View of Red Army parading in Moscow, Russia. General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union Joseph Stalin waves at the marching troops. Map of Finland. Finland during the early days of the Winter War of 1939-40. President Kyösti Kallio of Finland seated at table during a conference. He bangs a gavel. View of Helsinki Central Station (Helsingin päärautatieasema, Kaivokatu 1, 00100 Helsinki, Finland). Traffic moves through the streets of Helsinki. Finnish civilians fleeing Helsinki at Helsinki Central Station. Finnish civilian men mobilizing. Aircraft in flight. Paratroopers descend and advance on ground. Tanks move on a field. Soldiers riding horse carts beside a railroad track. They fire artillery. Soldiers advance through snow covered terrain in Finland wearing skis.
Film opens with a map of Europe showing black-shaded region of the Soviet Union, and pointing out Germany and Finland. Next, are shown moving images of rural buildings on fire in Finland, late in 1939, during the Russo-Finish war (or "Winter War"). (The Narrator comments that Finland's population was only 4 million while that of the soviets was 180 million.) Soviet bombers are seen high in the sky. A lone woman hurries along a street in Helsinki, Finland, past rubble of a bombed building. Smoke rises in the background. Finnish fire fighters man a hose to fight numerous huge fires in Helsinki.Various views of fires blazing in the capital.
World High Ski Jump Championship in Lahti, Finland. Finland's jumper jumps and slips while landing. A German jumper comes at the fourth position. Another German jumper Helmut Recknagel occupies the third position. Juhani Karkinen of Finland jumps for the first position. An advertisement about the telecast of the Academy Awards.
Finland attacked by the Soviets during the "Winter War" or Russo-Finnish War of 1939-1940, coinciding with World War 2. Vyacheslav Molotov addresses Soviet men in a hall. View of Stalin seated near a wall. Soviet Men applaud. Soviet planes in flight. Soviet Paratroopers jump from the plane and descend with the help of parachutes towards Finland. Soviet army soldiers place and fire a line of artillery on the battlefield. Soviet airplanes in flight over Helsinki. The city of Helsinki being bombed by Soviet aircraft. People flee from the area. Damage in the area due to the bombardment. Destroyed houses, buildings and rubble on the ground in Finland from aerial bombing. A wrecked airplane on the street.
Early civilian air travel in Northern Europe. Aerial view of a strait and island (probably Suomenlinna) near Helsingfors or Helsingford (present-day Helsinki), Finland. Boats docked in Helsingin satama (Port of Helsinki) with Uspenski Cathedral (Kanavakatu 1, 00160 Helsinki, Finland) in background. View of Market Square (Eteläranta, 00170 Helsinki, Finland) with Uspenski Cathedral and Tsarina's Stone in background.
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.