Ministers arrive and leave at 10 Downing Street in London, England during World War II. Minister of Information Alfred Duff-Cooper and Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Prime Minister Brendon Bracken. Officers, holding maps in hand, get out of the cars and enter a building. Minister of War Anthony Eden, Admiral Dudley Pound, Chief of the Imperial General Staff Sir John Dill, and Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs Viscount Caldecote enter the building. Official cars drive past on 10 Downing street. Arthur Greenwood, Lord of Admiralty walking out of the building. Ministers come out of the building.
British Field Marshal William Edmund Ironside reviews troops in Europe during World War II. Band playing. Troops stand at attention on an open field. Troops march on a road. General Ironside salutes with number of officers standing behind him. General Edmund Ironside reviews women troops in uniform. The General gets into a car and leaves. The soldiers stand with rifles in hand. Officers converse with each other inside a room.
Assistant Secretary of State for Latin American Affairs Sumner Wells boards aircraft in Europe during World War II.
British Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs Ernest Bevin in Europe during World War II. An official places important papers inside a bag. British Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs Ernest Bevin reads a document seated at desk. Official arrives with a file and keeps it in front of Ernest Bevin. Ernest Bevin signs documents. The State Secretary dictates a letter to his secretary and speaks over phone. Ernest Bevin opens a box.
Leon Trotsky's Assassination in Mexico. Animated map of the world shows Coyoacan in Mexico. Leon Trotsky, People's Commissar for Army and Navy Affairs killed in Mexico. Ramon Mercader the assassin of Trostsky. Leon Trotsky lying in coffin after his death.
Events leading to start of World War 2. Contingents of German army troops and black uniformed SS (Schutzstaffel) troops parading past Hitler on reviewing stand in German city. Hitler youth at a rally in a stadium. Hitler addressing an open air assembly, shaking his fist, yelling about the might of Germany in an animated fashion. Women holding signs reading: "Down with War and Fascism," and "Aid the Allies." 1939 edition of the New York Times carries headline about Nazi pact with Soviets and of Estonia giving Moscow air and sea bases. Views of Soviet leaders, Joseph Stalin, Vyacheslav Molotov, and General Boris Mikhailovitch Shaposhnikov, preparing to meet with German foreign minister Joachim von Ribbentrop for signing of Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact agreeing to non-aggression between Germany and the Soviet Union. Von Ribbentrop descending from his airplane for the meeting. Scenes of German attack and invasion of Poland, September 1, 1939. Vehicles carrying German troops on the move. German Stuka, Ju87 dive bombers peeling off in dives and dropping bombs. German He-111 bomber in flight. Many explosions and collapsing buildings and destruction depicted. Soviet T-26 Twin-Turret Cavalry Tank seen moving through snow as it crosses Polish frontier, on September, 17, 1939. Soviet troops charging into Poland in the snow. The two forces meet in central Poland. Newspaper cartoon of the time shows Hitler and Stalin politely addressing each other in deprecating terms. Soviet icebreaker opening the way for German warships. German submarine making way on the surface, ostensibly from a base in Murmansk, and firing at a surface ship with its 88mm deck gun. A French fighter plane spinning towards earth and pilot parachuting. Narrator speaks of French Communists sabotaging electrical systems on the aircraft. The plane burning on the ground. German troops marching along the Champs Elysee, with the Arch of Triumph in background. German troops firing artillery at Soviet forces. Wooden buildings burning. German soldier taking a prisoner.