U.S. soldiers wade ashore at Omaha Fox Green Beach on D-Day, from landing craft of USS Samuel Chase (APA 25). during the Invasion of France. An idyllic English village on June 5, 1944. C-47 aircraft towing a Waco CG-4 glider over shelters made of wooden shipping containers. "Shanty Town" written atop one tall structure. Glider being pulled out a shipping container. Soldiers moving into empty shipping container. Glimpse of their homemade barrack. soldiers eating a meal inside a shipping container shelter. Soldiers at barber shop. German defenses of the Atlantic Wall on the French coast. German gun crews drilling. German rail gun. Animated map of German fortifications of the Atlantic Wall. Allied officers, including U.S. Major General Lewis Hyde Brereton, Commander, 9th Air Force and British Air Marshal Arthur Coningham, Commander, 2nd Tactical Air Force, in D-day planning. Airborne troops board buses and arrive at restricted airfields. Troops playing in jazz band; exercising on field; and playing volleyball. Paratroopers reading mail. Airmen painting invasion stripes for D-day on C-47 aircraft. French francs issued to paratroopers. Troopers sharpen knives and bayonets. Chaplains conduct religious services. General Dwight D. Eisenhower visiting 101st Airborne troopers. Airborne Pathfinders. Paratroopers march to C-47s, and don parachutes. Troopers of the 101st Airborne,506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, Headquarters Company Demolition Section ("Filthy 13") in their Mohawk Indian haircuts. Clarence Ware puts war paint on Charles Plaudo, using still-wet paint from their C-47's D-day stripes. Heavily laden paratrooper help one another board airplanes. Pathfinder C-47s taking off at dusk, followed by all others, on June 5, 1944. formations of C-47s. Closeup of several planes. Paratroopers exiting C-47s. Formation of towed gliders. Gliders landing in field. Troops from gliders engaging in fire fights. Naval gun barrage.
World War 2 invasion of Normandy, France. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Marshal Joseph Stalin, and Prime Minister Churchill, meeting at Tehran, Iran, in December 1943. U.S. Generals George Marshall and Hap Arnold, at conference table. Closeup of General Dwight D. Eisenhower. Map showing defense areas of the German 7th, 15th and 19th Armies in Europe. Map showing ports at Brest, Cherbourg, Le Havre, Dieppe, and Calais. Cherbourg is highlighted. U.S. Army trucks, tanks, and artillery, stockpiled in England. Railroad train carrying M3 Stuart tanks. U.S soldiers leaving troop ships and marching to their camps in Britain. Allied troops practicing amphibious assaults on Southern coast of England. Formation of B-26 bombers. View from Allied aircraft flying low over German-occupied area. B-17 aircraft dropping bombs over Germany. Bombs away view seen as bombs drop toward enemy targets. German fighter planes attacking B-17 bombers beginning in February 1944. Gunner in turret of B-17 firing at them. Dogfight views with German fighter aircraft. A B-17 exploding in the air. German fighter downed by B-17 gunner. Gun camera footage of German Bf 109 attacked from rear by gunfire. Just as it is hit it releases its drop tank. American soldiers in trucks, DUKWs, M4 tanks, and M8 armored Cars. Troops receive gas masks, waist life belts, field rations, and French money. May 30, 1944, American soldiers board tanks, trucks and other vehicles bound for embarkation points in England. Seen are Stuart M3 light tanks, jeeps, and M7 Priest tanks. M7 tanks are seen, equipped with intake and exhaust ducts. (At TC:11:39, U.S. M7 Priest tanks, equipped for deep wading, are seen passing the base of the Jubilee clock on the beachfront at Weymouth, on their way toward Castle Town in Portland for embarkation.) Transport ships are loaded at the embarkation ports. Trucks being backed onto LCT-453. U.S. Army infantry marching and boarding transport ships. Troops marching into LST 376 at Plymouth, England. Higgins Boats, from the USS Samuel Chase (APA-26) bringing troops to board her. Troops on deck of Attack transport, USS Joseph T. Dickman (APA-13). Barrage balloons overhead. Soldiers shooting craps on a troop ship deck. Coastguardsmen playing with a puppy dog. Gun crews on U.S. Navy warship being briefed. Soldiers field-strip and check their weapons.
Night action at sea during World War 2. A massive explosion occurs as a mine detonates. Flashes in the dark as tracers are fired at night and flares fall on the surface. United States Navy heavy cruiser USS Quincy, CA-71, painted in Camouflage Measure 31-32-33 series Design 18D. Next is the battleship USS Nevada, BB-36, painted in Camouflage Measure 22. ( Note: This was likely filmed between May 1944 and September 1944 when these two ships supported both the Normandy and Southern France Invasions.)
Film begins showing German ace pilot Oberleutnant (Major) Helmut Lent, of a night fighter wing, with other pilots on the occasion of his 100th aerial victory, on July 31, 1944, when he was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves, Swords and Diamonds. Next, a night fighter Messerschmitt Bf 110 twin-engine heavy fighter is seen taxiing out for takeoff at night in heavy rain. Scene shifts to a Nazi memorial service for Major Lent, who was killed in a crash on October 5, 1944. His flag-covered coffin is seen flanked by an honor guard. A display of his military awards is seen, also. View from beside the honor guard shows Field Marshal Hermann Goering raising his baton in salute as other attending the ceremony render the Nazi salute. Goering offers his condolences to parents of Major Lent. He then ascends steps toward the coffin and salutes. View from behind the honor guard as Goering delivers a eulogy. View Luftwaffe (Air Force) officers filling the seats of the hall, including famous ace, Adolf Galland. Goering steps from the podium and stands in front of the coffin, saluting with his baton, as the audience rises and all render the Nazi hand salute. With help of two soldiers, Goering places a large wreath of flowers before the coffin. Closeup of the wreath and Goering saluting with his baton. A large wreath with ribbons showing it is from the Furhrer (Hitler).
Preparations for launch of the USS Hancock (CV-19) at Fore River Shipyard, Quincy, Massachusetts, on January 24, 1944. . Shipyard riggers removing supports from under the ship's hull. Platform at bow is decorated with bunting. Scene shifts to Brooklyn Navy Yard, New York, and the launching of the USS Missouri (BB-63), on January 29, 1944. Crowd gathered around the bow as the Missouri goes down the ways. Another change of scene to the Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company of Newport News, Virginia. Here the ways are emptied following the launch of the Light Cruiser, USS Hancock (CL-81) on June 19, 1943. The Hancock can be seen in the water. Tugs attend to the newly launched Cruiser.
Formations of B-24 Liberator bombers are seen in flight, headed for Ploesti, Romania, on August 1, 1943, during World War 2. Next, vertical columns of bombs are seen falling from the planes. Animated map of Europe shows Romania and Ploesti. It show paths of oil from the Ploesti oil fields to Germany. (Narrator states Ploesti provides 30% of Axis oil.) Map show path of 9th Air Force bombers from Libya to the Ploesti oil fields. Scenes shift to captured German films from 1944, showing the fires and destruction resulting from the constant B-24 raids. Huge black clouds rise from the area. Firefighters rush to combat flames. They direct streams of water on the conflagrations. (Commenter states: "Delayed action bombs prevented firefighters from rushing in, until too late.") Nighttime views of large fires and heavy smoke from 6 of Ploesti's 7 refineries ripped wide open. Film advances to August, 1944, showing Ploesti with the fires out, following Rumania's capitulation. Next, with some fires still burning, King Michael I of Romania, tours the site with military officers. They walk amidst the debris. Smoke rising near a rail marshaling yard. Against a background of dense smoke rising, a Slate is displayed showing the cost to the United States of the Ploesti raids, as 300 bombers and 3000 American airmen were lost.
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