Crusade in Europe

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 i nthe 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.

General Eisenhower starts intensive planning for the great cross-channel invasion of the Nazi fortress of Europe. Film highlights the importance, to German war production, of the Ruhr area. In England, thousands of troops and large quantities of equipment vital to the success of the assault arrived, as the time for the invasion grew near.

D-Day June 6th - and the great cross-channel invasion is finally a reality. Film includes scenes of the assault landings against the German resistance, the heavy casualties on several of the beaches, and the beginning of the phase of the European was known as the "Battle of the Beachhead". On D-plus-one, General Eisenhower and Admiral Ramsay inspect the beaches from a ship just off shore.

Artificial harbors, known as "mulberries", were put into place and used in the overwhelming task of unloading the supplies necessary for the first stages of our campaign against the Nazis in France. General Eisenhower, Admiral King, General Arnold, and members of their staffs visited the beaches during the first week following the assault landing.

The German counterattack against the Allied position at Mortain was repulsed with the help of RAF rocket-firing Typhoons. The Allies then pushed forward on two fronts to form a giant pincers, with the Canadian First Army on the north, and the U.S. Third Army on the south.

The invasion of southern France opens the film, which documents the Allied campaign up the Rhone Valley and the swift advance of Patton's Third Army. Highlighted is the capture of German troops, the Allied thrusts against and in pursuit of the enemy all along the front, the massive airborne operation in the Northern sector, and the Allied advance to the western fringes of the famed Siegfried Line.

The forward movement of our forces into Germany was greatly retarded by our inadequate lines of communication. To sustain and intensify the mighty Allied military offensive required uninterrupted supply of ammunition and continuous delivery of the engines of war. The film documents the outstanding job performed by the Army's Services of Supply, against serious obstacles.

This film records the story of our air offensive against the Nazis, after the RAF had successfully warded off the Luftwaffe's all-out attack on England, in the Battle of Britian. The first low-level Allied bombing of an important enemy-target - the raid of Ploesti, in August, 1943- is pictured in this installment. Round-the-clock bombing with RAF oprerating at night and AAF in the daytime.

As the winter of 1944-45 approached, the Germans secretly massed their forces for a surprise attack in great strength against the allied lines in the Ardennes Forest. The subsequent Battle of the Bulge- a bow of staggering proportions - is shown in films taken by both Allies and the Nazis - on opposite sides of the battle line.

With the Germans pushed back to their original positions - which they held before the Battle of the Bulge, the Allies concentrated on clearing out all Nazi troops west of the Rhine. This difficult assignment was carried out by three Allied Army groups - under the command of Field Marshall Montgomery and U.S. Generals Bradley and Devers.

The western Allies and the Russians were forcing the Nazis into a hopeless position in central Germany. Film documents the Allied broadcasts to the German people, advising them to surrender, the double envelope of the vital Ruhr area by the western Allies, and the final phase of the battle of Europe.

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.