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Private Notes
The surrender at Reims ended the major phase of the greatest military struggle in the history of man. Film dissolves from surrender ceremony to Hitler during his early yeares of power, covers the rise of Naziism through the Munich conference to the attack on Poland, England's declaration of war, the fall of France, Dunkirk and the German air blitz on England in the historic battle of Britain.
In 1940, the U.S. finally became sufficiently concerned about the state of her military forces to institute the first peace-time draft in American history. Film covers the various steps in the transformation of civilian draftees into soldiers and examines the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, and President Roosevelt's address to Congress recommending a declaration of war.
From President Roosevelt's speech on the conduct of the war, the film investigates the problem of which one of our two principal enemies must be dealt with first. Churchhill's visit to Washington in December, 1941, to confer with President Roosevelt is also pictured. With the decision to concentrate on defeating Germany first, thousand of American troops were sent to England battle the Nazis.
General Eisenhower's first job was to collect a "working team" to defeat the Nazis. American troops in England were being prepared psychologically and physically for their first experience in battle. The Allied governments planned to attack the Nazi enemy first. The decision to strike first at North Africa was followed by the organization and departure from America and England.
The three parts of the invasion fleet proceed across the Atlantic to their destinations along the coast of North Africa. On board are American GIs and British Tommies, most of whom will be going into battle for the first time. Behind this giant invasion armada stands America's industrial production. The film flashes back briefly to General Brehom Somervell and explores American war industry.
The French political situation in North Africa complicated the Allied progress of the war against the Nazis. The influence of Marshall Petain, Vichy French Leader, was still dominant in North Africa, and was virtually ignored. The Allies' deal with Vichyite Admiral Darlan, in command of all French forces in North America was confused and irritated by many American and Britons, is explained.
While the Allied attack against the enemy in North Africa was held up by the weather, General Sir Harold Alexander became Deputy Commander of the Allied Forces under General Eisenhower. During January the Allies completed preparations for the final assault at the Nazis in North Africa. But the enemy attacked in force at Gafsa, Faid, and the Kasserine Pass, where the Allies suffered a major defeat.
The Casablanca Conference had directed that the next campaign should be in Sicily. The invasion platform was North Africa, and Allied air forces undertook the steady bombing of Pantelleria and Gozo, islands lying between North Africa and Sicily. Both islands were captured with ease and an air strip was put into operation on Gozo.
General Montgomery slipped two divisions of his British Eighth Army across Messina Straits and the invasion of the European continent was an accomplished fact. Soon afterward, the American Fifth Army, under General Clark, landed at Salerno. On the same day, the Italian surrender to the Allies was announced.
This film is a consideration of the political overtones which were involved in Italy's participation in the war. Following Marshall Badogllio's appointment to succeed Mussolini, the film flashes back to the beginnings of Fascist rule in Italy, the Fascist march on Rome in 1922, and the succession of small wars won by the Duce's troops.
The Italian campaign was termed by most GIs as the toughest campaign in the European Theatre. A GI now in a veteran's hospital reminisces over scenes of the Italian campaign, on the elements which made it such a tough campaign.
The film opens with General Eisenhower's tour of the Italian front before Christmas, 1943, and documents the difficulty of keeping passage open across the rivers such as the Volturno. General Eisenhower then left for Tunisia, to complete plans for a flanking invasion at Anzio, on the Italian coast north of the Allied front.
Eisenhower works with the Allied Joint Chiefs of Staff to plan the invasion of France and beyond. The Ruhr is featured because of coal and industry. German defenses are shown, including naval mines. Reinforcements come from the U.S. and Canada, both ground and air units. Allied maneuvers are shown. The "Mulberry" harbors are assembled. The air campaign again French railroads cuts off the beaches. Eisenhower inspects the troops to boost morale and get the men to talk to him. The ships are loaded for the Channel crossing. A storm causes D-Day to move to June 6th.
Paratroops are dropped into France in the early hours of June 6th. Forty-one hundred Allied ships bring the men and equipment across the Channel. Gliders bring more firepower to the paratroops. Allied warships duel with German coastal guns. American, British and Canadian troops make their landings against heavy German fire. Three thousand Americans are killed, wounded or missing on Omaha Beach that day. But the beachhead is secure and the Allied push inland.
Eisenhower inspects the landing beaches and we see the "Mulberry" harbors put in place along the Normandy beaches. Airfields are built and supplies offloaded. V-1 rockets attack London. We see the Germans build V-2 rockets. Storms wreck a Mulberry harbor and damage the other. Cherbourg is taken, but is wrecked by the Germans. The British and Canadians work to take Caen. Operation Cobra is launched to break out of Normandy.
The German attack at Mortain is defeated with the help of Allied air power. The Allies cut off large German forces at the Falaise pocket. One hundred thousand German are captured. The Brittany Peninsula is cleared of the enemy. Paris' capture in 1940 is recalled as well as its occupation. The Resistance rises against the Germans as the Americans and Free French close in. LeClerc's 2nd French Armored Division enters on August 24th, 1944. The U.S. 4th Division joins them to help clear out the Germans on the 25th. A victory parade is held with De Gaulle in the lead.
Operation Anvil-Dragoon lands in Southern France on August 15, 1944. The troops land against light resistance which gets stronger as they move north. The role of the Maquis is highlighted. The Germans suffer heavy losses. On September 11th, 1944 the link up is made between the U.S. Third and Seventh Armies, making a continuous Allied front in France. The Germans make their stand before the German border. Operation Market Garden tries and fails to capture bridges on the Northern Rhine.
The supply services strain to the utmost to supply the Allied advance. Equipment was offloaded at the "Mulberry" harbor as well as at Cherbourg. Black troops are featured as drivers for the "Red Ball Highways," which brought supplies to the Allied front. These lines ran 700 miles. The British take the port of Antwerp largely intact on September 4th.
This film recounts the air offensive against Nazi Germany after the RAF had successfully repulsed the Luftwaffe in the Battle of Britain. The first low-level bombing raid in Europe, the Ploesti raid of August, 1943, is shown in this installment, followed by a description of the "round the clock" bombing offensive, with the U.S. Eighth Air Force attacking Germany by day, and RAF Bomber Command attacking at night.
The opening shows the American capture of Strasbourg from the Germans, followed by the leave facilities for American servicemen. Hitler is shown with General Jodl planning the Battle of the Bulge. The German attack is a surprise blow, which the Allies turn back by pushing the enemy back to his starting point.
The Allies cross the Rhine River into Germany in the early part of 1945. The Canadians cross in February, followed by the Americans and British, with the Americans taking Cologne and crossing river at Remagen. Winston Churchill visits the front and crosses the river himself in a landing boat.
The Western Allies entrap a large part of the German Army in the Ruhr Pocket, and captures some 325,000 enemy soldiers. The Americans and Russians meet at Torgau on the Elbe River. The Russians take Berlin, and German forces surrender in Europe and Italy. Eisenhower also inspects a concentration camp.
This installment concerns the lessons we learned from the war - military, diplomatic, and psychological.
The demanding problem of administration of captured cities and towns had to be met as soon as the Gis had done their jobs. This important task fell to American Military Government Officers. Film opens with A.M.G. men taking over from the troops as soon as Cologne was won. Their jobs included such varied duties as disinfecting the population to screening them for pro-Nazis.
This chapter deals with General Eisenhower's trip to Russia and his estimate of the Russians as a post- war power. Pictorially, the film highlights include the Nazi surrender in Berlin to the Russians, the Yalta Conference, General Eisenhower and Marshall Zhukov meeting in Berlin, and the Red Army in action during the war, and the Russian people at work in the ruins of their devastated cities.
This final installment is review of the entire series. Highlights deal with the rise of Naziism, concluding with the burning of London; President Roosevelt's declaration of war; the campaign onto the European continent across Sicily to Italy; the planning and execution of the mighty invasion of the coast of France; D-Day; the Liberating of Paris; the Battle of the Bulge,
