Acute water supply shortage in the British Crown Colony of Hong Kong. An area overcrowded from refugees from Mainland China. Civilians struggle to get water from the communal water supply. Communal taps fill water containers. Reservoirs of water near the colony dried from a drought. Children carry cans filled with water.
British in Hong Kong and U.S. Marines in Tianjin, China. A view of coastal area in Hong Kong. A landscape view of Hong Kong. British troops return to Hong Kong. British soldiers escort a Japanese prisoner of war. Japanese prisoners of war clear up the waste articles under a building. British Navy watching the prisoners cleaning buildings. Japanese prisoners pile debris and put to fire. Captured Japanese troops walk along the street after the British resumed control of Hong Kong. People gathered near a harbor in Tianjin, China. Chinese civilians gather and cheer to welcome the United States Marines. Views of U.S. Navy ships in Chinese harbor. Crowd cheers and applauds. Landing ships in the Hai River. Chinese citizens in crowd wave hands toward the United States Marines. Chinese children carry and wave American flags and cheer. United States Marines watch the crowd and smile. Marines throw cigarettes to Chinese civilians. Soldiers restrict the crowd scrambling for cigarettes and candies. (World War II period).
Victory over Japan at end of World War 2. Japanese troops surrender Singapore and Hong Kong to British troops in Pacific Theater. Aerial view of city in Singapore. Allied ships in nearby harbor. Allied soldiers of Britain landing and marching on streets in Singapore. Next scene shows ships of British fleet seen in waters at Hong Kong. Low-flying aerial views of port areas and buildings of Hong Kong. British Navy combat teams move from building to building in small groups, flushing snipers from alleys, streets, and buildings. A British soldier rests a Bren light machine gun on an elevated porch and fires at an enemy sniper position. Several Japanese soldiers surrender to British forces. Next scene is in Nanking, China. View of officials gathering in Nanking for Japanese surrender ceremony at the Central Military Academy, which had been the enemy Japanese headquarters during the war.
Although narrator states "General Chennault's United States 10th Air Force," this film actually depicts Chennault's 14th Air Force formed in 1943. Its B-25s and P-40s are shown during an attack on Hong Kong during World War 2 U.S. Army Air Force B-25 Mitchell aircraft take off from an air base in China to attack Hong Kong. The aircraft in flight. Propellers of the aircraft. Aerial view of the area below. Bombs being released over Hong Kong. View of crew in cockpit of B-25.The aircraft landing at an air base in China after the mission. P-40s with tiger teeth paint job parked on the airport tarmac. Aircrews relax with refreshments on the ramp.
Preparations for war in Japan during World War 2 period. Japanese laborers work hard in various factories. War production workers creating war materiel, armament, airplanes, tanks. Men and women at work in war production factories, together with child labor. Japanese troops mobilize and prepare for World War 2. Japanese soldiers on parade and Japanese tanks seen passing in review. Anti-Japanese propaganda. Japanese children being trained and doing various physical exercises. Japanese young boys perform drills and war combat training, calisthenics, and classroom testing. Boys wearing only goggles receive some kind of light therapy or ultraviolet or sunray therapy. Japanese youth and soldiers learning various martial arts (possibly Kendo or Bōjutsu) and hand to hand combat. War in Manchuria. Newspaper headlines show the attack of Japan on Hong Kong and Corregidor. Japanese soldiers seen fighting in wars. Scenes of war devastation and dead civilians in Manchuria and various areas where Japan has attacked. Bodies loaded onto carts and dead Chinese civilians in streets killed by Japanese. Japanese officer leading Japanese solders in a banzai cheer.
Japanese soldiers in Shanghai, China occupying the International Settlement following the attack on Pearl Harbor, in World War 2.. Japanese military trucks loaded with soldiers enter the north end of the Bund passing by the British Consulate. Japanese flag flutters from the top of the HSBC headquarters. A Japanese guard stands at the entrance to the HSBC headquarters next to a sign in Japanese and English that the premises have been occupied. Japanese Marines march on the street. Buildings along the side of the street. A soldier hands out warning notices writing in Chinese to a crowd of Chinese people explaining the occupation. The very end show Japanese troops in Kowloon shelling Hong Kong Island which is visible in the background.