U.S. Navy film entitled, "the Battle for the Beaches." Several Higgins boat landing craft arrive at a shore and U.S. soldiers leave them to run ashore. Scene is then overlayed by the title slate. View of the White Cliffs of Dover, England. British civilians preparing defenses during World War 2. Civil Youth loading sand bags and erecting sand bag parapets around buildings. Home guard troops march up a road carrying rifles. British defenders occupying fortified positions They stand along a coastline looking out at sea. Street scene in an English village. Guards walking up along a barbed wire fence erected on the outskirts of the village. Film shifts to the German coastal Atlantic Wall defenses. German troops march along sandy shores containing all manner of obstacles at the water's edge. German officers stand on an overlooking cliff, and peer through binoculars. German sentry and large coastal gun barrel under camouflage net are silhouetted against light sky. Three German officers confer over plans for coastal defenses. View from above of slave laborers working and shoveling sand as they build defenses. German soldiers dismantling wooden forms around completed concrete fortifications. Glimpse of a huge German coastal gun being raised by a crane with heavy steel cables, as it is steadied by dozens of workers with hands on its barrel. German troops manning a machine gun in coastal defense position where a twin mounted antiaircraft gun is also seen. Momentary view of two German soldiers walk past rotating barrel of a huge coastal defense gun under a camouflage net. Workers, with shovels, placing fresh concrete to build up a section of concrete barriers along the coast. Allied troops storming a sandy shore from landing craft, as shells explode near them; possibly related to 1944 D-Day. One contingent are British soldiers. American troops landing at a beach from landing craft. Dead allied soldiers lying in the surf. Film shifts abruptly to U.S. Lieutenant General Mark Clark with some officers in Italy. In another switch of war theaters, General Douglas MacArthur is seen congratulating crew of a B-25 named "Smiling Jack." U.S. troops, in a training exercise, storming ashore from Higgins boats directly and closeup at the camera. They take up defensive positions in the sand, and move a jeep towing a field artillery piece.
Beachhead at Normandy, France, following the Allied invasion in June, 1944 during World War 2. Numerous supply ships are in the water offshore. Landing craft are all along the beach. Military vehicles fill the beach itself. British and American troops, ashore, observe ship maneuvering near a floating dock. British infantry pour from the open ramp of large British landing craft, behind some American troops already landed and walking along the shore. American soldiers aboard a landing craft next to a transport ship. Closeup of one of the soldiers in the craft, who wears "Screaming Eagle" patch of 101st Airborne Division. The open deck of an exceptionally large landing craft is seen jammed with U.S. troops, ready to depart from a transport ship. They wave for the camera. An American army truck driving out of British Landing Ship Tank (HM 415) onto a floating dock. It makes its way behind others headed toward the shore. Closeup of soldier wielding a sledge hammer to secure pierced steel plank (Marsden Matting) onto the beach. A DUKW (duck amphibious truck). German prisoners of war, disarmed and under guard, marching casually toward the beach. Closeups of some passing the camera. View from the beach of some wading out to a waiting landing craft. View on the beach of others approaching the beach for evacuation. View shifts to captured German film depicting German coastal defenses and structures of the so-called "Atlantic Wall." German Field Marshal, Erwin Rommel, accompanied by Field Marshal, Gerd von Rundstedt, as they inspect the fortifications. Views of coastal guns. Several German soldiers, using a 4-wheel dolly, roll a huge shell and powder charge out of a bunker. They roll it toward a camouflaged railway gun. German soldiers climbing steel stairs up to the railway gun and hand-cranking the barrel into firing elevation. Marshal Rommel accompanied by a Navy admiral and a soldier, walks up to the twin barrels of a coastal defense gun. the pause directly in front of the barrels and converse. The Admiral and the soldier both salute, perhaps acknowledging a comment or order from Rommel. Extreme closeup of the gun barrels.Next, back on the beachhead, Briitish soldiers are seen walking along the beach past knocked out German fortifications and standing near other abandoned ones. A British soldier swings a sledge hammer a reinforced concrete structure on the beach. A French man and woman waving at American troops passing them. British soldiers riding in a British Universal Personnel Carrier, MK II. Two Frenchmen wave at the troops. In nearby town, British soldiers are happily greeted by local inhabitants, including a woman with a baby on the sidewalk; children looking out a window; and people gathered at a street corner. A British soldier holds a French boy and offers him a piece of candy. An American M7 ("Priest") self-propelled 105mm howitzer and armed with a 12.7mm anti-aircraft machine gun. It moves through an intersection controlled by an MP (military policeman). Another one named "Apache" follows it. Local French inhabitants cheering the Americans as they pass through the town. An American soldier stands near several children as a DUKW amphibious truck veers somewhat, to avoid them while passing. He bends down to talk to the children and shares some candy with them. Infantrymen walk into a town, keeping close to buildings on both sides of the street. French men,women, and children wave and show "V for Victory" signs as some military policemen walk past.
Allied Invasion of Southern France during Operation Dragoon of World War II on 15 and 16 August 1944. Invasion begins. Warships fire heavy naval guns and barrages of rockets. Landing craft carrying men and equipment, race toward the beach. Troops descend on nets from transport vessels. Boats being lowered at sea. Allied aircraft in flight drop bombs. Destroyer and PT boats escort some landing craft . American and French troops encounter no German resistance, except some rear guard sniping, as they advance on shore. 100 foot floating causeways are dropped into the water. Men and supplies landed. Mine detectors clear the roads. German prisoners were herded on beach for removal to ships. Animated map depicts the advancement in the Operation in its first 48 hours.
Allied Invasion of Southern France during Operation Dragoon in World War II, 19 August 1944. Wounded soldiers are evacuated to floating ambulances. Enemy troops fire artillery to block Allied advance. Several explosions. Aircraft in flight drop bombs. Tanks advance. Map of Marseilles and Toulon. Wounded soldiers are given first aid and blood transfusion. Prisoners evacuated from combat zone. Prisoners of war exit a gate with sign “36 Div. PN Enclosure”. United States Army General Alexander M. Patch and French General Jean de Lattre de Tassigny award soldiers. A medal on soldier’s chest.
Allied Invasion of Southern France during Operation Dragoon of World War 2, in 1944. The U.S. Army 3rd division,takes some time out while en route to Brignoles, France. Troops seen eating from their mess kits and some resting, with their boots off. American infantry later enter the town of Brignoles, following its liberation by their 15th Regiment. A few local citizens watch. Wounded American soldiers are treated at an emergency aid station set up on a street in the town. The infantry pass through the town on their advance to the west. An M10 tank destroyer accompanies the infantry moving through the town.
Allied Invasion of Calais, France during Operation Dragoon of World War II on 21 August 1944. At Calais, French civilians gather men and women accused of collaborating with the Germans and walk them through streets. An accused woman collaborationist. French town was liberated. Liberated civilians cheer and wave at the arrival of the soldiers loaded in trucks.
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