A Salute to France Reel 1 · Part 1

Description

Reel 1, allied troops and war material go aboard transports for the invasion of France. Soldiers discuss the war. Reel 2, shows Nazi, Fascist, and Japanese leaders and their followers, including Adolf Hitler, Pierre Laval, Oswald Moseley, Fritz Kuhn, Japanese Emp. Hirohito, Rudolph Hess, Julius Streicher, Joseph Goebbels, Heinrich Himmler, and Benito Mussolini. Flashbacks to World War I show the Ger. Kaiser reviewing troops, Fr. posting mobilization orders, the Fr. taxicab army leaving Paris, scenes of the battles at Verdun and Chemin des Dames, Lloyd George conferring with Clemenceau, scenes of Brit. battles at Paaschendale and Ypres and the Somme, arid of U. S. battles at Chateau Thierry, the Argonne. Belleau Wood, and Cantigny. Personages include Fr. Gens. Joffre and Foch, Brit. Gen. Haig, Gen. Pershing, and Pres. Wilson. Flashbacks of World War II show Goebbels speaking, the Ger. Army invading Poland and France, Ger. planes strafing refugees, and Russ. and U.S. troops marching. An allied plane is shot down over France and the fliers parachute to earth. Reel 3, Fr. peasants hide their parachutes and a Fr. priest hides the fliers and tells them of the Fr. defeat. The fliers are secreted back across the Eng. Channel. Fr. soldiers retreat as the Gers. advance. Gen. Petain calls for collaboration with Ger. Gen de Gaulle broadcasts a call for continued Fr. resistance and speaks to Fr. officers on a warship. Petain visits Hitler. Gers. execute Fr. hostages and send Frenchmen to Ger. as enslaved laborers. Reel 4 shows Fr. POW's in a Ger. camp, the Free French fleet and air squadrons, scuttled Fr. warships in Toulon, and advancing allied troops. Fr. troops are reviewed by de Gaulle and train in Gt. Brit. Can., and Russ. Fr. underground fighters kill Ger. sentries, blow up bridges, and ambush Ger. motorcycle columns. Gers. seize and execute Fr. hostages.

Collection

Records of the Office of War Information

Series

Propaganda, Information, and Documentary Motion Pictures