Restrospective of the 1954 search for a suitable site for U.S. Air Force testing of ballistic missiles. Coastal area with ocean in the background. Officials look over charts, maps, photographs as they select the site for Vandenberg Air Force Base. In January, 1958, view of building with a sign that reads ' Headquarters, First Missile Division, Strategic Air Command, Vandenberg Air Force Base' Entrance of the headquarters as Major General David Wade walks out. U.S. Air Force officers and airmen attend missile training classes. Airmen work on assembly of Thor missiles . U.S. Air Force officers and airmen operate missile launch consoles in a launch control center. November, 1958, Thor intermediate range missile on a trailer being delivered to Vandenberg Air Force Base. Trailer backs up to the launch pad. December, 16, 1958, the Thor missile on launch pad venting gases. U.S. Air Forces officers at a launch console. The Thor missile is launched. RAF airmen watch missile in flight.
U.S. Army 3rd Armored Division advance in Belgium during World War 2. U.S. Army Captain examines a snow-covered disabled M4 Sherman tank, with shell holes in it, in Sterpigny, Belgium. Damaged buildings all around. American soldiers look at a damaged German Panther tank. View of jeep approaching on road. Shattered trees along the roadside. (Note:This footage was shot in the town of Sterpigny, Belgium just after 16 January 1945. The 2nd Battalion, U.S. 330th Infantry Regiment was attached to the 3rd Armored Division and fought alongside tank units of the 3rd Armored Division against elements of the 9th SS Panzer Division to capture the town on 16 January.)
King Albert I of Belgium and his wife, Elisabeth of Bavaria (the Queen of Belgium), make a triumphant return to Brussels after the end of World War 1. Belgian infantry marches through streets with crowds watching in Brussels. Along a street near the Royal Palace (likely Rue Royale), a military parade takes place. King Albert I rides on horseback, with Elisabeth of Bavaria (the Queen of Belgium) following behind. Belgians give a "Hero's welcome" to the Belgian Royal Family in Brussels.
Events during the Paris Peace Conference. View of Houthulst forest in Belgium. United States President Woodrow Wilson along with his American Delegation is on a sightseeing trip in Belgium. They are accompanied by King Albert I and Queen Elizabeth of Belgium. The entire team is seen enjoying a picnic and having lunch under a tent. Queen Elizabeth takes the picture of the lunch party. A french guard and other men standing along the side of a motor car.
Invasion of Belgium and the Netherlands by Germany on 10th May, 1940. Belgium: Nazi troops enter Belgian border crossing with armor and infantry, and invade Belgium. Netherlands: German Ju 52 trimotor transport aircraft carry paratroopers who jump over Rotterdam, Netherlands. They land and move against defenders on the ground. Defenders surrendering under white flags. German aircraft bomb parts of Rotterdam and cause a large conflagration at Rotterdam Port. Fires burning in Rotterdam. civilians leaving areas of fire carrying belongings. (World War II period).
Film opens with date: 10 May 1940 (date of the German invasion of Luxembourg, Holland, and Belgium, in World War 2). Huge precise formation of German soldiers is shown. Alternating closeups of individual soldiers and camera pans across the formation. Animated map shows Germany, Belgium, France and Holland, plus Rein River, City of Lille, and Paris. It shows positions of English and French armies, ostensibly attacking from France, across Belgium and Holland, toward the German Ruhr region (but actually moving to repulse the German offensive). Belgian troops advancing on motorcycles past sandbagged buildings. The French border being opened followed by many French military vehicles, including trucks, trailers, artillery pieces, and some French Lorraine 37 tracked vehicles. A steam locomotive pulls a boxcar troop train. French and British forces seen on the train. Many of the Allied soldiers sit in its doorways with their legs dangling. A French Char B1 heavy tank rumbles along a road. French light tanks. More views of Allied troops, including French Colonials, marching through towns and villages. Closeup of the Commander-in-Chief of the British Expeditionary Force, General the Viscount Lord Gort, with another British Commander. British troops in armored personnel carriers. British troops marching as someone is hear singing in background, about "washing day on the Siegfried line." Several British self-propelled heavy guns in motion. German army engineers detonating a charge followed by large explosions.