Opening slate reads April 17, 1945, Wiesbaden, Germany. A brick building in Wiesbaden with large arrow pointing downstairs, labeled "LSR", meaning Luftschutzraum (Air-raid room). Signpost in front of a building with damaged roof reads, "Radfahr-weg" (bicycle path). Below it an American army sign reads "WP-Water Point." U.S. soldier directs military vehicles, carrying surrendered German soldiers, as they cross the Rhein (Rhine) river, from Wiesbaden to Mainz on a pontoon bridge. The dome of Christuskirche (Christ Church) across the river, dominates the skyline
German civilian Matthias Gierens, a 37 year old railroad worker, is hanged in Rheinbach Germany for the August 15, 1944 murder of a downed American flyer, who was later identified as U.S. Army Air Forces 2nd Lieutenant Lester E. Reuss, from Forsythe, Montana. Reuss was the navigator on U.S. Army B-17 bomber #42-31183 which was downed by German aircraft after it attacked the Airdrome at Wiesbaden, Germany. Gierens and three other German civilian men, Peter Kohn, Peter Back, and Matthias Krein, were convicted on June 2, 1945 in Ahrweiler, Germany, for the murder of the American airman after his parachute landing near Priest, Germany. The trial was the first Allied trial in Germany of civilians charged with a war crime. Military police are seen escorting Gierens toward the gallows in a prison yard in Rheinbach. A German Catholic priest performs the rites. U.S military officer reads charges as Gierens is readied for execution (the officer is possibly Lt. Col J.V. Roddy, of San Francisco, who was in charge of the hanging). Trap door opens and Gierens is hung. The U.S. Army executioners were Master Sgt. John C. Woods, a former Texas State executioner, and Staff Sgt. Thomas Robinson, of Bronx, New York. Witnesses present included seven U.S. Lieutenant Colonels and one British officer, a number of Military Police, news correspondents, and photographers.
Soviet Forces battling in Berlin during 1945, in World War 2, employ tanks and heavy machine guns. A Soviet soldier herds two German prisoners from a building. Groups of German soldier prisoners struggle through rubble as they are led from buildings, under guard. Soviet tanks firing as they pass a church building. A Soviet heavy gun being fired point blank on a Berlin street during Battle of Berlin. Buildings on fire. Soviet soldiers firing artillery field pieces. Views of destroyed and damaged German military aircraft on and in hangars of an airfield. Soviet Ilyushin II aircraft land on the airfield. Closeup of distressed German General rubbing his eyes. Flashback in time to 1943, in World War II. Field Marshal Hermann Goering is seen reviewing flyers of a German Luftwaffe (Air Force) unit. A Junkers Ju 52 trimotor aircraft lands and parks on an airfield. Italian leader Benito Mussolini steps from the aircraft after his rescue from imprisonment by the Italian Government at the Hotel Campo Imperatore. He is personally welcomed by Adolf Hitler, who had ordered the mission to rescue him. Change of time, again, to 1945, when Berlin, Germany is attacked by Forces of the Soviet Union. Closeup of a despairing German General. Scenes of utter destruction as Soviet troops batter Berlin, Germany with artillery. Soviet soldier steps down from his tank and gives a Soviet General a handgun, which he pockets and then leads a group of Soviet officers into a building
Red Cross women with Allied soldiers in Wiesbaden, Germany. Exteriors of Wiesbaden Kurhaus (Kurhauspl. 1, 65189 Wiesbaden, Germany) in World War II. A fountain in a lake. A band plays music. Soldiers and Red Cross workers are seated. A crowded dance floor. A member of 3rd Infantry Regiment Band sings into a microphone. People dance to the music.
United States soldiers in Wiesbaden, Germany during World War II. Two soldiers play ping pong in a lobby of Wiesbaden Kurhaus (Kurhauspl. 1, 65189 Wiesbaden, Germany). Side view of servicemen playing. A fountain in foreground.
Activities of German schoolboys in Wiesbaden, Germany as World War II ends in Europe. Closeups of young German schoolboys lined up on lawn at Reisinger Brunnen-Anlage (Reisinger-anlagen, 65185 Wiesbaden, Hesse Germany) near Wiesbaden Hauptbahnhof (Reisinger Fountain Park). Numerous closeups of individual boys. Brief glimpse of boys playing some kind of team game, followed by many views of them in pairs, wrestling. One pair of very small boys appears to be boxing more than wrestling.
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