German forces resist and counter attack in Caen region during Normandy invasion in World War II

Film opens showing destruction being inflicted on city of Caen, France, from fighting between the British Second Army and German Panzergruppe West for control of the city and vicinity, during the World War 2 Battle of Normandy in June, 1944. Walls of a building collapse from shell fire. Refugees, flee the city carrying belongings in cart. Numerous destroyed buildings seen in the background. Retreating German soldiers are seen, most carrying M42 machine guns. Next, German troops, assembled for a counter offensive, are lined up informally and briefed by an officer. Their helmets are covered in netting. Closeups of some, one shouldering an M42 machine gun, and a junior officer briefing them. A Tiger I tank rolls along a dirt road towards the camera. This is followed by a DW19 Katzchen APC, another Tiger I tank, a motorcycle, and several heavily camouflaged half tracks, and a tracked APC. A Panzer tank and another Tiger I continue the column. Closeup of a bearded junior officer, who is then seen from short distance walking a bicycle past a column of smiling troops. Some soldiers shouldering M 42 machine guns as they walk past a field of grain. Others in column carry small arms. One carries a panzerfaust anti tank weapon. Glimpse of soldier placing foliage into netting of his steel helmet. German soldiers begin running as shelling and gunfire from American Army forces are heard. They seek cover at side of a berm as a shell explodes nearby. Soldiers lying prone as shells burst all around them. Some German soldiers smoke cigarettes as barrage abates. German officer communication by field telephone. German Self-propelled gun (8.8cm Pak43 Geshtzwagen III Sd.Kfz.164) moves into firing position at a tree line. Gun crew includes one tending large supply of shells. Closeup of shells stacked in the vehicle. Gun commander signals and crew fires the gun. Other guns also firing from the tree line. Officer looks through binoculars. A knocked out U.S. Army Sherman tank. German soldiers moving quickly and cautiously along the side of a road. One hunkers down over the body of a dead German soldier. Brief view, between a building and a tree,of a Sherman tank passing in the background. German troops, carrying antitank weapons (Panzerschreck and Panzerfaust), moving among damaged buildings. A Sherman tank passes in background. Soldier fires a Panzerschreck which explodes. Sherman tanks continue to pass on dirt road in background. German soldiers rush to a damaged Sherman tank. German soldier throws a hand grenade. A dead American soldier is seen in the turret. German soldiers release an unmanned, remote-controlled Goliath Tracked Mine, or Leichter Ladungsträger Goliath, also known as a "beetle tank" to Allied forces (or German robot tank). Watching from tree line, German soldiers see an explosion across the field. Closeup of destroyed Sherman tank. German officer signals for soldiers to follow him. A German soldier, carrying a Schmeisser Mp40 submachine gun, points to a dead American soldier lying beside the road. Views of the site as soldier examines it. Camera focuses on a small round hole in the earth. Scene shift entirely to American soldiers at side of a road. They examine a spot where a trenching tool and some soldier's gear is seen. Scene changes showing knocked out armor atop a hill. Closeup of a knocked out German Tiger I tank, with American soldier looking out through a lower porthole. Closeup of American soldier with foliage topped helmet and belt of machine gun ammunition around his neck. Closing scenes show ambulatory wounded German army prisoners, including some assisting others, as they proceed away from the battleground.

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