As film opens, a sign in German is displayed reading "Soldier You enter an area with brave and believing people who also know and have overcome carpet bombing." Camera focuses on a large seemingly undamaged cathedral. German troops are seen gathering up their gear and preparing to move during World War 2. Glimpse of a German sailor standing nearby. People boarding a tram with the cathedral in the background. A truck driver stopped and presenting identification to a German soldier on the sidewalk. German troops with their gear, including bedrolls, walking en masse toward and past the camera. Several older civilian men in the background. Signs on building walls (in German) reading "With the Leader to Victory" and "Now fight even more to Victory."
A large cathedral dominates the opening scene. It seems relatively undamaged although their are destroyed buildings all around it from bombing during World War 2. People are seen carrying their belongings as they flee the area. They pass through narrow corridors between destroyed buildings. View of an orphanage named St. Catharina. View of infants in cribs inside the orphanage. Staff and nurses leading the children out of the building and then loading them aboard a bus. One attendant giving treats to very small infants. Staff waving goodbye to the children and caregivers on the bus, as it departs. Refugees using wagons pulled by cattle to transport them and their belongings. Livestock on the hoof being herded along a road.
Hitler Youth in Germany. Graffiti on wall. Hitler Youth marches along streets. Buildings on either side of the street. They work in fields with shovels. Hitler Youth dig trenches. Girls and boys dig trenches. Boys put up barbed wire fences.
British antiaircraft batteries fire furiously at German V-1 Buzz bombs over London. One V-1 is seen running out of fuel, with a puff of smoke, and then descending to strike the city. Other V-1s are seen descending to strike. View of the Thames River with Tower of London, Southwark and Cannon Street Rail Bridges in view. Wrecked buildings and rubble on streets. Views of terrible destruction from the Buzz bombs.
An animated map of Aachen and surrounding cities during World War 2, is shown at start of film. Entrenched German heavy artillery is seen firing from wooded areas. Closeups of German soldiers rushing from a bunker and uncovering a camouflaged mortar that they being firing from a trench. Glimpse of shell exploding near a building in the background that narrator says contains Americans. Closeup of German soldier looking upward at the sound of aircraft overhead. German soldiers running for cover. Volksgrenadiers running through backyards of damaged houses. Some seen looking out and firing from inside houses. One points at something outside. German soldier aiming and firing a sniper rifle equipped with large telescopic sight. Camera pans over landscape containing industrial facilities. Closeups of German soldiers in defensive positions. (Note: American forces are not actually seen in this film.)
Artur (Arthur) Axmann inspects Hitler Youth in Germany. He inspects Hitler Youth contingents in a massive rally. Members of Hitler Youth stand in formations. A Hitler Youth plays drums. Buildings in the background. Representatives of Hitler Youth units come forward and shake Axmann's hand and salute. (Axmann uses his left hand only, having lost his right arm on the Eastern Front.) German flags in view. Uniforms of the different Hitler Youth units. Insignias and armbands in view.
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