General Jean De Lattre De Tassigny in Indochina. The French General gives a brief speech over a microphone. He explains that the French are still in Indochina not for colonial interests but to help the natives build their own independent country. The French are also fighting a war against the Communists.
Film begins showing an army truck filled with Viet Minh soldiers driving on a street in Hanoi, Indochina (Vietnam), during the Battle of Hanoi in December 1946 (early in First Indochina War). Next, French soldiers wearing berets are seen in defensive positions at a port. Bursting bombs from Viet Minh attack raise black smoke in the background as civilians run away from the area, and Viet Minh troops rush forward taking up positions in Hanoi. Views of civilians hunkering down behind trees, under cars, and other means of protection, while plumes of black smoke rise in the near background. More scenes of civilian refugees fleeing. A man carrying two young children runs by a building with sign "Chi-Thành" (denoting the Duong Chi Thanh street area and neighborhood of Hanoi). A fire raging in the background. Viet Minh troops in defensive positions behind a wall. Activity along a tree-lined avenue. A police van with French and Vietnamese identification driving along a road with a Red Cross flag flying above it. Injured youth lying on a sidewalk with another teenage boy beside him. A nurse in white attire, directing men carrying a wounded person on a litter. Jeep in background with text sign "Trung Liet" on its hood (denoting the Hanoi neighborhood of Trung Liệt). A makeshift outdoor first aid station. Smoke from fires obscuring part of the scene.
French newspapers report end of Indochina war. One article says: Enough blood shed, Peace in Viet-Nam. Ho Chi Minh stands beside a French official in rural Vietnam. They both look at a document.
Passenger ship S.S. Chicago, of the French line Compagnie Générale Transatlantique CGT, leaves New York harbor. Men aboard the ship. The ship getting underway toward the ocean. Other ships in the background.
Views of Luxembourg. Automobile carrying French negotiators, Christian Pineau, Francois-Poncet, and Rene Mayer, arrives at meeting place in Luxembourg. Small group of onlookers on sidewalk, and some looking out apartment windows. Photographers take photographs. Car arrives carrying German President Konrad Adenauer, who enters the building. Inside meeting hall, French delegation, headed by Prime Minister, Guy Mollet, is seated at the table. Konrad Adenauer at the table, consulting with member of his German delegation. Members of the French delegation converse together.
U.S. Army Air Force armorers ride atop bombs on trolleys, being pulled by a tug on an airfield in England during World War 2. Airmen gather around a bomb as one writes in chalk, "To Schicky (referring to Hitler family, Schickelgruber) this is only the start, Love, L.E.Z." Views of Airmen rolling bombs on carts under a B-17E aircraft. View from inside a B-17 as ground crews look up through open bomb bay doors. B-17 combat crewmen walking and riding bicycles, to attend a mission briefing. Inside the assembled aircrews are briefed by a British RAF officer, who says, "We're going to work. The target is XZ 462." He goes on providing details to be followed by aircrews. The crews leave the briefing room. Next, B-17s are seen taxiing out for takeoff. The lead aircraft is "Yankee Doodle" piloted by Brigadier General Ira Eaker. Another is "Stinky." Next is "Little Skunk Face."And the last one "Berlin Sleeper." Ground crews watch as the B-17 bombers take off and assemble into formation overhead. Views from inside a B-17 as bombs fall and its gunners fight off German fighter planes. Bombs seen falling and exploding on the ground and raising clouds of smoke. Glimpse of gunners firing at attacking German aircraft. Narrator states there is anti-aircraft fire all around them, that jolts the aircraft. The B-17s assemble in formation for the flight home. Back at the base, some wait atop the tower for the returning aircraft. General Ira Eaker, Chief of the U.S. VIII Bomber Command, steps from a returning aircraft, and greets Major General Carl Spaatz, Commander of the 8th Air Force. Final scene shows Brigadier General Eaker, smoking a cigar and surrounded by civilian and military reporters. ( Note: Reportedly, the B-17 "Stinky" crash landed in Athenry Co Galway Ireland on the 15th January 1943 with General Jacob Devers and a party of other Generals onboard, but none were injured and and all arrived safely at 2AM the same day, in Belleek, Northern Ireland.)
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