Peaceful scenes of pre-war England, showing a church with sheep grazing on its lawn, and a college building with ivy growing on the walls. In contrast, explosion and results of German bombing is shown, with buildings collapsing and ruined from the German blitz over England. A long line of Chinese soldiers marching along the Great Wall of china. Shadows of three Japanese bombers flying over Chinese landscape. On May 4, 1942, Madame Chiang Kai-Shek decorates American fliers who made the first attack on Tokyo in World War 2. Wearing a Chinese decoration around his neck, Lieutenant Colonel Jimmy Doolittle, who led that raid by U.S. B-25 bombers from the Aircraft Carrier USS Hornet, poses with Madame Chiang and others of his group. Scenes of Moscow, Soviet Russia, including a T-70 light tank moving rapidly along a city street. A Soviet Petlyakov Pe-2 dive bomber taking off in a snow storm. U.S. troops on a halftrack in North Africa. British artillerymen firing a 25 pounder in the desert. Glimpses of smoke rising from enemy strikes at cities in England, Russia, and China. Scenes of destruction from bombing. Brief street scenes of unharmed and intact towns and cities in the United States, including brief New York City scene of pedestrians and traffic in Times Square. Defense workers in America going to work at Ranger Aircraft Engines factory (later part of Fairchild Aircraft and Engine Corporation), and a star flag showing war service by worker families. Farmers in Western U.S. harvesting grain. Railroad trains and river barges carrying harvest from U.S. farms. Herds of cattle and sheep being raised for the war effort in Western U.S. Aerial view of orchards and farms in America. A mining bucket filled with iron ore. Barge carrying the ore. A steel mill in operation. Scrap iron being recycled. View from production floor of U.S. bomber aircraft being built in a defense plant. Countless freight cars in a railroad marshaling yard at a port, where a tug boat and a freighter are seen in the water. War materiel piled up at the port. A convoy of supply ships underway.
United States Army Air Forces Major General Claire Lee Chennault Commander of the 14th Air Force in China during World War II. Airmen of the 14th Air Force lined up on a field with aircraft in the background. Chennault inspects the 14th Air Force. A Captain with a medal pinned onto him. Chinese pilots shake hands with Major General Chennault. In Washington DC Major General Chennault receives the Mitchell Trophy for the services rendered by the 14th Air Force. U.S. Army Air Force B-17 Flying Fortress aircraft in flight and drop bombs over Sicily and Sardinia in Italy. Explosions occur.
Manpower in China during World War II. Men and women working on land. They work on construction of an airstrip. They pull a machine to level the ground. They level it themselves due to the lack of funds for purchasing other equipment and gasoline. Mountains and trees in the background.
Film opens with outline map of Japan shown in contrast to 20 times larger China and figures representing China's 6 times greater population. Map of China is shown in pieces representing its numerous internal fiefdoms. In contrast, Japanese soldiers are shown marching in review before their singular leader, Emperor Hirohito and other national military leaders. Film shows contrasting 20th century characteristics of China and Japan. Sun Yat-sen, who figured prominently in post-Imperial China, and is considered the founding father of the Republic of China, is shown speaking to crowds. Narrator states that in 1911, this man fathered a peoples' revolution which brought to an end, China's ancient Imperial government. View of Chinese people marching and carrying flags and banners. Books are shown comparing China's Sun Yat-sen to America's George Washingon. Sun Yat-sen's political statement, shown in Chinese, contains words similar those in Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg address. View of schools and colleges built in the new Republic of China. Chinese students shown in libraries. A couple dining in a Chinese hotel restaurant, overlooking other buildings. A tall clock tower looms at the same height outside their window. Steel being erected for a tall building. Architects at work. Scientist looking through a microscope. Technicians at work in a chemistry laboratory. Medical staff and patients in a modern hospital. Children in school under compulsory education program. Chinese people exercising their freedoms of expression and religion. The funeral of Sun Yat-sen, in 1925, attended by his successor, Chiang Kai-shek, and other Chinese leaders in military uniforms. Chinese people attending an outdoor ceremony. Examples of areas needing modernisation. Chinese workers using manually operated machinery to process fabrics. Commercial vessel plying a river using wind and sail only. Views of steam locomotives and trains being introduced to link parts of China. Trucks moving goods over roads (still unpaved). Miners working in open air mines, digging coal and iron. Molten tin being poured from a crucible. Machines performing complex tasks in a fabric mill and women tending spinning and knitting machines. School children engaged in collective outdoor games and exercise drills. Scene shifts to Japan, where Emperor Hirohito, on a white horse, leads military leaders in reviewing Japanese forces. A formation of Japanese Model 97 medium tanks passing in review, with tank commanders saluting from their turrets. Glimpse of Japanese steel mill. Headline in World-Telegram newspaper of 14 february, 1934, reads: "Tokyo House Passes Huge Arms Budget." A Los Angeles newspaper of 23 November, 1934, expands on the same story. New Orleans Times-Picayune, Sunday, 5, May, 1936, reports that Japan is strained by its huge arms costs.
General Chennault receives gifts from the people of Yunnan Province, China. Chinese flag waves. A Chinese man addresses during function. A cow presented to General Chennault to show their appreciation. Silver trophy with U.S. Eagle presented to General.
General Joseph Warren Stilwell presents the Legion of Merit to Chinese Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek in Chongqing (Chungking), China during World War II. Madame Chiang Kai-shek (Soong Mei-ling) is also present. Madame Chiang talks to news correspondents.
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