German officers tour France during World War II. Officers including German Chancellor Adolf Hitler, German Air Force Minister Hermann Göring and others seated at a desk in the train car. They discuss a map. Soldiers at a railroad station. The soldiers entrain. They meet their loved ones. They wave towards them as the train leaves the station. Houses and buildings in the background. The train on a railway track. Adolf Hitler, Hermann Goering and other officers seated in Hitler's private railroad car touring occupied southern France. The soldiers wave at a station. A board reads: Hendaye (on the southern border of France near Spain. Hitler and officers at railroad station in Hendaye as train arrives with Spanish leader Francisco Franco on board. Franco exits the train and greets Hitler. They walk past German soldiers at attention, as Franco offers a Nazi salute. Franco and Hitler board another waiting train.
Allied campaign against Nazi Germany in 1944 during World War II. Tanks, artillery and supplies piled up in England for invasion of Europe. Allied soldiers from various Allied nations like Britain, America, New Zealand and South Africa gathered at docks. The soldiers loaded onto transport ships. Soldiers get into landing crafts. Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force General Dwight D. Eisenhower at a map in Headquarters as he plans the invasion of France. The Allied invasion fleet underway in the English Channel to invade France. A map shows the location of Caen, France. Allied aircraft in flight and view at aircraft door as line of paratroopers jump. Massive group of parachutes in the sky as paratroopers descend. Explosions occur at a coast. Landing crafts beached and soldiers come ashore amidst heavy firing. Rockets and artillery being fired. Vehicles on the beach. A truck burns. A map depicts the area under Nazi German occupation before World War II and the recapture of those areas by Allied armies in 1944.
United States Army General John Joseph Pershing visits France. General John Joseph Pershing reviews French Marine troops. General John Joseph Pershing with other officers leaves in a staff car. Policemen control a crowd. John Joseph Pershing arrives at the Gare du Nord (18 Rue de Dunkerque, 75010 Paris, France) in Paris. He poses with officers. He rides through huge crowds. He speaks to throngs from the balcony of the Hotel de Crillon (10 Pl. de la Concorde, 75008 Paris, France).
German occupation of France during World War 2. The cathedral in Reims, France. Vehicles and a few men on a road in front of the church. Trees lining the road. The railway car in which an armistice agreement was signed by Germany and the Allies at end of World War 1. The Memorial Tablet symbolic of the 1918 armistice, the Alsace-Lorraine, and Ferdinand Foch's Memorial in Compiegne Forest. Ferdinand Foch's carriage in which the first armistice was signed. In 1940 : German troops cross River Marne in rafts. A signboard showing the distances to Paris and Soissons. Another signboard showing the distances to Grand Fitz James and Paris. Troops on tanks moving on roads. A signboard shows distances to Pontarme and Paris. A soldier with a gun on his back. Soldiers moving with carriages on a path between fields. Trees lining the path. German troops moving on tanks advancing deeper into France. The troops on the road in front of the castle in Versailles. The German flag hoisted on a flag pole over the Palace of Versailles and German soldiers occupy the Palace of Versailles.
Reminders of World War 2, in France, 1945. A high bridge of about eight masonry arches with two bombed out, in mountainous region of France. Camera pans right, showing a number of substantial homes scattered across the valley, with tall mountains behind. Scene shifts to a different, flatter landscape, where about a dozen U.S. Waco CG-4A gliders are seen abandoned in a field, in various states of disrepair. Writing in chalk on the side of one glider reads, "Whispering Yoddles, Fort Worth Texas, Little One Alice". There are no D-day stripes on these gliders, indicating they were probably used subsequent to the Normandy invasion, in other operations such as "Bluebird & Dove" in the South of France, in August, 1944.
Normal life of civilians resume after German surrender in some parts of France during World War II. Aerial view of flak in sky. Close-up view of two U.S. Army Air Force B-25 Mitchell bomber aircraft in flight. (Narrator incorrectly states they are British Lancaster bomber aircraft.) View from bomb bay doors of bombs away shot as the B-25 bomber aircraft drop bombs on U-boat pens at Brest. Explosions and smoke rise. The aircraft drop bombs over ground installation over enemy area. Canadian soldier scenes: Troops advance through a burning coastal town in France. Buildings collapsing and gunfire in streets. Smoke rising. Ruins of destroyed French town are seen. Allied Army tanks advance and fire artillery. German prisoners of war from Wehrmacht 7th and 15th armies being marched under watch by Canadian forces. Among the German prisoners is a 13 year old Russian boy who was forced to work by the Nazis. German prisoners in a soup line and seen drinking from mugs. Some appear to be very young boy soldiers. U.S. Army soldiers in Le Mans: American soldiers are welcomed by civilians of France. Happy French civilians waving to U.S. forces including a happy young woman who runs forward and pats a U.S. Army tank with her hand. Men and women collaborationists who assisted the Germans are rounded up by French and marched away. U.S. Army soldiers seated at stools in a French bar drink as the bar maid pours more into their glasses. French civilians line up at shops and groceries to buy food and goods in Le Mans. Pictures of General De Gaulle for sale. American women in U.S. Army uniforms (possibly nurses or Womens Army Corps WAC members) look in shop windows at French fashions. Voting cards: U.S. Army troops read pamphlets that read "requirement of soldiers to vote" and "Soldiers Voting". The U.S. Army GI's receive and mail postcards to their homes requesting absentee voting ballots for the upcoming November 1944 election. The soldiers line up to secure their application cards for absentee ballots.
CRITICALPAST.COM: About Us | Contact Us | FAQs - How to Order | License Agreement | My Account | My Lightboxes | Shopping Cart | Advanced Search | Featured Collections | Website Terms & Conditions | Privacy Policy ©2026 CriticalPast LLC.
License Agreement |
Terms & Conditions |
Privacy Policy
©2026 CriticalPast LLC.