20,000 German soldiers surrender to Allied forces in France during World War II. German General Erich Elster surrenders himself and 20,000 troops to Major General Robert C Macon of the U.S. Ninth Army and to Major General OP Weyland, Commanding General of the XIX Tactical Air Command, on September 16. The formal surrender took place at the Beaugency Bridge on the Loire River. Long columns of Germans file into the city and lay down their arms. Numbers of items like trucks, civilian carts, horses, weapons and bicycle surrendered. View of surrendered rifles, pistols, machine guns, tucks and bicycles. 19360 Prisoners of War come down. View of Prisoners of War Camp and surrendered equipment.
The United States First Army enters Roetgen, Aachen and other German border towns without opposition during World War II. Map showing the capture of the Ardennes, Albert Canal, Aachen, and Trier by the First Army. View of Luxembourg’s Ardennes. A dugout in Wallendorf, in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate. A captured pillbox displays sign in German reads “Der führer besichtigte diese anlage am 15. mai. 1939” (“The Führer visited this facility on May 15, 1939” in English). The town of Wallendorf with heavily damaged buildings from recent Allied shelling. Civilians saving their belongings outside the bombed “Gastwirtschaft von Franz Wenzel” in Wallendorf. Troops on moving M4 Sherman tanks and Jeeps. Soldiers climb the hill and enter Germany. The troops maneuver over fields. Troops occupy the Roetgen, located approximately 16 km (10 mi) south-east of Aachen. 'Roetgen' written on building. White flag on building of 'The Deutsche Reichsbahn'. View of village and huts. Belgian White Army lights fire for supplies by airborne. They gather hay to make bonfires. A White Army soldier with bayonet scans the sky. Another soldier holds a rifle. Soldier watches through binoculars towards plane. A passing bomber drops supplies for the Belgian White Army. Parachutes landing on earth. Supplies and arms are dropped to and retrieved by Belgians. Parachute are rolled and returned to England. Men load supplies into a truck. Horse cart moves away.
Air war in England during World War II. General Dwight D Eisenhower inspects 9th Air Force base in England. General Eisenhower inspects the plane and its readiness, shown by Air force personnel. General Eisenhower seated in cockpit fires mounted machine guns for testing. B-26C's take off and bombard over target. Aerial view of targets and explosions over target. B-26C's land and British Hudsons take off. Planes fire, smoke arises from explosions.
Activities of American first Army in Germany. Aerial and ground views of an Allied supply depot at Liege, Belgium. U.S. Army soldiers arrange supply boxes. Signal Corps engineers work on readying communication lines from the rear to the front and are seen stringing communication lines and preparing communication hubs. New transmission equipment of various kinds are received and installed for news. U.S. Army engineers supervise steel manufacture and sawmill operation in Luxembourg at a protected steel works facility that was taken over by the Allied Supreme Command. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers personnel walk on finished steel beams and check them before shipment front. Plank boards are cut and stacked for use in road projects. U.S. engineers repair a bridge over the Meuse in Belgium that had been damaged in the Battle of Belgium. Train crosses a repaired bridge over the Meuse, and U.S. military and civilian pedestrian traffic seen on the bridge road. Track connectors are installed to better grip in mud and allow passage of Allied tanks and tracked vehicles. Aerial view of Siegfried line and Dragons Teeth. U.S. forces seen using a tank bulldozer and mud to effectively bury Dragon's Teeth tank traps to allow passage through the Siegfried Line. Allied trucks and vehicles are repaired. A convoy of Allied supply trucks passes by through a snowy landscape bringing supplies to the front in preparation for invasion into Germany.
Air and Ground Forces cooperation in Aachen, Germany. The ruins and collapsed buildings of Aachen Germany on October 15, 1944, following Allied bombing. Smoke rises from ruins. View of a field area and then a giant explosion as a ground target is detonated with explosives. Large cloud of smoke rises. U.S. Army soldiers inspect exploded area.
A Communist meeting in Paris France around the end of World War II. A sign "Bienvenue A La Delegation Sovietique" (welcome to the soviet deputation). Large photo images of Stalin and de Gaulle flank the stage on either side. A Russian delegate speaks in Russian to French citizens at the meeting. French audience seated in chairs. A French representative speaks to the audience.
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