Film begins showing formations of Japanese Mitsubishi Ki-21 bombers (Type 97 Heavy Bombers) in flght on a mission to bomb the Chinese city of Chungking (Chongqing) in World War 2. They begin releasing their bombs. Views from one of the aircraft of bomb striking in profusion on the ground. Very closeup of the front of one of the bombers in flight. More views of bombs dropping. View from an attacking airplane of bombs striking the port of Chongqing on the Yangtze River. Next, firefighters are seen directing hoses of water on fiercely burning fires, and then in streets of the city directing water onto smoking buildings. Large building consumed by fires out of control.
Opening scene shows ships of the French fleet in the harbor of Mers-el-Kébir, Oran, Algeria, during World War 2. French tricolors seen flying from the superstructure of the French battleship, Dunkerque. A motorboat arrives, delivering a note from British Admiral Somerville, via HMS Foxhound (destroyer) to Vichy French naval officer Marcel-Bruno Gensoul, with final warning ultimatum against siding with the Axis powers. Sailors on the Dunkerque watch over the railing of their ship. The messengers board the Dunkerque. French and British Navy sailors exchange signal light messages between ships. Onboard the Dunkerque, the message is delivered to French Admiral Marcel-Bruno Gensoul. Closeup of the message. More signal light messages between ships. (The French had rejected the ultimatum.) French sailors are seen running across a concrete pier separating small pleasure boats in the foreground, from the French warships on the other side of the pier, in the background. View of sailors running to battle stations aboard French ships. An explosion occurs in the waters of the harbor. Striking shells create explosions near the French warships. The Battleship Dunkerque with heavy black smoke rising from her funnel getting underway. French sailors on a battleship with heavy white smoke surrounding them as they stand near her 13-inch guns. The French battleship, Bretagne, exploding after being hit by British gunfire. French sailors fighting fires on burning deck of a warship. Another view of the exploding battleship, Bretagne. A British warship firing its 15-inch guns. Unidentified French warship hit in its aft section by gunfire and exploding in heavy smoke. French survivors in life vests and lifeboats throughout the harbor. Wreckage of some destroyed French ships. (Note: The attack was part of Operation Catapult, a British plan to neutralize or destroy French warships in Vichy France, to prevent them from falling into German hands.)
A formation of German Heinkel 111 bombers is seen flying in formation during period of World War 2 blitz attacks on England. View from copilot's side of the cockpit of one bomber. View of Pilot in the left seat. View from window in left side of the bomber. View from inside the nose of bomber as it approaches shore of England. Pilot and copilot don oxygen masks. Views from gunner's position in the bomber's nose, as a British spitfire fighter plane attacks. German gunner fires machine gun, continuously, at the attacking spitfire, as it zooms past the bomber's nose. Another spitfire attacks directly head-on. The German gunner fires. The spitfire pulls up and over the bomber. Gunner firing at two spitfires passing beside it. One of them is struck and streams smoke as it slowly falls downward to crash (unseen). Another spitfire aircraft making a head-on attack, is fired upon and makes an aerobatic maneuver away. Closeup of the German machine gun firing tracer rounds, and striking another spitfire that inverts and dives down streaming smoke.
British Prime Minister Anthony Eden suggests peace measures during Israel-Egypt war. Israel infantrymen and commanders advance towards the Sinai Peninsula. Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) soldier with rifle checks an empty house. Soldiers on trucks advance towards Egyptian mainland. British Prime Minister Eden offers withdrawal of Anglo-British forces from Suez Canal zone in favor of a United Nation's Police Force.
Infantrymen of the 92nd Division of the United States Army parade through the streets of Genoa in Italy during World War II. Film shot from between two columns of the marching troops, followed by views of their marching feet. They are followed by a large contingent of armed Italian Partisans. Civilian spectators watch the marchers, from sides of road and from cars.
Armed Italian Partisans escort several Italian Fascist officials, who walk with their hands raised along a street in Ivrea, Northern Italy, during final days of World War 2, in Europe. Local citizens walk along beside and behind them, including some on bicycles. Another scene shows Italian Partisans escorting several soldiers, of the Italian National Republican Army, with their hands on their heads. This group is also followed by a large number of local citizens. Scene shifts to an American jeep carrying an officer and two U.S. soldiers. It is followed by an automobile, seen, later parked with another near a sidewalk, where several Italian Republican Army officers are conversing cordially with American soldiers of the U.S. 92nd Infantry Division.(By May 5, 1945, all Nazi German forces in Italy, had capitulated.) Italian women and children seen in a small open bus.
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