Berlin during Berlin airlift operations. A United States military airplane crashes at Tempelhof during Berlin Airlift operations. Firemen try to control fire in the burning plane. View of the smoldering and destroyed plane. Military Air Transport Service (MATS) Planes parked at Tempelhof Airfield. Unloading of equipment from trucks. Sunderland flying boat lifts off a lake. A crowd of German children runs on the Tempelhof airfield tarmac towards American pilots and present them with bouquets and flowers. Door of a Berlin Airlift supply plane closed. View from runway as C-54 Skymaster airplane taxis, approaches gaining speed for take off, and then takes off.
The National Socialist Factory Cell organizations (NSBO) gathered in the Berlin Lustgarten, for a large protest march through the formerly Marxist areas east of Berlin. Men carry banners for various worker groups, including some German Government workers from the Defense Ministry. Many carry signs showing affilitation with the NSBO. Uniformed Berlin policemen are seen in the crowd. At start of the next sequence, a slate states that the day before the election, the entire Berlin Sturmabteilung (SA) Stormtroopers marched by Hermann Goring, Prussian Minister of the Interior. They are seen marching past Goering, who reviews them from a balcony.
Opening scene shows Katyusha rockets fired by Soviet forces in streets of Berlin at night during World War 2, during Battle of Berlin. They create fires in Berlin buildings leading to fire storm with whole buildings engulfed in flames. Soviet troops are silhouetted against the fire backdrop as they rush through the city streets. Insert of German film showing Adolf Hitler standing on a podium at a torchlight ceremony with Sturmabteilung (Storm Troopers) prior to World War 2. They march carrying torches as Hitler gives Nazi salute from the podium. Views of the torches in formation and glimpse of the Storm troopers marching. Film reverts back to 1945 and German prisoners of war being marched under guard as Soviet troops fire Katusha rockets in the background,during daylight, in Berlin. The Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church, on KurfĂĽrstendamm is seen dimly. Soviet troops scamper among ruins of buildings and self propelled gun fires in a street. Desperate German civilians enter a damaged store and loot fabric and clothing as well as small boxes of goods. One man carries a huge pile of clothing and towels on his back.
Film begins showing German General Helmuth Weidling, commander of the Berlin Defense Area, who surrendered his forces to the soviets on May 2, 1945, during World War 2. He is describing to a Soviet officer, interogator, using a pointer and map, the defense tactics of his Berlin defense. He also describes the condition in which he found Adolf Hitler when he last visited him at his Berlin Chancery. He demonstrates the palsy-like shaking of Hitler's hand. German officer being questioned as he sits on a curb. Soviet officers examine charred bodies including a possible Hitler body double or doppelgänger, lying on the ground in courtyard of the German Chancery. The area filled with trash. View of a very tall steel tower. Closeup of the Soviet Red flag flying atop that tower. View of the damaged Quadriga statue atop the Brandenburg Gate. Soviet Field Marshal Georgy Zhukov and other Soviet officer pass under Brandenburg Gate. View of Kaiser Wilhelm monument. Marshal Zhukov and his party walking through central Berlin past various monuments and Government buildings. Several Nazi Eagle symbols are seen displayed on buildings. Crystal chandeliers inside one building. Destroyed interior of building. A cast head of Adolf Hitler in trash outside a building. Other statuary and Swastika symbols in trash. Marshal Zhukov and party stop to examine two damaged German armored cars in courtyard of a building. View of the Victory Column in Tiergarten Park adorned with a Soviet Red flag. Marshal Zhukov looking upward at it and then walking up steps toward the monument base.
Berlin Airlift during post-World War II blockade of Berlin and final lifting of blockade. U.S. Brigadier General Frank L. Howley stands before a map of Berlin as he speaks about final lifting of Berlin blockade. Two officers work at airport control tower. U.S. Army Air Forces C-54 Skymaster transport aircraft takes off from a runway.
Scenes from the Berlin Airlift. Views of transportation facilities shut down by the Soviets in June 1948. Glimpse of the city of Berlin, followed by views of empty railroad lines; barges idled in a canal; parked and silent trolley cars. Next, a U.S. Air Force Douglas C-54 Skymaster transport aircraft (military version of DC-4) is seen landing in Templehof aerodrome in Berlin. German children stand on a hill watching and waving at another C-54 on final approach to Templehof. A C-54 flying close to buildings on its final approach to the airport, followed by another landing near a line of trucks filled with goods brought in by the airlift. A military truck unloading supplies from C-54, tail number 42-72548, as another C-54 taxis up close behind it. Several C-54 airlift planes taxiing in a line on the Templehof ramp.
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