The Only Color Footage Filmed During World War II Released

The only color footage shot by the Allies as they fought their way through occupied Europe after landing on the beaches of Normandy during World War II has been released.

Military historian John C. McManus told INSIDE EDITION, "To see World War II in living color, the way we do with events in our time, brings a sense of immediacy to it."

The footage was shot by legendary Hollywood director George Stevens, who would go on to make Giant. Stevens was sent to Europe with a combat film unit and took a home-movie camera to record his personal war diary.

The footage starts on D-Day with Stevens on board the battleship that fired the opening salvo of the greatest invasion in history.

Stevens was there as allied troops battled the Nazis into the heart of France and Stevens’ camera recorded the jubilation as G.I.'s liberated Paris.

McManus said, "For someone like George Stevens, for a photographer to be right there, nothing can beat it."

Stevens was also one of the first Americans to record the horror of Nazi concentration camps when Germany was finally defeated.

His wartime footage has just been released as part of a Warner Home Video boxed set called Invasion Europe and serves as a timely tribute to the heroes of the greatest generation in living color.