WW2: US infantry & Female French Collaborators - Cherence le Roussel and Laval, France (Aug. 1944)

American troops of the 4th Division advance through fields and woods. They take cover in trenches and behind trees. According to NARA the tanks are M-4 tanks and the howitzer is a 105mm on an M-7 motor carriage. Long shot down a road. Smoke billows in the distance. More howitzers firing. Close-up of shells being loaded and fired. Two captured German soldiers are marched down a road. 01:14:45 Sign at the entrance to a devastated town reads Cherence le Roussel. American soldiers advance through the town, looking for snipers. A soldier marks a mine with a flag. Young soldier holding a telephone handset attached to a pack on his back. He looks at the camera. Lots of rubble and destruction.

01:16:25 Laval, France, August 7, 1944. Troops of the 79th Division, 315th Infantry, crossing a bridge and entering Laval. Jeeps enter the town as local civilians watch from the sides of the road. People clap and wave at the passing soldiers. Wide shot of the town square. People wave French flags. Military Police direct traffic. Civilians scramble for sweets (?) thrown from a tank by American soldiers. Soldiers kiss and pose for the camera with French girls. Female collaborators with shaved heads are escorted through the streets by members of the French Forces of the Interior (FFI; Forces Francaises de l'Interieur) One wears a hand-made swastika on her chest and carries a page from a photo album with photos of Nazis. Shot of a jeep with American Military Police. One of the collaborators is in the front passenger seat, only visible for a moment. An old woman holds a potrait of Hitler and throws it to the ground. Street scenes of many people walking bicycles through devastated streets. A priest and a nun speak with people.


Film Title: Invasion Scenes, 08/08/1944
Locale: Cherence le Roussel, France
Laval, France
Producer: United States. Army. Signal Corps.
Original Archive Number: 111 ADC 10435

Видео WW2: US infantry & Female French Collaborators - Cherence le Roussel and Laval, France (Aug. 1944) канала Combat Camera Archives