The smoldering Palacio del Infantado in Guadalajara, Spain. It is partially destroyed and still burning from bombing and fire during the Spanish Civil War. Damaged arches and carvings of the palace. Smoke rises from the ground. Debris and rubble inside the building. Carvings on the walls. Piles of debris and burning logs. A stone inscription on the wall dated 20 April, 1914, declaring the Palacio to be a National Monument. Damage in the cemetery next to the palace building.
Documentary titled the "'Rehearsal of War." Film begins showing shells bursting in hills as a soldier runs for cover in foreground. Next, a Republican Soldier helps a wounded comrade walking along a road. More views of combat in Spain. View of the State, War, and Navy Building in Washington, DC. Sign over a doorway reading: "Chief of Staff." Inside, General Malin Craig, in civilian clothes, flanked by two officials, examines a report entitled, "Analysis of the "Brihuega Campaign." The document also reads: "Guadalajara Front." and is dated 3/27/1937. A document (Classified "Confidential") is shown that discusses the capabilities of the French 20mm Moteur canon firing 300-400 shots per minute with explosive shells.Glimpse of an Army officer's hand marking a map in a book. On his table is a book entitled,"Two World's in Conflict, We or They." Flags of Germany and Italy are seen. Closeup of Benito Mussolini in arms-crossed pose. Italian crowd cheering. View of Adolf Hitler standing with Marshal Hermann Goering, German Army Chief of Staff, Werner von Fritsch, and Rudolf Hess (just barely seen). Animated map of Europe shows Germany and Italy with desired expansion of both. Mussolini walks with military officers past a large Italian trimotor transport aircraft. A field filled with Italian light tanks armed with one small gun each. Each is crewed by one man. A parade of German Sd.Kfz.7 halftrack transporters filled with troops and each pulling an 88mm Flak gun on a Sonderanhänger 201 trailer. Brief view of formation of high wing monoplanes with fixed landing gears, flying overhead. German troops in realistic field exercise of infantry and Panzer I Ausf. A tanks. Closeup of tank with troops. Flame throwing tanks firing in a desert area. Adolf Hitler addressing an audience, finishes with a half-hearted Nazi salute. U.S. Military officers discuss Axis blitzkrieg tactics charting reports from the Spanish campaign on maps. View of Saint Jean de Luz, France, where U.S. Ambassador to Spain, Claude Bowers, is seen on the telephone at the Miramar Hotel where he has taken temporary refuge. Final scenes show a 4-stacker U.S. Navy warship patrolling in Spanish waters and the Captain and officers inside aboard ship reviewing maps and positions.
A fleet of aircraft in flight over Madrid, Spain. View of the damaged National Museum of Anthropology (C. de Alfonso XII, 68, 28014 Madrid, Spain) with rubble and bomb damage around. A hole-riddled and damaged portrait of a woman holding a skull in her hand. Next scene shows the Palacio de Liria (Liria Palace). Many items are strewn on the lawn of the palace, having been evacuated during fire in the palace. Smoldering ruins of parts of the Liria Palace (C. de la Princesa, 20, 28008 Madrid, Spain). A statue on the lawn presumably of a member of the House of Alba (possibly Jacobo Fitz-James Stuart, 17th Duke of Alba). Chairs and furniture scattered on the lawn. A royal carriage hastily moved onto the lawn. A man sitting inside another royal carriage. Desks, chairs, cabinets, sofas, and other furniture all over the garden lawn. Views of the damaged palace. A stuffed polar bear on the lawn. Piles of books and behind them a suit of armor. Close up views of many library books piled on the lawn, having been moved during the fire.
Destruction caused during Spanish Civil War in Spain. Buildings and churches seen alongside a bridge in Spain. Bomb wrecked buildings and churches. Heaps of debris seen. Spanish civilians fires rifles, including both men and women soldiers or combatants. Crowds gathered in streets during a demonstration. Dirty and ragged refugee families living in caves after destruction of their towns and villages by war. Children eating in caves. Photograph of Francisco Franco, Dictator and Head of State of Spain. Aerial views of German aircraft of the Condor Legion seen in flight, including Stuka dive bombers, Junkers JU 52 transports, and a Heinkel He-111 E taking off. X symbol of Condor Legion aircraft seen on tails of some of the aircraft. Some bi-planes are also seen as they taxi on an airfield with German pilots or crew nearby.
Opening scene shows Spanish labor Union supporters marching in Valencia, Spain, in 1936, under a large banner with initals C.N.T and A.I.T. printed on its top corners (Standing for Confederación Nacional del Trabajo (CNT) and Asociación Internacional de los Trabajadores (AIT), respectively. The word: "Authores" (Authors) appears in large print on the banner. One marcher carries a large Spanish 2nd Republic flag with letters "A.I.T." on it. Next, closeups of uniformed band members playing instruments, are seen. Persons standing nearby raise their right fists in support of the Republican anti-fascist movement. Closeups of band musicians playing.
Army of Francisco Franco’s Nationalist Spain attacks the Spanish Republican troops in Madrid. View over the outskirts of the city showing troops firing machine guns and rifles behind low ditches. Smoke rises from an explosion. Troops march and parade on streets in the city of Madrid, Spain.