On January 31, 1945, during World War 2, elements of the 11th Airborne Division attached to the U.S. Eighth Army, are seen in landing craft approaching the shore of Nasugbu, Batangas. They hit the beach in an unopposed landing, but one of their vehicles stalls near the shoreline. A DUKW Military Amphibious Vehicle moves along the shore as soldiers board the stalled vehicle and head toward the beach pulled by a bulldozer using a towline. Another vehicle is also seen, being pulled by a bulldozer.
February 17, 1945, Minesweepers move across the beaches of Iwo Jima, where U.S. amphibious landings are to be made. Diagram shows their positions and paths. Minesweepers are seen running parallel to the shore and then with Mount Suribachi behind them. Diagram illustrates Japanese shore batteries pattern of fire at U.S. gunboats. Actual scenes of the gunboats being destroyed and damaged by Japanese fire. At the same time, American reconnaissance swimmers jump from fast patrol boats. U.S. Navy ships begin firing white phosphorus shells to set up smoke screens. U.S. swimmers are recovered, after reconnoitering the beach areas. Gunboat 474 (USS LCI(G)-474) is seen severely damaged. Stretcher bearers seen on deck of a U.S. ship. Diagram shows the plan to employ naval gunfire from the battleships, Idaho, Nevada, New York, and Tennessee, at close range, against Japanese shore batteries. Numerous views of gunfire from those battleships.
View of smiling American troops of 2nd Armored Division eligible for redeploy and discharge on April 21, 1945. They stand next to a captured Nazi German flag in Cherbourg, France. One soldier wraps the Nazi flag around himself. Soldiers at rail of a large troop transport ship at a pier. Soldiers take a wounded man aboard ship on a stretcher. Soldiers and officers at the American cemetery. Soldiers raise their guns to pay respect to the graves. They salute. Wreath on a grave with cross marked "unknown". Soldiers and a few nurses boarding transport ship at dock. (World War II period).
Views from inside the B-29 "Bockscar" as it drops the "fat boy" atomic bomb on Nagasaki, on August 9, 1945. Photographed through the waist gunner's window. Bright sunny day with fair weather cumulus clouds. Static eliminators are seen on trailing edge of aircraft's wing. Mushroom cloud seen at various angles as the B-29 "Bockscar" (sometimes called "Bock's Car" or "Bocks Car") flies by. (World War II period).
Sven Hedin, famous Swedish explorer, geographer, and author, is seen in his book-lined study, in Stockholm, Sweden, around the time of his 80th Birthday, in 1945, during World War 2. He opens a large map and points to a part of Sweden, that narrator implies is important to German interests. Next the German ambassador to Sweden, Dr. Hans Thomsen, enters, bringing greetings in the name of the Fuhrer, through Joachim von Ribbentrop, the German Foreign Minister. He expresses appreciation of the German nation. The two men sit and converse.
United States Army soldiers guarding a group of German SS prisoners of war who are being held near a village. Cameraman slate indicates location of "Wittring" (presumably Wittring France, just outside the German border, in the Moselle region), but U.S. government record accompanying the film indicates "Wittring, (?) Germany" (sic). A wheel cart is seen on the street. The German prisoners of war have SS markings on their right lapel and also the SS skull insignia on the cap, identifying them most likely as part of the SS-TotenkopfverbÀnde or SS-TV; also called Death's Head units. (Theories on these captured soldiers include: 1) SS-TV units were primarily in charge of administering the Nazi Concentration Camps in World War II. Hinzert Concentration Camp was possibly the closest camp to Wittring. Perhaps these soldiers came from it or another camp; 2) They may have been part of the 3rd SS Panzer Division. Reportedly, whole platoons and elements of the 3rd SS Panzer division were not following orders and were giving up prior to the Budapest and Vienna battles to avoid Soviet captivity, as early as Jan 1945). Prisoners rub their hands to warm them in the cold. Camera shows a close-up view of one of the prisoners, as an American soldier attaches a Prisoner of War identification tag over around the neck of the prisoner.
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