US AND BRITISH TROOPS OCCUPY GEILENKIRCHEN [Allocated Title]

The British 43rd (Wessex) and US 84th (Railsplitters) Divisions consolidate gains made in the Geilenkirchen sector during Operation "Clipper".

Seen in the footage are : POWs (183rd Vilksgrenadier Division) being marched into captivity by 43rd Division 'Redcaps' along the Geilenkirchen-Gilrath road, roadsigns and a German 6th Army HQ signboard prohibiting all Wehrmacht and para-military organisations from using the road from Geilenkirchen to the frontier at Tuddern; the devastation and general atmosphere of gloom inside deserted Geilenkirchen, characterised here by the pouring rain and the curtains billowing from shattered windows and doorways, GIs from 33rd Regiment in a square with a band-stand in the middle and an US MP erecting a traffic diversion sign, Geilenkirchen's gutted Nazi Party HQ, devastation in the town centre on Hindenburg Strasse, Volksgrenadiers, one wounded, in US custody, GIs taking over a hotel and carrying looted mattresses etc to their billets, a bulldozer (309th Engineers Combat Battalion) street-cleaning, a Churchill Crocodile troop (141st RAC's A squadron), a deserted living room with an Adolf Hitler commemorative album, the 5th Battalion Dorset Regiment (?) marching into reserve on the Geilenkirchen-Gilrath road and SHAEF military government proclamations, banning the Nazi Party and announcing English as the official language and various currency regulations.

35mm