Cold War missile defense exercise: Military officers confer at NORAD (North American Aerospace Defense Command, Ent Air Force Base in Colorado Springs). Bomarc missile is raised for firing. Civilian officials sound alarms. Civil Defense worker directs people to underground fallout shelters. Nike and Spartan missiles are raised for firing.
United States President Lyndon B. Johnson at the White House Rose Garden in Washington DC. President Johnson delivers a State of the Union message to the Congress. He briefs reporters and speech writer Ted C. Sorensen before leaving for the U.S. Capitol. President Johnson and the First Lady Mrs. Ladybird Johnson heading towards their car. President Lyndon Johnson addresses the Congress. He touches upon the issues of civil rights, unemployment, and poverty. President Johnson announces a "War on Poverty in America" and a 25 percent cut in material for nuclear weapons.
Opening scene shows people fleeing a German advance toward Bastogne during World War II. American Military Police check the identifications of all persons leaving Bastogne on Highway 15. One Belgian refugee is delayed by an MP Sergeant because he has shaved the moustache that appears in his identification papers. American forces in trucks moving through at a major road intersection. U.S. troops of the 318th Regiment, 80th Infantry Division entering Bastogne in trucks, to relieve defenders there. Some 8th Regiment soldiers are seen patrolling a street where an American flag is displayed on a building with a sign on front reading: "Civil Affairs," and posting office hours. View of U.S. troops moving along sidewalks on both sides of a street in the town.
German troops are seen in white winter uniforms, during World War 2, with some holding panzerfaust. Narrator mentions combat against Anglo-Canadian forces, and then speaks of preparation for the New Year's offensive. Heinrich Himmler, as commander of Army Group "Oberrhein" had ordered the launch of Operation Nordwind to recapture Strasbourg. Accordingly, On New Year's Eve, 1945,The Germans launch an offensive (Nordwind) into Alsace, attacking the Allied 6th Army Group at multiple points. On January 5, 1945, Army Group Oberrhein begins a support attack by General Otto von dem Bach's XIV SS Corps, the 553d Volksgrenadier Division, reinforced with armor and commando units. They are seen crossing the Rhine river in small boats at Gambsheim, just ten miles north of Strasbourg. Allied aircraft bomb German positions on the West bank of the Rhein (Rhine) River. The German troopers seize high ground West of the Rhein. German troops are seen firing recoilless anti-tank weapons in a field, Views of knocked out British and American tanks. Abandoned German Jagdpanzer IV faces a U.S. Tank Destroyer. German troops are seen advancing into town North of Strasbourg (Herrlisheim, Drusenheim, Offendorf ?). Scenes of destruction in town. Words: "Haus Bewohnt Civil" scrawled on homes to identify them as civilian occupied.
Destroyed trains in railroad marshaling yard at Messina, Sicily, resulting from U.S. Army Air Forces bombing during World War 2. Cracked, broken and destroyed buildings in the city of Messina. Shattered trees and debris-filled areas. Two armed provisional Italian police, wearing white armbands, walk past partially destroyed commercial buildings. They turn and walk toward the camera. Closeups of each, and of armband identifying them as Civil Police, written in English and Italian.
American civilians prepare for an air raid drill in Arkansas, United States, during World War 2. Team members report to Air Raid Warden Sam Rankin. Sam receives the Yellow Alert message over phone. He dons his uniform with civil defense armband and goes to work on Blue Alert. Police cars help to get automobiles off the road. People get out of a bus and head to a nearby shelter. Family inside a blackout room listens to radio. Women switchboard operators seen connecting calls in a telephone switchboard room. Burners turned off on gas stove. Sam Rankin reports the Report and Control Center about the bombing. The message is passed to various departments including police and fire departments. Fire engines depart from fire station. Civilian defense nurse, trained by the Red Cross, is seen in a hospital preparing supplies. Her uniform includes on her left arm a civilian defense patch with a red cross in the middle. A man plots damaged areas on a large map. The alarm is sounded and a view of the alarm horn device is seen.
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