Views of wheat fields in the Soviet Union. A harvester combine is being pulled by a tractor in the field. A man riding on, and operating, a horse drawn multi-paddle wheel harvesting device. He is followed by a boy on horseback leading a pair of horses pulling another man on a similar harvesting device. Change of scene to men and women in the fields gathering and bundling sheaves of wheat.
Opening of film shows image of famous statue being projected on a screen. The statue depicts a Soviet worker and a collective farm woman, respectively, raising a hammer and sickle high above their heads. The statue is a stainless steel art work created by Vera Mukhinafor the 1937 World's Fair in Paris, France. (It was later moved to Moscow, Russia.) Next a field and forest is shown on the Western front of the Soviet Union (Eastern Front of World War 2, in Europe). Soviet soldiers are preparing for combat during a temporary lull in their defense against German forces in their Operation Barbarossa offensive ,begun in June, 1941. Soviet soldiers place branches and foliage upon a BT tank as camouflage. Others assemble loose ammunition rounds into machine gun belts. Soldiers camouflaging an artillery field piece with foliage. Soviet soldiers refueling a tank. Soldiers moving through wooded area past another camouflaged gun. Several Soviet soldiers at a shelter in the woods, placing ammunition rounds in a clip. A printer producing a daily newspaper for soldiers. A soviet soldier picks one up to read. Closeup of the newspaper. Soviet munitions handlers inserting fuses into noses of artillery shells. A T-34 tank sitting in foliage. Soldiers looking at charts as they sit in the woods. A Soviet soldier running (possibly to deliver a dispatch).
Soviet soldiers receive orders to attack German forces. They salute and walk towards T-34 tank. Soldier on motorcycle fords muddy stream. Soldiers climb into what looks like a T-34 tank with turret turned backward. Soviet armorer directs loading of bomb on a TB-7 bomber. line of TB-7s. Navigator with charts. Aviators flight planning. A Soviet Polikarpov I-15 airplane with engine running. Pilot climbing into a Yakovlev Yak-9 fighter plane. I-15 taking off. Closeup of large all-metal Soviet aircraft with portholes and windows in fuselage. Another I-15 taking off. Another pilot climbing into YaK-9. Closeup of I-15. Formation of I-15s flying low over ground. Soviet officers reviewing aerial photos. Soviet gunners firing a heavy field howitzer (Canon de 155 C modèle 1917 Schneider). Maxim water-cooled heavy machine gun firing. Lots of field artillery firing. Aircrews planning. Several Soviet Polikarpov I-16 fighter planes in formation. Several T-26 tanks crossing a field and one crossing a wooden bridge. Russian infantry moving alongside a road and pulling a wheeled water-cooled 7.92 mm Maxim Machine Gun model 1910. A tank plowing through sandy hill. I-16 fighter planes flying above T-26 tanks maneuvering below. Soviet planes dropping bombs and tanks moving through explosions and smoke. View of bombardier in airplane. Huge explosion from a bomb. A Tupolev ANT-40 bomber flying through flak. Another huge explosion on the ground. ANT-40 aka Tupolev SB-2, in flight. More views of bombs dropping and huge explosions on ground. I-16s dive bombing. Tanks scurrying through smoke. Infantry following T-26 tanks. Smoke all around. Two I-16s in formation. Tanks laying smoke screens on ground below. More huge explosions. A Tupolev SB-2 speeding overhead. More explosions. A German Focke-Wulf Fw 58 Weihe aircraft in flight (reversed film-Swastika backwards). Gunners arm anti-aircraft guns and fire them as well as quad Maxim machine guns. A burning airplane descending. Crashed airplane burning. Narrator states "Junkers and Messerschmitts" are downed in flames. Many guns firing. Infantry and tanks passing area in flames. Soldier crawling in field. Yak fighter landing. Skull and crossbones wiped from captured German trucks. German prisoners stepping from open wooden ferry. Others surrendering. German POWs being marched. Military records being unloaded from German truck. More German prisoners. Soviet medic treating German wounded soldier. Large amounts of currency captured. Soviet soldiers offering German POWs cigarettes.
Soviet propaganda newsreel of July, 1941 shows huge numbers of Soviet citizens being called upon to support the war effort during the German invasion (Operation Barbarossa) in World War 2. Several men in similar clothes stand on stage, as one speaks from a podium. The banner behind them mentions the homeland's need for support. A large portrait of Joseph Stalin forms a backdrop to the stage. A large crowd of mostly men listens intently. (A woman with several children is also seen in the crowd.) A different speaker is now seen at the podium. More views of the crowd filling a large open space (Square). Another view of the speaker. Now a third speaker speaks from the podium and most of those in the crowd respond to him by raising their hands. Next, a gathering of workers is seen at a construction site where a platform has been set up holding several men. A portrait of Joseph Stalin is carried by someone in the crowd. Closeup of some workers listening to a speaker. Closeup of the men on the platform and one speaking to the workers. Closeup of a woman in the audience. Closeup of the speaker on the platform. Camera pans over some of the crowd, that includes women. A train of railroad box cars and an open bulk carrier moving past the camera. Industrial plant in background.
Miners use multiple motor-driven drills to penetrate roof of mining tunnel in the Soviet Union during World War 2. Heavy dust drops from the drill holes and completely covers the miners as they work. As drilling proceeds, they exchange original drill bits with longer ones to penetrate deeper. Open rail cars filled with chunks of mineral ore are seen traveling along a rail line carrying the ore from the mine.
Opening scene shows a number of women at drafting tables using engineer or architect drafting aids as they work on technical drawings. When alerted to the end of their work session, they all get up from their desks, don their coats and leave the building. Change of scene shows a woman returning to her lathe in a machine shop. A supervisor uses a pair of calipers to measure the item she is machining. Closeup of the woman's lathe shows she is using a facing tool on the part being machined. Closeup of the woman as she works. Closeups of other women also working in the machine shop. One uses a drill and two use lathes.
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