A crowd enjoys fireworks in Red Square, Moscow, Soviet Union, at night. Past events show Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin, U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Prime Minister Winston Churchill of the United Kingdom in Tehran, Iran for the Tehran Conference of 1943. U.S. President Harry S. Truman in Germany during the Potsdam Conference of 1945. The Grand Kremlin Palace in Moscow, Soviet Union. Soviet people along a street in Moscow. Foreign Minister of the Soviet Union, Vyacheslav Molotov with others applauding at the Bolshoi theater, in Moscow. Anti-soviet disorders. Street cars being overturned. (Hungary?).
Title card says “Erprobungsstelle der Luftwaffe Karlshagen” (“Test site of the Air Force Karlshagen” in English). “Flakzielgerät 76 Schnittautnahmen 29.11.1943” (“Anti-aircraft target device 76 cut recordings 11/29/1943” in English). A V-1 rocket, also known as a buzz bomb or doodlebug,launches into the sky from a testing area at Air Force Karlshagen, in Western Pomerania, Germany during World War 2. External view of launch tower. Closeup view of the bottom of V-1 launching ramp, also known a Walter catapult.
Undersecretary of War, Robert Porter Patterson, Sr. speaks about a report from the General staff outlining the needs for combating Germany and Japan in World War 2. He cites Operation Husky, the invasion of Sicily, as an example of what will be needed. He continues to narrate in the background as an animated map appears showing the buildup of supplies and Allied forces in North Africa; Allied air forces flying 60 thousand sorties over Sicily and, the direct amphibious assault using 3,200 vessels. Map also depicts opposing forces of 12 (“unwilling”) Italian Divisions and 3-1/2 German Divisions. View of Allied troops carrying some of their 31 thousand casualties on stretchers from field ambulances. Allied medics attending to the wounded. Some are seen lying on stretchers in a row on the ground near a wall. Interior of a field hospital where surgeons and other medical personnel treat the wounded. Animated map shifts to Europe with Germany at its center, showing , in contrast to Sicily that was only an “outpost,”, the heavily fortified perimeter of Axis controlled areas; the axis industrial might; and the disposition of 300 German Divisions (mostly on the Eastern front) defending the region. Next, the map illustrates Japan’s defended regions in the Pacific Image returns to Undersecretary Patterson i n his office, speaking of the Allied offensives planned for next year (1944), and emphasizing their challenge and difficulty. Scene shifts to General Jonathan Wainwright and his garrison at Corregidor, in the Philippines, surrendering to Japanese forces in 1941. Japanese military camera pans over the Americans being taken prisoner. Other Americans and Filipinos are seen being marched together under guard. Scene shifts to classic views of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on December 7, 1941. View of Japanese soldiers executing two Chinese civilians in 1937. Dangling bodies of persons hung by Nazis during Operation Barbarossa in Russia, in 1941 A Russian soldier comforts a little girl as he escorts her across a snowy landscape. Time bomb left by German forces retreating from Naples, Italy, in 1943, blows up a Post office building . Views of damage to building and bodies of victims. American Military Police assisting a victim. American soldiers carrying an injured civilian on a litter. Scene shifts to British Foreign Minister, Anthony Eden, Soviet Foreign Minister, Vyacheslav Molotov, and U.S. Secretary of State, Cordell Hull, entering a hall in the Spiridonovka Palace, during the 1943 Moscow Conference in Russia. Close-up of the American, Soviet, and British flags on a table. View of many delegates seated around the table. Close-up of Molotov, Eden, and Hull signing conference document.
Strategic bombing attack 'Shuttle Mission' by B-17 Flying Fortresses of the U.S. Army Air Forces on August 17, 1943 over Germany during World War II. A formation of B-17Fs over Germany. Vapor trails left by the airplanes. Aerial view of a German city. Smoking targets. B-17Fs over the Alps. A B-17 aircraft with a damaged tail flies over Regensburg, Germany. A B-17 aircraft with a damaged nose. Aerial view of African coastline. Mountainous terrain of Algiers, Algeria. Aerial view of barracks in Algiers. B-17Fs land on a field.
Title card says “Flakzielgerät 76 V 102 Schnittautnahmen 17.8.1943” (“Anti-aircraft target device 76 V 102 cut recordings 08/17/1943” in English). World War II V-1 glide bomb launches after Argus engine start. View of exit point of Walter catapult. Entire launch ramp shown as camera pans to surface of launch ramp.
Signing of German-Japanese Economic Pact on 20 January 1943. Foreign Minister of Germany Joachim Von Ribbentrop arrives and shakes hand with Japanese General Hiroshi Oshima. Signatories signing the agreement. They shake hands.