U.S. 6th Armored Division in Bastogne, Belgium during the Battle of the Bulge of World War II. Opening scene shows German soldiers surrendering from positions in the forest. Snow covers the ground and they emerge with hands up. A group of German prisoners under guard. U.S. soldier comes upon a German foxhole. Camera shows a wounded German soldier lying on a bed of straw in the trench. Next scene shows U.S. troops carrying a wounded on a stretcher. Scene shifts to group of German prisoners of war assembled outdoors, under guard by U.S. soldiers. Several German officers are interrogated separately. Then other German prisoners are seen being interrogated. A sizeable group of German prisoners is escorted under guard across snowy field.
The People’s Republic of China releases detained U.S. civilians in the Chinese border with British colony of Hong Kong. U.S. civilians cross "Bamboo Curtain," arriving to freedom in Hong Kong. U.S. civilians are freed by the Communist Chinese government after imprisonment and brain washing. Civilians include Catholic Church missionary Father Harold Rigney, Rector of the University of Beijing. A young naval intelligence officer and Fulbright Fellow student at Beijing University named Walter Allyn Rickett and his wife Adele are among the released prisoners. Former U.S. Flying Tiger pilot Lawrence Buol shows happiness after his release from China. Buol sits while Rickett drinks a bottle of soda after their release.
Freed Allied prisoners of war at OFLAG XIII-B, known as Camp Hammelburg, outside of Gemünden, Germany during World War II. A group of United States, Czech, Russian, Yugoslav prisoners of war standing together along with the liberating 14th U.S. Armored Division soldiers. Two prisoners talk to each other. The prisoners cheering, waving and laughing. Two prisoners walk down the road smiling; one waving a copy of Yank Magazine, the other a chunk of bread. U.S. Amry M-4 tank crashes through barbed wire fence of Camp Hammelburg. A group of freed prisoners gathers. Several prisoners stand and pose. Mass gathering of elated former prisoners. Freed prisoners of war dash toward U.S. soldiers and embrace them. (Note: This was the conclusion of the originally failed "Operation Hammelburg", initially attempted by "Task Force Baum," under Captain Abraham Baum, ten days prior. Inmates at the camp included the recently injured and captured Captain Baum, and Lieutenant Colonel John K. Waters, son in law of U.S. Army General George Patton. LTC John Waters was injured during the initial rescue attempt 10 days prior and was hospitalized and not seen in this film.)
United States Army 80th Infantry Division meets Russian troops in Liezen, Austria. Russian soldiers over bridge. Russian soldiers raise Russian flag next to the U.S. flag on bridge. Soldiers standing in attention. U.S. and Russian officers inspects formations of U.S. and Russian troops. Russian and U.S. Generals raise a toast to one another. (World War II period).
First scenes show United States Marines riding in a landing vehicle tracked (LVT) heading toward a Japanese occupied island in the Pacific. View from one of the landing craft of heavy smoke obscuring the island coast. Next, a dozen landing craft from the USS George Clymer (APA-27) are seen with mountains of the target island looming in the background. View from a different perspective shows several landing craft heading toward an inlet to the island. View from a landing craft of a Japanese Mitsubishi A6M "Zero" airplane flying overhead. Closeup of American soldiers in a landing craft headed toward a different Japanese occupied island. U.S. soldiers leaving a landing craft in the surf. View from inside a landing craft as U.S. Marines head ashore. Soldiers splashing in the surf. Troops wading ashore. Soldier dug in on beach near underbrush, firing many round from his Browning M1919 machine gun. Marine firing his rifle behind a palm tree. Troops seeking cover at very edge of shore. Some lying in the water, before moving on. A soldier firing an automatic weapon through foliage. A bomb explodes near an invasion ship. Troops descending on rope nets from the troopship, USS Crescent City (APA-21) and entering her Higgins boats. Heavy equipment and ammunition being offloaded from the troop transport ship. Marines coming ashore. An LVT in the background. Marines behind a barricade built by the Japanese. Marines throwing hand grenades and firing Browning M1919 machine guns. Flame throwers being used to force Japanese from strongholds. Marines gathered all along a shore line. A bulldozer driving along the waters edge. Soldiers rolling steel mesh across the sand. An antiaircraft machine gun with a side magazine mounted on a jeep, moves on the sand. Several ensuing scenes show flame throwers being used. Marines near a wrecked Japanese structure and then escorting a Japanese prisoner. A group of Japanese prisoners being spoken to by a Marine with a microphone. Marines hunkered down on a beach. One is cranking a hand powered radio transmitter. Front ramp of a landing craft is dropped down with a splash at waters edge. An M3A1 light tank drives off the landing craft. A truck being offloaded onto the shore. A heavy field artillery piece being moved into position. Troops work to move another field artillery piece into position. Trucks and other vehicles wading through shallow water as they leave an LST. Troops wading ashore from the LST. Trucks arriving on the shore. A tractor pulls a canvas covered vehicle. Soldiers ride aboard a light tank. Unusual view of troops assembled on shore of a mountain with ice seen in places on it (likely in the Aleutians). Crowded beachhead with LST 477 seen beached. Marines looking at destroyed Shore defense installation containing heavy gun. Remains of a 4-engine Japanese Kawanishi H8K2 (Emily) flying boat in the water. Seabees building an airfield with heavy construction equipment. Troops gathered around a Navy F4F aircraft that landed on the new (unfinished) airfield. Closeup of the smiling pilot climbing down from his plane. Troops saluting as the American flag is raised on remains of a Palm tree trunk, on Eniwetok, February 1944. Remains of a Japanese shrine and views of dead Japanese soldiers.
Conclusion of U.S. Navy film: "The Fleet That Came To Stay." Role of U.S. Navy Task Force 58 during the Battle of Okinawa in World War 2. Opening scene shows ships of U.S. Task Force 58 sitting quietly in waters off the coast of Okinawa, at dawn on May 9, 1945 (VE Day, when Germany surrendered in World War 2). Navy gunners silhouetted against the dawning sky, with twin Bofors anti-aircraft guns. Silhouettes of sailors on early watch. Sailor walks on deck of an aircraft carrier, past parked aircraft with it's vertical stabilizer and rudder riddled to pieces by battle damage. An escort aircraft carrier and other warships are moving slowly past the camera ship. A Douglas Dauntless dive bomber, with only a pilot aboard, takes off from a carrier. Brief glimpse of aircraft taking off from a carrier. It carries a bomb underneath and displays the number 559 on its engine cowling. Numerous American aircraft in formation above the ships. A U.S. cruiser in the distance. Closeups of capital ships bombarding Okinawa with heavy guns and firing anti-aircraft guns at attacking Kamikaze aircraft. Black flak clouds and tracer bullets tracking a Japanese aircraft. Superimposed slate tallies Japanese aircraft shot down: "May 12th: 164; June 3rd: 45; June 6th: 67; June 8th: 30." A kamikaze plane crashes into the sea. Gunners aboard a ship work rapidly to reload their anti-aircraft guns. View of an Essex class aircraft carrier with black flak clouds overhead. Two explosions occur next to her hull. Gunners track a Japanese airplane flying low and close to the water. It passes a carrier and crashes into the sea. More views of sailors working at speed to reload anti-aircraft guns. A sailor firing an Oerlikon 20 mm cannon from gun position atop a ship. A Kamikaze plane crashes at starboard side of an Escort aircraft carrier underway. View of long line of anti-aircraft guns firing simultaneously from beside the flight deck of an aircraft carrier. Smoke rising from the firing and driven by the wind. Remains of a Kamikaze plane spin down amid black flak clouds, after being hit by gunfire. Slate reads "4232 (Japanese planes shot down). The spinning pieces of the Kamikaze plane crash well clear of a nearby Cleveland class light cruiser. Against background of flak filled sky, a Washington Post Newspaper headline is shown reading: "Navy Okinawa Casualties near 10,000 and 2 more ships hit."
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