American General William D Mitchell (aka Billy Mitchell) at a desk in his office in Middleburg, Virginia. General Mitchell points out the loopholes in air support at Long Island for New York. He urges that America must build up its strength in building more bomber aircraft. General Mitchell says that air power is the prime strength of any nation for directly attacking the enemy's key installations. The General demands the construction of an air base in Alaska.
Film starts with view of the U.S. military headquarters Pentagon building in Virginia, as seen from Columbia Island, across the lagoon, in World War 2.. Closeup of the building. Inside, Lieutenant General Brehon Burke Somervell , Commander of the Army Service Forces (ASF) is seen presiding over a staff meeting that includes seven Major Generals, who head the ASF technical services. Flag of the Quartermaster Corps seen in closeup. Officers of that organization are seen meeting. Scene shifts to a warehouse where military supplies are being moved on trailers pulled by small tractors. Carts filled with equipment are seen. Men prepare some for transport to America's allies overseas. Men fill packages with articles of clothing. A sign reads: "Maj. Gen. Reybold, Chief of Engineers." Engineers officers at a conference table rise as their Commander, General Reybold, enters. He sits and they begin their meeting. Closeup of staff officers in the meeting. Officers walk through a section of the Army Map Service, where cartographers, draftsmen and others are busy at tables creating maps. One of them is seen fitting several aerial photographs together to form a detailed map. A cartographer at the mapping service is seen annotating a map of the Marseille area of France. Views of high speed offset presses printing large scale maps for the military. A sign identifies the office of the Chief of Ordnance. Staff officers of that office are seen at work. Closeup of small arms being placed in a shipping box. An open yard filled with M24 Chaffee light tanks. A vast yard at a railroad siding, containing countless tanks on one side and building materials on the other. Sign in Pentagon at office of Major General H.C. Ingles, Chief Signal Officer. Closeup of General Ingles at his desk. Members of his staff consult with him. Sign at office of the Chief, Chemical Warfare Service. Major General William N. Porter, the Chief, looks over maps with several staff. Troops training under gas attack and smoke screen conditions. The entrance to the office of the Surgeon General of the U.S. Army. Inside, Major General Norman Thomas Kirk , Surgeon General, confers with a Colonel. Maps of areas where disease poses a threat to U.S. military forces. Office of Major General C.P. Gross, Army Chief of Transportation. Inside He holds a meeting with members of his staff. View of a pier where military supplies are being offloaded by means of derricks.
Unwanted immigrants disembark from a train at Communipaw, New Jersey and ready to be deported. Gathered together from across the U.S. for numerous offenses, the 400 men, women and children are herded aboard the Ellis Island Boat to await deportation back to Europe. The Ellis Island Boat leaves the shore of Communipaw pushed by a tugboat.
American naval triple guns firing, in World War 2. The battleship, USS West Virginia, modernized and in camouflage, firing guns at a Pacific island. U.S.troops firing weapons from a beachhead. American soldiers manning a 155mm howitzer under camouflage netting. Another gun crew firing at zero elevation from heavily sandbagged position near buildings. Black flak clouds filling the air as American aircraft carrier fights off Japaneae Kanikase attack. The Kamikase plane appearing to by hit by flak. Cluster of Doouglas Dauntless planes on the carrier deck. Closeup of sailors firing double Bofors 40mm anti-aircraft guns from the carrier. Downed aircraft plunging into the sea. American troops riding a landing vehicle tracked (LVT) during amphibious assault. Landing craft stacking up along beach and subject to intense enemy fire during amphibious assault. One is hit and blows up. Flame thrower being usee to drive Japanese defenders from fortified positions. One runs out aflame. U.S. soldier throwing a grenade. American troops quick time entering an occupied town in Europe. Explosions and U.S. infantry passing destroyed buildings. Soldier firing a mortar. U.S. soldiers carrying a wounded on stretcher under fire.
Japanese battleships and aircraft carriers including Kaga (ahead) and Zuikaku (trailing to port) underway in the Pacific Ocean towards Pearl Harbor. Japanese planes line up on aircraft carrier. Japanese pilots briefed. Japanese pilots run for their planes, board and take off from carrier. Two Nakajima B5N (Kate) Dive bombers taking off, in succession, from aircraft carrier deck. A Mitsubishi A6M "Zero" taking off. A formation, of B5N aircraft , in flight, carrying torpedoes underneath. View from Japanese attacking airplanes as they bomb the Naval Air Station on Ford Island. Heavy black smoke rising from the ground. Next bombers attack the capital ships on Battleship Row. Burning U.S. battleships. Still photographs annotated (in Japanese) point to the various ships targeted, including the USS California, USS Arizona, USS Maryland, USS Utah, and USS West Virginia.
Film opens showing the U.S. Capitol building in Washington, DC. Next are views of the U.S. Navy and Munitions building on Constitution Avenue in Washington, DC (Sign on building reads: "Navy Department.") View of Senior Naval officers in a conference room in the building. Next scene shows a group of military planners discussing a three dimensional model of a Pacific island with landing ships and landing craft near the shore. A group of Army and Navy officers discuss documents as they stand in front of a huge wall map of the world. They walk together and point to the Mediterranean portion of the map. A large sign points toward "Naval Research Lab." Inside a Navy Commander and Lieutenant Commander confer over some maps with two civilians. Next, a room full of draftsmen (including a woman) are seen bent over drawing boards. Two engineers bend over an instrumented cutaway of a ship's hull. Senior military officers sit around a conference table. American and British flags are placed at the end of the room. Closeup of two British officer attendees. Civilian engineers and designers gather around a table. Workers at a shipyard gather on and around a Navy ship that displays a battery of four antiaircraft guns. Men in a foundry preparing to pour molten metal from a ladle into a mold. A milling machine taking a deep cut on the edge of a steel plate. A large engine being moved by an overhead conveyor in a factory. Men fabricating boats in a factory. View, from a moving platform, of men painting a newly manufactured Higgins boat (Landing Craft vehicle personnel, LCVP). A new Landing Ship Tank being launched at the Norfolk Navy Yard, Portsmouth, Virginia. USS LSTs 340 and 341 at their launchings in Portsmith.
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