Animated map shows France, Germany, and England during World War II. An arrow points to Marseilles. Paratroopers of Airborne Infantry prepare to jump from flying aircraft. Parachutes on paratroopers descending from aircraft. Allied amphibious ships land on the coast of the French Riviera. Barrage balloons are seen. View of the Eiffel Tower in Paris, France. French Forces of the Interior (FFI) waves the French flag in Paris. Free French troops and guerrilla men and women stand at attention. View of Rue de Rivoli and the Louvre Museum. French forces engage with German troops in street fighting. A French guerrilla shoots a German soldier. M4 Sherman tanks, trucks and other vehicles moving in the streets of Paris. A French man throws a grenade out from his window. A German soldier on fire escapes from burning vehicle. A French couple seizes weapons from an unconscious German soldier. French civilians with rifles sit behind sandbags. French Second Armored Division moving towards Paris. French civilians welcome the arrival of the French Second Armored Division at Montmartre. Marshal Philippe Leclerc de Hauteclocque talking to another soldier. A tank in front of a fence written with “Bois Charbons” (“Charcoal”). French Second Armored Division and German forces engage in street fighting. A woman grabs her son, taking him inside their house. French men watching the street fighting. French Second Armored Division M4 Sherman tank firing on the street. A machine gun of the French Second Armored Division. Thick smoke from a building. German soldier with white flag. German troops captured in Place de la Concorde. German troops raise their hands while being searched. Civilians cheer and hug each other. A soldier receives kisses from women. General Charles de Gaulle enters the city. A sign reads 'Avenue des Champs Elysees'. People buying newspapers on street. Children play in liberated France. Men and women singing the La Marseillaise is heard from the background. (World War II period).
1st Engineer Assault Company at Po Valley, Italy. United States M4 Sherman tank equipped with crane lifts bundle of logs called fascines. M4 tanks with steel girder platform mounted on top, transport log of bundles. Tanks with the help of crane load tread way sections of bridge onto army tucks. Trucks loaded with logs drive on a dirt road.
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.
Preparation undertaken in factories of Britain for producing war material and weapons for British Infantry fighting against German forces in El Alamein, Egypt during World War II. Women and men war production workers busy in a factory. Workers at aircraft assembly lines operate various machines. Scene changes to the United States, where war production workers are seen assembling M4 Sherman tanks in a U.S. factory. Production of M4 tanks for Allies. Completed tanks at the end of an assembly line, and elevated wide views of factory floor producing tanks.
French troops operating in Mulhouse, Alsace-Lorraine, France, during World War 2. Burning buildings in village. The spire of a church. Smoke rising from the burnt areas. A man directs several boys to help fight the fire. Village residents fighting fires with buckets of water. Colonial North African infantry of the French 1st Army accompanied by an M4 Sherman tank on street outside gated official-looking building. They enter through gates cautiously. Elsewhere, a local Frenchman pours glasses of white wine for American soldiers sitting in a jeep. Scene shifts to the French troops, along with a cameraman, who are sheltering under sniper fire, near building. Their M4 tank (named "Marne") also provides some cover. Momentary glimpse of German soldiers taken prisoner.
French Legionnaires, headquartered in Taza, mount mobile operations in the Rif mountains of Morocco. Opening scene shows mountainous region in area of Ajdir, near Al Hoceima, Morocco. Next, explosions and white smoke are seen in distance as French motorized forces move toward the camera. Closeup of Hotchkiss M201 Jeep 4 x 4 with sandbagged radiator and carrying a gunner in the rear, moving past some assembled armor. A sign reading, “Col du Nador, Altitude 1430 m.” Closeup of a French M8 Greyhound Armored car. French soldiers ducking for cover as they scramble near a Hotchkiss M201 jeep and take up positions overlooking a valley. Soldiers manning a truck-mounted 50cal machine gun. Similar guns silhouetted against the sky and more soldiers with rifles in position on a ridge of ground. A battery of 105mm howitzers being fired. Several silhouetted against the lighter sky. More views of the gun batteries. Closeup of gunners loading howitzer and expended shells on the ground. Soldiers checking area around a bridge. Troops collecting stones to repair a hole at the bridge approach. Several soldiers carry a wounded comrade back to a place where he receives first aid care. A soldier points to a French- operated Di Haviland Vampire FB.5 aircraft overhead. Another aircraft (A North American T-6) is also seen flying over the scene. Artillery battery commander using special telescope. French infantry moving forward. Soldiers at a field communications center. Soldiers firing small arms from a hillside.
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