A film blending dramatized and actual footage about the Pearl Harbor Raid by Japanese bombers during World War II, on December 7, 1941. A formation of Japanese bombers in flight over Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Hawaii. U.S. soldiers fire machine guns at Japanese aircraft. Guns of navy ships. A Japanese aircraft falls down in flames after being attacked. Bombing of U.S. ships in Pearl Harbor. Gun crews fire guns from the ships. Wounded sailors are evacuated by medics.
From a 1943 film blending dramatized scenes and actual archival footage about the conditions soon after the attack on Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Hawaii in December 1941 by Japanese bombers during World War II. U.S. troops remove the dead bodies of soldiers who died in action. The U.S. flag on the grave of a U.S. soldier. Pictures and parents of U.S. service men of the Navy, the Marine Corps, the Army and Medical Corps who died during Pearl Harbor raid. The family of a U.S. Medical Corps Lieutenant who died during Pearl Harbor raid. Wife of the same lieutenant holds her baby born after the attack. Prayer services for the dead U.S. servicemen. Families of the dead servicemen lay wreaths and flowers around U.S. flags. U.S. Navy officers and sailors at shore attend the memorial services. Ceremony shows line of U.S. Navy sailors laying garlands around each U.S. flag bearing the names of U.S. servicemen who died during Pearl Harbor attack. An Army Chaplain and Navy officers attend the prayer services. Palm trees on the beach.
Prime Minister Winston Churchill, accompanied by Lady Churchill and several officials, visits Bristol, April,12, 1941, the day after the so-called "Good Friday bombing raid." Churchill pauses to contribute to a charity being represented by a uniformed sailor. He takes a small token of his contribution from the sailor's box and pins it to his coat collar. He speaks with some women lining the sidewalk, and pats the head of a small child held up to him by one of the women. Next, Winston, and Lady Clementine Churchill, speak with a woman, standing near some rubble, as a British officer takes a snapshot. The Churchills, and other members of their party, make their way through some rubble, past several bombed buildings. Several citizens take photographs. Scene shifts the University of Bristol's Wills Memorial Building on Park Street. University officials and faculty in academic robes inside the building. At the center of the ceremonial activities, is Winston Churchill, Chancellor of the University, who presides over the awarding of Honorary degrees to American Ambassador, John Gilbert Winant, and Australian Prime Minister, Robert Gordon Menzies. Churchill is later seen leaving the Memorial Building, flanked by the honors recipients, Winant and Menzies. (World War II period).
Operation Barbarossa, the German invasion of the Soviet Union during World War II. Panzergruppe Guderian operating in Belarus (Each vehicle displays a white "G" on its fender.) . Closeups of tracks on German Panzerkampfwagen II (Sd.Kfz. 121) tanks rolling across a wooden bridge.Views flip back and forth between the full views of tanks and of their tracks and wheels. A German soldier rides on the tank gun in one view. The tanks including, Panzerkampfwagen (Sd/Lfz/141/1 Pz.Kpfw III Ausf.L), speeding along a dirt road, accompanied by half-tracks armed with antiaircraft guns (SdKfz Flakwagen). One also tows a field piece..One of the half-tracks is protected by logs and sandbags. The German column passes a knocked out smoking Soviet BT tank at the side of the road. Soldiers on motorcycles and a covered German 15cm Kanone are also seen. More views of the advancing armor column. View from a German invasion vehicle crossing an alternate bridge over a river, on their way to Grodno. (A destroyed bridge is in background.) Next, the city of Grodno (or Hrodna) is seen in a broad view from a bridge on the near bank of the Nieman (or Nyomen or Newman) River on June 23, 1941. Smoke rises from the city, across the river. German armor and vehicles move across the bridge German infantry enters the city past burning buildings.
Film begins with animated map depicting conquest of the Balkans by the German-Italian Axis powers. With Southern flank now protected, Germany begins Operation Barbarossa, the invasion of the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941, View of German troops goosestepping on parade in large formation. German troops being transported on parade in formation of wheeled open personnel carriers. Glimpse of upper part of Spasskaya Tower and clock overlooking Red Square in Moscow, Soviet Union. View of Soviet heavy industry complex with many smoke stacks. New farm tractors being moved on a railroad train. Scene segues into train carrying Soviet tanks, and then continues with scenes in a steel mill, a machine shop, a tank factory, and an artillery plant. Soviet troops parade bearing left shouldered rifles and singing as they march. Soviet civilian men are seen reporting for duty in the military and then training in hills overlooking a war plant complex. New Soviet recruits training with calisthenics and with small arms. A Soviet soldier speeds past the camera on a motorcycle and segues into a soldier on a horse jumping over a barrier, and then into several Soviet soldiers in uniforms, with rifles, diving into a swimming pool and swimming across it. Film ends showing Soviet troops in formation bringing their rifles from present arms position to pointing forward, as they march.
Animated map shows German potential thrusts into the Soviet Union (Operation Barbarossa) coming from six different directions an targeting key cities like Leningrad and Moscow. June 22, 1941 is highlighted on the map. Large formation of German twin engine bombers with extended landing gears is seen in flight. Formation of German Panzer III tanks moving across a field. Formation of German Kfz.70 Personnel Carriers filled with troops. Formation of German soldiers on motorcycles (some with side cars) moving across a field. German troops leaving their transports and running into woods, as they encounter shelling. Animated map reiterates German emphasis on Leningrad, Moscow and Kiev (in Ukraine). It shows German forces converging on Leningrad, and then towards Smolensk. (World War II; WW II; World War 2; World War Two)