Film begins showing explosions from bombs in Malta from high flying Axis warplanes during World War 2. They raise huge columns of smoke. Remainder of the film shows scenes of destruction wrought by the bombing that eased in 1942. A bombed out church with only skeletal roofing left. People walking on a street between rows of rubble. A horse and carriage is the only other means of transportation seen. Empty walls of a destroyed buildings with rubble filling the area between them. Views from interior of a church looking out through a huge holes in its walls. Camera pans down from rubble covered high altar in a church, to a priest conducting mass at a make shift altar. Worshipers occupy chairs set up in front of the piles of rubble. Major building with only its front wall intact. A horse and carriage conveying passengers amidst pedestrians walking between rubble lined street. Camera pans across part of city to capture explosions from more bombs.
World War II British Hawker Hurricane aircraft in flight over Malta. British lookout atop building peering through binoculars. Enemy aircraft spotter on lookout speaks into microphone. Air raid flag being hoisted to masthead. Siren atop building starts spinning. British Tommy operating portable hand siren. Maltese residents running for an air raid shelter. Lookout firing pistol in air. British soldiers running to anti-aircraft gun stations. Women and children enter shelter. British pilots scramble and are seen running to and getting into Spitfire airplanes. British soldiers operate an antiaircraft gun and fire at incoming German Luftwaffe aircraft. Maltese peasants stopping work in field and watching the attacking planes. Anti-aircraft guns in action. German planes attacking and dropping bombs on British-held targets in Malta. Junkers 88 streaks across sky as Spitfires dive after it. Anti-aircraft batteries firing. Aerial scene of flak and dogfights showing German Junkers 88 aircraft being hit, falling to ground and exploding. British bobby (police officer) wounded in air raid shelter. Women and children in shelter. Bomb hits. Scenes of fire and smoke. Civilians leave shelter.
Lieutenant General Mark Clark and General Alphonse Juin during French troops in Italy. Brigadier General Theodore Roosevelt Jr., liaison officer between Fifth Army and General Juin, speaking to French officers. Light Tank rumbling along highway. Two French soldiers standing in turret. Scout cars mounting 50 cal Air cooled machine guns carry French soldiers along the highway. Italian women knitting on doorstep. 2 ½ ton truck rolling through mud and rain. (World War II period).
Truck pulling tarpaulin in covered gun across steel tread way pontoon bridge in rain in Italy. Scout cars with French troops crossing pontoon bridge in rain. Jeep with French soldiers pulling a 37mm gun along muddy road. French soldier getting astride motorcycle and driving off in the rain. Tanks and scout cars on road. (World War II period).
Bivouac area in orchard in Italy. French soldiers watch another soldier roast a goat over an open fire. Men slicing meat off the roast goat and eating. Scenes of tent bivouac area. Man getting into tent. (World War II period).
Remains of B-17, tail number 42-37789, which crashed during a post -maintenance test flight on April 24, 1944, at Grafton Underwood Airfield in Northampshire, England. The Aircraft belonged to the 544 Bomb Squadron of the 384th Bomb Group and was flown by Lieutenant Colonel Alfred Nuttall, who survived the crash and went on to lead a number of bombing missions thereafter. The aircraft was destroyed by fire that ensued after the crash. Firefighting foam residue can be seen covering the wreckage. This scene was filmed on April 29, 1944, five days after the crash. (World War II period).
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