The final struggle for Stalingrad during World War Two. Christmastime, 1942 in Moscow. Russian civilians obtaining fir trees for Christmas celebrations. A large beautifully decorated Christmas tree set up in the Hall of Pillars, in Moscow, Russia, Soviet Union. Men and women couples dancing in the hall to music from Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker Suite. Smiling Russian children at play indoors, on slides, on a carousel ride, and playing hand games with one another. New Year's eve is different. World War 2 Soviet war production workers in a munitions factory greet each other but continue working without stopping. On the Stalingrad front lines, the Soviet Army marks the New Year, 1943, by launching artillery barrages, through the night and continuing unabated well into the next day. Russian Sukhoi Su-2 light bombers drop incendiaries on German positions. Brief partial glimpse of a Russian Sherman tank. Soviet Army soldiers using flame throwers. Soviet troops moving across ice and snow on armed Aerosan ice gliders. Batteries of Soviet Katusha rockets fire barrages. Soviet infantry and tanks advance across vast barren snow-covered terrain. Animated map depicts Nazi German military forces being pounded on several fronts. A solitary horse standing in midst of Stalingrad destruction and ruins. Scene from February 2, 1943 as Soviet soldiers, symbolically, fire the last shot in the Battle of Stalingrad. A smiling Soviet soldier then places a cover over the muzzle of the field artillery piece. Scenes of the battle's aftermath. Russian officers hug one another. The Soviet Union flag is hung from a city building. Numerous German soldiers surrender under a white flag of truce. Many surrendering German Generals are seen.
Battle scenes outside the snow covered city of Stalingrad, Russia, Soviet Union, as Soviet forces attack German forces that had encircled the city. Aerial view of Soviet Sukhoi Su-2 light bomber aircraft as it releases bombs on Nazi German positions. Soviet soldiers on the ground using flame throwers against German positions. Three Soviet RF-8 (GAZ-98) Aerosled (aircraft engine powered ice sled) are seen racing by camera position over snow covered terrain. Large batteries of Katyusha rocket launchers fire rockets toward German positions. Soviet soldiers advancing across open fields. Map depicting how Axis power was squeezed in early 1943 and defeated by the Soviet forces that had encircled it during Operation Uranus in late November 1942. Scenes of ruined city of Stalingrad from bombing in World War 2. A soviet soldier covers an artillery gun barrel after it fires a last shot in February 1943. Powerful sceneshowing bombed out Stalingrad buildings and one large building on fire, with a lifesize outdoor art sculpture of happy Soviet children playing in a circle in the foreground. Soviet civilians greet and embrace the defending Soviet soldiers and fly a Soviet flag. Group of German soldiers waving a white flag emerge from a blockhouse and surrender as prisoners of war to Soviet soldiers. Contingent of senior German generals and officers under Friedrich Paulus are seen during surrender, including General Walther von Seydlitz-Kurzbach. General Arthur Schmidt, General Maximilian von Daniels, and General Edler von Daniel.
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).
A map shows various cities of Russia, Soviet Union. Snow and ice covered fields melting at the end of winter and start of spring. Soldiers walking on boards to cross creeks of running water. German army vehicle driving in standing water from melting snow. German soldiers walking through deep mud while pushing a stuck vehicle.
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?).
Field Marshall Friedrich Wilhelm Ernst Paulus approaches and enters small building to meet with Soviet officers and surrender German forces to the Russian Army after the German defeat in the Battle of Stalingrad in World War II. Paulus in a room with Soviet officers. Long lines of Nazi German soldiers marching in snow under Soviet guard after surrender. They march slowly past bombed buildings in the city, some with no boots and various injuries. Wide view from a high point over the city of Stalingrad, with a dead German soldier in foreground. Scene shows spring arrival and thaw of snow in Stalingrad. Map shows 186,000 square miles of reclaimed Soviet territory after pushing back and capturing German forces. Various abandoned German tanks, planes, rifles and and machine guns shown covered partially in snow after fall back of German troops. Masses of defeated German soldiers marching in snow. View of dead German soldiers and battlefield graves with German crosses on them. Animated map shows failure of German forces to capture Moscow, the Caucuses, and Stalingrad, in years 1941 through 1943. Scenes showing troops from Allied countries including Soviet, British, and American, and the flags of each of their countries waving.