Opening scene shows map with principal cities of Danzig, Königsberg, Warsaw, Breslau and the Vistula River and Baltic Sea (Ostsee) among other places shown. Gernan forces forming a defense against Soviets on the Vistula line in the Winter of 1945, during World War 2. German troops are seen in white winter gear manning positions in deep snow. They are seen in midst of high winds and snowstorm. Only a couple of motorcycles move through the storm. Closeups of some of the German soldiers. Scene shifts to a Baltic seaport, where German troops and war materiel are being loaded for transport to the front. Views of German supply convoy underway through ice floes in the Baltic. Glimpse of German sailors on deck in cold weather gear. View from snow covered deck of an accompanying warship of the convoy steaming ahead. At TC:01:09, the German Cruiser Prinz Eugen is seen underway in the Baltic. She carries a an observation aircraft amidship. Next, German warships are seen firing multiple salvos from their naval guns.
Nazi concentration camps in Germany during World War II. Animated map of Europe shows locations of concentration camps in Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Danzig, Denmark, France, Germany, Isle of Jersey, Latvia, Netherlands, Poland and Yugoslavia. Dead bodies at Leipzig Concentration Camp. Living Russians, Czechoslovakian and French prisoners narrate horror stories. Bodies of prisoners who the Nazi German guards had placed in a building and then set on fire. Dead bodies of those who fled and escaped from the burning building, but were then either shot by the guards while fleeing, or electrocuted by live wire fence. Russian woman looks at dead bodies through a fence.
Animation depicts an airplane flying to cities such as Danzig (Gdańsk, Poland), Königsberg (Kaliningrad, Russia), Memel (Klaipėda, Lithuania), Riga (Latvia), and Reval (Tallinn, Estonia). Civilian travelers board a Junkers F 13 passenger plane at Tempelhof Airport (Platz d. Luftbrücke 5, 12101 Berlin, Germany) in Berlin, Germany. Men and women peer from the door and window of the aircraft before departure. A man opens the back of an Ullstein cargo truck. Men unload cargo from truck in front of the Junkers hangar. Cargo handlers load packages into the aircraft. The aircraft takes off from Tempelhof aerodrome.
Views of extreme destruction from an earthquake in Chile, on January 24, 1939, that killed 25 thousand and injured 40 thousand persons. Homeless people stand out side wreckage. Relief supplies that the U.S. Army Air Corps flew from Panama are seen. Since all Red Cross medical planes were already being used, U.S. President, Franklin D. Roosevelt ordered additional medical supplies to be transported on the U.S. Army Air Corps XB-15 bomber, a single prototype, operated by the 2nd Bombardment Group at Langley Field, Virginia. Views of pilot, Major Caleb V. Haynes, supervising the loading of supplies. With Major Haynes,at the controls, the XB-15 is seen taking off on its earthquake relief mission in February 1939. Later, it is seen landing back at Langley Field, Virginia, after completing its mission. (Note: For this exceptional flight, Major Haynes and his crew were awarded the MacKay Trophy, in 1939.)
Machine power in Canada and Germany in World War 2. Canadian Industry workers walk into a war production plant punching time cards as they enter. Men welding. Steel worker checking heat of hot steel with temperature-reading glasses. Workers in Canadian factory prepare machinery for war. 20th April 1939: Adolf Hitler in Berlin, Germany reviews German army in parade on his 50th birthday (Narrator incorrectly states the year as 1938, but Hitler's 50th birthday was in 1939 and these images are from the 1939 parade). Heavy breakthrough tanks roll by, followed by Army division assault tanks. Motorized troops march followed by Infantry and then parachute troops. Stuka Dive bombers fly overhead with Berlin Victory Column (Siegessäule) in the foreground. Hitler and others watch the flight.
Events leading to start of World War 2. Contingents of German army troops and black uniformed SS (Schutzstaffel) troops parading past Hitler on reviewing stand in German city. Hitler youth at a rally in a stadium. Hitler addressing an open air assembly, shaking his fist, yelling about the might of Germany in an animated fashion. Women holding signs reading: "Down with War and Fascism," and "Aid the Allies." 1939 edition of the New York Times carries headline about Nazi pact with Soviets and of Estonia giving Moscow air and sea bases. Views of Soviet leaders, Joseph Stalin, Vyacheslav Molotov, and General Boris Mikhailovitch Shaposhnikov, preparing to meet with German foreign minister Joachim von Ribbentrop for signing of Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact agreeing to non-aggression between Germany and the Soviet Union. Von Ribbentrop descending from his airplane for the meeting. Scenes of German attack and invasion of Poland, September 1, 1939. Vehicles carrying German troops on the move. German Stuka, Ju87 dive bombers peeling off in dives and dropping bombs. German He-111 bomber in flight. Many explosions and collapsing buildings and destruction depicted. Soviet T-26 Twin-Turret Cavalry Tank seen moving through snow as it crosses Polish frontier, on September, 17, 1939. Soviet troops charging into Poland in the snow. The two forces meet in central Poland. Newspaper cartoon of the time shows Hitler and Stalin politely addressing each other in deprecating terms. Soviet icebreaker opening the way for German warships. German submarine making way on the surface, ostensibly from a base in Murmansk, and firing at a surface ship with its 88mm deck gun. A French fighter plane spinning towards earth and pilot parachuting. Narrator speaks of French Communists sabotaging electrical systems on the aircraft. The plane burning on the ground. German troops marching along the Champs Elysee, with the Arch of Triumph in background. German troops firing artillery at Soviet forces. Wooden buildings burning. German soldier taking a prisoner.