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.
Opens showing views of the U.S. Pavilion at the Expo 58 in Brussels, Belgium. An array of international flags and artistic fountains grace the Pavilion. Glimpse of the Exhibition Hall of the Soviet Union with hammer and sickle symbol on front. Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser shakes hand with Nikita Khrushchev, 1st Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. Nasser speaking to the 600-member assembly of the new United Arab Republic (encompassing Egypt and Syria). Arabs marching with banners. King Faisal II of Iraq and his uncle, Abdul Ilah, step to a podium. Faisal II riding in a horse-drawn carriage. View of seaport in Lebanon. A U.S. Naval task force is visible, arriving in response to a request for aid from Lebanon. U.S. marines in an amphibious landing near Beirut. They establish a beachhead as local Lebanese watch and applaud. The marines load artillery and ammunition on the beach. The scene changes to the island of Quemoy in the Taiwan Strait, where entrenched KMT Nationalist Chinese troops of Chiang Kai-Shek, are seen scrambling as they undergo constant shelling from Mainland China. The American Destroyer, USS Ammen (DD-527) is seen underway on patrol in the Taiwan Strait. U.S. Navy vessels provide relief supplies to the bombarded Islands in the Taiwan Strait. Landing craft are loaded with essential supplies for delivery. Sailors are seen throwing sacks of food over their ship railing into a landing craft below. A line of laden landing craft follows in the wake of a Navy ship. High rise apartments in West Berlin, Germany. West Berlin citizens are seen going about their daily activities. A large sign in German warns “Achtung! Sie verlassen jetzt West-Berlin” (“Warning! You are leaving West-Berlin”). Views of damaged buildings left untouched in East Berlin. Militia in black uniforms perform close order drills in East Berlin. Street sign identifies Unter Den Linden. The formerly elegant avenue is seen virtually deserted. A horse-drawn carriage moves along, and men push a cart full of supplies. Bicyclists ride along the side of the street. Headquarters of the 4-powers administration building is seen without a Soviet flag. French, American, and British soldiers stand guard. (Soviets are absent.)
The history of the region of Palestine. An animated map of Egypt, Syria desert and Judea. A statute of Assyria King Ashurbanipal. An inscription on a wall depicts the successor of the King on a chariot. The horses of the King. In 721, King of Assyria Sargon on a chariot moving to capture Samaria, capital of Israel. A man walks in ancient ruins of an old Roman amphitheater. Aerial view of olive orchids in the region. Art carving depicts Assyrian warrior Nebuchadnezzar capturing Jerusalem, and a woman pleading for her life.
A film depicts steps in Libyan independence. Allied soldiers on tanks during World War II. A tank goes past a ruined building. People gathered look as the Union Jack is unfurled. People read a proclamation pasted on a wall. Ruins of World War II. A meeting in the United Nations in 1945 where it is suggested that Libya be placed under temporary UN trusteeship. A resolution in the UN on 21st November, 1949 to create an independent Libya. The Russian delegate to the UN states his disagreement. The United Kingdom delegate speaks in favor of the resolution. A UN aircraft lands and taxis in Libya. Advisory Council members, led by Mustafa Qasim Mizran, who is first to exit the plane and is head of the National Party and Director of the School of Arts and Trades in Tripoli, are joined by UN Commissioner in Libya Adrian Pelt as they are greeted by dignitaries. The headquarters of the Commissioner and the Advisory Council in Tripoli. A sign reads 'Office of the United Nations Commissioner in Libya'. Members of the Advisory Council include representatives from Tripolitania, Cyrenaica, Fezzan, Egypt, France, Italy, Pakistan, the United Kingdom, the United States and a minority group delegate. Cars carrying the representatives drive out of the gates of the headquarters. They meet people to become aware of their problems. People greet the UN Commissioner and the members of the Advisory Council. A visit to Benghazi where they meet the Emir of Cyrenaica. People holding placards in front of the Emir's palace to greet the Advisory Council. They meet the Emir, who is the religious Muslim leader, in his place. The headquarters of the Commissioner and the Advisory Council, where Mustafa Qasim Mizran is seen touching his face, as he stands behind king Idris,
A film titled 'Campaign in Sicily' on the campaign of Allied forces to invade Sicily, Italy during World War II (Operation Husky). Animated map shows the target area of the Allies. British Army General Alan Gordon Cunningham, U.S. Army General Dwight David Eisenhower, Marshal of the Royal Air Force Arthur William Tedder , British Army Field Marshal Bernard Law Montgomery, U.S. Army General George Smith Patton and United States Army Air Forces Lieutenant General James Harold Doolittle plan and discuss during the campaign. Lt. Gen. Doolittle and some officers stand near an airplane. U.S. airplanes bomb Pantelleria. Aircraft in formation flight over the target area and drop bombs. British infantry goes ashore. Masses of Italian prisoners of war march along. Rubbled buildings in the area. Axis airplanes bomb an Allied supply ship off an island. British engineers repair an airstrip on the island. Allied bombers strike target areas in Italy. Troops transports assemble in a harbor at Alexandria, Egypt. Ships being loaded at the harbor. Generals Eisenhower and Patton aboard USS Monrovia. Ships underway at sea. U.S. Navy sailors receive a briefing over a large table map conducted by U.S. Navy officers. Animated map shows target areas and Allied strategies and invaded areas. Allied troops, following a night naval bombardment, land in Sicily using amphibious vehicles and floating causeways. Landing ships are unloaded. Steel mash mats are laid down. Bulldozers are taken ashore. General Patton and 3rd Infantry Division units land. Axis airplanes attack the convoy. They drop bombs over target areas. An ammunition ship is exploded. Heavy columns of smoke rise as ships and landing craft explode. Soldiers advance along a town. Artillery and tanks advance along. Wrecked airplanes and equipment in the area. Dead bodies of soldiers on the ground. A medic treats a wounded. Aircraft in flight overhead. Officers in the balcony of a building. People gather outside the building. Animated map invasion by Allied forces. Prisoners of war are marched along a field. Soldiers advance.
Opening scene shows Lend Lease military equipment covered with canvas, at a port in the United States, during World War 2. A B-26 bomber with wings removed outboard of its engines, is being maneuvered for shipment at a port in the United States. A Lockheed P-38 airplane is moved on a crane and then rolled along a pier toward the stern of the U.S. Light Cruiser, USS Phoenix (CL-46) which is docked there. Wings of a Curtiss SOC-1 Seagull scout plane can be seen on the Phoenix. Two more P-38 aircraft are rolled along the pier, past another Brooklyn class Light Cruiser at the end of the pier. (Her triple 6-inch gun turrets are noticeable.) Crated supplies are seen being lowered into ship cargo holds. An American M2 light tank being lowered from a crane. An American M3 Lee tank being secured in a ship. Numerous tanks in a ship’s cargo hold. Next, a convoy of ships carrying war materiel overseas is seen at sea. A U.S. Cruiser plunging through heavy seas. View from her bridge overlooking her triple gun turrets, as her bow is awash in waves. A formation of U.S. battleships, led by a Nevada class Battle Ship armed with twin over triple forward gun turrets. She is followed by what appears to be a modernized Pennsylvania class Battleship and other battleships. A British Battle Cruiser followed by another British warship. Various Allied battleships firing their heavy guns. Animated map tracing the “Lend-Lease” routes across the North Atlantic to Iceland, the British Isles, and Murmansk. Map also shows routes by sea and air to the West Indies, Brazil, and South Africa and West Africa, and then by air across Africa, to egypt and the Middle East. Other routes are shown to Suez, Iran, India, and China, as well as trans-Pacific routes to various places. American soldiers crowd the upper deck of a troop transport ship. A military chaplain conducts religious services aboard ship at sea. More views of ships in convoys. A U.S. Navy Kingfisher float plane in flight over the water. A barrage balloon aloft. A U.S. Navy Catalina PBY flying boat in the air above a fleet of supply ships in a vast convoy.