British defense against German aerial warfare in Battle of Britain during World War 2. A British soldier looks through binoculars and another soldier sits. A soldier on a tank. German aircraft in flight above the English Channel. The planes drop bombs on the British ships. Explosions in the water of the English Channel. Royal Air force (RAF) pilots are scrambled on alert and run towards their planes. The planes take off. British planes attack the German planes and engage in aerial dogfights. A German plane falls in the ocean. Damaged German plane. 180 more German planes put to attack. A pictorial representation shows the places in England attacked by Germany. Explosions on the ground. Various British Spitfire and Hurricane aircraft in the air and on the ground. German attacks on Southampton and British ports. German bomber aircraft dropping bombs on British airfields, but British aircraft seen hidden individually near farms and homes and not grouped together in order to evade destruction by German Luftwaffe bombing campaigns.
German battleship Bismarck in sea near Saint-Nazaire, France. Views on British warship of lower deck, bombs are lifted by means of hoist. Guns aboard British warship are fired. Views of burning ship Bismarck in ocean in distance, explosion on Bismarck can be seen. British naval observers on bridge of ship. Views of German wounded sailors recovered from Bismarck being carried up gangway after having been rescued at sea. British aircraft carrier 'Victorious', biplane aircraft Fairey Swordfish torpedo bomber on the deck of British aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal (91). British battleship at dock, two British Navy Officers shake hands. British sailors raise their hands and salute. Views of battleships. Sailors on board HMS Ark Royal raise a plaque celebrating the defeat of the Bismarck, above a Sebastopol 1854 plaque. (World War II period).
World War II British Hawker Hurricane aircraft in flight over Malta. British lookout atop building peering through binoculars. Enemy aircraft spotter on lookout speaks into microphone. Air raid flag being hoisted to masthead. Siren atop building starts spinning. British Tommy operating portable hand siren. Maltese residents running for an air raid shelter. Lookout firing pistol in air. British soldiers running to anti-aircraft gun stations. Women and children enter shelter. British pilots scramble and are seen running to and getting into Spitfire airplanes. British soldiers operate an antiaircraft gun and fire at incoming German Luftwaffe aircraft. Maltese peasants stopping work in field and watching the attacking planes. Anti-aircraft guns in action. German planes attacking and dropping bombs on British-held targets in Malta. Junkers 88 streaks across sky as Spitfires dive after it. Anti-aircraft batteries firing. Aerial scene of flak and dogfights showing German Junkers 88 aircraft being hit, falling to ground and exploding. British bobby (police officer) wounded in air raid shelter. Women and children in shelter. Bomb hits. Scenes of fire and smoke. Civilians leave shelter.
Map points to Allied positions during Battle of the Bulge in World War II. British soldiers walk in a trench on the prong of the attack south of La Roche en Ardenne (La Roche-en-Ardenne or sometimes just Laroche). Trench in the snow covered area. British soldiers wear warm clothes and try to stay warm in the trench. British soldier knocks hole in ice and draws water into a bucket. British soldiers wash and shave with the freezing water. They heat water and use it to make cups of tea. They move on tanks to location where British and American forces meet and greet. The soldiers talk amongst themselves. On 14 January 1945 armored recce cars of the 2nd Derbyshire Yeomanry, 51st Highland Division, meet GI's of the 347th Infantry, 87th U.S. Infantry Division, near Ortheuville. The first link up between troops of VIII Corps and British 30 Corps. Another encounter between British soldiers, dressed in white camouflage smocks, with Americans of the 87th U.S. Infantry Division at Champlon. Later that same day. Field Marshal Montgomery wearing a new beret, commands the northern forces. British soldiers advance on a roadway and supplies move on vehicles. Houses in the background. U.S. 3rd Army soldiers shovel snow during a blizzard, clearing the way for trucks with supplies and mail to pass. Large tractors with snow plow attachments clear snow. On January 14, 1945, American forces gently sweep snow from the bodies of American soldiers at Malmedy who had surrendered to the Germans a month prior but were then massacred. (These were mostly U.S. forces of the American 285th Field Artillery Observation Battalion) German prisoners of war look on apprehensively as the Americans uncover the victims of the Malmedy Massacre. American soldiers look at from a snow covered hillside into the village of Houffalize in Belgium. A twisted sign for Houffalize is seen, and wreckage and destruction in the town. Close views of wrecked and burned homes in Houffalize. Destroyed tanks with one tipped in a river
Under the glare of bright lights in otherwise pitch darkness, German prisoners of war are being taken aboard a British ship during World War 2. Some are wounded on stretchers. Change of scene shows a British Short Stirling bomber being "bombed Up" at an RAF station in the UK during World War 2. Closeup of bombs being transported on dollies. Closeup of a General Purpose 1000 pound bomb. British airmen raising bombs into the bomb bay of a Short Stirling bomber. British aircrew standing in full flight gear in front of their aircraft. One crewman holds up a toy monkey by the tail. Next the last few crew members are seen boarding the aircraft by a rear door. Pilots in the cockpit. Copilot looking back over his seat toward the camera. Tail gunner seen in his position with belt ammunition visible. The aircraft taxiing out from its parking place. Next a De Havilland DH102 (Mosquito II) with radial engines, is seen taking off. It appears to have a special sensor package fastened underneath it. View of the aircraft in flight directly overhead. A Hawker typhoon aircraft taking off and then performing aerobatics overhead. The De Havilland Mosquito II maneuvering overhead. A Supermarine Spitfire aircraft maneuvering overhead. Shift to gun camera footage from numerous British aircraft strafing German ships. Views of British submarines being welcomed as they return from missions. Closeup of the deck gun on one submarine. Battle damage on part of the submarine. The British Royal Navy White Ensign flying at the Conning Tower of a captured German submarine. Closeup of bearded German U-boat officer. Several sailors on deck of a British submarine. Men waving their caps and cheering on shore to welcome returning submarines.
Prewar and early World War 2 conditions of the British in Great Britain. War ammunition for Britain transported from the United States to Britain as part of lend lease plan. Also war materiel sent the other way around from the United Kingdom to the United States, as the war progressed. A map showing the path between the United States and Great Britain through the Atlantic Ocean. Tanks for Russia from Britain. Aircraft and guns for the United States by Lend Lease. Tons of food and clothing in large containers for troops in Britain. Clusters of houses and buildings. Two men on a bridge. A lane in Britain. People in the lane. Tanks prepare for war. British soldiers in uniform. A woman seated at a vanity putting on lipstick makeup. Men and women in the streets in England. A man turns to notice the legs of a woman as she walks by. View of legs of many women walking by, not wearing stockings due to rationing. Brief shot of driver in a car in the United States as he hands his gas ration ticket to the gas station attendant. Back in England, scene as a man goes to a pub for whiskey. The pub keeper laughs at him as there is none. Men in a field harvesting grains for making industrial alcohol. Soldier painting word "Hitler" onto a bomb shell. Cartons of whiskey being transported to the United States as pay for the material that comes in to Britain. A man opens cartons from the U.S. with 'Made in U.S.A.' painted on it. Images of American made industrial machine goods purchased by the British, including machinery signs for "Cincinnati Bickford", "The Ohio Machine Tool Company", "Niles Tool Works, Hamilton Ohio", "The Cincinnati Planer Co.", "American Hole Wizard", and "Barnes Drill Company, Rockford, Illinois" A woman worker moves a large planer or drill press into position. Crane at a ship dock is seen moving a large wooden crate with "Ford" label on it. A man goes to buy cigarettes. A 'No cigarettes today' board. If there were cigarettes he would have paid the cost of the cigarettes and the tax to the shopkeeper. Close up view of coins on a table and large portion going to British taxes to pay for war. A newspaper headline which says "Britain spends 49,000,000 per day on war." Several industrial plants in Britain, with smoke and pollution rising from chimneys and stacks during high output war effort. Laborers working at a construction site, including brick layers, who pay 29% tax. Rich men who pay 97½ % tax: A man in a nice car parked in front of a church. He leads a bride in a wedding gown and possibly the Bride's father toward the doors of the church. Various views of British workers and workmen walking in and out of factories. British citizens in ration lines. Sheep being herded on pasture land in Australia. Vessels in ocean used by the British for supplies to Russia. Aircraft from the U.S. on board a ship, and British troops arriving on a ship dock.