Alternating World War 2 footage and dramatized scenes with actors. German Luftwaffe bombers destroying French cities. Invasion of France by Germany. Burning buildings and debris in French cities during 1940 invasion. Hitler viewing Eiffel Tower while visiting Paris in June 1940 after occupation. German flag atop Eiffel Tower. Allied fighter aircraft shot down, pilot ejects and parachutes to ground as aircraft crashes with explosion. Pilot landing in parachute, gathering and hiding parachute. Actors conversation segment. Footage of sad looking and defeated French soldiers marching in streets of France under occupying German guard, as depressed French citizens look on. French General Philippe Petain at desk delivering speech that calls for collaboration with Germans. Close ups of sad and crying French men, women, and children in streets of France suffering war and occupation. Petain salutes soldiers during a parade after he abolishes representative government. Petain speaks from podium to gathered soldiers. View of French General Charles De Gaulle, in Britain, calling for continued French resistance and speaking to French officers on a warship. Actor dialog segment. Footage of Petain visiting Hitler. They shake hands while photographers record the meeting. Actor segments. Footage of Free French forces training and marching in various cities. Free French soldier receives machine gun training. French officer training in Russia at a Soviet recognition ceremony. French soldiers carry railroad ties and discuss over a map. RAF spitfires in flight. Sign at training camp "French Air Force Squadron. Flexible Gunnery School." Allied naval ships at sea; close views of ship guns. Smoke rises from French ship fleet scuttled at Toulon November 27, 1942. Mobilized French citizens receiving rifle training. Free French Army encampment with French flag raising ceremony. French citizens gather to read posted German notices. Parade celebrating liberation of Paris in World War II. Happy French citizens smile and cheer French, American, and Soviet allies marching in Paris.
Winston Churchill seeing British troops off to war during a cold rainy day during World War II. Churchill walks with army officials. Troops lined up. Convoy of military vehicles moving along the road as Churchill waves his hat at them. He watches marching infantry depart along the rainy roadway. Mrs. Clementine Churchill is seen briefly on hill with Winston Churchill and military leaders, as they see the troops off to war. View from inside railroad train as it pulls into station where British troops wait to board. Winston Churchill on board a ship, inspects crew as he walks along a covered deck. He stops to converse briefly with one of the sailors. Churchill reviews a line of sailors on shore. He receives a cheer from a number of citizens lining a roadway
Shortly before America's direct involvement in World War 2, view of a rally and speaker for the American Union for Organization Against War in New York City. The anti-war speaker shows signs "Fight the Draft" and "No Loans to England. No Arms to anyone!" People in a crowd listen to the speaker. One man holds a sign which reads 'Selectees! Protest any Extension of Army Service - Write Your Congressman'. Another sign reads, "The Army and Navy are hotbeds of fascism."
An English war bride is interviewed with her husband, a United States Army Captain, in uniform, upon her arrival in America after World War II. She says she doesn't know what to say, they have waited so long for this day. Another couple is interviewed with their baby. The British woman says it had been weeks and weeks since she had seen her husband. A third English war bride and her baby, reunited with her American husband, said she read, in American newspapers, that American girls are not too pleased about soldiers marrying English girls. She says further, that she hopes they won't feel too badly about it, because love is love, all over the world.
The London Blitz. Sections of London ablaze from German bombing during Battle of Britain. US President Franklin Roosevelt signing H.R. 1946, Lend-Lease legislation in World War II. View of last page of H.R.1946, signed by Sam Rayburn, Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, and by President Roosevelt. United States sends war material to England. 'USA' written on Lend-Lease boxes being loaded on lorry after arrival in Britain. Huge crates of Lend-Lease war materiel on railroad flat cars pulled by locomotive. Smoke rises up from the engine. 'Machine tools, BULLARD, Bridgeport Conn.' written on crate in transit.
Early slates allude to failed attempts at peaceful resolution of issues between Germany and England, in World War 1, and the Kaiser's consequent decision on February 1, 1917, to intensify German submarine warfare against Britain. Slate refers to Churchill's admitted concerns expressed in the "Sunday Pictorial," about the resulting constraint on England's control of the seas around the British Isles, referring to the U-boats creating a magic girdle (Magischen Gurtel) around England, which becomes the title for the film. In the first part, Captain, Lothar von Arnauld de la Periere of the German U-boat UB-35, stands in a skiff as he is rowed out to his submarine. He exchanges salutes with his officers, as he boards the U-35, nestled against a German ship. He gives the order to cast off the lines and proceed half power in reverse. The crew scrambles to get underway. German sailors on the nearby ship watch from her railings. Sailors use a long pole to help move the submarine away from the ship. Officers and men on the ship wave as the U-boat pulls away. Views from the submarine deck as it moves on the surface of the water heading toward the Mediterranean Sea. (World War i; World War 1; WWI; WW1)
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