"The Big Picture” host Alexander Scourby interviews General Omar Bradley, the architect of Operation Cobra in Normandy during World War II. General Omar Bradley recounts his experience with handling Operation Cobra in Normandy. Omar Bradley attributes several factors for Operation Cobra’s success such as the aggressive and strong fighting spirit of the American troops, the teamwork displayed by the combat armies and air force, the alertness of subordinate commanders such as General Collins. On Martin Blumenson’s book, “Breakout and Pursuit”, General Omar Bradley says that reading the book sounds like “traveling down the road in the daylight than is the time you had taken it in the dark. It is generally familiar, which is always interesting to see the whole picture- part of which is hidden before”. General Omar Bradley gives a positive review on the historicity and veracity of “Breakout and Pursuit”. General Omar Bradley speaks about the value of military historians studying the events of World War 2. “Despite the fact that the weapons of war changes, the principle of war remain the same” said Omar Bradley. “War was a big thing in all our lives. We’ve been reading about the Revolution, the Civil War for a long time, to get a clear picture of ourselves as a nation. The Army is giving us the ability to do that now. The greatest war we have ever fought in our history” said General Bradley as he concludes the interview.
Marseilles: View of the French port. British, French and American Naval officers examine German demolition of the port town. Officers survey unfinished U-Boat pens. Toulon: Destroyed German ships in the harbor. Bologne: German coastal guns in ruins. Destroyed artillery. Le Havre: Destroyed buildings and ruins in the town. Unfinished German U-Boat pens. Destroyed artillery. Brest: Destroyed buildings and ruins. German soldiers wave a white flag of surrender on September 18, 1944. U.S, Army Major General. W.M. Robertson , 2nd Infantry Division discusses the surrender with German Colonel E. Pietzonka of the 7th German Parachute Regiment. German soldiers assemble in the main square of the city during the surrender operation.
View of bridge across the Marne River destroyed by retreating German soldiers. View shifts to U.S. Army XX Corps troops, trucks, jeeps, halftracks and tank destroyers crossing a pontoon bridge erected by Army Engineers nearby, at the bridgehead captured on 27 August 1944, during World War 2. French civilians watch from the bank of the river and wave as troops pass through their village. Using this crossing, the XX Corps continued its advance on Rheims.
French Marshal Philippe Petain in a French town in 1944 during World War II. Philippe Petain walks along a street with other officials. A crowd cheers. Petain addresses from the balcony of a building. Petain and staff stand at attention saluting as the crowd sings the national anthem.
U.S. flyers, who escaped from Swiss internment, examine remains of destroyed German warplanes at a French airfield. A swastika seen on the tail of an airplane and a German cross on the wing of another. Men stand on the tail of a Nazi airplane. A group stands near the wrecked tail of a large German airplane. A U.S. P-47 aircraft is parked in the background. It has a red cowling, identifying it as belonging to the 56th Fighter Group (likely to the 63rd Fighter Squadron, which in Spring of 1944, showed no squadron color on the tail). .Army Air Force L-5 Sentinel aircraft in flight over a field.
A road grader levels an airstrip in Normandy after the D-Day landings in World War II. A P-38 fighter aircraft lands on the newly built runway.
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