World War 2 Behind the Scenes in World War 2 Volume 3
Over 2 1/2 hours of informative & entertaining films!

* D-Day to Germany with a Newsreel Cameraman
(Restored Color - 44:00)
This amazing film has behind the scenes color film of the D-Day landings you won't see anywhere else -- and a lot more. Jack Lieb, a cameraman for " News of the Day" newsreels that were shown to the public, brought along a 16mm camera to make a color film diary when he wasn't shooting with his 35 mm for theatrical release. The result is a personal look at what he experienced rom London in the Spring of 1944 on, now preserved in the National Archives. Embarkation at Plymouth, crossing the Channel in an LCI, the landings on Utah Beach, the port of Cherbourg shortly after the city fell (including long lines of German prisoners), a rare color glimpse of P-47s & P-38s flying from an ad hoc airfield near Sainte-Mère-Église, 3rd Army coming ashore soon after Omaha Beach was secured, the Liberation of Paris, crossing "The Siegfried Line" into Germany and much more. Jack Lieb himself gives a colorful and insightful narration. A hidden gem is a rare glimpse of a pantheon of war correspondents who worked along side Lieb from their base at the island fortress of Mont Saint-Michel, including Ernie Pyle, Charles Collingwood, Ernest Hemingway, Helen Kirkpatrick, A. J. Liebling, photographer Robert Capa and director George Stevens. And Edward G. Robinson makes a cameo appearance before going on stage for a USO show in at town that was liberated only days before. Bonuses are up close color views of captured German planes & rockets including a Ju88, Me 262 and an extremely rare Ju 292 intercontinental bomber developed to bomb New York City.
The colors of this old films had shifted badly over the years, but we were able to use state of the at digital technology to restore it to starling clarity. Don't miss the "before & after" sample at the end of the video. I've also added some maps and graphics to fill out the story.
* Position Firing for Aerial Gunners
(B&W 15:00 1944)
This entertaining and informative animated training film, featuring bomber waist gunner "Trigger Joe" (with the immortal voice of Mel Blanc) was developed to teach gunners the basics of how to shoot down attacking enemy fighters using iron ring gun sight machine guns commonly found on bombers like the B-17s & B-24. If you think you learned everything you need to know about leading targets on a skeet or trap range, think again. When you factor in variables like differing air speed between bombers and enemy fighters, angles of attack, direction, deflection, bullet drop, maneuvering & more, it's a whole new ball game. Trying to figure out where to aim your weapon so when you pull the trigger the stream of bullets you fire will intersect where the target will be when they get there can be very counter intuitive, and varies widely depending on circumstances. We found this film to be a revelation in its explanation of the factors involved and givin "how to' training solutions for this complex art. This film was classified during World War 2 - you can watch it now
* Coast Guard Report: The Normandy Invasion
(B&W 22:00 1944)
This remarkable film, primarily shot by Coast Guard Combat Cameramen, is a treasure trove of never before seen footage from the Normandy sea borne invasion, in very well preserved black and white film. We've seen a lot of footage from D-Day over the years, but most of this was new to us. A very pleasant surprise!
The U.S. Coast Guard manned many of the specialized ships and landing craft used to transport men, tanks, vehicles and material from England to the landing beaches in France, sometimes sustaining heavy casualties. Some of these vessels carried combat cameramen with them to record this epic undertaking. The film starts with Landing Craft pilot training on Chesapeake Bay, moves on to intensive assault training in the U.K., and then through the Channel Crossing, D-Day & its immediate aftermath, including the massive storm that battered the landing beaches. You'll see specialized ships large and small & their individual crewmen in action, including LST, LCI. LCVPs, LCI's & more embarking, transporting & landing troops and equipment under heavy fire at Omaha Beach. You'll see the entire sweep of this gigantic amphibious operation in a new light in this recently discovered film.
* Security on the March -- Tanks moving in column formation
(B&W1944 25:00)
This well preserved, classified training film was only shown to troops during World War 2. Its shows how to move armored columns on roads and cross country in combat areas, with an emphasis on tanks, in this case Shermans, shown inside and out. You'll learn the five keys to successful operations: Advance Preparation, Alertness, Concealment, Dispersal and Fire Power shown in great detail through live action, animations & graphics. There's way too much info to go into detail here, but here are some of the highlights: minimizing tell tail dust & using shadows, training your tank platoon's guns to maximize 360 coverage during movement, avoiding aircraft & maximizing antiaircraft fire when attacked, the different roles of tank crewmen, concealment, camouflage & covering your tracks, night maneuvers, optimum spacing between vehicles on the road and during halts, using radios & much more.
* Army Engineers in World War 2
(B&W 1957 24:00)
Engineers are the "unsung heroes" of the Armed Forces, handling a myriad of essential tasks.
The first part of the film shows the Army Engineer School at Fort Belvoir, VA. Recruits are given "hands on" training for a wide variety of core skills, including carpentry, demolition, operating heavy equipment, building different kinds of roads and bridges, employing a wide variety of hand tools & more.
The second part of the film shows the special challenges faced by Engineers on jungle island campaigns in the Pacific, including clearing jungle tracks, building corduroy roads using palm trees, mining & crushing coral for surfacing roads, carving out jungle air strips, employing steel mats for runways and making good use of indigenous native resources for labor and local knowledge for problem solving.
The third part of the film moves to the European Theater of operations & a new set of challenges like building docks, demolishing heavy concrete fortifications, salvaging flooded roads, laying and clearing minefields, constructing lengthy pipelines for fuel transfer and building a variety of bridges including timber trestle, pontoon & steel Bailey Bridges, often under enemy artillery fire
And last, but not least, the Engineers picked up there weapons and performed as very effective combat infantry hen necessary, specializing in demolitions & river crossing.
* G.I. Training: Three films
(B&W, 1943, 20:00)
*How to Swim in 10 Easy Lessons Swimming with a full pack and their M1 in adverse conditions could be a life saver for a G.I.., including making their way through burning oil slicks and leaping from the decks of transports or landing craft. Learn how to do it "The Army Way.
* War Dogs Dogs were a G.I.'s "Best Friend" in numerous ways - including saving lives. See them in action, performing a wide variety of roles. Dogs often did jobs G.I.s couldn't do.
* Finishing School Select U.S. Army Ranger Units received specialized amphibious landing training in the Spring of 1944. You'll see it here in this classified film. They put it to good use on D-Day at Pointe du Hoc, where they went ashore on a narrow beach & scaled massive cliffs.