Beach scene at Tumon Bay, Guam in 1945, at end of World War 2 . Bathers and some small boats in water of a bay. Sand beach covered with palm trees and other semitropical flora. People seated on the sands. Water of the bay and promenatory of land in background. Different sequence, showing three U.S. Landing Craft Support, Large, LCS (L) clustered together at anchor in a bay, with buildings on shore in background. The mast of a U.S.warship. A U.S. Army Air Forces B-29 bomber in flight overhead. It displays tail code of solid black square with "M" inside, identifying it as belonging to the 20th Air Force, 314th Bomb Wing, 19th Bomb Group, based at Anderson Air Force Base, Guam. Camera focuses on the bomber as it passes overhead. Sailors speed into the bay, aboard a motor boat. The B-29 circles directly overhead, passing the American flag displayed on the main mast of a warship. The B-29 appears to be descending to land at the airbase.
A sign identifies the village of Bande, in Belgium, during World War 2. View of snow-covered village rooftops from a distance. Closeup of a cafe in the village. Bodies of 34 young men from the village are seen lying in the cellar of the cafe. All had been executed on Christmas Eve, by a unit of the Nazi SD (Sicherheitsdienst) affiliated with the SS (Schutzstaffel) in retribution for the deaths of three German soldiers killed by Belgian maquis (Resistance fighters) on September 5, 1944. (Bande had been occupied by U.S. forces soon thereafter, but was retaken by German forces in the December Ardennes offensive, setting the stage for the massacre.) British troops that re-occupied the village on January 10th, 1945, are seen removing the bodies from the cellar and placing them on the snow-covered street. Wooden coffins are stacked up at the side of the building. Some closeups of the victims are seen. Scene shifts to a snowy field where the bodies are on the ground and men wrap them in sheets and place them in coffins. Closeup of British soldiers placing cover on a coffin and affixing an identification tag on it. Next, the Village Priest presides over a mass funeral for the victims, as villagers stand along the line of coffins. Women in black grieve over the victims. British soldiers carry the coffins to army trucks.The villagers follow behind the trucks as they proceed to the graveyard for burial. The coffins are placed on the ground at the cemetery.
Film opens showing aerial view of a United States B-29 Superfortress bomber aircraft in flight, then scenes of numerous U.S. Army Air Forces warplanes and bombing (partially obscured by on screen newsreel text). Next, crowds are seen jamming Times Square in Manhattan, New York City, celebrating victory over Japan in World War 2. (Known as V-J Day or Victory over Japan day, marking the end of World War 2, on 14 August, 1945.) A facsimile of the Statue of Liberty has been set up in the square. Moving lights on Times Building motograph news zipper or ticker announce Japanese surrender. Jubilant celebrations and smiling Americans wave American flags. Closeup of the Statue of Liberty facsimile. A woman dances the Lindy Hop with a U.S. Navy sailor, as others (including many servicemen in uniform) watch.
Documentary about significant events of the year 1945. German dictator Adolf Hitler visits German hospitals. He talks to and asks well being of Nazi soldiers. The famous Nuremberg trials of the Nazi leaders. Prominent Nazi leaders Hermann Goering, Speer and others facing the trial in a Court of justice. The United Nations Conference with delegates from various nations. Delegates sign the UN Charter.
Armed Italian Partisans escort several Italian Fascist officials, who walk with their hands raised along a street in Ivrea, Northern Italy, during final days of World War 2, in Europe. Local citizens walk along beside and behind them, including some on bicycles. Another scene shows Italian Partisans escorting several soldiers, of the Italian National Republican Army, with their hands on their heads. This group is also followed by a large number of local citizens. Scene shifts to an American jeep carrying an officer and two U.S. soldiers. It is followed by an automobile, seen, later parked with another near a sidewalk, where several Italian Republican Army officers are conversing cordially with American soldiers of the U.S. 92nd Infantry Division.(By May 5, 1945, all Nazi German forces in Italy, had capitulated.) Italian women and children seen in a small open bus.
Bomb bay of United States Army Air Force B-29 aircraft opens. Interior view of aircraft shows bombardier in nose as he looks through bomb sight. Actual atomic bomb detonation over Nagasaki Japan as seen from B-29 aircraft on August 9, 1945. View of mushroom cloud rising rapidly from an atomic blast (a different blast; not Nagasaki or Hiroshima). Ground views of devastated city of Hiroshima following atomic bombing in World War 2.
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