Players on the Boston Bees baseball team (formerly the Boston Braves) do spring training drills in San Antonio Texas, March 1941. Players warm up by throwing and catching. Manager Casey Stengel, a future Hall of Famer, clowns around with a movie camera for three of his players. Pitcher Hank LaManna throws a couple of pitches toward the camera. Shortstop Eddie Miller turns a double play in practice.
Attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii by the Japanese Navy on December 7, 1941, as filmed from the deck of U.S. Navy Hospital Ship, USS Solace (AH-5). Ships docked at Pearl Harbor. Several small launches speed across the calm harbor. Suddenly a bomb bursts in the water, behind one of the launches. Several U.S. SBD Dauntless and F4F aircraft, from the USS Enterprise, fly over the deck of the Hospital Ship, with their landing gear down (to land at Ford Island). U.S. Navy ship USS Nevada (BB-36) leaves the harbor at high speed, throwing up a bow wave. Japanese aircraft bomb U.S. Navy ship USS Arizona (BB-39) docked. The ship explodes and sinks. A large smoke column rises from the explosion. (This image has been reversed. From the perspective of the USS Solace, the Arizona should be pointing to the right, not to the left.) Anti aircraft firing from U.S. Navy ships fills air with black Flak puffs. Various ships burn. (World War II period).
Women chorus line or chorus girl dancers perform as part of a stage production in Berlin, Germany, 1941, during World War 2. Scene shifts to a concert hall, where a German General and other officers are in front row seats applauding the conductor who is treated as a maestro. He speaks to them from the orchestra pit. Closeup of the maestro as he begins conducting the orchestra, presumably accompanying actors/singers on stage (unseen). Glimpse of audience reveals many German military officers and civilian men and women. After the performance, the maestro escorts a woman and a man onto the stage, which is set for the just concluded performance. The maestro bows slightly. The next scene is still onstage and a civilian man joins the two performers just seen along with a young military officer in a white uniform (possibly a Kriegsmarine officer). Another woman joins them. She also greets the maestro. A large basket of flowers sits in their midst. Finally the young Kriegsmarine officer shakes hands with the maestro..
Soviet Union mobilizes in wake of the Operation Barbarossa, invasion by Germany and its allies in World War 2. At beginning, the film shows a large crowd of Soviet citizens gathered as they learn about the invasion on June 22, 1941, Camera pans over the crowd and shows many closeups of individuals and groups. Brief view of Joseph Stalin broadcasting to the Soviet people on June 22nd, saying, "This war is not an ordinary war. It is a war of the entire Russian people, not only to eliminate the danger hanging over our head, but to aid all people groaning under the yoke of Fascism." High speed printers produce news reports for distribution across the land. Views of men on horseback leaving a rural village to answer the call for recruits to defend the nation. Views of conscripts being marched in formation on a city street, under direction of a Soviet officer. Film emphasizes the roll of women in the war effort, showing women pasting patriotic posters on a wall. A cadre of uniformed women soldiers is seen marching along a city street past spectators. A large group of many kinds of Soviet citizens walking together, including men, women, and youths. A boy works, checking a newly manufactured rifle, in an arms factory. Boys digging with pickaxes alongside older miners in a coal mine. Women in an army unit wearing full uniforms including bed rolls. A Soviet army unit containing both men and women. A woman operating a lathe in a war plant machine shop. An old man seen along with women harvesting grain by hand, on a farm. A steam locomotive moving on a rail road. A woman at the helm of a ship. Women operating farm equipment. Soviet soldiers removing usable metal objects from a dwelling to use in the war effort. Women and children gleaning remains in a farm field. Cattle being driven to prevent their capture by the enemy. An old man with an old fashioned rifle, tanding watch over rural fields, on the lookout for German airplanes.
German airborne campaign against Crete in May 1941. German soldiers scan mountainous terrain through binoculars. German Junkers JU-52 transport aircraft in flight. Paratroopers descend. Supplies and equipment dropped from an aircraft. German soldiers open boxes. Junkers JU-52 parked on ground at Maleme airfield with soldiers in foreground. A German officer speaks to soldiers. Wounded German soldiers loaded aboard Junkers JU-52. (World War II period).
Speedway Classic in Indianapolis, Indiana. Fire fighters extinguish fire in what appears to be a garage facility. Next scene shows cars racing in the 1941 Indianpolis 500 race, driving on the track at great speed. Spectators watch the thrilling race. One of the drivers is severely hurt in an accident. Mauri Rose of Indianapolis teamed with Floyd Davis of Illinois win the Speedway Classic.