Banshees Over Canada

The film opens with a description of the strength and equipment of the Royal Canadian Air Force, with its thirty-two overseas squadrons. The Allied air strategy of hitting the nerve centres of Germany's war machine by destroying transport and supply lines is explained and the destruction of a German munitions train by Canadian airplanes is shown.

Allied troops land on the Normandy coast and drive eastward to the gates of Germany. Opening scenes are of the D-Day landings and establishment of Canadian forces on the beachhead. Pictures of bitter street fighting and of pin-point bombing tell the story of Caen's capture and the advance towards Falaise. Made from footage filmed by units of the Canadian Army Overseas.

A classic presentation of the strategy of the Battle of Britain, the film shows, with penetrating clarity, the relationship of the various forces that went to make up the island's defenses. Here is the Royal Air Force in its epic battle with the Luftwaffe, the Navy in its stubborn fight against the raiders of sea and sky, the coastal defenses, the mechanized cavalry, the merchant seamen, and, steadfast behind them all, Britain's tough, unbending civilian army. The first NFB film to win an Oscar.