The Earthmovers (W.F. 21) is a 1944 War Department film that shows the heavy equipment used by the Army’s Corps of Engineers and the Navy’s Seabees during military operations in WWII. The film opens with a shot of a construction site: men dig the foundation for a skyscraper. This is followed by footage of building projects in America, including dams and highways. The film then cuts to the use of heavy equipment used in the military. Tractors and bulldozers are used in military settings. A bulldozer is lifted off a ship (01:53). The film contrasts American machinery with Chinese operations: Chinese men clear land for an airstrip by hand. A Douglas C-47 lands on a rural airstrip (03:20). A bulldozer is driven off the plane. Footage shows bulldozers moving rubble, moving beached landing craft back into water, and moving earth. A shot from a hilltop shows a construction site in the Pacific theatre where an airstrip is being built (04:53). Bulldozers move earth and tractors grade the surface of the ground. An aerial shot shows Bougainville, a Japanese-controlled island. Soldiers weld steel pieces for an airstrip. Men place the steel pieces on the ground for the airfield. Troops ride large trucks in a convoy on a road (07:30). Footage shows Europe’s destroyed bridges and towns. Jeeps cross a recently constructed steel treadway and buoy type Bailey bridge (08:07). Soldiers dig earth with shovels and use a jackhammer to break rock. The film then shows Naples in rubble (09:28); ships sit disabled in the harbor. Supplies are unloaded from a ship in Naples’ harbor. Women crowd around a water source in Naples (10:23); the film shows Italians waiting in line to fill buckets with water from a newly built water line. Army Engineers work to build a bridge on buoys on the Volturno River. The film shows other types of equipment used by the Army’s Corps of Engineers and the Navy’s Seabees: drills, search lights, mine detectors, pneumatic pontoons, road rollers, cranes, bulldozers, and more. A U.S. shipping convoy sails on the ocean (12:40); footage shows some of the ships on fire (presumably after being hit by Japanese fire). The film then shows a cemetery in the Pacific where American servicemen, including the “Earthmovers,” are laid to rest.

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This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD, 2k and 4k. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com