Description
Object description
Victory Is Everywhere.
Full description
I. 'VICTORY IS EVERYWHERE (CHURCHILL)' Crowds of French civilians cheer the arrival of United States (US) infantrymen. The flag of the United States is raised amid much kissing of US soldiers by the French populace. A captured German soldier is marched past gathered French civilians by US military police who are armed with .45-inch M3 sub-machine guns. French female collaborators are marched past a jeering crowd. French civilians help themselves to abandoned German military clothing. French civilians cheer General Charles de Gaulle as he walks through the centre of Chartres. General de Gaulle is later shown meeting General Dwight D Eisenhower and taking part in a meeting held at a tented encampment. German prisoners of war are driven off to a holding area on the back of Allied soft-skinned vehicles. Stock shots show the Allied naval bombardment of the French Mediterranean coastline at the start of Operation Dragoon and US infantry (US 7th Army) disembarking from landing craft and moving from the beach to the cover of a pine forest (cf WPN 179). HMS Rodney is shown underway on a calm sea and later firing salvos from her 16-inch guns at German fortified positions on the Channel Islands. Two downed Royal Air Force (RAF) aircrew are rescued from their dinghy by an unidentified Royal Navy (RN) ship. British Cromwell and M4 Sherman tanks drive along a road in Northern France. British M4 Sherman tanks, Universal carriers and White half-tracks move in loose formation across open ground. M4 Sherman and Firefly tanks negotiate open ground under enemy artillery fire. US infantry and French civilians take cover from German sniper fire in an unidentified French town (possibly Chartres). Panoramic footage shows hundreds of German prisoners gathered behind a barbed wire enclosure. British Universal carriers, adapted as flame gun carriers, manoeuvre at speed on exercises. US M10 Wolverine tank destroyers and soft-skins cross a pontoon bridge over the Seine River. Civilians applaud the raising of the French flag at the forecourt of the "Hôpital Militaire Percy." Brief footage shows British Prime Minister Winston Spencer Churchill on a visit to the Italian Front where he receives three cheers from British M4 Sherman tank crews.
Physical description
35mm