At start, the film shows a formation of American C-47 transport aircraft with paratroopers starting to jump from them during World War 2. Viewed moments later from the ground, the sky is filled with trooper' open chutes, descending. An animated map shows Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, and Germany. It shows location of the Allied paratroopers drop in Holland, intended to spearhead a drive around the Main River into Germany. The map then shows German forces encircling the paratroopers and the Second British Army heading North to the rescue. Next, a huge number of American Soldiers are seen assembled out of doors in England. Closeup of General Dwight D. Eisenhower speaking in a microphone to the assembly. Closeups of soldiers including some who are American Army Air Corps pilots, and other aircrew members, mostly Lieutenants. Senior Paratrooper officers stand at attention in front of formation of troopers with American flag beside them.(Narrator says these were the men who made up the "lost division," heroes who fought alone for seven terrible days.) General Eisenhower makes his way between close ranks of the paratroopers. He is followed by Brigadier General and a Colonel. Lieutenant General Lewis H Bereton also makes his way through the ranks. Scene shifts to a base in England where many British Airspeed AS.51 Horsa gliders are seen with paratroopers heading across the airfield to board. American C-47 aircraft are seen in the background. All aircraft are painted with D-Day stripes. Several British and American paratroop officers review a map together. At a tent camp, A military policeman and two U.S. paratroopers checking their weapons and ammunition. Some troopers sharpen their knives. A trooper is issued Dutch and German money. A British and and American trooper in camouflaged helmets, pose before a glider with a huge British roundel on its side. British paratroopers boarding a Horsa glider, named "Gertie." A Horsa glider moving as it is towed by a British Whitley twin-engine bomber. View from side of runway as the bomber takes off with its towed glider behind. (Narrator comments: "Destination, Holland.") Formations of tow planes and gliders in flight. View of pilot in cockpit of a Whitley bomber. Formations of fighter aircraft in flight overhead. View from inside an aircraft as paratroopers exit through a side door. Sky filled with paratroopers in chutes descending. (Note: This Allied thrust into Holland to launch a drive around the German Siegfried Line was known as the Allied joint American-British "Operation Market Garden," which took place 17 to 25 September 1944, the 7 days referred to by the film Narrator. )
Opening shows animated map of Alsace front at junction of Belgium, Germany, and France, in World War 2. Allied forces are schematically shown sweeping toward Wissembourg, Haguenau, and Strasbourg. Next, several U.S. Army M4A3(75) medium tanks are seen driving toward the camera on a rural road, during a pull back by the 7th Army in the first week of January, 1944, from advanced positions at the front. Some are filled with infantry riding atop them. The last of them is seen crossing a bridge 13 miles Northeast of Haguenau. The engineers of the 79th Division place demolition charges to destroy the bridge. Closeup of them placing and then remotely igniting the charge. A huge explosion ensues that completely destroys the bridge. Scene shifts to several U.S. soldiers of an engineer combat battalion preparing 100 pound of TNT in a captured blockhouse at Lauterbach, Alsace. Closeup of engineer carrying the explosives into the blockhouse and preparing the remote detonation device. The engineers string wire in the snow and setup their remote detonation device. One depresses a plunger to ignite the charge and blow up the blockhouse, which explodes in a huge cloud of black smoke. Next, elements of the 79th Infantry Division supported by tanks, are seen moving forward to counter German gains Southeast of Haguenau. (On January 5th the German forces had established a bridgehead across the Rhein (Rhine) river near Gansheim, Germany.) Scene shifts to Drusenheim, Germany where U.S. forces are engaging a Battalion of occupying German forces. Machine gun fire is heard constantly, as American infantry battle the hidden German defenders and tanks drive them from defensive positions near a bridge at the far end of town. Infantry move from behind tanks toward the bridge and are seen crossing it. An M4A3(75) medium tank risks crossing the narrow bridge and is immediately followed by many 79th Infantry troops. The battle continues on the other side of the bridge.
United States Army General Dwight David Eisenhower meets dignitaries in Brussels, Belgium during World War II. He meets Prince Charles, Count of Flanders, Belgian Prime Minister Hubert Pierlot and other officials. The officials standing on the steps of a building. Eisenhower shaking hands with them.
U.S. Army forces during the Battle of the Bulge in World War II . American soldiers from the U.S. Army Headquarters Company, 75th Infantry Division celebrate Christmas, 1944, with a makeshift Christmas tree covered in ornaments. (The soldier at extreme left in the scene has been identified as T4 Jack S. De Rosa.) A pig moves on a muddy street. U.S. Army forces retreat during German breakhrough in the Ardennes. U.S. soldiers laying razor wire and then blowing up a bridge after crossing it. Belgian civilian refugees move with belongings on a road. A loaded bullock cart moves along with some refugees, some of whom are moving back into their villages according to the narrator. German aircraft bomb U.S. forces, who respond with antiaircraft fire. Bombs bursting in a village, as seen from outside buildings and looking through windows of a building. A partially destroyed home collapses. U.S. soldiers firing at aircraft using machine guns mounted on tanks. U.S. Army soldiers and medics carry wounded soldiers on stretchers during active combat. Numerous U.S. Army vehicles and weapons on fire and destroyed by the German attacks. Burning buildings in a town. A wounded U.S. Army officer with his face bandaged. Several dead American soldiers lie on the ground. Wounded American troops at a field hospital. U.S. Army holds the line at Bastogne. U.S. Army soldiers standby at machine gun emplacements, holding the line at Bastogne. Army tank in road near a road sign that says, "Bastogne." U.S. troops operating amid heavy snow. Several German soldiers or spies who infiltrated U.S. lines by American uniforms, are caught and held by U.S. soldiers. Three captured Germans are executed by firing squad. Americans fire 155mm long tom artillery pieces as they continue to advance, pushing back German forces. U.S. soldier using metal detector to mine sweep in a trench on snowy ground.
The British 2nd Army advances on Tournai, Antwerp, and Ghent in Belgium. Animated map shows the advance in Belgium. Sign of France. The British 2nd Army rolls through Tournai, Belgium (September 3): Soldiers advance on Tournai. Army tanks and soldiers move over bridge and fire. Ghent citizens help wipe out final resistance. Large crowd gathers and allied troops on army tanks fire in city. The British 2nd Army fights in Antwerp on 4th September: German equipment burned and soldiers fire. Troops fight in streets. Nazi defenders run near railway tracks. (World War II period).
A U.S. Military policeman leans against his jeep in front of a small building in Béverce near Malmedy, Belgium during World War 2. Two German prisoners emerge from the building escorted by an armed American soldier. A military photographer passes to the left, in front of them, as two American military policemen escort another German prisoner (Otto Richard Struller) from the building. They each hold one of his arms. The prisoner is bareheaded. They pause and pose for a photographer (unseen). Closeup of the prisoner with MPs at his sides. Camera zooms in on prisoner, Struller. The MPs direct him to a waiting jeep. They all get in and drive away. Closeup of the jeep passing the camera. It drives away along a muddy road, past an overturned vehicle. (Note: The principal prisoner in this film, is Otto Richard Struller, a ballet dancer, who during the war served as a corporal with Panzerbrigade 150 unit Stielau/Stab solar, where he masqueraded as an American soldier behind the lines. He was executed, as a spy, on January 13, 1945 at the Palace of Justice in Huy, Belgium)