United States bombers bomb German-held oil refineries in Ploesti, Romania during World War II (Operation Tidal Wave). Allied military leaders including United States General Dwight D. Eisenhower confer prior to the Normandy Invasion. Cartoon depiction of buildings, tanks, and equipment in Romanian oil refineries. Consolidated B-24 Liberator bombers raid Romania's Ploesti oil refineries. A group of B-24 Liberator bombers dropping bombs over Ploesti. Explosions throwing billows of smoke up in air. Aerial view of Ploesti being bombarded by bombing and clouds of smoke from explosion. A map of Germany shows synthetic oil plant positions through Central Germany. Bombers drop bombs over synthetic oil plants in Germany. Firefighters rush to put out fire in oil plant during a bombing attack. Firefighters spraying water on burning oil tanks. Thick, dark clouds of smoke cover the burning oil plant. A German synthetic oil plant reduced to rubble. German workers clear the rubble from bombed plants. Ruins of German oil plants after repeated air raid attacks. “The enemy has succeeded in increasing our losses of aviation gasoline up to ninety percent” a voiceover narrates the words of Nazi German Reichsminister of Armaments and War Production Albert Speer. German Field Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt speaks to an audience.
Opening scene shows Lend Lease military equipment covered with canvas, at a port in the United States, during World War 2. A B-26 bomber with wings removed outboard of its engines, is being maneuvered for shipment at a port in the United States. A Lockheed P-38 airplane is moved on a crane and then rolled along a pier toward the stern of the U.S. Light Cruiser, USS Phoenix (CL-46) which is docked there. Wings of a Curtiss SOC-1 Seagull scout plane can be seen on the Phoenix. Two more P-38 aircraft are rolled along the pier, past another Brooklyn class Light Cruiser at the end of the pier. (Her triple 6-inch gun turrets are noticeable.) Crated supplies are seen being lowered into ship cargo holds. An American M2 light tank being lowered from a crane. An American M3 Lee tank being secured in a ship. Numerous tanks in a ship’s cargo hold. Next, a convoy of ships carrying war materiel overseas is seen at sea. A U.S. Cruiser plunging through heavy seas. View from her bridge overlooking her triple gun turrets, as her bow is awash in waves. A formation of U.S. battleships, led by a Nevada class Battle Ship armed with twin over triple forward gun turrets. She is followed by what appears to be a modernized Pennsylvania class Battleship and other battleships. A British Battle Cruiser followed by another British warship. Various Allied battleships firing their heavy guns. Animated map tracing the “Lend-Lease” routes across the North Atlantic to Iceland, the British Isles, and Murmansk. Map also shows routes by sea and air to the West Indies, Brazil, and South Africa and West Africa, and then by air across Africa, to egypt and the Middle East. Other routes are shown to Suez, Iran, India, and China, as well as trans-Pacific routes to various places. American soldiers crowd the upper deck of a troop transport ship. A military chaplain conducts religious services aboard ship at sea. More views of ships in convoys. A U.S. Navy Kingfisher float plane in flight over the water. A barrage balloon aloft. A U.S. Navy Catalina PBY flying boat in the air above a fleet of supply ships in a vast convoy.
World War 2 scenes following the Gran Sasso raid or Operation Eiche: The rescue of Italian dictator Benito Mussolini by German paratroops under the command of Otto Skorzeny, in the Apennine Mountains. A German soldier speaks over the radio. A tower on a hill. Otto Skorzeny salutes Italian dictator Benito Mussolini. Skorzeny helps him from a mountain cable car. Soldiers wave and bid farewell to Mussolini as he boards a light German Fieseler Fi 156 'Stork' reconnaissance aircraft. The aircraft in flight. German Fuhrer Adolf Hitler and Italian Foreign Minister Galeazzo Ciano greet Mussolini as he gets off from a German Junker transport in Germany. Hitler, Mussolini and other officers. An official hugs and greets Mussolini. Hitler guides the Italian leader to his car. Soldiers give the Nazi salute. The two leaders get into the car and leave. German officers and soldiers welcome Hitler and Mussolini on arrival at Hitler's headquarters. The meet with numerous Nazi officials. They get into a car and leave. Mussolini meets more Nazi officers and officials. They greet Mussolini with the Nazi salute. Mussolini boards the German Junker. Hitler waves as the plane takes off for Italy.
Allied soldiers firing with a field gun (likely BL 5.5-inch medium gun) during the Invasion of Sicily in World War II. Close up of gun barrel during recoil. Explosion with flying debris in a field. United States soldiers firing a field gun under a camouflage net. Explosion in a field.
United States soldiers move off road to take cover while watching for enemy during World War II. United States soldier arranges stacks of bombs. Bombs towed to parked B-17 bomber. Men loading a bomb into a bomb bay of B-17. Close up engine start on B-17. A United States Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress takes off from an airfield.
German soldiers fire artillery on the Lake Ladoga front in Russia during World War II. Soldiers fire from behind barricades. Machine guns fired. Smoke from explosions. Destroyed Russian war materiel scattered over the terrain. Soldiers examine charred Russian heavy tanks. A General shakes hands with soldier with four tank destruction badges on his sleeve.