President Reagan gives a brief speech to press assembled at the White House before departing for the Economic Summit Conference in France. He jokes that Nancy is upstairs "unplugging the toaster" and that they are ready to depart. He talks about the economic progress of the United States. Economic and security relations being the foremost foreign concerns.
Film begins showing formation of German bombers in flight. Next, British and French troops are seen retreating under fire across a river using inflatable rafts. British artillery fires guns from sparse tree line. German troops crossing a river, in small inflatable boats, under heavy Allied artillery fire. German soldiers launch boats next to a destroyed bridge over a river. British artillery firing from tree line. Shells striking near the German forces by the river. German soldiers in Einheits-Pkw field cars ford a shallow river. German troops unroll a spool of communications wire upon the ground using a rolling dispenser. Sd.Kfz.11 German half-track pulling a 15 cm schwere Feldhaubitze 18 (heavy field howitzer) up a muddy hill. Soldiers moving in a river aboard a Sd.Kfz. 251/1 Ausf. A armored car. A Panzer tank being offloaded from a barge. Various German artillery firing, including a siege mortar, with their shells exploding on targets. German soldier holds his ears as heavy gun is fired. German troops, with shells bursting near them in water, carry timber to repair bridge. Line of Panzer tanks advancing. German heavy gun firing. Silhouette of tank treads moving through fire. A rocket sails through the air and strikes ground. Many rounds of machine gun tracer bullets seen in night. Fires consuming numerous buildings in Louvain (Leuven), Belgium. A dead horse on the street. Inhabitants fleeing the city on foot, bicycles, and in cars. View from distance of heavy black smoke over the city. Closeups of burning buildings. Police help an injured woman lying in grass beside a path. Glimpse of another woman lying on a stretcher. More scenes of fires. In Louvain, the tower of St. Peter's Church crashes in flames. More views of refugees in countryside, continuing to walk away from the city. One is a young girl with a wooden leg prosthetic using a cane. German troops entering the city. German troops, without helmets, manually moving an artillery piece along a path. A soldier seated, sleeping, at side of path. Two soldiers asleep on a motorcycle and sidecar. Many views of German soldiers sleeping beside the path. Another soldier asleep in the sidecar of a BMW motorcycle. Scene shifts to black smoke billowing from burning oil storage facility at Antwerp, torched by Allied forces in retreat. Aerial views from German Henschel He 126A-1 reconnaissance airplane, of Brussels, which was spared from destruction. German forces seen moving in the city. Shadow of reconnaissance airplane seen on ground as it flies over the city. Street level view of German forces in various vehicles driving on city street and others in countryside. Some troops on horseback and on bicycles. White smoke rising from industrial facility. A sign identifies the city of Sedan, Ardennes, France. A building smoking after being shelled. huge fires burning in Sedan. View from Meuse River of fires burning in Sedan. (Allied forces retreated to Dunkirk, from where many were safely evacuated to Britain.)
United States soldiers on alert in Michelbach, Alsace, France during World War 1. The soldiers, at the ready, with weapons in hand are in well established trenches reinforced with woven slender tree limbs and sand bags. They are in a forest with what appears to be a footbridge in the background. Troops aim their weapons.
Ninth Airforce North American P-51 Mustang fighters shoot down V1 and V2 rockets in Southern England during World War II. Crowds inspect damage caused by V1 and V2 rockets, also known as “robot bombs”. A crater formed by German robot bombs. A soldier collects fragments while inspecting the crater. Soldiers inspect remains and debris of robot bombs. Civilians watch the soldiers assess the bomb crater and collect rocket fragments for further testing. Aerial view of an unfinished V1 and V2 rocket launch site on the Cherbourg Cotentin Peninsula in Normandy, France. The main rocket ramp is seen on the launch site. A crane at the unfinished launch site. A concrete strip under construction. An unfinished section at the Cherbourg rocket launch site. The rich concrete mixture used in the construction of the massive installation is reinforced by lattice-type steel rods (half inch thick woven in squares). Unfinished and destroyed platforms from 29 rocket launch installations made by German forces at Cherbourg before the Normandy landings. Large solid underground structures intended as showrooms for shells and equipment. Unfinished or damaged narrow-gauge railroad used for supplies and construction. Carts are seen on the railroad. Netting laced with metal leaves to prevent fading is used for camouflage. A soldier arranges green coverings outside a bunker. A man stands on a crater. Wide gauge tracks to bring bombs to the platform. Some parts of the installation are bombed by Allied bombers.
Genevieve de Galard returns to France. She was a French nurse stationed in Hanoi and flew in casualty evacuation flights. She was named as the "Angel of Dien Bien Phu". Evacuated casualties from the battle of Dien Bien Phu carried to a van in Hanoi. Views of Galard, who refused freedom to stay with the wounded Communist captives. Galard flies to Paris and is welcomed by her mother. Large crowd gathers for welcoming her. She addresses the press.
President Coty of France is greeted in Luxembourg. President Coty arrives in a motorcade and is greeted by the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. People in houses and streets welcome the President with hospitality on his state visit. The President waves at the people.
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