A documentary titled 'Why We Fight, The Battle of Russia' depicts battles fought by Russians, fighting military raids from other nations. Dramatized scenes of invasion of German knights in 1242. Town Pskov destroyed and civilians roped. In the battle of Novgorad, the Russians under emperor Alexender Nevesky defeat the Germans in a fierce battle. The Swedish attack Russia and get defeated by Russian army in battle of Poltava in 1704. French troops retreat in a frozen desert after getting defeated by Russians in 1812. German Kaiser Wilhelm II inspects World War 1 troops on Eastern front in 1917. Russian army of cavaliers and infantrymen march for battle. Map shows a part of Russia, Ukraine occupied during the battle. (World War II period).
Animated map on globe of world shows extent of the USSR from East to west and North to South (9 million Square miles). Miners extracting her natural resource minerals. 110 million acres of forests and timber being felled. Coal on a conveyer belt. A "forest" of oil derricks in a Soviet field. Oil tank cars moving on a railroad. Iron and steel mills. 370 million acres of farmland. Farms being worked. Tea, tobacco, and cotton crops. Herds of ranch animals. Corn,oats,hops,rye and wheat being harvested by machinery. Huge parades of people parading in Red Square, Moscow, Russia. Dancers on floats in the parade. Cossacks from the Don River Valley demonstrate horsemanship. Map showing Ukraine, Russia,Hungary, Romania,and other adjoining areas. Musicians playing balalaikas accompany dancers. Ukranians,Moldovians and Beserabians in local costume. Map of the Caucasuses between the Caspian and Black Seas. People from that region dancing and playing instruments. Armenians,and people riding on horseback from tribes of the Caucasian mountains. Uzbeks blowing long horns. Turkmen with horses. Mongols playing stringed instruments. Views of people from further East and North approaching Siberia. Some hunting with rifles. Views of Moscow. Moscovites walking on a summer day. Man riding in a horse-drawn carriage. Cars driving on a street. All kinds of vehicular traffic in Moscow city, including trams. Outside views of Soviet factories. Soviet soldiers. Soviet bricklayer, traffic cop, and sailor are shown. A riveter at work. Soviet school children. An old fireman.Nurse in a hospital. Civil engineer with transit. A window washer. A sales girl. Housewives. A Postal clerk. A radio announcer. A stewardess on an airliner. A chemist in a laboratory. A typist at work. A harpist playing and a ballerina dancing as an orchestra plays. Soviet citizens walking across a field. Narrator refers to their love for the soil. Animated map sums up Russia's size and characteristics. (World War II period).
What German narrator calls: The great Dnieper battle. German troops in Russia during World War II. A map of Dnieper area of Russia. Entrenched German soldiers look through binoculars, a soldier shaves. Wreckage as a result of bombings. A demolished bridge across Dnieper River. German soldiers fire guns and artillery at Russian positions. German scouts look at a map and briefed. Troops move about in the area. German Pz.III command tanks and Pz.IV's move across a field and fire artillery. StuG III Assault Gun (tank destroyer) of 24th.Pz.Div. A plane flies at a low angle. Smoke rises due to firing. Russian tanks destroyed by Germans. Russian prisoners file past a Panther tank. Dead Russian soldiers on the field.
German troops in a flooded area of Russia. Infantry units arrive through train. They sit in motor barge to travel through water. Supplies transported on boat, wrapped in hay. Troops unload supplies and provisions on shore. They unwrap supplies and bring out bottles. Drink ladeled from barrel and given to other troops. Horses pull rubber rafts in water. Fodder for horses is carried on rubber rafts. Field officer travel in a motor launch. Troops bail water from their barracks. Troops climb up on tree platform and sit in observation post.
The German Ju-87 Stuka dive bomber in Russia. Swastika sign on bomber. Bomber drops bomb on Russian positions in the Kuban front. It hits a Russian ship in the sea of Azov. German soldiers look up in sky. They hide in trenches. Russian bomber drop shells, it explode on land. Antiaircraft guns are fired. It hits Russian bomber. Wrecked tanks are salvaged by German troops. (World War II period).
A pictorial map showing cities in the Eastern Front of World War II. German soldiers countering Soviet soldiers are seen struggling through mud in Russia's Lake Ilmen area, as snow melts. Water gushing on the ground. Water flowing between areas of snow. A man standing on a slab and water flowing from under the slab. A car driving on a path covered with water. Snow on both sides of the path. German troops drag a motorcycle through mud .