Japanese air attack against city of Shanghai, at start of 2nd Sino-Japanese war. Formation of Japanese 93-Shiki Soukei bombers in flight (Mitsubishi Type 93 Twin engine Light Bombers). Bombs falling from aircraft with city seen below. Bomb striking ground with large explosion. Civilians running for cover. Buildings on fire. Bombs striking ships in the Shanghai port. Buildings aflame. Japanese Aichi D3A1 aircraft diving. (anachronistic insert) Panic in the streets as people use any means of escape, carrying belongings in wagons and rushing into the International Settlement, by hundreds, or thousands, moving past British and French soldiers. French soldiers pass an infant to safety, across a barbed wire barrier. Shanghai International Settlement gates are closed as thousands remain outside, pressed against the barriers. Views of Chinese people crammed into the streets. Then they stampede into the center of the city, where some are trapped under falling buildings. More scenes of bomb explosions and burning buildings. A formation of Japanese Mitsubishi G3M bombers in flight overhead. More bombs exploding in the city. Fires burning and heavy smoke rising over the city. Dead and injured Chinese civilians. Firefighters spraying water on burning building. People trying to aid one another amongst dead and dying everywhere. Wounded being carried on stretchers and dead being piled into an open truck. Animated map showing Japanese occupying the entire peninsula east of Shanghai and then executing a coordinated drive through Soochow (Suzhou) and Kahsingfu, toward Nanking (Nanjing).
Camera pans across scenes showing masses of Chinese. Narrator cites their large population as a war asset. Lt Gen. Daniel Sultan Commander of US Forces, India–Burma Theater (USFIBT) describes the Allied mission as simply "placing guns in the hands of men in order that they can kill our common enemy." He describes Japan's 1942 strategy of completely isolating China from outside help. Animated map shows Japanese forces attacking China from bases in Thailand and advancing north, driving British forces into India, and leaving Burma in Japanese hands.Glimpse of Japanese troops occupying Burma. Views of American troops evacuated to India. View of Chinese soldiers boarding U.S. Air Transport Command C-46 transport planes for flights from Kunming to Dinjan and Chabua, India. Closeup of some troops inside the cabin of a plane. Chinese soldiers await transport as a C-47 aircraft takes off in the background. Aerial view of two C-47 planes in formation. View from the air of high cloud covered mountains. Storm clouds over the mountains. Downward view from an aircraft flying over the Himalayan Mountains (called flying the "hump" by U.S. pilots). View of Chinese soldiers inside a transport plane. View out the window of a transport plane landing in India. A C-46 airplane taking off. A large formation of Chinese troops seen after more were brought from China to India, later in the war. American soldiers training troops of the Chinese 38th and 22nd Divisions. General Sultan speaks of the need to build up the U.S.Air Transport Command. Two C-47 airplanes on the ground. One named "The Joker." View of sky filled with B-24 Liberator bombers. Sky filled with C-47 transport planes. Chinese soldiers training in Kunming, climbing out of trench in live fire exercise with machine guns firing over their heads and explosive charges detonating near them. Air frame of a P-47 aircraft being loaded and several of Bell P-39 Airacobra aircraft being loaded aboard ship bound to strengthen the U.S. Army 10th and 14th Air Forces in Burma, in 1944. Covered P-47 aircraft without engines being towed by jeeps along a street in Burma. A large airfield with many U.S. fighter planes parked on its ramps. Engines being installed on P-39 aircraft. A flight line filled with P-40 aircraft displaying Chinese roundels. Some fly over a flight line of U.S. Army Air Forces P-39 aircraft. Glimpse of a fighter plane escorting a transport aircraft. A formation of B-24 Liberator bombers dropping bombs and exploding on Japanese ground targets. Workers are seen unloading large amounts of cargo from a B-24 bomber. Workers rolling a large bomb from the plane onto the tailgate of a truck.
Animated map shows American and Chinese forces advancing from Myitkyina to Bhamo, while British forces move to Mogamng to Katha, in Burma during the India-China-Burma campaign of World War 2. Mandalay, Lashio, the Burma Road, and Salween River are also shown on the map. Chinese troops are seen with pack animals moving along road marked by sign reading: "Bhamo Road." Chinese and American troops cross the Irrawaddy River by Pontoon bridge. A heavier item (M3 Lee medium tank) moves via a raft. M3 tanks also cross at affordable locations. Advancing troops move to extreme sides of road for security. Aerial view of Bhamo, on river's edge. Allies employ artillery and U.S. Army Air Forces P-39 Bell Air Cobra planes drop bombs. A Republic P-47 airplane is also seen dropping bombs. Chinese troops fire Browning M1917 machine guns and automatic rifles, as they advance upon the town. Another aerial view of smoke rising at various places in Bhamo. Lieutenant General Daniel Isom Sultan, Commander India-Burma theater, speaks about subsequent advance to the Ledo Road.
Japanese Naval officers and civilian broadcasters announce Japanese Naval victories off the Netherlands East Indies and off Malaya. Japanese planes bomb British naval battleships Repulse and Prince of Wales off Malaya. Flashback shows Vessels.1942. (World War II period).
A Hook and Ladder Fire truck pulls a Firestone tire company truck that has gotten stuck in ditch at side of dirt road. Men push the side of truck to keep it going straight. Sign on Firestone truck: "A tire for every load, road, condition, service". British flags on both trucks.
Czar Nicholas ll or Nikolay Alexandrovich Romanov of Russia with his wife Maria Alexandrovna, and their daughters, meeting Russian military Generals. Russian royalty at a royal ceremony. British royal ceremony making Edward (son of King George V and Queen Mary) Prince of Wales, on his 16th Birthday, June 23, 1910. Next scene shows Andrew Carnegie, American industrialist and steel tycoon, with wealthy oil baron John D Rockefeller.
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