A naval-air battle in the Strait of Italy during World War II. A formation of Italian and German bombers over the Strait of Italy. Ships of a British convoy underway. British ships fire antiaircraft guns at Italian aircraft. Flak bursts in the sky. Italian bombers bomb the ships. Explosions near and on the ships. British ships are heavily bombed by a large number of Italian bombers. Many ships sink after exploding. Smoke billows up from the ships afire. Italian MASs (torpedo armed motorboats) head for a British convoy. British ships are torpedoed. Smoke rises after explosions on the ships. The bombing of the convoy continues at night. Interiors of an Italian submarine shows its crew members at work. A list of claimed British losses includes HMS Furious (47), HMS Eagle, HMS Manchester (C15), HMS Cairo (D87) and HMS Foresight (H68). Victorious Italian MASs underway and Italian aircraft in flight overhead. View of letter from Mussolini congratulating the Axis forces, read by narrator. View of Italian attack boats moving at high speed in ocean.
Allied bombing of the Strait of Messina during World War II. Aerial view of mountainous terrain and open sea. Bombs drop over the Strait of Messina. The coastline of Sicily. Rivers and roads amidst the mountainous terrain.
Newsreel 'News in brief, Formosa'. Typhoon Ellen caused urban flooding in southern and central Formosa (Taiwan). Taiwanese civilians inspect damage and piles of debris from typhoon. Flooded areas and damaged buildings seen. Relief work and rescue work in progress. Native people seen. Several men wear local Taiwanese hats. Pedicabs seen on street.
Boeing B-29 Superfortress bombers bomb factories and other targets in Formosa Island (present day Taiwan) and return to their base in Saipan, during World War II. Crew members attach guided bombs at dawn to the bombers. The bombers take off. Flying over Formosa Island over clouds they drop bombs on Japanese targets. Antiaircraft guns fired. The B-29 lands after a successful bombing mission. Crew of the B-29 'Tokyo Rose', first plane to fly over Japanese positions, honored at the Saipan base. Insignia on the nose of the plane. Brigadier General Hansel attaches medals on the uniforms of the crew members.
U.S. Army Air Forces XX Bomber Command Operations during World War 2. A Boeing B-29-10-BW Superfortress, number 42-6347, named "King Size," of the 462nd Bombardment Group, 769th Bombardment Squadron. It is seen here, at their forward operating base on Kiunglai Airfield, China. Tents are seen near the flight line. Numerous bombs are lined up on the ground ready to be loaded aboard the bomber. A B-29 taking off at nightfall. A formation of B-29s in flight. Bombs being dropped over Japanese installations at Hatto, Formosa (aka Taiwan). View of B-29 landing after the mission. (Note. Formosa was a Japanese colonial territory from 1895 to 1945.)
Riots break out in Algeria after Charles de Gaulle returns to power in France, and after De Gaulle dismissed from command the French paratrooper General Jacques Émile Massu for his opposition to DeGaulle's self determination plan for Muslim North Africa. French soldiers with rifles patrol at their posts and keep a vigil in Algiers during the crisis. Next scene is a flashback to May 1958: A crowd of supporters is seen around General Jacques Massu. A group of angry protestors is seen amassing, scaling a building and using a truck to break through fences onto the grounds of an official building. These scenes, the narrator indicates, are from May 5, 1958, during the May 1958 crisis, also called the Algiers putsch or the Coup of 13 May, when paratroopers under General Massu and civilians together succeeded in a coup and establishment of a "Committee of Public Safety". The narrator indicates that thus far in the 1960 crisis, the Army has remained loyal.