African American Preacher speaking from church pulpit to his congregation about threats to Liberty, during World War 2. Closeups of parishioners listening intently. Suddenly, in contrast, the statue of a German Eagle atop a wreathed swastika is seen followed by views of Adolf Hitler looking over maps with his war planners. Next, a Japanese Rising Sun Naval Ensign flag is seen followed by views of Japanese Naval war planners aboard ship, and Japanese war planners at an Army headquarters. Glimpse of Hitler and staff amused by something at Christmas holidays. (A decorated Christmas tree stands in the background.) An entire huge apartment house collapses from German bombing in Europe. An aerial view from a bomber with smoke rising from bomb strikes below, displays labels reading: "Thirteen Countries Conquered," and "150,000,000 People Enslaved." A German officer stands beside a group of hanged persons at a public execution. Scene shifts completely to formation of Japanese Mitsubishi G4M bombers (Mitsubishi Navy Type 1 attack bombers) releasing bombs in flight. Bombs exploding at various sites on the ground. Chinese civilians fleeing from Japanese bombing during the 2nd Sino-Japanese war. Bombs bursting and destruction. Chinese rescuing wounded and collecting the dead. Japanese bombs striking U.S. battleships, at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on December 7, 1941. American sailors running to battle stations and firing antiaircraft guns from a ship. Formations of Japanese warplanes diving from overhead. Several U.S. Douglas SBD Dauntless dive bombers with cockpits open (possibly representing Japanese dive bombers in a movie ) drop bombs. Explosions and fires from bombing. American sailor furiously turns controls to raise elevation of antiaircraft gun. Japanese airplane streaming black smoke passes overhead. U.S. sailors scrambling to battle stations on a ship. Japanese fighter plane firing its machine guns on a strafing run passes over a ship. An African American sailor lying on a deck, fires a M1917 Browning machine gun and falls back. Another sailor takes his place.
'50 Years of Cinematography' depicts the role of military and news cameramen during World War II. Germany starts the War. Invasion of Poland in 1939: German Nazi Luftwaffe bombers in flight over Warsaw. Explosions due to the bombardment. Burning and damaged buildings in the war torn city. Civilians amidst rubble and ruins. Soldiers and civilians look at corpses on a sidewalk. A woman with her child cries. A man walks on a street. Dunkirk Evacuation in 1940: Allied troops evacuated from the Dunkirk coast. Allied troops on ships. Smoke rises from a ship under German attack. Soldiers wade through the water towards waiting ships. Burning ships. The Second Armistice at Compiegne after the German victory in the Battle of France, 1940: German troops stand at attention. German Fuhrer Adolf Hitler, President of the Reichstag Hermann Goering, German Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel and other German officers arrive at the venue. The leaders and officers walk past the soldiers at attention. Hitler gives the Nazi salute. The Blitz, London in 1940-1941: Bomb damaged buildings. Cars and pedestrians amidst ruins and rubble on the streets. A train over a collapsed wall. Civilians in a horse cart. A wrecked bus in a damaged building. Rescue workers among the rubble. Clouds over the city.
Firing of a V-2 rocket from White Sands, New Mexico. An XP-84 jet aircraft on a test flight in California. Scenes of devastation in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. An atomic bomb test conducted in Bikini Atoll, Marshall Islands. Large smoke cloud rises. Americans expressing disgust with war and confidence in ability to protect against it in future. Newspaper headline about Armistice ending World War I on November 11, 1918. Victory parade in New York City. Close up view of Adolf Hitler as he speaks forcefully to a German audience. V2 rocket being launched in Germany. German Messerschmitt Me 163 Komet rocket plane in flight. Map depicting uranium deposits world wide. An XB-36 bomber in flight with landing gear extended. A huge formation of various warplanes in flight, high overhead. A wartime tank assembly plant. American army troops on parade. A United Nations meeting in session. Peaceful scenes of American soldiers in Hawaii before World War II in the Pacific. Hawaiian Hula dancers. Japanese carrier-based Aichi D3A1 dive bomber in flight during attack on Pearl Harbor, December 7, 1941. Bombed U.S. warships and facilities in Pearl Harbor. American Army officer and civilian discussing wisdom of maintaing large standing army. Army recruits are seen in the U.S. Army Universal Military Training Experimental Unit at Fort Knox, in 1947. They are seen in quarters, studying; taking part in sports (baseball); and attending religious services in a base chapel. Several trainees in a field tent, working with numerous tape decks in some kind of military communications activity.
American Jitterbug dancers seen at a contest in 1938. View of feet in shoes, as wearers tap their feet and beat time to music. View of drummer using wire brush on drum. Stadium of people cheer for a dancing cinematographer who is using a motion picture camera to film the event. In contrast, Nazi troops seen parading by torchlight. Nazi flags everywhere and Nazi party ceremonies, overseen by Adolf Hitler, in Germany. Nazis burning books. "Attention Jews" with skull and crossbones painted on stores and business establishments. Nazi Storm Troopers intimidating Jewish businesses and advocating boycott. Glimpse of Heinrich Himmler, in foreground, and Hermann Goering, in center of group of Nazi officials. Junkers Ju-87 Stuka dive bombers attacking Poland in 1939. German artillerymen firing heavy guns. A German railroad gun firing. German paratroopers jumping from Ju-52 trimotor transport aircraft. In contrast, patrons are seen descending in parachutes on the Parachute Jump ride at Coney Island Steeplechase Park, in Brooklyn, New York. Life Savers company sponsorship sign seen atop the parachute jump tower. People eating hot dogs, and firing guns at the shooting gallery on Coney Island's boardwalk. Germans march Polish prisoners of war. German troops invading Denmark and Norway. German troops passing a road sign for Chemin des Dames in Picardy, Northern France. Bomb exploding at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on December 7, 1941. American forces engaged in war against japan in the Pacific and against the Axis powers in Europe. U.S. soldiers throwing hand grenades. American wounded being carried on litters. People cheering liberating Allied forces in a European town. British soldiers on a vehicle displaying cartoon of Prime Minister Winston Churchill. Soviet forces advancing in snow. U.S. steel and war plants in operation. Men and women war production workers in American defense plants and war materiel factories, using drills, lathes, and power tools in the spirit of "Rosie the riveter." C.I.O. Poster to promote voting, during the war. Closeup of Sidney Hillman, President of Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America. Spectators line sidewalks to get glimpse of President Franklin D.Roosevelt (FDR) in a motorcade. Silhouette of two soldiers helping wounded comrade. FDR's funeral cortege. U.S. troops taking a break, in a war zone. American school children run into a field. An atomic bomb explosion.
Battles fought by Russians fighting military invasion from Germany during World War II. Miserable condition of civilians of Leningrad, the city surrounded by Germans in harsh cold and snow of winter starting in 1941. Lack of food, water, oil and electricity during siege of Leningrad by German forces. German artillery fire heavy projectiles. Workers in munition factories. Soldiers in snowy battlefield alert on their positions. Civilians migrate on ledges through a frozen Lake Ladoga eastwards. Food, medical care, oil and supplies to the city through the lake. German bombers raid the supply lines. Trucks drive at night on road over ice covered lake delivering relief supplies. A railway track built over Lake Ladoga to restore supply. Wounded civilians board the trains returning back across Lake Ladoga. Soviet Russian Army attacks invading Germans. Supply trucks roll over thawing ice of Lake Ladoga in early spring. Children and people during spring as Germans retreat. Civilians on the roads. A stage performance after defeat of German army enjoyed by Russian soldiers aboard a warship. Arrested Nazi soldiers walk under rifle guards of Red Army as Soviet citizens jeer and heckle the German prisoners of war (POW).
Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain of Britain sits pensively at his desk. Winston Churchill and his wife, Clementine, walking together in London. King George VI stepping from a car and entering 10 Downing Street. Mobilization of British forces for war. British civilians marching casually wearing steel army helmets. A man volunteering for the Army. New recruits being issued uniforms. Others, in civilian clothes, learning to drill with rifles and then marching away from a village. Recruits in bayonet practice. Winston Churchill speaking about the tragedy brought upon Europe by Hitler (this Churchill speech was at St. James's Place, London, June 12, 1941, in an address to Allied delegates). Aerial views of the destruction of Poland by Luftwaffe aircraft of Germany. Civilian Polish victims of German bombardment. A boy and women mourning over the dead. A child being held near a bonfire to warm her. Children rescuing a few possessions from a destroyed home. Parents carrying children. Women and girls crying and in mourning for the loss of loved ones and destruction from war.