German soldiers climbing over a crash-landed B-17 bomber of the USAAF 96th Bomb Group, 337th Bomb Squadron, with tail number 42-3353. Its props are all bent and skin is peeled off its rudder and horizontal stabilizer. (This aircraft, named "Tar Fly," was hit by flak on September 9, 1943, and crash-landed west of Evreux, at Beamont-Le Roger, France. Two crew were killed and 8 taken as prisoners of war.) Smoking wreckage of an Allied aircraft in a field with two dead fliers lying on the ground about 50 yards away. Engines of a downed U.S. aircraft. Numerous views of wrecked American and British airplanes. Sign painted on one piece of wreckage reads: "When I go sightseeing in Tokyo, Tojo's gonna be my Ricksha Boy!" Piles of scrap alumunum from crashed airplanes piled up at a railroad siding, where German workers load it into rail freight cars. German army workers using tools to dismantle parts. Sequence shifts to a Messerschmitt Bf 109 that lands in a field. German airmen run to greet the pilot, who steps from the cockpit and describes some aerial maneuvers to a surrounding audience. Next, German ace, Adolf Galland is seen discussing tactics with other pilots. Several camouflaged Me Bf-109s lined up on a grass field, where ground crews are repairing and maintaining them. Closeups of German pilots climbing into cockpits of planes. Ground crews hand crank their starters. Next sequence shows Focke-Wulf FW-190 aircraft taxiing and then making a formation takeoff from grass field. Then an Me-Bf-109 is shown right after takeoff. FW-190s and Me-109s buzz the field. (World War II period)
A Swiss Border guard walks toward camera, on the French side of the Franco-Swiss border crossing near Annecy, France, during World War 2. He confers with an officer of the U.S. Army Air Force. A tram arrives on the Swiss side and stops at the border. A large group of American pilots and crew step from the tram with their baggage. They are barred from moving further, by Swiss guards. But one man in a raincoat, walks past the guards and greets U.S. officers and an official, outside a customs office at the border. A Swiss border guard supervisor directs guards to move the flyers to a walkway. Another American Army officer arrives and greets those already there. The flyers being repatriated from Switzerland, walk en masse across the border and climb aboard a bus waiting on the French side.
American officers aboard a cruiser in France during World War II. Supreme Commander of Allied Expeditionary Forces General Dwight Eisenhower, Chief of Staff of the United States Army George Marshal, U.S. Army Air Force General Henry Arnold and U.S. Fleet Admiral Ernest King on bridge of cruiser. Generals in dukw (six wheel drive amphibious truck). U.S. troops and jeeps along road. General Eisenhower and General Arnold get into a jeep. Jeep passes through damaged French village
U.S. Generals in France during World War II. U.S. C-47 Skytrain transport plane taxis down field. C-47 on field with crowd of soldiers around. U.S. General Omar Bradley, Supreme Commander of Allied Expeditionary Forces General Dwight Eisenhower, and Chief of Staff of the United States Army General George Marshal get out of C-47 and talk together. General Marshal talks to a soldier. General Eisenhower, General Marshal, and U.S. Fleet Admiral Ernest King pull away in command car. Jeep passes through a French town. Generals walk along a field. General Marshal washes face outside a tent.
The sailing of the Free French 2nd Armored Division on the English Channel to France during World War 2. Groups of soldiers standing and sitting on deck. Soldiers start singing, merrymaking as a group. Soldier playfully touches his friend’s hat, also tapping his shoulder. A French soldier smiles, begins to sing. Free French Algerian soldiers stroking a pet rabbit. An Algerian soldier showing their pet rabbit on camera.
Various military vehicles in transport to Allied forces-held Cherbourg, France during World War 2. The roof of a Red Cross truck. Free French soldiers going down with a rope net to a landing craft. A Red Cross truck is hoisted up from a ship, transferring to a landing craft. Soldiers and military vehicles such as trucks and armored carriers on a landing craft. A landing craft filled with soldiers and military vehicles, such as trucks and armored carriers, pulls away. A landing craft on the English Channel.
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