Opening scene shows Lend Lease military equipment covered with canvas, at a port in the United States, during World War 2. A B-26 bomber with wings removed outboard of its engines, is being maneuvered for shipment at a port in the United States. A Lockheed P-38 airplane is moved on a crane and then rolled along a pier toward the stern of the U.S. Light Cruiser, USS Phoenix (CL-46) which is docked there. Wings of a Curtiss SOC-1 Seagull scout plane can be seen on the Phoenix. Two more P-38 aircraft are rolled along the pier, past another Brooklyn class Light Cruiser at the end of the pier. (Her triple 6-inch gun turrets are noticeable.) Crated supplies are seen being lowered into ship cargo holds. An American M2 light tank being lowered from a crane. An American M3 Lee tank being secured in a ship. Numerous tanks in a ship’s cargo hold. Next, a convoy of ships carrying war materiel overseas is seen at sea. A U.S. Cruiser plunging through heavy seas. View from her bridge overlooking her triple gun turrets, as her bow is awash in waves. A formation of U.S. battleships, led by a Nevada class Battle Ship armed with twin over triple forward gun turrets. She is followed by what appears to be a modernized Pennsylvania class Battleship and other battleships. A British Battle Cruiser followed by another British warship. Various Allied battleships firing their heavy guns. Animated map tracing the “Lend-Lease” routes across the North Atlantic to Iceland, the British Isles, and Murmansk. Map also shows routes by sea and air to the West Indies, Brazil, and South Africa and West Africa, and then by air across Africa, to egypt and the Middle East. Other routes are shown to Suez, Iran, India, and China, as well as trans-Pacific routes to various places. American soldiers crowd the upper deck of a troop transport ship. A military chaplain conducts religious services aboard ship at sea. More views of ships in convoys. A U.S. Navy Kingfisher float plane in flight over the water. A barrage balloon aloft. A U.S. Navy Catalina PBY flying boat in the air above a fleet of supply ships in a vast convoy.
U.S. Air Forces Air Traffic Controllers on duty at a control Tower in an airfield during World War 2.. Several multi-engine aircraft are parked on the ramp, outside, including two Douglas C-54 transport aircraft. One controller looks through binoculars. Next, airmen are seen loading cargo into an aircraft from a truck backed up to its side. Air Forces ground crewmen are silhouetted against a light sky as they watch aircraft take off while being ferried overseas. Parked behind them is a USAAF Consolidated B-24 bomber. A Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress bomber taking off. A Douglas A-26 Invader aircraft landing. A North American B-25 Mitchell bomber taking off. Next, numerous Douglas C-47 transport airplanes are seen taxiing on an airfield. View from directly in front of a C-47 aircraft as it takes off, and passes over the camera. View from ground of a low flying C-47, and then of several in loose formation flying overhead.
American troops are seen in arctic gear moving on skis through blustery snowy weather in Iceland, during World War 2. They were sent in 1941 to relieve British troops occupying Iceland since 1940, during World War II. A guard post at the American camp, with Quonset Hut in background. Closeup of U.S. sentry in arctic gear holding rifle with bayonet affixed. View from above, of numerous tents partially covered with snow in the American camp. Change of scene shows U.S. troops disembarking from transport ships at the British Isles. They march with their combat gear onto a square where Army trucks wait to transport them inland. Another scene shows the American troops, viewed from behind, parading in London. Other scenes show them marching in various areas of London. Saint Paul’s cathedral is seen in the background of one scene. A large number of American M3 Stuart Light tanks move on a railroad train in Britain. Scene shifts to the Middle East, where railroad cars and various military supplies for Russia are be offloaded from American ships. A Russian officer is seen signing receipts for war materiel, from a U.S. Army Technical Sergeant. A row of American Army trucks are lined up behind them. The Russian and American exchange salutes, and shake hands. Next, a troop ship carrying American troops is seen arriving at a port in India, where they disembark with their gear. An American Army Sergeant in a pith helmet pays attention to a little Indian girl. Scene shifts to China, in 1942, where Brigadier General Claire Lee Chennault, Commander of the China Air Task Force, of the Tenth Air Force, that replaced the American Volunteer Group (Flying Tigers), is seen with Brigadier General Caleb V. Haynes, Commander of the India Air Task Force. A colonel joins their discussions. A Consolidated B-24 Liberator bomber is parked behind them. View of Curtiss P-40 Warhawk fighter planes, with Flying Tiger markings, parked on a flight line. A B-24 bomber landing on a runway, between hills, deep in China. Closeup of Nationalist China Generalissimo Chiang Kai-Shek, saluting. Huge numbers of Chinese troops assembling in a formation. Next, an expeditionary force of American troops is seen arriving on a troop ship in Australia. They line the ship’s deck and wave. General Douglas MacArthur arriving in Australia to assume the office of Supreme Commander, South West Pacific Area (SWPA). .Glimpses of U.S. Navy activities in Australia: setting up defenses of islands; unpacking a Kingfisher float plane and making it ready for use on a desert island. The final segments of the film show American forces in August ,1942 sailing to Adak in the Aleutian Islands, to strengthen American defenses there. Troops seen descending by rope ladder from the American transport ship USS J Franklin Bell (PA-34), into her landing craft for deployment on Adak Island. Scenes of landing craft reaching the beach and offloading troops, vehicles, and supplies. View of beach filled with supplies. One landing craft is clearly marked with ""P34" showing that it belongs to the USS J Franklin Bell ( later reclassified as APA-16).
U. S Mahon class destroyers speed through the water in the Pacific Theater in World War II. Closeup of one passing the camera ship. Distant head-on view of a North Carolina class U.S. Battleship. The American aircraft carrier, USS Enterprise (CV-6), with aircraft on her deck. Animated map shows the Coral Sea and Midway Island, in the Pacific, where the U.S. Navy successfully engaged the Japanese in major naval battles. Glimpse of sailor with binoculars at railing of an aircraft carrier with many Douglas Dauntless dive bomber aircraft on her deck. View, looking back from an airplane, toward the aircraft carrier, USS Intrepid (CV-11) underway in the Pacific, with aircraft crowded forward on her deck. A South Dakota class battleship underway and firing guns astern while defending against attacking Japanese aircraft Black flak clouds are visible low in the sky. Aircraft carrier and other U.S. warships under aerial attack. An American aircraft carrier tilting as she maneuvers sharply under fire. U.S. ships firing 1.1 inch quad anti-aircraft guns. Japanese bombers maneuvering and attacking amidst numerous black flak clouds. Skies filled with tracer rounds of ammunition. An airplane crashes into the water. Sailors reloading their quad anti-aircraft guns. Glimpse of a destroyer firing her anti-aircraft guns while racing behind an aircraft carrier. A Japanese bomber heading toward a U.S. ship, through heavy fire, is hit in the left wing and plunges into the sea. Black smoke marks its impact. Two Japanese aircraft hit by anti-aircraft fire, trail fire as the aircraft crash into the sea. More scenes of combat. Glimpse of a disabled Navy F4F airplane on a carrier deck. Sky littered with black flak smoke clouds. The sound of an engine on one Japanese aircraft begins cutting out. Two observers with binoculars point toward the plane as it falls into the sea. A PT boat is seen underway carrying Japanese airmen rescued from the sea. A sailor guards them with a Thompson machine gun. More rescued Japanese airmen are seen stepping from a Higgins boat, and then walking , while trying to avoid the cameras. Some prisoners crouched together smoking cigarettes provided by a U.S. soldier. At end of film, Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, Commander in Chief of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, decorates American aviators and sailors at a formal award ceremony aboard an aircraft carrier.
Map shows Solomon Islands in South Pacific. Truk and Australia are highlighted. Tulagi and Guadalcanal are shown. American Naval task force, including Attack Transports and warships seen underway in stormy Pacific waters. Sailors loading heavy naval guns aboard a U.S. warship. Ship's guns firing. Smoke rising from explosions on island. shows smoke rising. USS Salt Lake City (CA-25) is seen at time 1:34, firing its main battery. Douglas SBD Dauntless aircraft flying low overhead. U.S. Marines land on Guadalcanal. Marines wading ashore. American Douglas SBD lands at Henderson Field on Guadalcanal. B-17s on Henderson Field, including B-17E Serial number 41-9145 of the 26th Bombardment Squadron.Long column of U.S. marines snakes across edge of airfield headed towards interior of Guadalcanal. Scene shifts to jungle interior, where they march two abreast over captured terrain. A building in the background. Marines firing a 105mm Howitzers. A B-25 bomber taking off. B-26 bombers in flight. Closeup of B-26 flying over water. View from cockpit of U.S. aircraft strafing Japanese held island, striking targets at shoreline and aircraft and supplies on a Japanese airfield. Japanese marines taken prisoner on Guadalcanal. Views of groups of Japanese prisoners of war. Japanese soldiers stand in formation and are also seen sitting in confined areas.US marines patrolling shore where numerous Japanese soldiers are seen dead.
Animated map shows New Guinea and Papau. Areas occupied by American and Australian Forces , seeking to dislodge Japanese Forces, at Buna and Gona, are shown. General Douglas MacArthur, arrives at Papua. He strolls through an American/Australian milltary camp in the jungle. He is dressed in a perfectly pressed uniform, smoking a cigar. (Narrator states he arrived to take personal charge of the offensive.) Closeup of MacArthur. American troops flown in from Australia, advance toward the Japanese positions at Buna. Another scene shows Australian troops making their way through jungles as they advance over the Owen-Stanley mountain range toward Gona. Australian troops fire mortars and one seen firing a Bren light machine gun. An American soldier firing an M1919 Browning machine gun. More views of Allied soldiers firing rifles and machine guns, including a water-cooled Browning M1917 gun. A bomb or shell explodes at a Japanese position. Scene shifts to Allied Military Headquarters in New Guinea, where staff plot information on large status maps about Japanese reinforcements arriving in the Bismark Sea, to bolster the enemy’s defenses. An Australian pilot runs to his Spitfire airplane, and American pilots rush to their B-25 Mitchell bomber, named “Dirty Dora.” An Australian Douglas A-26 invader airplane taking off. The B-25, Mitchell bomber (Dirty Dora) taking off. A USAAF B-17 Flying Fortress bomber taking off. More Allied aircraft taking off and in flight, including a formation of Australian A-26 invader airplanes. An Australian Airspeed Oxford training aircraft is seen diving . View from cockpit of an A-26 Invader airplane firing machine guns at Japanese ship. View of Allied warplane dropping bombto skip a Japanese ship. Bombs explode. Aircraft strafing Japanese ship. Various views of smoke rising from struck many Japanese ships. (World War II; WW II; World War 2; World War Two)
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