A proclamation issued on September 3, 1914 from General Joseph Simon Gallieni urging the defense of Paris in light of the French government’s evacuation for Bordeaux and the incoming Battle of Marne during World War 1. “MILITARY GOVERNMENT OF PARIS Army of Paris, Residents of Paris, The members of the Government of the Republic have left Paris to give a new impulse to the national defense. I have received the mandate to defend Paris against the invader. This mandate, I shall carry out to the end. Paris, 3 September 1914 The Military Governor of Paris, Commanding the Army of Paris, GALLIENI” translated in English. Workers using pickaxes to break stones at a park in Paris, France. Soldiers in position behind a trench made of tree branches. A soldier uses a telephone while hiding under a tent of twigs. A French military official answers call. French soldiers towing a reconnaissance aircraft. A French Blériot XI observation aircraft takes off from an airfield for a reconnaissance mission. Aerial view of countryside outside Paris and surrounding areas as seen from a Blériot XI’s , with the French Army incorporating cameras in reconnaissance planes from the beginning of World War 1. The Blériot XI aircraft lands back to the airbase. Reconnaissance pilot reports his findings, showing his logbook. French military official working at his desk. French officers consulting reports posted on a wall inside their office. Under a canopy of twigs, a military officer uses a telephone to receive orders.
The uses and importance of weapons since ancient times in the United States. Pages showing U.S Congress Act creating the National Bureau for the Promotion of Rifle Practice, 1903. Exteriors of the 71st Regiment National Guard Armory building in New York City at Park Avenue and 33rd Street. People enter the building. German troops on parade circa 1914. American troops mobilized for World War 1, and traveling on troop trains in 1918. Troops moving along a muddy road, with military supplies in wagons being pulled by horses. American soldiers firing their 1903 Springfield rifles, from a bunker in France. Americans firing a M1914 Hotchkiss air-cooled machine gun and another U.S. gun crew firing a Browning M1917 water-cooled machine gun. U.S. troops wearing gas masks, firing a trench mortar. American gun crew firing a 155mm howitzer (as some hold their ears).French troops walk past destroyed buildings above which a blimp is seen flying with French observers in a gondola suspended underneath.
Two U.S. soldiers in a foxhole, set up a French Hotchkiss Model 1914 heavy machine gun, North of Villers-Tournelle, during World War I. Several American soldiers crawl across a field and set up another Hotchkiss machine gun on a tripod. One of the supporting soldiers runs forward to give the gunners two ammunition cannisters. Scene shifts to another team setting up a Hotchkiss Model 1909 light machine gun, on a tripod. Soldiers with ammunition are seen in background. Several American machine gunners step through their own barbed wire defenses to set up another Hotchkiss Model 1909 light machine gun. A machine gun crew firing a Hotchkiss Model 1914, pointed skyward. One feeds strips of 8mm lebel ammunition into the gun. (World War 1. WWI. WW1)
French troops passing through La Haye Du Puits, Normandy during World War 2. M3 half-tracks pass by ruins of buildings. Army trucks park near a World War 1 memorial used as a motor pool. Two tricolor Free France flags in the World War 1 memorial. An M3 half-track driving, with the Église Saint-Jean showing its damage (Place Patton, 50250 La Haye, France) in the background. French soldiers in trucks pass by a street with shops with signs “CITROEN”, “E. DE SAINT-GERMAIN” and “X GRANDES MARQUES”. Storefronts are damaged from bombing. Tricolor French flags in the street. A close view of a World War 1 Memorial with inscriptions “LA-HAYE-DU-PUITS A SES GLOREAUX MORTS 1914-1918” (“LA-HAYE-DU-PUITS TO ITS GLORIOUS DEAD 1914-1918” in English).
Adolf Hitler visits German military officers, at a military hispital in Rastenburg, during World War 2. They were injured in the July 20th assassination attempt against Hitler. He visitis and speaks with: Major General Walter Scherff; Navy Captain Heinz Assmann; Rear Admiral Karl-Jesco von Puttkamer; and General Walther Buhle. As he leaves the building, women nurses outside, give Nazi salutes, and cheer him. Change of scene shows Hitler, at the Wolf's Lair compound, near Rastenburg, East Prussia (now Poland). Among those he greets are: Walther Funk, Reich Minister for Economic Affairs; Reich Minister Albert Speer; and Reich Minister Hans Heinrich Lammers, President of the Reich Cabinet. Next scene shows Heinrich Himmler, chief of the Nazi Gestapo, speaking with General (Generaloberst) Ferdinand Schörner. Hitler strolls with Hermann Goering, and is then seen, from behind, as he greets Reich Minister of Propaganda, Joseph Goebbels and General (Generaloberst) Heinz Wilhelm Guderian, Chief of Staff of the Army. The Nazi top leaders stand and converse. Goebbels speaks with Martin Bormann and General Alfred Jodl,who was also injured during the July 20, 1944 bomb plot against Hitler. (Jodl's head is bandaged.)
Death of German President Paul von Hindenburg. Remains of Paul von Hindenburg on bed. Soldiers and German officials stand in formation at the Tannenberg Memorial, in Hohenstein, East Prussia (11-015 Olsztynek, Poland). Troops and officials give tribute to the President during his State funeral.