Gernan involvement in Russo-Finnish war ("Winter War") overlapping with World War II. Opening scene shows map with arrows indicating movement of German forces from Norway, into Finland to help them defend against the Soviets. A sign wreathed in greenery, at the border, reads "Finnland" (in German) and "Suomi" (in Finnish). (Narrator says Finland is no more alone.) Next, a German soldier moves a barrier at the border and German troops on motorcycles, led by a staff car, begin crossing into Finland. They cross a bridge over water. A long line of German trucks, cars and motorcycles moves along a country road. One motorcycle, with sidecar, stops and the two German soldier occupants examine a sign marking the Arctic Circle. A steam locomotive pulling a train leaves a Finnish railroad station. Views from aboard the train as local Finns wave at German soldiers who look out the train windows. Change of scene shows German infantry wading through some snow, (Other places are dry.) They are moving forward and taking up firing positions. Closeup of a German soldier firing his rifle. German gun crew firing a a 7.92mm MG37(t) machine gun. Closeup of the gun firing. German soldiers firing a mortar and the shell exploding in the distance. Closeup of another German gun crew firing an MG37 machine gun. (They are probably from the 6th SS Mountain Division Nord.) Shells exploding as German infantry run forward through light brush. Another 3-man German machine gun crew viewed from behind as they fire their weapon at Soviet positions.
German and Finnish military forces retreating in Finland during World War II. German military trucks and carts move along a road. Rail tracks and rail cars loaded with luggage and belongings of Finnish citizens retreating as the Soviet forces advance in Finland. The rail station at Kemijarvi Finland and the rail yard piled high with personal belongings of Finnish citizens fleeing. A train laden with belongings of fleeing Finnish refugees. Trucks and troops go on a road. Smoke rises from background.
Film starts showing United Press wire service receiver with report in it. "Tokyo" is superimposed on the image. A huge gathering of Japanese people is seen, most holding umbrellas on a rainy day. Camera view from behind some of the crowd, with the National Diet (Legislative) building in the background. Groups of men rush through the crowd creating disturbance. They protest the Treaty of San Francisco on April 28, 1952, which ended U.S. occupation, but levied heavy penalties on Japan including confiscation of all assets owned by the Japanese government, firms, organization and private citizens, in all colonized or occupied countries. Closeups of some surrounding a uniformed policemen and roughing him up. Views inside the House of representatives chamber, where members are in a state of turmoil. Member are dragging one legislator. Closeup of him sitting on the floor and of another legislator waving a fan to cool off. A cadre of uniformed officers enters the assembly room and forcibly removes several struggling legislators. Following that, a group of legislators forces another to the Chairman's position in the chamber. (Note: Political conflicts, between supporters of politician Hatoyama Ichiro and those of Prime Minister Shigeru Yoshida resulted in the Prime Minister declaring an “Out of the blue” dissolution of the House of Representatives in August, 1952.)
Major catastophe events of the year 1952. Views of destruction on the ground in Elizabeth, New Jersey, after American Airlines flight 6780, a Convair 240, crashed into a house at Williamson and South Streets on January 22, 1952. Burned wreckage and devastation seen at the crash site in Elizabeth following the crash and subsequent explosions damaging or destroying multipole houses in the 600 block of Williamson Street. In the first few seconds of the clip, the Battin High School for Girls is seen in the background. The school was adjacent to the crash but not hit. Narrator also describes the crash of an Army transport plane in California which killed 86 soldiers, but no images of that crash are shown. Next scenes shift to England, on September 6, 1952, as a de Havilland DH.110 jet aircraft, piloted by John Derry, explodes in midair after achieving Mach 1 and then beginning a left bank and climb at 450 knots during the 1952 Farnborough Airshow. Spectators at the British air show are seen on the ground in the area below the explosion and where debris rained down on the crowd causing deaths and injuries. Engines from the blown-up DH.110 plane (prototype, ID WG236) are seen hurtling through the sky toward Observation Hill immediately after the mid-air explosion. Scenes show crowd working to tend to the wounded and shocked families and children crying.
Major nuclear testing events of the year 1952. Narrator indicates that the British detonated their first atomic bomb in 1952 (not shown). Aerial view of Enewetak Atoll area where United States testing took place for Operation Ivy. America tests its first hydrogen bomb. View of bomb apparatus on island. Massive explosion occurs during test shot Ivy MIKE, at the Enewetak atoll, on November 1, 1952.
A map shows Finland and adjoining areas. German Army Ski troops and horses advance through snow in Finland during World War II. German soldiers on skis. Supplies and equipment loaded on horses. Horses struggling to move supplies in deep snow. German soldiers in white winter uniforms. Soldiers distributing small wrapped boxes of supplies from a basket, as a curious horse smells the contents of the basket. Soldiers with rifles push and pull an artillery piece in deep snow. They fire artillery and mortars. Soldiers in bunkers, move through a tunnel. Machine guns fired. Dead bodies lying in the snow. A wounded German soldier carried and pulled along on a stretcher.