View from nose canopy of a U.S. Army Air Forces B-29 bomber, as it taxis behind another at Isley Field, Saipan, during World War 2. Next, the B-29 is on the active runway, accelerating for takeoff.
French pilots fly American built Curtiss Hawk airplanes in France early in World War II. French pilots board U.S. built airplanes to combat German aircraft. Formations of French Curtiss Hawks in flight. A German Dornier Do-17 bomber descending in normal flight. French fighters in the area. Downed German He-111 bomber near front lines is inspected. Frenchmen eat lunch using part of wrecked German bomber as a table. Holes on the damaged German aircraft. The Imperial German Eagle insignia is on the fuselage of the wrecked airplane (with no swastikas). But swastikas appear on the empennage. A triangle with 87 inscribed in it appears on the fuselage, indicating that 87 octane fuel should be used.
PBY Catalina aircraft seen inflight above an Allied convoy of ships at sea. Closeup of British flag displayed at stern of one ship. A destroyer escort in the convoy. U.S. Army engineers creating a road in an area of wilderness. A steam shovel empties its bucket into a truck. A surveyor taking readings with a transit. Two graders moving side-by side as they level a new road A tractor pulling a drum compactor. A vehicle drives on a mountainside road built by Army engineers. Snow covered mountains seen in background. Animated map showing far flung places where military supplies had to be delivered during World War 2. An open Army truck carrying American troops on Guadalcanal in the Pacific. U.S. soldiers walking on a pier at Attu in the Aleutian Islands of Alaska. American soldiers arriving at a pier in Accra, Gold Coast. Soldiers hold the American flag on a hilltop in Casablanca, French Morocco. Chinese Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek and Madame Chiang, in Chungking. American troops in foul weather gear neat tents in Kiska, the Aleutians. Troops offloading from a troop transport ship in Cairo, Egypt. Troops in Algiers, and in Sicily. Troops hitting the beach in an amphibious assault.
A film on the logistics and the psychology of war. Primarily shows training exercises, combat simulations, and dramatizations. Images of soldier and explosions. A U.S. sailor firing a Mark 4, 20 mm. anti aircraft. Gun from a ship. A U.S. M3 Stuart light tank heading toward the camera. American soldiers ostensibly falling to enemy explosions and gunfire. A shell exploding where American troops are hunkered down. Artillery batteries firing at night. A soldier cutting barbed wire and triggering a booby trap. . Troops under fire during amphibious assault. Soldiers manning an M1919A4 .30-caliber Light Machine Gun. Troops advancing through forest under fire. Some fall. Staged encounter between U.S. infantrymen and German soldier. The kill each other. Entire battle front erupting in explosions and smoke. Newspaper article by Ernie Pyle about too little training of U.S. troops. New York reporter's article noting that U.S. soldiers in Europe don't understand why they aren't fighting the Japanese who attacked America. Staged hand to hand combat between a German soldier and two American soldiers.
Film starts with view of the U.S. military headquarters Pentagon building in Virginia, as seen from Columbia Island, across the lagoon, in World War 2.. Closeup of the building. Inside, Lieutenant General Brehon Burke Somervell , Commander of the Army Service Forces (ASF) is seen presiding over a staff meeting that includes seven Major Generals, who head the ASF technical services. Flag of the Quartermaster Corps seen in closeup. Officers of that organization are seen meeting. Scene shifts to a warehouse where military supplies are being moved on trailers pulled by small tractors. Carts filled with equipment are seen. Men prepare some for transport to America's allies overseas. Men fill packages with articles of clothing. A sign reads: "Maj. Gen. Reybold, Chief of Engineers." Engineers officers at a conference table rise as their Commander, General Reybold, enters. He sits and they begin their meeting. Closeup of staff officers in the meeting. Officers walk through a section of the Army Map Service, where cartographers, draftsmen and others are busy at tables creating maps. One of them is seen fitting several aerial photographs together to form a detailed map. A cartographer at the mapping service is seen annotating a map of the Marseille area of France. Views of high speed offset presses printing large scale maps for the military. A sign identifies the office of the Chief of Ordnance. Staff officers of that office are seen at work. Closeup of small arms being placed in a shipping box. An open yard filled with M24 Chaffee light tanks. A vast yard at a railroad siding, containing countless tanks on one side and building materials on the other. Sign inside the Pentagon at office of Major General H.C. Ingles, Chief Signal Officer. Closeup of General Ingles at his desk. Members of his staff consult with him. Sign at office of the Chief, Chemical Warfare Service. Major General William N. Porter, the Chief, looks over maps with several staff. Troops training under gas attack and smoke screen conditions. The entrance to the office of the Surgeon General of the U.S. Army. Inside, Major General Norman Thomas Kirk , Surgeon General, confers with a Colonel. Maps of areas where disease poses a threat to U.S. military forces. Office of Major General C.P. Gross, Army Chief of Transportation. Inside He holds a meeting with members of his staff. View of a pier where military supplies are being offloaded by means of derricks.
Armed Service Forces (ASF) personnel at work in the United States during World War 2. Interior of a building. Men and women working. They print invasion money (temporary currency for use in Europe after the Allied invasion, until local currencies can be stabilized). Bills passing through printing machinery. The plan of actions is seen being typed on a typewriter and passed through the ASF network command. An officer talks on phone.
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