Captioned by the original US Army Signal Corps photographer as 'Thru Vire, Fr. Aug 8, 1944,' this photograph documents American troops moving through the ruined town of Vire, France, in the weeks following the Normandy landings. Vire was heavily damaged by Allied bombing during the campaign to break out of Normandy, leaving streets choked with rubble from collapsed buildings. Images like this one record both the intensity of the fighting and the human cost borne by French towns during the liberation of Western Europe. Project: 218682