Liberated Czechoslovakia: American troops greeted by joyful crowds

Identifier
irn1003536
Language of Description
English
Alt. Identifiers
  • 2004.724.1
  • RG-60.4106
Level of Description
Item
Languages
  • Silent
Source
EHRI Partner

Creator(s)

Scope and Content

Cheering crowds greet American troops. This appears to be the same location as footage found in Story 4380. Medium shot of a man in a crowd wearing a hat and holding a movie camera. The people around him are waving and smiling. 01:26:30 Shot of a slate which provides the date 4/7/45. Men and women standing in the street. Many of them are waving white handkerchiefs. One person is holding an American flag and another is waving a Czech flag. A man wearing a trench coat waves his hat wildly at the camera. A blonde woman in red smiles at the camera and waves. She is wearing the Czech coat of arms on her chest. 01:27:11 Military vehicles and tanks move through a street lined with waving and cheering people. People in the crowd wave American and Czech flags. The camera cuts to a reverse shot of the scene on the street and the vehicles move away from camera. There are Czech flags visible on some of the vehicles. Shot of two men wearing police/military uniforms. More crowd shots. Children in the foreground wave Czech flags. 01:30:02 Military men wearing white, blue, and red arm bands lead a long line of German POWs, one of whom carries a white flag. More crowd shots. A man in a hat and overcoat is yelling; others in the crowd spit on the ground, presumably in the direction of German POWs. Some in the crowd shake their fists. 01:30:36 An American soldier kisses the blonde woman in red from the previous scene. 01:31:07 People in the crowd run and walk out of the square and down the street, perhaps following POWs. More shots of tanks. The footage is very dark. A large crowd of people wave white flags. Street-level shots of American army vehicles with civilians riding on them. Shot of an American soldier and two women wearing ethnic clothing sitting on a jeep. More shots of a crowd in the streets smiling, waving etc. 01:33:09 Slate with a date of 4/8/45. The quality of the footage is not as good -- the colors are washed out and slightly green. Crowd of people waving. German POWs walk down a street. Civilians watch them pass. American soldiers with guns stand/sit by military vehicles 01:35:23 Civilians (ethnic Germans?) walk down a road carrying possessions. Rear shots of a tank driving down a street. Two men on bicycles ride behind the tank. People along the side of the road wave. More shots of tanks. Row of military personnel (Czech soldiers?) in black/dark blue uniforms, red lapels, and gold buttons with hats. More Crowd shots. 01:36:51 Street sign for Praha/ Prague. Vehicles drive down a road. German POWs walk down a road; some ride on horse-drawn carts 01:37:35 Shots of bodies by the roadside. Some are moving. POWs sit in a row on the ground. Shots of a town with American soldiers and civilians in the street . A Jeep drives by carrying wounded or dead POWs. A man turns a corpse over and examines it, then makes notes in a notebook. POWs lined up along the side of the road as tanks drive by. A long line of German POWs walks toward the camera. 01:42:42 A woman walks with the POWs. German POWs walk down a city street

Note(s)

  • Some of these scenes are described on the NARA story cards and some are not. Check NARA records again to see if there are additional cards.

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Genre

This description is derived directly from structured data provided to EHRI by a partner institution. This collection holding institution considers this description as an accurate reflection of the archival holdings to which it refers at the moment of data transfer.