Opening slate reads: "Quebec Conference August 1943." The English battleship, Prince of Wales, is seen in fog off the Coast of Newfoundland, in August 1941. View of sailor on fore-deck of the British ship. View inside engine room of the ship where sailor manipulates her power. Closeup of engine crankshaft stopping as she drops anchor in Placentia Bay. View of Prime Minister Winston Churchill, greeting U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt aboard the Prince of Wales. He proffers a letter to the President, from the King of England. View of Roosevelt and Churchill seated on deck with their respective military leaders standing behind them. Admiral Ernest King, U.S. Chief of Naval Operations converses with U.S. Army Chief of Staff, George Marshall, as they stand behind Churchill and Roosevelt. Wider camera view shows the larger military entourage accompanying the Prime Minister and the President. Glimpse of prisoners and enslaved workers taken by Nazi Germans in Europe. Glimpse of bombs falling from an airplane. Classic film views of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in December 7, 1941. Bombs exploding along "Battleship Row." Heavy smoke rising from the bombed ships. The USS Arizona tilted heavily and burning. Camera pans along the path of destruction, as the voice of President Roosevelt is heard in the background, asking the Congress to declare that the Japanese attack created a state of War between the United States and the Japanese Empire. View of President Roosevelt speaking to the U.S. Congress. Seated behind him are Vice-President Henry Wallace and Speaker of the House, Sam Rayburn. Glimpse of Congress members applauding. Change of scene shows President Roosevelt and Winston Churchill meeting in Washington, DC, in December of 1941, during World War 2. Views of war preparations in the United States, including the building of new war production plants and facilities. A large steel ingot being forged into an artillery gun barrel. Machinist at work turning a gun barrel on a lathe in a munitions factory. Views of manufacturing plants in operation and steel being made. A railroad train carrying new Army trucks. Another meeting of Churchill and Roosevelt in Washington, D.C. June, 1942. Standing behind them is President Roosevelt's special assistant, Harry Hopkins, a British naval officer, and an American navy Captain. American soldiers boarding a troop ship, and closeups of them as they enter the ship, looking out of portholes, and waving from the ship's deck. Glimpse of Washington Monument and its image in the reflecting pool in Washington DC. Closeup of a book entitled, "Time Table for Invasion." General George Marshall with several of his generals doing preliminary planning. Series of scenes involving senior military officers engaged in war planning. A convoy of warships is seen at sea during the Operation Torch Allied invasion of French North Africa during 8–16 November, 1942. Views of Allied Navy ship guns firing. Allied troops riding in landing craft, and advancing from beached craft on shore of Algiers. Aerial view of a flight of Douglas Dauntless bombers in formation. "Bombs away" view from Allied airplane dropping bombs. Allied troops firing camouflaged antiaircraft guns from sandy positions near shore. Enemy shells or bombs exploding nearby. Two U.S. Army soldiers holding a document in French entitled, "Message from the President of the United States.
Framed photographs of Presidents George Washington, Abraham Lincoln and Woodrow Wilson on a wall. A song writer writes a song on behalf of the National Recovery Administration (NRA). He falls asleep while writing the song. As he "dreams" actors portraying Washington, Lincoln and Wilson appear in his room asking him why he wants to write such a song and they're reassuring him that Franklin D Roosevelt is the right way. When he starts singing his new song, he finds himself alone, but he knows that Franklin Delano Roosevelt will lead the USA back on the road to prosperity. He sings "The Road is Open Again". Film is a National Recovery Administration and New Deal propaganda piece during the Great Depression.
James Braddock punches a punching bag. Joe Louis practices for the championship match against Braddock. Max Schmeling arrives at Boxing Commission in New York. He enters building while crowd cheers. Schmeling stripped to waist stands on weighing scale. Tickets for boxing bout sold at counters. Men buy tickets. Overhead sign reads 'Advance Sale Reserved Seats'. Names of Braddock and Schmeling on tickets (the bout did not occur). Man eats banana in empty stands of a stadium. Traffic on road outside Comiskey Park in Chicago before Louis versus Braddock boxing match. Crowd lined up. Joe Louis during a boxing bout . Crowd of fans in Harlem cheering and celebrating on receiving news that Joe Louis, also known as the "Brown Bomber," had defeated Braddock as the first African American to regain the title since Jack Johnson. From a June 1962 newsreel depicting events 25 years earlier.
Surrender of Japanese Imperial forces leads to end of World War II. V-J Day (Victory over Japan) celebrations in August 1945. Americans celebrate as newspaper headlines announce V-J Day. Close up view of man holding Boston Post with headline "War Is Over." Teeming crowds in New York City's Times Square celebrating the news. Crowd of citizens, soldiers, and sailors in uniform surrounds a newspaper with headline "U.S. Announces Jap Surrender." Happy crowds of people waving, jumping, and smiling in jubilation. People show V signs. U.S. warships underway at sea. U.S. soldiers aboard ship. Japanese troops parading in Japan. Japanese aircraft lined up in flight line ready for take off to defend the Japanese mainland. Japanese amphibian tanks lined up ready for use against a possible allied invasion. Aerial view of actual atomic bomb explosion over Hiroshima as seen from second B-29 aircraft accompanying the Enola Gay on the bombing run on August 6, 1945. Ruins of twisted metal and debris in Hiroshima and Nagasaki and civilians walking among the devastation. Japanese civilians along road. Japanese Generals deplaning and meeting U.S. General MacArthur on an airfield. Troops of 11th Airborne Division land in Japan. Marines reach Japanese shores at Yokosuka Naval Base in Landing crafts. American soldier raises American flag in Japan. American troops aboard Japanese battleship Nagato after Japanese surrender. View of the Nagato (later used as a target ship during Operation Crossroads).
Mixture of reenactments for older 18th and19th Century life scenes in America, and actual footage from the 20th century. Workers cut timber with an axe. Cattle-drawn carriage passes. Laying log roads. Building a railroad. View of Chinese railroad laborer. Stringing telegraph wire on log poles. Steam locomotive pulls passenger train and belches black smoke. Reenactment of farmers ("Minute Men") assembling and marching off to meet the British in American Revolutionary War. Facsimile of United States Declaration of Independence. Actual footage from the early 1900s (circa 1910) of newly arriving immigrants arriving at Ellis Island for processing, including men, women, and children. Two boys pose for the camera smiling. Immigrants with their luggage in hand walk on docks of Ellis Island to or from processing areas. View of the Statue of Liberty on Bedloes Island and the words inscribed on statue of Liberty. Immigrants at Ellis Island. Diverse group of peoples raising their right hands as they take oath and become U.S. Citizens. Myriad different faces of Americans, including men, women, and children and people of different ethnic backgrounds including Asian, African American, and white. Three children gathered around a seated elderly man as he reads to them. Citizens deliberating on local development matters. Congress in session. Women voting registrars checking names as as voters arrive to cast their ballots in an election, and people entering voting booths to vote. Views of new 1965 Ford and Chrysler and other automobiles including sedans and station wagons. New Ford tractors on display. 1965 "concept" and "space age" automobiles on display from General Motors at a car show. Reenactment of engineers using time and motion studies in a factory. Workers in different kinds of factories and manufacturing plants in the the early 20th century (1910s, 1920s, and 1930s) employing mass assembly line methods for the creation of goods. Various machines operated in factory. Workers engaged in mass production. Finished goods display in shops. Sales person selling curling irons. Another selling a flat iron.Two women and an early version clothes washer. A woman tries out vacuum cleaner as salesman helps her. Men making sinks and tubs. A crew of women tightens fasteners on assembly line, using "Yankee" screwdrivers. Warehouse men moving crates and a shipping warehouse filled with boxes and busy workers. One scoots with his foot on a hand cart. Workers leaving factory at end of work shift. Grain harvester at work. Laboratories for medicine, industrial, and plant research, with scenes of scientists and technicans running experiments and views of test tubes, beakers, flasks, and measurement apparatus. Image of globe spinning. An African city and women near a market selling goods and moving good held high on their heads. A Latin American city. American cooperation with hispanic people on civic projects. Families lined up at a health clinic for babies. One baby is being weighed. Americans including US Army soldiers working with Latin Americans on a construction project.
Opening scene of "Desert Victory" shows vast desert in area of El Alamein Western Egypt, during World War 2. Several British Army officers and men gather around a Humber Mk II armoured car serving as an improvised field command post. A soldier holds an aiming compass. Troops attending to themselves and their equipment, being annoyed by flies. Stripped to the waist in desert daytime heat, soldiers are seen huddled in sleeping bags during cold nights. View of approaching sand storm as it rolls over troop positions. Views of German armored columns moving through the desert. Closeup of passing German Army SdKfz. 7 half-track carrying six soldiers. German army vehicles speeding past the camera. One towing a 10.5 cm leFH 18 light howitzer. A Sd.Kfz.222 armored car. A German Stug III self-propelled assault gun. Closeup of a formation flight of German Ju 87 Stuka dive bombers. Closeup of individual Stuka, in flight, with pilot and gunner visible. German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel seen standing in an open car, accompanying his armored forces. He turns to look as they pass a knocked out British tank. Animated map showing El Alamein, where Rommel was headed with his forces. Highlights of the nearby areas of interest. A shepherd and flock in the Nile delta. View from the air of Al Rifa'i Mosque and Mosque-Madrassa of Sultan Hassan, in Cairo, Egypt. Panning view of waterfront in Alexandria, Egypt. View of the Suez Canal. Animated map returns to El Alamein. Barbed wire strung along the Mediterranean coast. Hills overlooking the Quattara Depression and closeups of its salt marsh that vehicles cannot cross. British troops moving toward El Alamein in trucks. British General Claude Auchinleck taking personal charge of the 40 mile front. British troops preparing defensive positions, using pickaxes, jackhammers, and shovels. They dig deep trenches and lay protective mines, set up machinegun positions and anti-aircraft batteries. Closeup of a British soldier manning a Vickers medium machinegun. Soldiers laying camouflage netting over defensive position. General Auchinleck standing in a vehicle, looks through binoculars. British gunners begin firing 25 pounder field pieces. German General Rommel, standing in his staff car, directs his officers. German gunners begin returning fire toward the British positions. German Ju 97 Stuka dive bombers attack and British anti-aircraft gunners defend against them. Bombs striking in the sand. A British gunner marks a 10th victory on the barrel of his anti-aircraft gun. In August, British Prime Minister, Sir Winston Churchill, is seen visiting and mingling with troops at the front. Churchill stands with General Sir Harold Alexander the new Commander-in-Chief, Middle East Command and Lieutenant-General Bernard Montgomery, new Commander of the 8th Army. Copy of directive to General Alexander, ordering him to defeat Rommel's forces.
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