U.S. war correspondents traveling with the 101st Airborne shortly after the Invasion of France by Allied forces in the summer of 1944. Allied officers aboard a ship. Soldiers on a beach of coastal France. Town buildings rising up from the shore. A French woman holds a cat. A war correspondent and a soldier from the 101st Airborne look at pictures and smile. Town buildings along a street of a coastal French town. A barbed wire fence with a beach in the background. A Red Cross flag on an American jeep. Massive seawall fortifications separating the beach and the coastal French town. Children play, walking on the sea wall and playing in the sand of the beach. Allied soldiers confer inside a tent. Ships on the coastline. An American flag aboard a ship.
A Colonel thanks Andrews Sisters on behalf of the Music Section of the Special Services Division for recording the three discs. Patricia Marie, Maxene Angelyn and Laverne Sophie record a song named 'Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy'. Musicians check instruments during the recording. Studio staff work on the pressing of the phonograph record. (Note: Although "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy" was recorded commercially for Decca Records on January 2, 1941, this filmed V-Disc recording session took place over three years later on September 25, 1944.)
Allied invasion task force loading tanks, vehicles, troops and equipment on ships,at British ports, in readiness for the D-Day invasion of Normandy, in World war 2. Armored vehicle seen loaded onto USS Boone County (LST-389) at Falmouth in Cornwell, England on June 2, 1944, as troops load various ships. Troops near anchored craft USS LCI(L)-84 and another vessel (possibly marked 48 or 49). Tanks, bulldozers, and heavy equipement being loaded. View of Landing Ship Tank LST-621 and then LST-317 being loaded. DUKW vehicles in queue to load. A U.S. Army soldier is hoisted aboard a British Royal Navy ship in a special harness. British sailors around him and another U.S. Army soldier on the deck. Invasion troops from England and the United States spending their waiting time aboard ships. Three seen playing musical instruments: Accordion, guitar, and violin. Several play cards. Two practice gymnastics. Some prepare weapons and ammunition (view of LST-506 or LCI-506 in background). Navy sailors and U.S. Army troops huddled together in tight groups as they are briefed by their respective officers regarding the invasion mission.
Film begins showing Brigadier General James M. Gavin, Commander of the Force A (parachute) contingent of the 82nd Airborne Division, standing on the hood of a jeep, at an airfield, to brief his paratroopers as they prepare for the D-Day invasion, during World War 2. A C-47 transport plane taxis behind the assembled group of troopers. Barbed wire is strung in the foreground. Paratroopers are issued French currency before departure. Some gamble with it using dice. Troops are seen playing volleyball on a field surrounded by trees. On an airfield, one trooper hits ground balls with a soft ball and several others field it. Some other troopers sit in grass next to the ramp, assembling wooden containers for airdrop. Two Army Air Forces mechanics fasten a tow bar on the nose wheel of a British-built Horsa Mk.II glider. They then tow it with a tug. View from above of Horsa gliders and C-47 tow airplanes, all in D-Day paint stripes, lined up on an airfield ramp. Paratrooper tent camp is viewed from above. Then, General Dwight D. Eisenhower and other senior officers are seen visiting paratroopers of the 101st Airborne Division, at the camp, on June 5, 1944, as they prepare to board their aircraft. Famous closeup of General Eisenhower speaking to a tall paratrooper who has his face camouflaged with grease paint.View looking down, as Eisenhower circulates among the troopers. Closeup of him conversing with another one directly.
U.S. Paratroopers boarding C-47 aircraft, on June 5th, 1944 during World War 2. Huge naval task force underway in the English Channel. C-47s loaded with paratroopers taking off, the evening of June 5th. C-47s taking off towing gliders. Formations of C-47s and gliders passing over the Naval task force in the English Channel. Three pet dogs with troops on one of the ships.
U.S. Army forces during the Battle of the Bulge in World War II . American soldiers from the U.S. Army Headquarters Company, 75th Infantry Division celebrate Christmas, 1944, with a makeshift Christmas tree covered in ornaments. (The soldier at extreme left in the scene has been identified as T4 Jack S. De Rosa.) A pig moves on a muddy street. U.S. Army forces retreat during German breakhrough in the Ardennes. U.S. soldiers laying razor wire and then blowing up a bridge after crossing it. Belgian civilian refugees move with belongings on a road. A loaded bullock cart moves along with some refugees, some of whom are moving back into their villages according to the narrator. German aircraft bomb U.S. forces, who respond with antiaircraft fire. Bombs bursting in a village, as seen from outside buildings and looking through windows of a building. A partially destroyed home collapses. U.S. soldiers firing at aircraft using machine guns mounted on tanks. U.S. Army soldiers and medics carry wounded soldiers on stretchers during active combat. Numerous U.S. Army vehicles and weapons on fire and destroyed by the German attacks. Burning buildings in a town. A wounded U.S. Army officer with his face bandaged. Several dead American soldiers lie on the ground. Wounded American troops at a field hospital. U.S. Army holds the line at Bastogne. U.S. Army soldiers standby at machine gun emplacements, holding the line at Bastogne. Army tank in road near a road sign that says, "Bastogne." U.S. troops operating amid heavy snow. Several German soldiers or spies who infiltrated U.S. lines by American uniforms, are caught and held by U.S. soldiers. Three captured Germans are executed by firing squad. Americans fire 155mm long tom artillery pieces as they continue to advance, pushing back German forces. U.S. soldier using metal detector to mine sweep in a trench on snowy ground.
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