The footage is first-rate, taken by hundreds of battle cameramen and expertly edited into a fast-moving account of an immensely complex and dramatic story. There is some narration, principally by Leslie Banks, but the story is told mostly in the words of ordinary soldiers who were there.
Much of the material has become familiar over the years, reused many times. But at the time it was new, vivid and even shocking. Credit is also given to the many nationalities involved in the struggle — Poles, Czechs, the Maquis, and others. Directed by Garson Kanin and Carol Reed and scored by William Alwyn, it won the Best Documentary Academy Award for 1945.