German bomber Focke-Wulf Fw 200 Condor bombs an Allied ship off island of Valletta, Malta. Ground crew ready the FW 200 German bomber. The pilot climbs up stairs to cockpit. Airmen fuel the bomber. Engines of bomber start. It taxis and takes off. German FW-200 Bomber in flight. View from inside cockpit of pilots in cockpit. Clouds visible from pilot cabin's screen. Pilot drinks hot beverage from insulated flask. Bomber in flight over sea. Pilot looks through binoculars. FW-200 Bomber releases bombs on an Allied ship. Smoke rises from burning ship. (World War II period).
Zenbei Horikiri, the new Ambassador of Japan to the Kingdom of Italy, presents his credentials to King Victor Emmanuel III in Rome, Italy during World War II. Hokiri stands with an Italian officer during the ceremony at the Quirinal Palace. To his right, behind him, similarly dressed, is Shun'ichi Kase,secretary to Japanese Foreign Minister Yōsuke Matsuoka. (Shun'ichi later served as chargé d’affaires in Italy commencing in 1943.) Japanese and Italian officers are part of the two-nation entourage that emerges from the palace following the event. They proceed down the steps of the Quirinal Palace (Palazzo del Quirinale, Piazza del Quirinale, 00187 Roma RM, Italy) and across the Piazza del Quirinale, where camera shows a glimpse of one of the statues at the Obelisk and Fountain of Castor and Pollux (containing sculptures of Castor and Pollux as horse tamers). Next, a motorcade of the officials' cars drives out of the palace complex, past two guard posts.
Opening scene shows a ship at sea seen through cloud filled sky from an aircraft flying above it. Closer aerial view from below clouds. Change of scene to Japanese sailors in Dress White uniforms gathered on the deck of an aircraft carrier, underway at sea. Four heavy gun barrels swung to port on a Japanese warship at sea. Her high speed creates a heavy bow wave. Japanese Naval Ensign aloft on ship's mast. Naval officers, in Dress whites, on the bridge of a Japanese warship. A Japanese Commander at a table with other officers aboard a warship. Japanese sailors busy on deck cleaning and maintaining the ship. Closeup of a Mitsubishi F1M reconnaissance float plane aboard a Japanese war ship. Closeups of several Japanese Navy pilots in flight gear on deck of a ship. They climb aboard Mitsubishi F1M float planes. One is seen catapulted off the ship. It returns flying overhead toward the camera. View of the Japanese battleship, Ise, underway at sea. View from a Japanese warship, of a Kawanishi H6K flying boat passing low overhead.
Nine Japanese Mitsubishi A6M "Zero" planes, in triangle formation, fly over the Japanese battleship, Nagato. Japanese officers seen on the bridge, including Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, who is seen using binoculars. His Admiral's flag flies above the Japanese Naval Ensign on the mast of the battleship. Ship's Officers assembled on the bridge, review charts. Several officers on deck using instruments to determine sun elevation. Sailor sends blinker light signal. Another sends semaphore flag signals. A Japanese submarine is seen moving on the surface parallel to the course of the battleship. Japanese sailors at various lookouts using binoculars. A bugler blows call to battle stations. Nagato's 45-caliber 41-centimeter (16 inch) guns swing to port firing position. Crew members hurry to battle stations. View of engine room with pistons moving and sailor at controls. Camera pans heavy wake from the ship and focuses on starboard bow wave and then shifts views to wakes astern. A flight of three open cockpit Mitsubishi A5M ("Claude") aircraft is seen overhead. A Mitsubishi F1M reconnaissance float plane passes close overhead. Glimpse of a warship's gun barrels. Several Mitsubishi A5M aircraft fly low overhead. Sailors wearing gas masks watch from a warship. Several different views of warships firing antiaircraft guns during training drill. A pair of A5M aircraft fly by as antiaircraft guns fire. A pair of Mitsubishi F1M reconnaissance float planes pass. Smoke is seen coming from interior of ship. Sailors in gas masks rush to the source. Crewmen below decks don gas masks as part of the drill. Smoke obscures much ot the next scenes. View from deck of ship shows two 16-inch guns and heavy smoke (from funnels of battleships). Line of destroyers seen following behind other warships. Various views of heavy wakes from ships underway.
Japanese battleships and other warships fire their guns in live fire exercises at sea off Japan. Closeups from various angles of the Battleship, Nagato, firing her 16-inch guns. Following the live firing exercise, the warships maneuver at high speed in formation. Views of heavy wakes raised by their high speed operations.
German Operation Barbarossa in World War 2. Aerial view from inside Adolf Hitler's Ju 52 transport aircraft, of the city of Minsk, Belarus, below. Hitler silhouetted in profile, inside the aircraft, against the aircraft window. View from window as the airplane taxis to parking place. Closeup of enthusiastic German troops cheering Hitler, as he descends steps from the plane. General Field marshal Von Block greets Hitler, Inside German headquarters, Von Bock points to a large map and briefs Hitler on the military situation and operations. Animated map depicts miliary movements from Bialystock to Minsk and then further to Smolensk. German armor is seen pursuing Soviet forces, who have left buildings burning in scorched earth retreat. German troops firing light field artillery (10.5 cm leFH 18 leichte FeldHaubitze) and advancing through smoke over rough terrain. They flush Soviet defenders out of their fortifications. Brief view of destroyed reinforced bunker. Panzer light and medium tanks and move at high speed along roads, cross bridges and waterways and close a ring around Minsk. German and Soviet armor confront each other at close range. As the Germans fire, some soviet vehicles abandon the roadway to escape. German tanks continue to roll, raising clouds of dust. Tanks fire across open fields of grain. Smoke rises from shell strikes. German gunners set up and fire batteries of mixed field artillery including light, medium and heavy guns. Infantry moving house to house in villages. View from behind German gunners firing a maching gun from partially protected position. They duck for cover as enemy round flies close overhead. Soviet prisoners double-time marching along a road.