Several separate scenes from World War I. Brief glimpse of 4th Liberty Loan parade in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, during the First World War. The Liberty Loan Committee with group of persons standing in front of their stand. Employees of Heyl & Patterson Inc. carry a banner announcing 100% subscription in the 4th Liberty Loan drive. Sign on street pole tells directions to the American Locomotive Pittsburgh works. Scene changes to London,England, where British Army drummers stand and play in front of a YMCA building. People in crowd behind them wave American flags. Americans, including YMCA workers, soldiers, sailors, nurses, and English friends celebrate in a parade,accompanied by a British Army band and escorted by London Bobbies (policemen). Revelers ride in cars bedecked with American flags. Many ride on Army trucks. U.S. officers ride in staff cars. Another change of scene shows a U.S. Navy cinematographer hand cranking his motion picture camera, while standing in an open car. The car has a sign on its side reading: "Photographic Division, U.S. Navy." Another sailor sits in driver's seat while a third keeps pedestrians clear from the camera line of sight.
Allied Military Government efforts to rebuild Sicily after capturing it from Axis forces during World War 2. Italian men needing employnent board an open truck for transport to a job site. Workers standing with American soldiers preparing to work. A huge crowd of men pushing and shoving outside an Allied Military Government (AMG) labor hiring headquarters where they were offered decent wages to begin rebuilding after the war's destruction. Italian men, as well as American soldiers, rebuilding roads in the Alpine region of Italy, where German forces had destroyed them as they withdrew. U.S. Army engineers using a bulldozer, to clear and smooth a road. A large dump truck spreading new gravel for a highway bed. A team of workers manning a cable to pull down a damaged portion of a building. A British Army officer and a Colonial soldier in a turban, set explosive charges to destroy a bomb-damaged building. They detonate the charges and bring down the entire large building. Bulldozers at work on huge piles of rubble. A steam shovel being employed to clear large piles of debris. Men at work in Palermo, to clear entire streets buried in rubble. Men clearing rubble near piles of twisted steel building girders. Rubble being moved by horse-drawn carts and dumped into the sea. Italian masons at work building new homes and refurbishing old ones. In views three months after the original Allied landing in Sicily during July,1943, Palermo is seen well on the way to restoration. School children, including girls with brooms, walking to a place needing cleanup. Views of them cleaning steps and windows. Citizens picking up debris from streets and sidewalks. A man using a hose to clean a street and sidewalk in the city.
Opening scene shows U.S. troops, tanks, jeeps, and trucks assembled in a sandy marshaling area in southern England preparing to proceed, on 30 May 1944, to embarkation points for the invasion of France during World War 2. Troops are seen heading toward Sherman tanks, landing vehicles, tracked, and other military vehicles. An army Captain is seen overseeing some of the activity. The troops riding armored vehicles and trucks begin moving in formations from the marshaling area. Wading tanks and Sherman tanks, some pulling artillery pieces, are seen moving through an English town.(An unusual deep wading tank with no turret and two forward guns in the front is seen. (It seems to be a modified Stuart tank.) Next, the vehicles are seen arriving at a seaport pier, where a large transport ship is docked. A heavy truck is seen loading in reverse aboard British Landing Craft T 453, at Trebah gardens (Polgwidden cove) at Falmouth docks, Grove place slipway falmouth, England. View from the landing craft as another truck backs into it. Another truck driving forward onto a landing craft. Allied troops marching toward the embarkation points and marching from a pier to board a transport ship. Troops boarding USS LST 376. Troops boarding Higgins boats to be ferried to their transport ship, the USS Samuel Chase (APA-26) anchored in the harbor. Troops stepping from the Higgins boats to board the Samuel Chase. Some of the troops boarding the transport ship by means of a landing net, and being helped aboard as they reach the top. Camera pans across the harbor where transport ships are moving to their places in the invasion convoy. View from a ship underway, with other transport ships behind it and barrage balloons in the air above. Troops on a ship's deck shooting craps with dice. Sailors playing with a small puppy. Soldiers napping on deck. View of sailors on a warship being briefed in groups about their forthcoming combat roles. Troops being briefed about the invasion operations. Troops checking and making sure their personal arms and equipment are ready. One soldier shining his boots. The U.S. battleship USS Arkansas (BB-33) seen at anchor. Closeup from rear of General Dwight D. Eisenhower, British Admiral Sir Bertram Home Ramsay and another officer on the deck of British light cruiser, HMS Belfast. Major General Clarence Ralph Huebner, Commanding General of the 1st Infantry Division ("The Big Red One") standing on deck of the cruiser, USS Augusta (CA-31) together with Rear Admiral Alan G. Kirk, who is later seen with his Chief of staff, Rear Admiral Arthur D. Struble, on the deck conversing with officers. An unidentified American admiral walking along a ship's deck followed by a Captain and other members of his staff. Other officers conversing on a ship's deck. Inserted near this point is a view of a U.S. Navy Vice Admiral walking along a deck followed by a Captain and other naval officers.
Traces events leading up to and through World War I. Portrait of German emperor Kaiser Wilhelm II. Wilhelm II riding on horseback. He starts the preparations for war. Views of German military officials including Helmuth von Moltke the Younger. Newspaper headlines of assassination of Austrian Archduke. Celebrations on streets of Germany at start of World War I including views of German soldiers and citizens preparing for war. Germany launch war on Serbia, France and England. German infantry and u-boat submarines target enemy positions. U.S. President Woodrow Wilson in his office . U.S. declares war on Germany. U.S. forces departing from American cities and arriving in Europe; moving toward battle. Scenes from trench warfare of World War I in France. Soldiers going up "over the top" out of trenches during offensive operations and into "no man's land". Retreat of Germans, views of General von Luddendorff, the German Chief of Staff. Armistice declared after secret message sent to German government by Luddendorff. Cheering people celebrate the end of World War 1 after armistice. Views of United States General Pershing.
Two U.S. soldiers inspect a concentration camp in Dachau in Germany, a year after the end of World War 2. A signboard saying 'This area is being retained as a shrine to 238,000 individuals who were cremated here. Please do not destroy'. A wooden box which was used to store the ashes of cremated victims. Multilingual signboard 'Pistol range for executions' Soldiers inspect pistol range, a mound of earth used to stop bullets. They talk to a Polish farmer, a survivor of the Camp Dachau. Signboards saying 'Crematory, Dachau Concentration Camp' and 'Ashes were stored here'.
American naval triple guns firing, in World War 2. The battleship, USS West Virginia, modernized and in camouflage, firing guns at a Pacific island. U.S.troops firing weapons from a beachhead. American soldiers manning a 155mm howitzer under camouflage netting. Another gun crew firing at zero elevation from heavily sandbagged position near buildings. Black flak clouds filling the air as American aircraft carrier fights off Japaneae Kanikase attack. The Kamikase plane appearing to by hit by flak. Cluster of Doouglas Dauntless planes on the carrier deck. Closeup of sailors firing double Bofors 40mm anti-aircraft guns from the carrier. Downed aircraft plunging into the sea. American troops riding a landing vehicle tracked (LVT) during amphibious assault. Landing craft stacking up along beach and subject to intense enemy fire during amphibious assault. One is hit and blows up. Flame thrower being usee to drive Japanese defenders from fortified positions. One runs out aflame. U.S. soldier throwing a grenade. American troops quick time entering an occupied town in Europe. Explosions and U.S. infantry passing destroyed buildings. Soldier firing a mortar. U.S. soldiers carrying a wounded on stretcher under fire.
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