A film 'Camouflage in Combat' underlines the importance of tactical exploitation and counteraction of shadows and use of nets, underbrush and other camouflage during World War II. The film shows U.S. soldiers going into a theater in the United States and watching a movie 'Camouflage'. The movie shows a soldier in a forest. He is shot down. A soldier approaches him. He looks skywards. He applies mud on his face to camouflage himself. Soldiers paint each other's faces with GI paint. On 5th June 1944, fully camouflaged Airborne and pathfinder U.S. paratroopers preparing for D-Day invasion jump over Normandy, France. Soldiers with camouflaged helmets. A soldier camouflages his helmet with grass and twigs. A soldier on an island with his helmet camouflaged with grass and twigs found in the area which gives him a perfect blend. U.S. soldiers with camouflaged helmets in France. A camouflaged tank rolls. An officer inspects soldiers standing in a line. Their helmets are camouflaged. A U.S. soldier hiding in shadows in Casino, Italy fires his gun. His ring sparkles. A soldier in a prone position fires. A New Zealand soldier fires while in shadows.
Opening shows animated map of Alsace front at junction of Belgium, Germany, and France, in World War 2. Allied forces are schematically shown sweeping toward Wissembourg, Haguenau, and Strasbourg. Next, several U.S. Army M4A3(75) medium tanks are seen driving toward the camera on a rural road, during a pull back by the 7th Army in the first week of January, 1944, from advanced positions at the front. Some are filled with infantry riding atop them. The last of them is seen crossing a bridge 13 miles Northeast of Haguenau. The engineers of the 79th Division place demolition charges to destroy the bridge. Closeup of them placing and then remotely igniting the charge. A huge explosion ensues that completely destroys the bridge. Scene shifts to several U.S. soldiers of an engineer combat battalion preparing 100 pound of TNT in a captured blockhouse at Lauterbach, Alsace. Closeup of engineer carrying the explosives into the blockhouse and preparing the remote detonation device. The engineers string wire in the snow and setup their remote detonation device. One depresses a plunger to ignite the charge and blow up the blockhouse, which explodes in a huge cloud of black smoke. Next, elements of the 79th Infantry Division supported by tanks, are seen moving forward to counter German gains Southeast of Haguenau. (On January 5th the German forces had established a bridgehead across the Rhein (Rhine) river near Gansheim, Germany.) Scene shifts to Drusenheim, Germany where U.S. forces are engaging a Battalion of occupying German forces. Machine gun fire is heard constantly, as American infantry battle the hidden German defenders and tanks drive them from defensive positions near a bridge at the far end of town. Infantry move from behind tanks toward the bridge and are seen crossing it. An M4A3(75) medium tank risks crossing the narrow bridge and is immediately followed by many 79th Infantry troops. The battle continues on the other side of the bridge.
World War 2 era film that also includes some World War 1 scenes. Show girls or chorus girls in follies-like show, costumed as U.S. silver dollars and marching to tune and lyrics alluding to dramatic increase of currency in circulation, over the years. Animation with stacks of coins shows increase in national income from $46 billion,in 1933, to $71 billion, in 1939, and $142 billion in 1943. Back to the "follies dollars," a boy asks why, and then scenes of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor,are shown, with U.S. battleships being sunk. Wartime arms plants are shown. An M2A3 Light Tank rolls off a production line. Ships being constructed in a shipyard. B-24 Liberator bombers being built in a factory. Artillery shells being produced. Defense workers receiving their pay. The "follies dollars" group themselves to illustrate the fractions of income devoted to taxes and savings. But other spending is curtailed by wartime shortages. A woman talking with clerk in a drug store. U.S. Army troops crossing a pontoon bridge in open trucks, towing 75mm M1A1 howitzers. Infantry on the march. Animation showing industrial production devoted to war materiel and lots of dollars chasing few civilian goods. A grocery clerk offers to sell a woman customer butter for more than the established price, and she agrees. The "follies" performers then introduce the idea of an "inflationary dollar," and some history of past U.S. inflations. Animated examples of price inflation are shown. Glimpses of World War I scenes are seen, circa 1917 -1918, including: a 12-inch railway gun firing; a huge explosion from shell bursting near the camera; various scenes of United States infantry soldiers and French soldiers in battle action, running to bomb craters for cover and emerging from trenches to go up "over the top" into no-mans land during combat. Meanwhile, singing narration refers to the home front inflation due to competition for limited civilian goods. Map shows Europe and singing narration cites rising prices for food in occupied France and other countries suffering ravages of World War II. Montage of scenes showing needy civilians obtaining food in those countries. Animation shows increases, by 1944, in cost of U.S. civilian goods since the Pearl Harbor attack. "Follies" character called "Double-duty dollar," appears explaining he serves the war and curtails inflation on the home front by being saved through investments in War Bonds and stamps.
German women Red Cross workers in Germany. They pack Christmas gifts for the German soldiers for Christmas 1944. The gifts on a table. Scene on front lines as German soldiers receive mail from home. A German soldier reads a letter and looks at a photograph. Separately, clips ends with views of the Allied invasion forces landing in France and German efforts at repulsing them. (World War II period).
Plans underway in the United States in 1944 for participation in the invasion of France during World War 2 by Allied forces. A U.S. Army sentry of the Army Service Forces (ASF) patrols a rail line, where military men and equpment are being transported abroad., during World War 2. ASF soldiers drive DUKWs (amphibious vehicles) up a ramp for loading into railroad box cars. A long line of DUKWs being driven for loading. Many men load 55 gallon drums of petroleum products into rail cars. An M3 Stuart light tank being driven on an open rail car. Soldiers loading motorcycles on a train. An Army M3 Half-track Amored Personnel Carrier (APC) driving onto a railroad train. (Narrator notes that it requires 75 trains to transport a single Armored Division by rail.) Men loading a 105 mm Howitzer Motor Carriage M7 (Called Priest, by the British) onto a flat rail car and securing it in place with wooden supports. Army personnel that would participate in an invasion are shown. Paratroopers with their packs. Women's Army Corps (WACs) fill their duffel bags with clothing and other items, and are then seen climbing aboard an open stake truck. An Army band plays and marches giving troops a sendoff at a train station. U.S. soldiers board passenger railroad trains, carrying their field packs and weapons. A steam locomotive pulling a troop train. A train load of Sherman M4 medium tanks and other equipment, including a caterpillar tractor, is seen underway. Unidentified tanks being fastened to rail flat car. Many Army trucks and heavy equipment on train passing a town train station. Military equipment moving on trains over bridges. Two ladies under hair dryers at a salon, discussing boys in service going overseas. United States Army troops bound for the war front are seen boarding railroad trains and also changing trains, monitored by Army military police (MPs) at night. Soldiers inside a moving train car occupy themselves by playing cards; shooting craps; An African American porter watches a game. An Army chaplain talking with some of the soldiers. A soldier reading a magazine. His seat partner keeps falling asleep against him. American civilians at a newsstand. Newspaper headline reads: "London expects invasion of Europe at any hour."
Activities of Allied troops during invasion of Rome and invasion of France in Europe during World War 2. An animated map of Italy illustrates belligerents and battle lines. U.S. troops entering Rome. Buildings and streets in Rome. U.S. Army General Mark Clark shown. Russian troops proceeding from the East. Lines of Soviet Army troops marching. Russian Marshal Zhukov at a desk, reviewing battle maps. Views of Joseph Stalin smiling. Allied landing craft approaching the Cherbourg Penninsula during D-Day invasion of June 1944. American B-26 aircraft of the 9th Air Force flying over battle field and drop areas. Formation of B-26s painted in D-Day white stripes. Gun camera footage from Allied aircraft strafing German aircraft on the ground and in the air in lead-up to invasion. U.S. paratroopers dropping from C-47 aircraft. Close-up views of paratroopers jumping out of aircraft. On the ground, U.S. soldiers crawling in fields, taking up positions, and advancing while receiving and returning fire from enemy Germans. Some American troops firing a mortar on the ground. Supreme Allied Commander, General Dwight D. Eisenhower, together with British Field marshal Bernard Law Montgomery and British Air Chief Marshal Sir Arthur Teddar, at a conference table with key staff.
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