The War Plans Division in Washington D.C during World War II. Folders on a table in an office. Inserts of individual folders marked with titles: China, India, Java, Libya, Australia, Philippines. A map of the Philippines, Japan, and surrounding countries on the table. Hands locate places on the map.
A prelude to the entry of United States in World War II, from the "Why We Fight" series. U.S. Army band marching along with the troops. The bombing of Pearl Harbor by Japanese during World War II. Night view of air raids in London and anti-aircraft fire amid British building silhouettes. British buildings collapsing and burning during blitz in Battle of Britain. Cavalry and tank battles in Russia against Nazi German forces. Montage of quick shots of German Panzer tank and German Luftwaffe aircraft operations in Western Europe. German troops marching through Paris at Arc de Triomphe. German heavy rail guns firing. Dead bodies of Japanese bombing victims lying on the street in China. German navy ships underway at sea. German army forces advancing in invasion of Czechoslovakia. Very low flying German trimotor bomber aircraft passing overhead over treeline. German invasion of Poland. German heavy artillery guns and railway guns firing. Fighter aircraft plunging toward ground and crashing. German paratroopers being dropped over Holland, Netherlands in invasion of Netherlands. Aerial views of German aircraft passing by Parthenon and ancient Greek monuments in Greece. More heavy rail gun shots. Germans invading Belgium, Albania, Yugoslavia.
The rise of totalitarianism and Axis powers in the 1930s and its lead up to the Pacific Theater of World War II. “Duce” of Italian Fascism Benito Mussolini making a speech. A superimposed animated cartoon radio antenna emits the word “Lies”. Adolf Hitler making a passionate speech to German troops. A Nazi parade in Germany. Growth of German military budget is shown with an animated diagram. Gathering of troops, army vehicles, artillery, motorcars, tanks, airplanes, and ships of the Axis nations. News headlines about the military budget. Japanese soldiers holding bayonets. Animated map shows the Japanese plan for the invasion of Manchuria. Damaged railroads during a dramatized depiction of the Mukden Incident. The Japanese flag at a mast. Japanese troops advance in Manchuria. Former Emperor of China Puyi becomes the Emperor of Manchukuo. Flag of Manchukuo. Emperor Puyi shake hands with a Japanese military official. United States Secretary of State Henry Lewis Stimson denounces the Manchurian action. A sign reads: 'Gotham Limited'. Japanese delegates speak during a national meeting. They leave a League of Nations meeting. Horses plowing a field in Iowa. A double decker bus on a road in London. A waiter serving at an al fresco café in Paris. A hut burns as the Japanese advance through Manchuria. Huge columns of U.S. Army troops marching in formation.
Animated map showing the Ledo Road, an overland connection between Ledo, Assam, India to Kunming, China during World War 2. This road would later be renamed the Stilwell Road. A 3D topography map of the Ledo route from Ledo to Kunming. A United States engineering unit along with Chinese engineers and laborers work on the Ledo Road. An engineer uses a transit scope, another soldier flips through his notebook. Engineer with transit scope waves at another from a distance. Soldiers plant explosives under a tree. Dynamite with burning wick under a tree. Tree explodes. Soldiers chopping away vines, weeds. A bulldozer clears away shrubs, scoops soil. An African American United States soldier operates a bulldozer. Two bulldozers driven by African American soldiers in jungle. Workers haul logs, hammer timber to make a log road in the jungle. Monsoon rain causing soil erosion on the side of a mountain during Ledo Road construction. Bulldozer moves alongside Chinese workers wearing conical hats. Trucks drive on mountainous Ledo road.
Officers of AAF(Army Air Force) with Chinese soldiers pose in front of a building. An AAF officer wearing bush jacket and pith helmet walks past a Flying Tiger Curtiss P-40 known as Warhawk. Mechanics working on P-40 fighter plane. An officer patting the nose of a P-40. Chinese laborers pulling a rope which is attached to a large roller across airstrip. Cumulus clouds seen. Shark's mouth and eyes painted on P-40's. Bombs drop through scattered clouds and smoke rises. (World War II period).
Views of a Flying Tigers Fighter Plane Curtiss P-40 in flight. Shark's mouth and eyes painted on P-40. Mountains and water below. Left wing of another plane.