Rare Color Footage Of The Allied Advance Into Germany

Reims, September 1944. Here, where in eight months' time the German Wehrmacht will sign the capitulation papers of unconditional surrender, Hollywood filmmaker George Stevens and his team of press photographers and cameramen are documenting the last days of the Second World War in Europe. Back in Hollywood, Stevens had directed box office hits featuring stars like Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant. Now, his work centred on the fall of the Third Reich. On this visit to a champagne factory, Stevens, a scriptwriter by trade, wanted to know what all the bottles had been intended for. A wedding or a romance? Would they have induced a mere mortal to change his whole life? In late October 1944, George Stevens and his team were able to set foot on German soil for the first time. After weeks of fighting, American troops had taken Aachen. It was the first German city to fall into Allied hands. Although Stevens and his men were actually going to document the war in black and white, they also had 16mm colour film with them. It produced unique footage. This young German had tried to stop the GIs with a bazooka. It had cost him his life. Stevens felt little sympathy for the man who plunged Europe and the rest of the world into war. Remains of the battle for Aachen. The war was already in its sixth year and no one had any idea when the slaughter would finally end. Around 13,000 Wehrmacht troops and 5,000 members of the Volkssturm, a national militia rather like a home guard, had defended Aachen against a superior Allied force of 100,000 GIs. On October the 12th 1944, Field Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt had insisted that the ancient imperial German city of Aachen be held to the last man. If necessary, the defenders had to be buried among its ruins, just as he had promised his supreme commander, Adolf Hitler. In the end, however, on October the 21st 1944, the military commander of Aachen capitulated. He thus saved the lives of some 12,000 men who were now American prisoners of war. Just before capitulating, he sent a heroic radio message. After bitter house-to-house and man-to-man fighting, the defenders of Aachen have run out of ammunition, food and water. The last remnants of our forces defending this imperial German city are engaged in hand-to-hand fighting around the command post. All radios have been prepared for destruction. In the unshakable belief in the justness of our cause and in our victory, this is a final greeting to our beloved German homeland. Long live the Führer. Out of an original population of 160,000, around 6,000 of Aachen's inhabitants stuck it out, while the town was still being contested. For them too, the war was now over, but only a few were willing to see reason. Only a few weeks after Aachen fell, the US Secret Service stated that many of its citizens were maudlin, allies for nothing but their own suffering, and were unwilling to reflect on their own role during the Third Reich, and no one admitted to having been a Nazi. No one questioned whether they might bear any personal responsibility for all that had happened. Writing in her diary on October the 3rd, 1944, in a southern suburb of Aachen, Clara Trafford made a farsighted comment. I have had enough for ever and a day, but in 20 years' time there will again be enough idiots around who will ignore what has happened and be willing to start the same misery all over again. In Aachen, George Stevens' team shot roll after roll of film. But because it didn't contain any actual fighting, the footage was never shown on any newsreel. The Hollywood director, Stevens, took great care not to expose his team to danger. As a result, it was only years later that the colour films were found in his estate. When interrogated, the military commander of Aachen cynically defended the senseless bloodletting in the town. A record of the interrogation states, He didn't even think the entrenched resistance was worthwhile. In his view, it would have been far better if the troops deployed in Aachen had been withdrawn in good time and used to strengthen defensive positions east of the town. It took more than four months for the Allies to reach the Rhine. In mid-March, 1945, a US Air Force team filmed on the bridge at Remagen. The German Air Force made repeated attempts to destroy the structure, but the Americans doggedly defended their biggest coup so far. Artillery units took up position to secure the only intact bridge over the Rhine. The bridge at Remagen was one of the first locations in Nazi Germany where the special film project 186 was used. On March 7, 1945, US forces managed at the last minute to prevent the railway bridge from being blown up. Within 24 hours, 8,000 GIs had established a bridgehead on the far side of the Rhine, Germany's river of destiny. All attempts by the German Air Force to block the crossing point were in vain. Even bombarding the bridge with Hitler's wonder weapon, the V2, proved fruitless. Time and again, German planes were brought down by American artillery fire. Scenes like this were particularly important for the US Air Force camera team. Their mission was to document the aerial battle for Germany so it could be shown in cinemas back home. To make this possible, those responsible had sourced the country for 16mm colour film and shipped it to Europe. One major element of the Air Force cameraman's mission was to document the success of American bombing raids. So in March 1945, a team visited Düren to take on-the-spot footage for the first time. The small town west of Cologne was nothing but a pile of rubble. One reporter with the US military journal Stars and Stripes wrote, This place is just a remnant of a town. No one lives here anymore. There are indications that Düren was a town with nice houses. Captain Larkin said, if the Germans want to have a town called Düren again after the war, they will probably find a nice place a few miles north and build something new there. At around the same time, on the other side of the border, somewhere in Belgium, American Supreme Commander Dwight D. Eisenhower had arrived to visit troops. This rare footage was taken by Major Kirk B. Lawton, Eisenhower's man for photojournalism during the Second World War. The Americans staged a military parade as a demonstration of their great self-assurance. Eisenhower was confident that the Allied advance in the West would soon be crowned with success. He knew that the German Wehrmacht was almost incapable of movement and of low battle strength. But even he wanted to proceed cautiously step by step. The next major objective was a large-scale advance by the Allied armies across the Rhine and deep into the heart of the Reich. Hundreds of thousands of G.I.s were firmly resolved to finally bring Germany to its knees. But there was tension between the Allies as to the right strategy. Above all, the British were frustrated because they felt the Americans were not paying sufficient attention to their proposals. Also present at the parade was Hollywood film star Marlene Dietrich. She had hated Hitler and the Nazis ever since emigrating from Germany. Now behind the front, she was keeping up the soldiers' spirits by singing and giving autographs. On March the 23rd 1945, the Allies crossed the Rhine on a broad front. More than 1.2 million soldiers were ready to finish off Nazi Germany. Heavy equipment was transported to the other side of the river on hastily erected pontoon bridges. The Wehrmacht had little to offer in the way of resistance. Adolf Hitler was fully aware of the size of the threat in the West. Germany's commander-in-chief feared that, in view of American superiority, his troops might surrender in droves. One German officer wrote in his diary, We sense that a decisive battle is about to begin. The enemy crossed the river at three points which initially were separate. On the 22nd of this month, a directive from the Führer was read out to the whole assembled battalion. Anyone taken prisoner by the enemy, it said, without being wounded or clearly having given his all, will be punished. Not only will he be disgraced, all financial support for his family will be stopped and his family will be made responsible for his action. Everyone had to sign to say that they had heard the order. Cameramen with special film project 186 captured the American advance on the far side of the Rhine. At this time, a young woman in Frankfurt felt like she was living in a vacuum. We're sitting here waiting for the Americans. At last I have the time once again to think about the history of our world, which is so often written by power-hungry idiots. If it didn't cost human lives and thus be so tragic, it would actually be amusing. On March the 25th 1945, German propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels stated that the military situation in the West had entered a critical, almost deadly stage. At the same time, a young girl in the Westerwald region wrote in her diary, It's a Sunday like any other, yet in view of the strange circumstances we can expect, one full of dread and inner turmoil, if only it were all over. It can't be long before the enemy gets here. Suddenly someone shouted, the Americans are coming. You've no time to think. Like Schiller, all you can say is, everyone runs, rescues, flees. At the back of the village, a sad picture presents itself. Is that our proud German Wehrmacht? The village has been handed over. Around 200 German soldiers that gathered here have been taken prisoner. Also on March 25th, Britain's Royal Air Force bombed German positions and roads to block any retreat into the Ruhr district. Only 24 hours after the start of the operation, the British had already established a bridgehead about 10 kilometers wide on the other side of the Rhine. In the hinterland, trucks were waiting to transport sections for more pontoon bridges. Kirk B. Lawton, Eisenhower's man for reporting the war against Nazi Germany in pictures, was allowed to take his camera into areas occupied by the British and filmed these scenes of a pontoon bridge being built. Lawton had himself ferried across to the other bank of the Rhine by the Royal Signals, a unit deployed behind the front to set up infrastructures and establish telephone links. On the shore, the ground was being swept for landmines planted by the Germans. Here too, many German soldiers had surrendered in the face of superior odds. British military strategists had prepared Operation Plunder with the utmost precision. Now, Top Brass in London was expecting the Americans to accept that the further advance into the heart of the Reich would take place under British command. In a conversation with General Eisenhower, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill is said to have repeatedly exclaimed, the Germans are beaten, now we've got them, they are finished. But the Americans still kept their British allies in the dark about their own, totally different plans. Eisenhower was determined to push his armies mainly into central and southern Germany. He wanted the British to advance towards Hamburg and Denmark. When Winston Churchill heard that, he was outraged. After his fleeting visit to the British troops, Major Lawton returned to Eisenhower's headquarters in Reims. In early March 1945, Cologne became the first major German city to fall to the Allies. On March the 26th 1945, a camera team with special film project 186 was allowed to enter the cathedral city for the first time. On this occasion, the US Air Force was interested primarily in the damage caused by the numerous Allied bombing raids on Cologne. Initially, the camera rarely focused on the few people still living in the city. American author and journalist, Janet Flanner, arrived in Cologne only a few days after its fall. She wrote, Cologne on the Rhine is now a paradigm of destruction. Cologne has been blown up with its medieval splendor. In the rubble and loneliness of physical destruction, Cologne leans on its banks, bare of any form and unadorned. Those who are still alive laboriously fight their way through the buried side roads, a shriveled population in black clothes and loaded with bundles, silent like the city. No one knew exactly how many people were living in the ruins of Cologne, at least 50,000 according to some estimates, but the actual figure could have been as high as 200,000. On March the 26th, 1945, a crowd had gathered on the Klotwischplatz to hear the occupying Americans make proclamations from the back of a truck. In the first few days of the American occupation, one German woman noted, We're only allowed to go out during the daytime. After 7pm a curfew comes into effect. We're bombarded with rules and regulations. This time they really are driving militarism and national socialism out of us. They're not permitting a single trace of what life for us used to be like. High-ranking Nazis and SS henchmen had fled the city before it capitulated. Above all, the people of Cologne were happy that, for them, the war was over now. One of them said that first and foremost, occupation meant an end to the horrors of air raids and artillery bombardment. To the fear of being evacuated somewhere, whether they liked it or not. And an end to constantly living underground. A returning émigré, socialist Werner Hansen, was working for the American Secret Service. On March the 27th, 1945, he wrote this about the people of Cologne. They are very helpful and happy if they can be useful to any American soldier. I walked around the city in uniform for about eight days. I didn't speak to a single hostile person. I will never forget the old worker's wife who hugged me, crying with happiness and joy because the Nazis were now gone and we were there. The landmark of Cologne and the symbol of past German culture survived the war almost undamaged. Allied bomber pilots had been instructed not to endanger the cathedral. When war broke out, the incredible art treasures kept in the Gothic Cathedral were taken to a safer location. From one of the cathedral's twin spires, an Air Force cameraman filmed the full extent of the destruction. The many other churches in this Catholic city did not remain as undamaged as the cathedral. According to official British sources, between 1941 and 1945, 150,000 tons of bombs and 5.1 million incendiaries were dropped on Cologne. The true figure is probably far less, but even so, the city suffered greatly from the continuous aerial bombardment. In March 1945, no one could predict when Cologne would be rebuilt. Here, on an airfield somewhere in Belgium or in a part of Germany that has already been occupied, a squadron of American P-47 fighter aircraft are preparing to head off on another mission. A cameraman with Special Film Project 186 took this footage of the ground crews in April 1945. For him, these men were the less well-known heroes of the war in the air. They made sure that the aircraft being flown were in the best possible condition. The P-47 Thunderbolt was a single-engine American fighter bomber which proved to be one of the most effective aircraft in the war against the Nazis. During the Second World War, US manufacturer Republic produced over 15,000 of these all-metal mid-wing monoplanes. The P-47 had just one pilot. As a rule, Thunderbolts attacked their targets in small squadrons. That was also the case in March and April 1945. Some of the Thunderbolts had automatic cameras on board, which took spectacular pictures. In order to cripple the Wehrmacht's supply routes, the pilots attacked literally anything that moved. Railway lines and freight yards were favourite targets. Time and again, individual vehicles were also attacked. Because every army truck or military staff car that was hit would no longer be able to lengthen the war in Europe. The US Air Force had long since gained control of large areas of German airspace. So as a rule, its planes usually carried out their missions without being threatened. It's not known how many civilians lost their lives in these attacks. The US Air Force regarded such casualties as collateral damage. Troops and fanatical Nazis could have been hauled up in harmless-looking villages in order to stop the Allied advance. The US Air Force's bomber fleet was also in action over Germany, hitting strategic targets. The aim was to make airfields and supply routes unusable. By now, the Luftwaffe was almost incapable of putting up any effective defence. The Nazis had ultra-modern jet aircraft at their disposal. But often their Messerschmitt Me 262s were grounded, mainly because of a shortage of fuel. Time and again, as they advanced, the Americans came across camouflaged Me 262s. The jet was capable of attacking Allied aircraft at a speed of up to 870 kilometres an hour. Experts eagerly inspected the new aircraft and their futuristic jet engines, which had been developed by Messerschmitt in Augsburg. The US Air Force had every reason to fear the Me 262. Its fleets of bombers had been successfully attacked time and again. American pilots had little chance of defending themselves against the fast jets. Me 262s were still shooting down numerous US aircraft, even in March and April 1945. Somewhere in the occupied part of Nazi Germany, a camera team from Special Film Project 186 is filming a totally devastated airfield. The hangars are all damaged, and the wreckage of burnt-out aircraft is strewn around. To enhance the effectiveness of this pan shot, the camera team have placed a portrait of Hitler in it. Upside down, of course. It is intended to symbolize the imminent downfall of the dictator and his Nazi regime. In late March, south of Koblenz, another US Air Force camera team filmed an Allied air attack on a German military convoy. The cameraman repeatedly panned across the destroyed vehicles. We can only imagine the dramatic scenes which took place here. It is not clear whether this convoy, which belonged to the notorious SS, was on its way to the front, or was looking for refuge from the advancing Americans. Nor can we tell how many soldiers lost their lives here. The convoy apparently came under fire on a country road opposite the Marxburg Castle on the Rhine. Spotting it was important to the Americans, because units of the Waffen-SS were regarded as particularly dangerous. As a rule, its fanatical troops were ruthless in combat, and fought to the bitter end. This devastating attack seriously hit SS supplies, and would undoubtedly save many a GI's life in the weeks ahead. According to notes made by the cameraman, this German was also a member of the SS. He had surrendered to the Americans wearing harmless-looking civilian clothes. It's not clear what happened to him. He was probably taken to a prisoner of war camp. Not far from this scene, peace was already a reality. In a village near Boppart on the Rhine, people can be seen queuing for food. American journalist Marta Gellhorn documented her impressions of the defeated enemy. No one is a Nazi. Nobody has ever been one. We have had enough of this government, they say. The Americans are welcome to us. We have no reason to be afraid. We have done nothing wrong. We are no Nazis. 60 kilometers downstream, an automatic camera belonging to the air force team took this aerial footage of the bridge at Remagen. The bridge, which had long since become a symbol of imminent victory, had by now collapsed. George Stevens and his team arrived here at the end of March 1945. The Hollywood director had been flown in from Paris at the personal request of General Eisenhower to document the successful advance of the Allied forces. From his hotel balcony, Stevens could see the pontoon bridge, which had been hastily built by US engineers for getting troops across the Rhine. When the United States entered the war, the 40-year-old veteran of Tinseltown had put his career on hold to do propaganda work for the American government. From Remagen, Stevens and his team traveled over the pontoon bridge to the other side of the river. A few young Germans momentarily blocked the cameraman's view of ruined buildings on the riverbank. Adolf Hitler had declared the Rhine to be an insurmountable bulwark against the Allied advance in the west. Germany's river of destiny had to be held at all cost. But now in Remagen, the war was already a long way off. Here, Stevens and his men are inspecting the ruins of the bridge. On March the 17th, 1945, US engineers were carrying out maintenance work on the seriously damaged bridge when it suddenly collapsed. 25 GIs were killed immediately and three more died later from their injuries. A plaque commemorates the glorious capture of the railway bridge on March the 7th. As they retreated, the Germans had mined this tunnel. During the war, it had served the local population as a shelter from Allied bombing raids. A plaque bears the names of those American engineers who lost their lives when the bridge collapsed. A flight over ruins. In March 1944, Frankfurt's historic old town was destroyed in three bombing raids by the British. Even then, experts were already thinking about how the city might be rebuilt after the war. But its Nazi bigwigs immediately forestalled such plans. In 1944, the Nazi Party newspaper, the Völkische Beobachter, published an article which rejected any nostalgic sentiment with regard to the later reconstruction of what the paper described as our cities murdered from the air in barbarian attacks. People must be prepared, it said, to take a radical decision and allow that which is dead to rest in its grave. In this respect, hatred must become holy. In late March 1941, a camera team with Special Film Project 186 documented the damage which American bombing raids had caused to traffic routes and railway tracks in Frankfurt. The cameraman also filmed German prisoners of war being led out of the city. Frankfurt's military commander, Lieutenant Colonel Loeffler, was determined to hold out against the Americans. He told his men... If we knew there was nothing to back us up, we could wave a white flag and end matters. But perhaps our leadership still holds a trump card after all. In that case, it must never be said that our, or my, failure prevented it from being played. Therefore, we will do what we have to do. On March 27, 1945, American artillery shells hit the German command post in the city. Loeffler was seriously wounded and died from his injuries. In Frankfurt, too, the war was over. At the same time, American units were advancing further into the heart of the Reich. Many villages in the Westerwald region offered no resistance. Often, courageous citizens had hung white flags from their windows. This was still dangerous because such actions were punishable by death. Time and again, Germans who were tired of the war and wanted to put an end to the madness were hanged or shot out of hand by fanatical Nazis. A situation report by the Allied Supreme Command stated, The enemy is facing a situation in the West that is beyond his control. There is no point in prolonging operations. Hitler is defeated. However, like all other Napoleons, he's not leaving without fighting to the last breath. It only remains to be seen how long that breath will last, or whether the Germans will be willing to go along with it. When a town or village surrendered without a fight, everything went smoothly. Often, tank traps were removed by the inhabitants themselves so that US armor could advance more quickly. Time and again, however, the GIs faced German soldiers who were still prepared to fight. Afterwards, the wounded were cared for by American paramedics. On March the 31st, 1945, American troops occupied Bad Hersfeld. After offering brief resistance outside the town, its commander decided to surrender. French prisoners of war welcomed their liberators. A camera team with Special Film Project 186 captured the moment the war for this town came to an end. Here, a delegation from the municipal administration and the military negotiate the peaceful handover with an American advance party. Most of the inhabitants were relieved to have got off so lightly. Some of the buildings were in flames because of artillery fire. But that was the only damage here. At first, many Germans were still afraid of the victors. But because most GIs were friendly, their fear soon gave way to curiosity. Bad Hersfeld could count itself lucky once again. On March the 31st, 1945, a German soldier waiting in Thuringia for orders wrote in his journal, It's uncertain if and how we are going to carry on. It's impossible to get any clear news on just where the front line is. Several wedges have been driven into our area. The aim is obviously to separate north from south Germany. The question is, where will our leaders then go? Near Wolfhagen in northern Hesse, a US Air Force cameraman filmed a temporary prisoner of war camp. Hundreds of German soldiers and national militia fighters were crowded together behind barbed wire fences. In a letter to his parents written on April the 1st, 1945, a German soldier described the thoughts of the Wehrmacht's last reserves. This year we Germans are experiencing one of the saddest Easter festivals in our history. The enemy has penetrated deep into the east and west of our country. But the war will only be lost if we abandon ourselves. Even if Germany capitulated, would the war be over for us? No, that would only be the start of the horror. And we wouldn't even have weapons to defend ourselves. But as long as we still have weapons and firm belief in the rectitude of our cause, nothing is lost. I am convinced that there will be a decisive turn of events. The destiny which the Führer has given us will not permit all the terrible sacrifices to have been in vain. On this Easter Sunday, American units advanced further north towards Kassel, taking one town after another as if it were routine. Organized defense, it seemed, no longer existed. But the Americans were worried that there might be fanatical partisan units behind the front. Every civilian could turn out to be a werewolf, as the GIs called them. Broadcasting from its own radio station on April 1st, 1945, the self-styled Movement of National Socialist Freedom Fighters announced that it would attack enemy troops and German collaborators everywhere in the occupied areas. The werewolf's rallying call was, hatred is our prayer and vengeance our war cry. Propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels wrote in his diary, The werewolf consciously turns to the political minority of those stalwart souls who always form the steel tip of the leaden wedge of the people. In its demise, the Third Reich came up with newer and newer forms of terror, and the regime's henchmen didn't even shrink from murdering its own people if they surrendered to the enemy. Days and weeks of uncertainty still lay ahead of the US troops. Their mission was to bring down Germany with military might, and US camera teams continued to document the end of the war in color.