News Thrills of 1943by Official Fil

[Music] over the barren sands of the Egyptian desert. A heavy bombardment group of B-24 Liberator bombers practices precision skip bombings. They are rehearsing for the big raid on the Romanian oil fields at Poeste. Practice makes perfect. Now the real thing. As the Great Liberator engines kick up their own sandstorms, pilots take off to make their desert drills pay dividends. From the great oil fields of Peste come virtually all gas, oil, and lubricants used by the Nazi war machine. But first, a long trip across the shining waters of the strategic Mediterranean, now once more controlled by the Allies and over the coast of Greece. The Danube is cited. Deep in enemy territory, our flight presses on now over the picturesque Romanian countryside. The target is near and the planes descend to a lower altitude. These official US Army Air Forcees pictures show enemy oil tanks camouflaged but still evident. Sticks of incendiaries are flung from our planes. Then all fury breaks loose. Flying low through the great clouds of cert smoke and the intense heat of blazing oil. 500 of these bombers do not stop until 300 tons of high explosives and thousands of incendiaries have been dropped with deadly accuracy. To the left of the screen, one of our planes goes down. But most, mission accomplished, head back on the long trip [Music] [Music] home. Engine smoking. Another liberator plunges into the Mediterranean. [Music] Home again. Allied losses were high, but the damage done was worth it. Rome, July 26th, 1943. Italian newsre pictures show the Italian public's reaction to the beginning of the Bedolio government and the downfall of Bonito Mussolini. Crowds surge in the streets. The fascist emblem is torn down. Even as the demonstrations continue, secretly negotiates with the alliance. The secret is wellkept. Terms of unconditional surrender are at this moment signed, but the world is still unaware of it. When from Sicily the British 8th Army sets out across the straits of Msina toward Reio Colombia to invade the continent of Europe for the first time in this war. Potillas of invasion craft are ready and waiting. Montgomery's men have pursued this opportunity for a long long time. From Alamagne to Torbrook, from Benghazi to Tripoli, from Tunis to Katana and Msina, they've hounded down the enemy. Now in the gathering dusk on the eve of the fourth anniversary of Britain's entry into the war, they leave. The eighth army's landings are virtually unopposed by Italians. They roll ashore to begin a swift march of both sides of the Italian toll. [Music] [Applause] [Music] Simultaneously, the American Fifth Army of Lieutenant General Mark Clark prepares to embark on an invasion far to the north. Salerno, just below Naples. 5 days after Montgomery's landings, as General Eisenhower's headquarters is making the announcement of Italy's unconditional surrender, the American amphibious forces go on board for the attack. At sunset, the tremendous convoy gets underway. A smoking Allied ship shows part of the price we paid. As under terrific fire, the Navy and Coast Guard bring the Fifth Army [Music] inshore. A Nazi plane is shot [Music] down. Another plane. It plunges from the sky in background, goes out of sight for an instant, then reappears in a trail of smoke and plummets into the sea. [Music] A second Allied ship is on fire. It has been badly hit. The hail of bombs and shells continues as the Germans fight violently to defend the Soleno sector. During the night, the Fifth Army swarms ashore in the faint light of dawn under murderous attack from German 88 mm batteries on the hills above. They dig in on their beach head and fight back. [Music] Without letup, the fifth army advance continues. Keeping undercover, a radio operator relays word to headquarters. A khaki column moves up under fire to smash the Nazi army in its own European fortress. Lieutenant General Mark Clark, commander of the Fifth Army, whose men call him the front lines general, personally directs the smashing attack as our men push north and east from their Soleno beach head toward Naples. Under fire, dramatic signal call pictures show Lanky General Clark hurrying between advanced battle stations as a violent artillery barrage is laid on the stubbornly retreating Nazis. [Music] [Music] General Eisenhower visits the front. He is pleased with the fifth army's showing in days of the heaviest fighting Americans have yet seen. South of Seno, officers and war correspondents of the British 8th Army meet an American patrol. The Fifth Army's tanks push on, fanning out from Soleno, the towns of Bastam, Albanelloo, Elboli fall. The desperate German attempt to drive our forces back from the coast has been met and overcome. Now the word is on to Naples. The advance goes on. Naples has now fallen after slow, tough fighting all the way. No path of roses lies ahead on the road to Rome. But General Clark's fifth army, the army of Salerno is on its way.