United States Army Air Force (USAAF) B-24 Liberator bombers taxiing and taking off from the United Kingdom during World War 2. Men attach bomb on a B-24 Liberator (Second Bombardment Wing). Nose art of B-24 Liberator “Peep Show” (42-7535) depicting a naked cartoon blond woman seen from a keyhole. B-24 Liberator “Peep Show” engine begins to move. B-24 Liberator aircraft leave the United Kingdom for an assignment North Africa. Another USAAF B-24 Liberator begins to taxi on the airfield. B-24 Liberators taxiing and taking off from an airfield. A group of USAAF B-24 Liberator bombers in flight, flying past branches of trees. A machine gun barrel peering out in front of a group of flying bombers. A bomber in flight.
Lieutenant General Mark Clark of U.S. Army, British General Kenneth Anderson, British Admiral Andrew Cunningham, and French Admiral Jean Darlan review United States troops at Algiers in Algeria. U.S. troops salute passing the high ranking officers. Robert Murphy, United States Minister to North Africa, conversing with U.S. General Mark Clark. U.S. troops aboard a Landing Craft Tank (LCT). Guns mounted on the LCT. Buoy in the harbor and city of Algiers in the background. Distant vessels stand in the harbor. U.S. soldiers aboard an LCT. Black belts (light preservers) around soldiers' waists . Distant convoy of Allied ships escorted by British destroyers head to Bone, Algeria. A view of harbor at Bone. U.S. General Lee Tanks (M3) are unloaded from LCT at the shore. Men unload cargo of ammunition from a Britsh supply ship. Men handle ammunition crates at a supply depot. (November 1942-December 1942)
Opening slate reads: "Quebec Conference August 1943." The English battleship, Prince of Wales, is seen in fog off the Coast of Newfoundland, in August 1941. View of sailor on fore-deck of the British ship. View inside engine room of the ship where sailor manipulates her power. Closeup of engine crankshaft stopping as she drops anchor in Placentia Bay. View of Prime Minister Winston Churchill, greeting U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt aboard the Prince of Wales. He proffers a letter to the President, from the King of England. View of Roosevelt and Churchill seated on deck with their respective military leaders standing behind them. Admiral Ernest King, U.S. Chief of Naval Operations converses with U.S. Army Chief of Staff, George Marshall, as they stand behind Churchill and Roosevelt. Wider camera view shows the larger military entourage accompanying the Prime Minister and the President. Glimpse of prisoners and enslaved workers taken by Nazi Germans in Europe. Glimpse of bombs falling from an airplane. Classic film views of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in December 7, 1941. Bombs exploding along "Battleship Row." Heavy smoke rising from the bombed ships. The USS Arizona tilted heavily and burning. Camera pans along the path of destruction, as the voice of President Roosevelt is heard in the background, asking the Congress to declare that the Japanese attack created a state of War between the United States and the Japanese Empire. View of President Roosevelt speaking to the U.S. Congress. Seated behind him are Vice-President Henry Wallace and Speaker of the House, Sam Rayburn. Glimpse of Congress members applauding. Change of scene shows President Roosevelt and Winston Churchill meeting in Washington, DC, in December of 1941, during World War 2. Views of war preparations in the United States, including the building of new war production plants and facilities. A large steel ingot being forged into an artillery gun barrel. Machinist at work turning a gun barrel on a lathe in a munitions factory. Views of manufacturing plants in operation and steel being made. A railroad train carrying new Army trucks. Another meeting of Churchill and Roosevelt in Washington, D.C. June, 1942. Standing behind them is President Roosevelt's special assistant, Harry Hopkins, a British naval officer, and an American navy Captain. American soldiers boarding a troop ship, and closeups of them as they enter the ship, looking out of portholes, and waving from the ship's deck. Glimpse of Washington Monument and its image in the reflecting pool in Washington DC. Closeup of a book entitled, "Time Table for Invasion." General George Marshall with several of his generals doing preliminary planning. Series of scenes involving senior military officers engaged in war planning. A convoy of warships is seen at sea during the Operation Torch Allied invasion of French North Africa during 8–16 November, 1942. Views of Allied Navy ship guns firing. Allied troops riding in landing craft, and advancing from beached craft on shore of Algiers. Aerial view of a flight of Douglas Dauntless bombers in formation. "Bombs away" view from Allied airplane dropping bombs. Allied troops firing camouflaged antiaircraft guns from sandy positions near shore. Enemy shells or bombs exploding nearby. Two U.S. Army soldiers holding a document in French entitled, "Message from the President of the United States.
Second battle of El Alamein in Egypt, North Africa, between Allied Forces and German Forces in October, 1942, during World War 2. View of Big Ben clock tower in London, England, United Kingdom. In a UK war material production facility, British women war production workers stop work to listen to BBC announcement over public address speaker that Axis forces of the Afrika Corps (Africa Corps) under German commander Rommel are in full retreat in El Alamein, Egypt. Scenes in North African of British tanks advancing past many pieces of destroyed German armor, tanks, and artillery. Views of captured German planes, artillery, tanks and prisoners. Some artillery and tanks destroyed or still smoldering from recent attack on the retreating German forces, including smoldering Panzer tanks (Pz IV). Destroyed and bombed out German Luftwaffe aircraft parked on the ground. Five divisions of Italian soldiers in the South, abandoned by Rommel are swept up by Allied forces as prisoners of war. Italian prisoners kneel at a ditch and drink water from it. German prisoners march under British guard. German General Wilhelm Ritter von Thoma, captured near the hill of Tel el Mampsra, marches on sand under British guard. Aerial views of British Royal Air Force planes bombing retreating German positions on ground. Bombs away views from aircraft, and explosions and clack smoke arises from ground. View of British RAF pilot in cockpit flying De Havilland DH 98 Mosquito aircraft and strafing German trucks and armor as they retreat across open desert. Low level views of British Mosquito aircraft as it strafes German positions, as seen from cockpit of Mosquito aircraft.
Opening scene shows French Nieuport biplanes in aerial combat with German airplanes in World War 1. Many are engaged in a massive dogfight. One aircraft is seen hit and falling toward the ground. Next, two French aircraft are seen returning to their base. They fly over a hangar where a crashed airplane sits with tail in the air. Near the hanger are several airplanes in various stages of maintenance. Mechanics are moving one. An airplane taxis in front of the hangar. Scene shifts to closeup of a Lafayette Escadrille Indian logo painted on a metal structure. Scene shifts to a formal award ceremony for some pilots and crews. Their squadron members are lined up behind them in front of a line of aircraft. The view is from behind a formation of French soldiers with rifles, rendering salutes. Next, French soldiers parade on the airdrome, led by a military band. At this point the scene phases out as a fireball is superimposed on a map of Europe, signifying World War 2. Adolf Hitler is seen in closeup near the Eiffel Tower, when he visits Paris, France following its occupation by German forces in 1940. Several views of German troops marching along the Avenue des Champs-Élysées and through the Arc de Triomphe. Closeups of some German soldiers in the ranks. Scene shifts to North Africa, in 1942, as American troops make an unopposed amphibious landing on the coast, in Operation Torch. Several landing craft are seen and troops ashore. A Dodge 3/4 ton WC-51 army truck, with half of its hood open, makes its way through the surf as it leaves a landing craft.
United States P-38 Lightning aircraft in a barren field. Two soldiers sit on the tail section of the plane. A soldier drives a military jeep. A soldier digs trenches with a shovel. Another helps fill the mud into green cans. A technician works on the nose section of the plane. (World War II period).