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)
Members of Allied military mission in Moscow, Soviet Union bid farewell to Harry Hopkins, after his visit with them in the week of July 28, 1941, during World War II. A car carrying Harry Hopkins, personal assistant to President Franklin Roosevelt, arrives at a Moscow airport. Hopkins steps from the car and is greeted by a British Naval officer. Next, Soviet Head of State, Mikhail Kalinin, arrives by car and strides forward toward Hopkins and other officials gathered near a C-47 transport airplane. Two Soviet military officers converse with a civilian. American Brigadier General Joseph McNarny (member of Hopkins' party) speaking with Averell Harriman ( Roosevelt's special envoy to Britain for expediting Lend-lease). In a gathering of military officers and civilians, a British officer exchanges salutes with another officer. kalinin and Hopkins conversing amicably. A man lights Harriman's cigarette. Hopkins begins passing out some documents and shaking hands with persons seeing him off. He and Kalinin shake hands vigorously. He climbs aboard the airplane, followed by General McNarny.
Japanese people and Japanese Americans in Honolulu, Hawaii before the attack on Pearl Harbor during World War II. Japanese workers. Narrator discusses origins of Japanese workers and various trades and businesses in which they work. A street with houses on either sides and clothes hanging. Japanese people walking on the street. People walk in front of shops. Automobile traffic in the background. Japanese men pour from a container. People in a flower shop. Children outside their houses. Clothes drying on ropes. Japanese children outside a school. The 1941 telephone book in Japanese. A daily newspaper printed on machines. Stacked newspapers. Japanese workers work in a sugarcane field. They load cargo on a cart. Boards of the various Japanese financial institutions. People enter a bank. Women fishing and boats in a river. Japanese people work as shopkeepers. A Japanese doctor. Workers carry cargo on a trolley. A man sits in a dentist clinic. The dentist opens a door. Japanese nurses come out of a building. People on a street. Exterior of a Japanese hotel. Boards read Japanese people in various occupation.
Excerpts from speech of U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt at the White House Correpondents' dinner on March 15, 1941 in Washington DC. Officials and dignitaries seated in a hall having dinner. President Roosevelt at a podium and speaks into a microphone. He speaks about people of the world supporting Britain and even Canada. He talks about America's full support to the British. Roosevelt in his speech praises British Prime Minister Winston Churchill. He also speaks about America's support in world reconstruction and humanity. Roosevelt speaks that their should not be any racism. Every one should be treated equally and have equal rights. He talks about security, standard of living, and market for manufacturing. He says of dictators in Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan, "We believe that the rallying cry of the dictators, their boasting about a master-race, will prove to be pure stuff and nonsense. There never has been, there isn't now, and there never will be, any race of people fit to serve as masters over their fellowmen."