U.S. OSS (Office of Strategic Services) headed by Colonel William Joseph Donovon asks the public to send pictures taken abroad to Colonel L. E. Norris in the United States during World War II, to assist in war planning and intelligence. Passengers arrive. Cameras on a conveyor belt. Passengers on a ship. Colonel L. E. Norris of the OSS sorts war photographs in his office. Employees examine film strips and photographs. OSS staff watches a movie. Still photographs of various locations including the Solomon Islands.
United States Army soldiers in a market area in India during World War 2. American soldiers move about the market place in India, shop for items, and watch a snake charmer at work. Allied war equipment unloaded at a port and carried away on camel carts into Burma. American tanks being unloaded and transported by rail. Camel caravans hauling boxes of rifles and ammunition. Camels pulling wagons filled with armament. Supplies being loaded into U.S. Army aircraft for delivery to the battle front. British Indian troops move up the jungle terrain in Burma and fight against Japanese troops in World War II. British troops guarding a border railroad. Some British soldiers pop out from a hidden trench at a railroad line with rifles ready (likely training operation). View of an Indian river that narrator says is mined. Indian sappers wire wooden rafts with explosives to float out. American airmen on airfield with Indian temple in background are seen briefing Chinese pilots in training at the airbase. Closeup views of faces of Chinese pilots. Fighter aircraft and bomber aircraft taking off to hold open the Burma road from the air. Aerial view of aircraft propeller spinning on airborne aircraft with Indian city in background. Allied aircraft bombing Japanese positions.
Allied soldiers cheer to celebrate the occasion of World War II coming to an end, around the time of VJ Day (Victory over Japan) at the end of World War 2. Allied prisoners liberated from Japanese prison camps are seen arriving by railroad train at stations for transfer to nearby ships. The former POW soldiers greet and embrace one another. A uniformed soldier kisses a woman soldier in uniform. They move in trucks celebrating Allied victory in war. Cheering soldiers hold up an American flag at the front of the truck filled with liberated prisoners. A boat carries some liberated soldiers toward the United States hospital ship USS Benevolence (AH-13), as a former Japanese guards watches from shore, and U.S soldiers look on. Flags of Allied nations are seen, superimposed on images of saluting soldiers, as soundtrack in background plays audio of part of speech by General MacArthur aboard the USS Missouri during the Japanese surrender ceremony.
Opening illustrated slate shows reduction of Amercan Armed forces personnel from more than 12 million in 1945 to only a little over 1 and a half million in 1947. U.S. Navy submarines are seen docked in storage. Men work spraying protective coatings over guns on Navy ships as they are placed in storage in the "Mothball Fleet." A lone sailor is seen on the deck of a ship with vast number of mothballed Navy destroyers in the background. A B-24 Liberator bomber being dismantled and a B-17 parked with engines removed, seen through stack of propellers in foreground. Airman sets a demolition charge. Views of several bomber aircraft being blown up as junk. Stacks of junked and scrapped American war materiel rusting. View inside a mill where molten metal is being processed (ostensibly recycled from junked war materiel). Narrator speaks of beating guns into plow shares. Several views of molten metal being poured into and from ladles. Views inside post-war factories returning to peace-time production, where industrial heavy equipment, railroad wheels, kitchen appliances, home appliances, rubber tires, and new 1946 Ford automobiles are assembled (looking exactly like the 1942 models).
International Military Tribunal sits at the Palace of Justice to try World War II Nazi leaders for war crimes in Nuremberg, Germany. Chief Prosecutor from United States, Robert Houghwout Jackson presents count 1 of indictment a conspiracy to commit war and crimes against peace and humanity. Nazi leaders at the prisoners dock. Bormann, Donitz, Frank, Frick, Fritzsche, Goring, Hess, Funk, Jodl, Katlenbrunner, Keitel, Lay, Neurath, Papen, Raeder, Joachim von Ribbentrop, Rosenberg, Sauckel, Schacht, Seyss Inquart, Schirach, Speer and Streicher. Prosecution tables as Justice Jackson continues to speak.
The United Nation forces below the 38th Parallel during the Korean War. United States 25th Infantry Division move towards Seoul, Korea during the Korean War. Soldiers advance along the hills as they fire. Chinese prisoners being searched for weapons and one with a wounded hand is being bandaged and provided first aid. American soldier sits with a rifle watching the prisoners. Chinese prisoners of war being escorted to the rear for further interrogation. Prisoners and soldiers advance on a road. UN task Force move north of Suwon, Korea. Tired American soldiers sleep on the ground in broad daylight during a break. General Joseph S. Bradley confers with the Company Commander.
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