Title card says “Geheime Kommandosache” (“Secret commando operation” in English). “Erprobungsstelle der Luftwaffe Karlshagen” (“Test site of the Air Force Karlshagen” in English). “Flakzielgerät 76 Schnittautnahmen und Trick 6.+9.1.1944” (“Flak target device 76 cut recordings and trick 01/6-9/1944” in English). Close up of Argus engine on V-1 glide bomb as it starts, with variable intake compensating between jet pulses. Animation demonstrating how steam propels the V-1, with arrow pointing at the piston being pushed by steam within the Walter catapult. Various views of the Walter catapult ramp, including an unusual view from below the launch ramp as a V-1 buzz bomb is launched during World War II.
During the D-Day Invasion of Normandy. British troops disembark from landing crafts at Sword Beach and move in lines towards the beachhead. Military trucks and tanks are seen on the shore as smoke emerges from a hill on the beach. Various wrecked building on shore. British troops carrying equipment and a bicycle ashore. In last 15 seconds scene shifts to landing of U.S. 1st Infantry troops at Omaha beach. View of waters edge from higher up beach. Gear and bodies floating in water. U.S. Army soldiers coming ashore as several are struck by German machine gun fire and drop to the ground. (World War II period).
Road graders and bulldozers leveling a new airstrip in Normandy after the D-Day landings in World War II. Rolls of Marston Mat steel planking in the foreground. A Piper L-4 plane lands and takes off from the new strip. A United States soldier radio operator working with a colleague.
Film starts showing silhouettes of British tanks on the move, including one with a bulldozer blade. View from Allied warplane as bombs explode on the ground below. In November, 1944, infantry of the First Canadian Army, with Polish and British units fire Bren guns as they advance in Belgium and secure the Scheldt Estuary, to open a shipping route to Antwerp for the Allies. They traverse a river and cross rail lines while advancing. View of destroyed steel bridge across the Maas (Meuse) river with several British troops wading in water nearby. Silhouettes of German prisoners of war marching single file. View from rear of German prisoners walking under guard with hands resting on their heads. British troops running beside the Scheldt river at Antwerp on September 4, 1944, as huge explosions occur in the river behind them. A column of British troops, marching on tree-lined road, enters outskirts of Antwerp, as local people cheer them. Views of the troops being greeted in the city itself. Columns of Belgian refugees are seen returning to their homes. One,injured, is carried by friends in a wooden cart. A contingent of British troops marching in the city. Glimpses of derricks in the Antwerp port and a ship under construction in a shipyard. An animated map shows German counter offensive through Belgium and Luxemburg on September 4, 1944. Refugees leaving again, ahead of the returning German forces. View of a road sign reading: "Bastogne." American military police checking credentials of some refugees as they leave. American soldiers jammed together atop a Sherman tank parked at a checkpoint. After delaying further German advance, through the Ardennes, on September 16th, American troops are forced back and seen leaving , in trucks and Sherman tanks, from Bastogne, past a road leading to Martelange. As weather cleared on September 22nd, a formation of British Hawker Typhoon ground attack aircraft are seen in flight and diving to attack lines of communication with machine gun fire and rockets. Several different views of the aircraft firing and smoke rising from the ground. Animated map of German advance depicts the so-called "Bulge" extending 60 miles into Allied territory. Captured German films show German troops,one carrying a rifle and another a Sig 44 machine gun, as they pass columns of burning Allied trucks, other vehicles and armor. Closeup of German soldier waving to others to follow him, as he runs ahead past burning Allied equipment. Several German soldiers hunker under a knocked out Allied tank, as a German Jagdpanzer 38(t) Hetzer light tank destroyer passes their position. Closeup of German soldier smoking captured American cigarette. German infantry, walk past barrel of destroyed Allied tank. Several gather and smoke American cigarettes. One of them, with a belt of ammunition around his neck, is Hans Tragarsky aka Walter Armbrusch, of German Kampfgruppe Hansen, a battle group formed during the Battle of the Bulge from SS-Panzergrenadierdivision Regiment 2, an infantry regiment of SS Pz Rgt 2 "Das Reich". (This image is well known but his identity is subject to debate.) Glimpse of German officer walking with a soldier at the front, with background engulfed in flames.. Scene shifts to a formation of U.S. Army Air Forces C-47 transport planes seen, in flight, dropping food and ammunition to beleaguered American troops caught in the Battle of the Bulge. Change of scene to German Jagdpanzer IV tank destroyer moving; Panzer IV tanks firing 7.5 cm KwK 37 L/24 guns; and troops riding on a Tiger tank ( Panzerkampfwagen Tiger Ausf. B). German soldiers riding in a streamlined Volkswagen Kübelwagen. German soldier in an open single seat courier car spattered with mud. Close-ups of him smoking a cigar. German soldiers looking at formation of American C-47 aircraft overhead. A U.S. Army Air Corps B-25 bomber in flight. View from Allied bomber dropping bombs that strike ground with many explosions. View from above of a B-24 Liberator bomber in flight. View on ground of shells and bombs exploding in wooded area and low level black flak clouds. Captured 88mm gun being fired by Allied forces. British soldiers in a Landing Vehicle Tracked, cross a stream and climb up a steep bank. View from British "Wasp" flame-throwing Bren-gun carrier, as it fires and resulting inferno of fires. Views from a long distance of other flame-throwers firing across the stream. Closeup view of one firing with fires burning on the opposite shore.
Allied troops on the French coast shortly after the Allied Invasion of Europe in World War 2. Abandoned fortifications built by slave labor. A soldier looks at metal fences. Officers and soldiers walk through the fort. German weaponry destroyed by retreating German forces. A soldier walks on rubble in Granville. Observation post of the U.S. Navy. A lighthouse that separates Normandy from Brittany. A U.S. soldier on the lighthouse looks out to the sea.
British military equipment is massed for the attack on Caen after the Allied Normandy landings in World War 2. British tanks covered with tree branches and net as camouflage. Rows of British tanks (likely the Mk IV Churchill tanks) park in a field near Caen. Red Cross medical ambulance trucks near Caen. Red Cross medics unload supplies from ambulance trucks. British forces moving into Caen for an attack. British Army trucks and jeeps move towards Caen.
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