Montage of scenes related to European mobilization and preparations for World War I, from 1914 through 1919, plus brief views of Mark VIII tank maneuvers, circa 1924. Patriotic French citizens fill a street as France mobilizes for World War 1. Italian soldiers marching to war through a town. British King George V seen with Prime Minister David Lloyd George and other British officials. British First Lord of Admiralty, Winston Churchill poses and "mugs" for camera. British troops being transported along a country road on double-decker buses and slogging through the mud in France. Two French soldiers join the line of "tommies" to be photographed, and then step out of line to watch. King George V with Field Marshal Douglas Haig, and other officers, next to their automobiles in field, during the King's visit to his troops in 1916. The King and British officers observe tests of Mark IV tank, circa 1917. Scene shifts to August 10, 1916 showing the Prince of Wales and King George V, accompanied by Field Marshal Douglas Haig, and other officers, observing the Battle of Pozières (in Battle of the Somme) from a safe distance, using a telescope. U.S. Army Mark VIII International Tanks in daytime and nighttime maneuvers (likely at Fort Meade, Maryland) circa 1924.
French Line Pier 10 at Staten Island in New York. French ship 'Ile De Re' at dock. Name and flags on side of ship on France. French flag on the stern. Freighter 'Leopold' chartered by the Red Cross to carry food to war-torn France during World War II. French flag on stern. Captain Lewis Thepaut going aboard Leopold. Leopold leaving dock. Coast Guard Escort near the ship. French ship 'Ile De Re' leaving dock. Leopold underway.
French Line Pier 10 at Staten Island in New York. Ship with French flag on stern. Flour being loaded aboard freighter 'Leopold' chartered by the Red Cross to carry food to France. Men aboard Leopold loading the sacks. A man sits on a bag. Sack bags in rows. Sacks read in French 'From America to France'.
' Operation Pluto ' about the British operation to lay down under the sea pipe lines to supply gasoline in the European theater during World War II. A map of France. Flexible pipelines to transport gasoline between France and England are tarred and wrapped in Britain. Pipelines being manufactured and piled up in a yard. Ships and boats underway in the English Channel as the pipes are being laid.
U.S. Army soldier reads newspaper while listening to radio. Soldiers doing their respective chores, listen to AFN (American Forces Network) Radio. General Marshall and General Eisenhower announce the creation of AFN, in 1942. July 4, 1943, the first broadcast of AFN. General Eisenhower mingling with paratroopers of the 101st Airborne Division, on the eve of D-day. U.S. B-26 aircraft in flight. United States soldiers aboard landing craft and wading ashore at Normandy, France, on D-day, June 6, 1944. Soldiers tuning radios in the field. United States Sherman tanks and infantry move along country road in France. Audio includes portions from AFN broadcasts, including an announcer saying "You are listening to AFN Paris. This is the American Forces Network, on the road to Berlin." Road sign points to St. Lo. Group of U.S. soldiers gathered around a jeep with a radio, listening to AFN, in Germany. (World War II period).
Japanese troops parade for Emperor Hirohito, mounted upon a white horse. Italian troops goosestep and German troops goosestep on parade. View of an Austrian town with snow-covered Alps mountains in background as German troops enter Austria on March 13, 1938 during the Anschluss. Local citizens welcome them, displaying swastika flags and giving Nazi straight arm salutes. Troops, military vehicles, tanks, motorcycles, and horse-drawn artillery comprise the German invading force. Shifts to Spain, where war torn buildings reflect effects of German and Italian intervention during the Spanish Civil War. A donkey standing near field artillery piece. Artillery being fired from an urban park in Spain. Artilleryman using a range finder. German gun crew with heavy artillery piece. Soldiers wearing Adrian steel helmets, firing a two-wheeled water-cooled machine gun. Spanish carrying wounded on stretcher. Spanish civilians inadvertently slain during civil war conflict. Starving dog walking in street. Huge poster of Francisco Franco and view of him on reviewing stand saluting marching Nationalist troops. Repeat of Hirohito reviewing troops and Italian and German troops goosestep. Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini stand together in open car heading to Fuhrerbau in Munich, Germany, for signing of Agreement between Germany, Italy, Britain, and France in 1938. Neville Chamberlain, and Edouard Daladier riding in car to Fuhrerbau. Views of the principals signing the accords. First is Adolf Hitler, followed by Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, Benito Mussolini, and Edouard Daladier. After the signing, the principals, plus Hermann Goering, mingle and converse. Change of scene to nighttime in Rome, Italy, where Benito Mussolini addresses a huge throng gathered near the Victor Emmanuel Memorial to cheer him after his return from Munich. Next, German troops are seen entering Sudetenland (Czechoslovakia) greeted by joyous ethnic German inhabitants. Banners are stretched across a street. One gives thanks to the Fuhrer. Several scenes of cheering population. A woman strews flowers in a roadway. Hitler arrives, standing in an open car, and is met with cheers of adulation. A military brass band plays from the open beds of two moving army trucks. Signpost points to Prag (Prague), Eger (Cheb), Joachimstal (Jáchymov), and Komotau (Chomutov) after German annexation. Scene shifts to Prague, where German troops are seen occupying the city. High ranking German officers in a car are seen coming through the gateway from the Court d´honneur of the Prague Castle into the Hradčany Square. The next sequence shows an Italian Freccia-Class destroyer in the Albanian Port of Durrës. An Italian L3/35 Tankette is driven off a large cargo ship. Italian troops on bicycles ride in a city street. A German 88mm antiaircraft (flak) gun is shown, mounted at a fort overlooking a river and city. Final scene shows Adolf Hitler addressing a meeting of the Bundestag in the Kroll Opera House (alternate meeting place after burning of the Reichstag). He reads, contemptuously from an April 14, 1939 letter sent to him by U.S. President Roosevelt, asking him to give "assurance that your armed forces will not attack or invade the territory or possessions of the following independent nations: Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, The Netherlands, Belgium, Great Britain and Ireland, France, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Poland, Hungary, Rumania, Yugoslavia, Russia, Bulgaria, Greece, Turkey, Iraq, the Arabias, Syria, Palestine, Egypt and Iran." As Hitler reads through the litany of nations, the Bundestag erupts in laughter.
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