station. Men and women on train wave. Women, infants, and children first are seen getting off the train at an evacuation center. Scene changes to a snowy woods area and a large dwelling in the woods. A elderly woman collects firewood. An elderly man collects burnable twigs from trash cans and puts them in a bag. Three different older men shown filing a metal item in a vice with a metal file. Man picks up a small frame with a photo depicting a French officer in uniform. Grave site of a French soldier with cross marker and combat helmet hung from the cross top. Ground level view of a line of graves of French soldiers killed in World War 2, each with a helmet hanging on the cross grave marker. An old French woman praying with a rosary. A old woman sitting by a window. Another old woman huddled beside a wood stove rubbing her cold hands and pulling her blanket shawl higher on her shoulders. An old man taking tea in bed. A man rings a doorbell (hanging from a cord) in front of a hospice. Elderly man smokes a pipe and another lights his cigarette from it, women knit. Close up views of faces of elderly French people. Elderly dine at long tables in large hall. French people standing in a line outside a shop. Dix Francs currency of France shown. Views of young women typing and sewing. A diagram of human figures shown. Scenes from a house: An old woman knits, an old man reads, a young woman greets them with kisses.
Manufacture of artillery at Bethlehem Steel company plant in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, during World War I. Two large steel castings removed from floor molds by crane and quenched in water. A very large rail gun type of barrel on plant floor is examined by an Army officer. A worker crawls through a fabricated steel cylinder, brushing debris from its interior. Water being sprayed over hot machinery and parts. A woman worker in the war effort, wearing hard hat and overalls, is seen operating an overhead crane to move heavy gun barrels . Men hand finish gun barrels. A crew of men use extremely long wrenches to bolt a gun barrel to a turret. Workers install gun barrels into artillery pieces.
Manufacture of artillery guns at Bethlehem Steel company factory plant in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania during World War I. Rail yard of the steel plant. A poster of an American soldier with rifle standing on top of a tank. A 14 inch gun barrel nestled in an extra long railroad car. Sky filled with smoke pollution and steam spewing from stacks at industrial manufacturing plant.
An anti-gambling campaign is launched by Mayor Fiorello La Guardia in New York City. Mayor LaGuardia uses a sledgehammer to break and destroy slot machines. Views of a pile of smashed slot machines. People smash slot machines and carry them away. Mayor La Guardia and then others on a boat throw the smashed machines into the Long Island Sound. Part of a "25 years ago today" UN newsreel story issued September 24, 1959.
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