Combat Bulletin No. 55, produced in 1945 by the Army Pictorial Service, gives viewers a look at Germany’s surrender to Allied forces, the fall of Rangoon, the development of the Allied base on Iwo Jima, captured Japanese weapons, and the heavy damage the USS Franklin sustained on 19 March 1945. The bulletin opens with additional surrender films. Field Marshal Bernard Law Montgomery, commander of the British and Canadian 21st Army Group, reads the Instrument of Surrender at Luneburg Heath. The German delegation then signs the Instrument of Surrender (03:07), starting with General-Admiral Hans-Georg von Friedeburg, General Eberhard Kinzel, Rear Admiral Gerhard Wagner, Colonel Fritz Poleck, and Major Hans Jochen Freidel. The film shows the signed document. The bulletin then cuts to Reims, France (05:09) and the signing of the capitulation papers by Germany’s General Alfred Jodl (05:59), Supreme Allied Command representative Lt. General Walter Bedell Smith, and Soviet High Command representative Major General Ivan Susloparov. Supreme Commander Dwight D. Eisenhower poses for a photograph with other members of the Allied command (07:10), then Eisenhower speaks about the surrender of Germany. The surrender is formally ratified in Berlin under the care of General Carl A. Spaatz at the headquarters of Soviet Deputy Commander Marshal Gregory Zhukov (08:34). The German delegation arrives for the signing: Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel, General-Admiral Hans-Georg von Friedeburg, and Colonel-General Hans-Jurgen Stumpff sign the document (09:27). General Jean de Lattre de Tassigny signs on behalf of the French Army. Allied leaders gather to celebrate afterward. The next segment of the bulletin features General Robert C. Richardson as he speaks about V-E Day (10:18). The bulletin then takes viewers to Burma and the fall of Rangoon. Members of the 50th Indian Parachute Brigade board a Douglas C-47 Skytrain (11:59); C-47s take off and head south along the Burma coast. Paratroopers jump out of the planes. Troops of the 26th Indian Division board LSIs in preparation for the invasion of Rangoon (12:50). Troops in LCAs move up Rangoon River, and the first landing is made. Men trudge through the thick mud of the river bank, making it hard to move artillery and other equipment. Mine sweepers clear the waters (14:23), detonating an enemy mine. Footage shows the Japanese-abandoned harbor, where only Burmese citizens wait to greet the troops. The next segment shows U.S. soldiers building a base on Iwo Jima. Aboard a ship, men prepare to go ashore at Iwo Jima and build the base (16:10). Cargo is loaded onto LCTs. The LCTs make land at Iwo Jima. Heavy machinery is used to help move equipment; soldiers unpack supplies (17:23), prepare air defenses on the island, and operate heavy machines while constructing an air field (18:02). During a bombing raid, Japanese planes attack American P-51 Mustangs and B-29 Superfortresses (18:20). B-29s drop bombs on industrial targets in Tokyo (18:40). A Superfortress lands at the Iwo base. Another B-29 receives a new engine at the base. The bulletin then shows viewers different captured Japanese weapons. U.S. soldiers prepare to test-fire a captured Japanese field gun (20:49) and a 20mm anti-tank rifle. Men assemble a Japanese 320mm spigot mortar, aka a “buzz bomb,” and then they fire the weapon. Troops detonate a spigot shell in a field. A truck unloads a Japanese naval rocket (23:05). Men fire 20cm army rockets. The bulletin’s final segment covers the attack and rescue of the USS Franklin. The Franklin sits roughly 60 miles off the coast of Japan (24:15). Footage shows the explosions and fires caused as the ship is hit by a Japanese dive bomber. Men fight fires on the flight deck (25:06). Medics tend to wounded men on the ship (25:38). The Franklin begins tipping on its side as men use hoses from the cruiser USS Santa Fe to fight the fires on the decks of the Franklin (26:07). Troops are rescued from the Franklin by the destroyer Hickox. Some men dive overboard to flee the burning ship as the Hickox is forced to pull away. The fires are finally put out, and the heavily damaged carrier is able to sail back to the U.S., arriving in New York City under her own power.

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