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.
Montage of World War II scenes in rapid succession, including: British flag flying; British civilian men looking through debris and victims of Japanese bombing in China; a German armored car moving rapidly; Heavy artillery pieces firing; German SdKfz 251 half-track armored personnel carrier rushing past the camera; The German Nazi flag flying from the Eiffel Tower in Paris, France; German troops marching through the Arc de Triomphe (Arch of Triumph) as they occupy Paris; New York Times newspaper headline reading: "Nazis execute 50 French hostages in Bordeaux!" French Army prisoners of war; British Colonial troops in a labor gang; German Messerschmitt Bf 109 aircraft in flight; French refugees fleeing advancing German forces; Momentary closeup of ME- Bf-109 firing guns and then climbing away from roadway filled with refugees. Animated illustration showing shadows of German bombers flying towards Britain. Numerous dead civilians, victims of Axis military actions in various parts of the world. The White cliffs of Dover. Formation of German Heinkel HE-111 bombers coming over England. Aerial view from above of numerous German Ju 87 Stuka dive bombers in flight. British Royal Air Force airman ringing alarm bell and RAF pilots scramble; responding by running to their spitfire aircraft, taking off and climbing to intercept German bombers. Closeup of one pilot in his cockpit during dogfight. A formation of three German Ju 87s seen from below. Gun camera glimpse of one being shot down from behind. An aircraft shot down and crashing. German aircraft bombing England at night during Battle of Britain (1940). Point of view shots from inside German aircraft during blitz over Britain, with aerial views of explosions and fires on ground in England. Narrator mentions Coventry as a target. Smoking ruins from German blitzkrieg bombing. Aerial views of areas bombed by German aircraft. British civilians carrying coffins and lowering them into grave sites as they bury victims of Nazi German bombing. Closeup of the shoulder patch worn on uniforms of soldiers in the U.S. Service Forces. Views of war materiel in warehouses and being loaded aboard ships destined to the war zones. American soldiers on a Pacific island. United States Army soldiers engaged at communications centers and using radio and radar antennae. Military equipment and weapons being moved by railroad train. Military supplies being loaded on rail cars and railroad trains running on tracks. U.S. troops on a beachhead following an amphibious landing. A British soldier eating bread. Two American soldiers drinking from cups. Closeup of a military police "MP" armband. Large formation of marching U.S. soldiers. Closeups of soldiers in the field, using radio telephones, cutting through barbed wire, looking out of ship porthole windows, and some simply posing momentarily for the camera. A U.S. Army soldier showing the "V" for victory symbol with his hand.
Princess Margaret of Britain waves towards a large crowd of people in England after her marriage to Antony Charles Robert Armstrong-Jones, a commoner photographer later styled as the 1st Earl of Snowdon. British crowd cheering for Princess Margaret. Scene change to King Baudouin of Belgium as he marries Doña Fabiola de Mora y Aragón of Spain during a traditional Catholic ceremony at the Cathedral of St. Michael and St. Gudula (Place Sainte-Gudule, 1000 Bruxelles, Belgium) in Brussels, Belgium. Queen of England Elizabeth and her husband Prince Phillip introduce little toddler Prince Andrew, sitting with his family on shore of a lake. Next scene shows Crown Prince Akihito of Japan playing with his newborn son Prince Naruhito at the Tokyo Imperial Palace (1-1 Chiyoda, Chiyoda City, Tokyo 100-8111, Japan). The next scene is Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the Shah of Iran, with his wife, Farah Pahlavi, at a ceremony after the birth of their first son, Reza Pahlavi, the Crown Prince of Iran. Final scene is United States President John Kennedy and his wife Jacqueline in a hospital on the birth of their son John Fitzgerald Kennedy Jr.
The history of the United States. A pictorial map shows the path followed by Christopher Columbus in 1492 across the Atlantic Ocean. He found a group of islands where other explorers from Spain, Portugal, Netherlands, England, Italy and France found two continents. The representation of the area in the northern continent over which the English and the French fought and the French were defeated. The French gave up their colonies and in 1763 they belonged to England. People in the English colonies at work. English officials during a meet. The workers rebelling against English troops. Farmers, who became soldiers, moving with guns. The army led by George Washington moving against the English Army. The thirteen colonies of the English became independent, during the American Revolution, leading to the birth of American nation.
Portraits of Presidents of the United States. Portraits of U.S. Presidents - Benjamin Harrison, Martin Van Buren, Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, James A. Garfield, Woodrow Wilson, Zachary Taylor. Views of several flags in a short called "The Story of Old Glory" on the history of the American Flag. Views of the Red Cross flag of England, U.S. flag of 1812 featuring 15 stripes and 15 stars (the Star Spangled Banner namesake design). Also view of the King's Colors of England with the white cross of St. Andrew added to the English flag by order of King James I.
A Red Cross ambulance pulls up to United States B-17 bomber and wounded airmen being taken off the plane in England during World War II. Wounded being placed onto stretchers and being put in the ambulance. An officer gives blood plasma and a cigarette to an injured. B-17s landing, one with number 1 engine feathered, another with with number one feathered. One B-17 named "Southern Comfort" (tail number 41-24617) with large piece of rudder shot away. Another with rudder missing entirely and a large chunk shot out of its vertical stabilizer. B-17 named "Dame Satan" with large hole in its fuselage. More views of battle damage including crippled landing gear, numerous holes in wings, large sections of wings and fuselages shot away, and destroyed canopies. Crew members pose in front of their battle-damaged aircraft. Battle damage to B-17 named "Old Bill."
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