German forces take Minsk and advance to the Soviet Union early in their World War 2 Operation Barbarossa. German soldiers dive for cover as a shell explodes, during their house-to-house operations. One waves unarmed surrendering Soviet soldiers forward. Several other surrendering Soviet soldiers run along a dirt roadside. Some are also seen at a German field red cross tent where German medical corpsmen are standing. Soldiers hit the dirt as more shells strike nearby. Closeups of some Soviet prisoners. German Ju 87 Dive bombers are seen high above, and then closeup as they dive. Glimpse of German pilot in cockpit. Bombs striking ground. Dive bombers pulling out. Bombs exploding. Camera focuses on bomb falling from a Ju 87, and tracks it until it explodes on the ground. A German artillery spotter watches as a gun crew fires a 10.5cm le FH 18 howitzer. The shell explodes with white smoke and debris flies into the air. Glimpse of German soldiers watching as a gunner fires a 2cm Flak 38 antiaircraft gun at zero elevation. More artillery firing. A farm building is completely destroyed by an exploding heavy artillery shell. German troops walk past burning armor. Knocked out and burning tanks and other vehicles line the sides of the road to Minsk. But it is now open and a line of German troops with horse-drawn supply wagons moves ahead. Some mounted officers proceed as well. Trucks and armor follow, including a StuG III self-propelled gun armed with a short-barreled 75-mm gun. Scenes of total destruction. German long guns firing in flat lands as they continue advance to the Dnieper River. German 17 Cm Kanone 18 guns firing toward Stalin Line fortifications. Huge explosions seen as shells explode in distance. A fire raging in distance. More German artillery firing. German infantry advancing after the artillery barrages. Obstacles at Soviet lines of defense that German infantry must breach or bypass. German infantry entering a village. One throws a hand grenade and they both drop to the ground as it explodes on a small building. German soldier firing a light machine gun. Sounds of heavy artillery and views of battle damaged buildings and fortifications. Captured Soviet prisoners walk with hands above their heads. Closeups of some. Aerial view of a destroyed fort on the Stalin line and destroyed buildings all around it.
Film opens with date: 10 May 1940 (date of the German invasion of Belgium, Luxembourg, Holland in World War 2). Huge precise formation of German soldiers is shown. Alternating closeups of individual soldiers and camera pans across the formation. Animated map shows Germany, Belgium, France and Holland, plus Rein River, City of Lille, and Paris. It shows positions of English and French armies, ostensibly attacking from France, across Belgium and Holland, toward the German Ruhr region (but actually moving to repulse the German offensive). Belgian troops advancing on motorcycles past sandbagged buildings. The French border being opened followed by many French military vehicles, including trucks, trailers, artillery pieces, and some French Lorraine 37 tracked vehicles. A steam locomotive pulls a boxcar troop train. French and British Expeditionary Forces seen on the train. Many of the Allied soldiers sit in its doorways with their legs dangling. A French Char B1 heavy tank rumbles along a road. French light tanks. More views of Allied troops, including French Colonials, marching through towns and villages. Closeup of the Commander-in-Chief of the British Expeditionary Force, General the Viscount Lord Gort, with another British Commander. British troops in armored personnel carriers. British troops participating in Battle of France seen marching as someone is heard singing in background, about "washing day on the Siegfried line." Several British self-propelled heavy guns in motion. German army engineers detonating a charge followed by large explosions.
Animated map depicts principal positions of British and French forces on the French-Belgian border in September, 1939 at the start of World War 2, It shows assembly and movement of some forces in Belgium and Holland. Adolf Hitler looks over a planning map with Marshal Walther von Brauchitsch and other officers. Animated map illustrates the disposition of German forces under Generals Bock and Von Rundstedt, and their plan of attack across the Rhine River into Belgium. At German headquarters communications center switchboard operators connect military units to send orders. German soldiers and equipment starts moving with motorcycles, trucks, halftracks and other vehicles. General Franz Halder, Commmander-in-Chief of all German forces, climbs into an open army utility vehicle, after arriving by plane at an airport. An aircraft engine being started. Marshal Hermann Goering, Chief of the airforce (Luftwaffe) converses with an officer at an airport. Junkers Ju 88 bombers taking off and flying in loose formation high overhead. Views from inside one of the aircraft. Closeup of a Heinkel He 111 bomber in flight. View from greenhouse of the aircraft. German paratroopers in the cabin of a Junkers Ju 52 transport plane. Two Ju 52s flying overhead. View from inside a Ju 52 of Belgium and Holland waterways below. Pilot informs the troopers who stand and begin the parachute from the plane into Rotterdam. Closeup of the troopers exiting with chutes starting to open. Three Ju 52s dropping paratroops. Shots of troopers descending under fully open chutes. Aerial view of Rotterdam. German troops running along street and discarding border obstacles with sledge hammers.Military vehicles crossing the border. Tanks used to destroy obstacles. A Stug III crossing the border. German infantry moving cautiously through wooded area. A group drops down to the ground as a shot is heard to ricochet past them. German soldiers firing machine gun. Infantry under fire moving across fields flanking a village. German soldiers under small arms fire, scurry along a deserted steet in a town and seek shelter in doorways. Two carry a wounded comrade. A soldier fires an MG 42 machine gun resting on the shoulder of another soldier. German soldiers stand over two wounded. More German troops running close to buildings for cover.
Film opens with animated map showing the Maginot Line and attacks along it by Britiish and French and French Armies. Then it shows German Armies breaking through the line. Camera focuses along lines of steel post antitank barriers extending out of sight. Map illustrates fortifications in area labeled Maginot Line and shows vertical cross-section cutaway view of the Maginot Line fortifications. A French soldier is seen tending to an engine running deep inside the fortifications. French officers are seen near a large electric generator and large ducts for ventilation to the soldiers underground. French soldiers at a switch board in a communications center. French troops are seen double-time marching out from their quarters at the Maginot Line. Next they enter forts in the line. Closeup of soldiers' feet as they board narrow-gauge train to take them to their respective battle stations in the Maginot complex. View of the train carrying passengers through its tunnels. A French soldier moving large steel containers suspended on overhead trolleys. They appear to contain ammunition. A cook at work in a kitchen within the fort. French soldiers entertaining themselves, singing and clapping as one of them dances. A slate in the film reads:"Nous Vaincrons parce que nous sommes les plus forts" (We win because we are the strongest.) French troops marching to war. Animated map shows Areas under French control, including Colonial Africa, together with German-occupied areas. It shows other forces building up including those from British colonies and Canada and Australia. Closeup of French Colonial soldiers. French allied troops from various regions in the world marching. Massive parade of troops along the The Avenue des Champs-Élysées, in Paris, with the Arc de Triomphe behind them.
U.S. warships off Majuro Atoll, Marshall Islands, during World War 2. An OS2U Kingfisher scout seaplane, from one of the ships flies overhead, circles, and lands on choppy waters. The aircraft porpoises in the chop before settling down to taxi. A small boat is nearby.
Scenes shot from a U.S. battleship,off the coast of Majuro Atoll, Marshall Islands, during World War 2. Brief glimpse of her guns in forward triple turret. A light cruiser is seen ahead, to starboard. View of an attack transport ship, with her Higgins Boats deployed in a line, and another attack transport seen in the background. The battleship, USS Colorado (BB-45) in camouflage paint (time code 1:40-1:43) and the battleship, USS Tennessee (BB-43)in measure 32 camouflage (time code: 1:44-1:51).
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