Film begins with a map of the South Eastern part of Europe, including countries of Hungary,Croatia,Serbia, and Romania. Then a German Air Force officer is seen dispatching aircraft to attack Soviet tanks on the Eastern front. Next are views from a cockpit of German Junkers Ju 87 (Stuka dive bombers) in flight. Closeup of a Stuka airplane inflight. It is equipped with a machine guns under its wings. More views from a cockpit of smoke rising from the ground, and then of Ju 87s strafing Soviet tanks. Narrator states that more than 300 Soviet tanks were destroyed. Scene changes to German soldier in a defensive position in Hungary, during the German invasion of that country in March, 1944 (Operation Margarethe). View of explosions in the distance. Brief closeup of a German soldier. German infantry leaving their defensive positions and advancing along a hill crest where they are silhouetted against the light sky. Artillery firing from hidden position near trees. Several scenes of burning buildings. German gun crew holding their ears as they fire a heavy artillery piece. A burning tank.
The First World War. Austrian cavalry troops, horse carriages and infantry troops in World War 1. Charles I of Austria leaning over from a horse and talking to royal family members in a carriage. Very brief shot of Japanese funeral forJapanese Navy Admiral Heihachiro Togo, Tokyo, Japan. German Army troops in formation marching to battle in 1914. Newspaper headlines showing outbreak of World War 1. British Army soldiers in trenches fix bayonets on rifles and advance on a battlefield, taking refuge in a bomb crater. Gas shells and or smoke explode nearby as they advance on the battlefield. Explosions occur and smoke rises in the background. Medics with stretchers stop to assist some injured soldiers.
Variety of events in World War I years. German merchant submarine Deutschland (a British blockade buster) in 1916 in the United States (then neutral), departing New London, Connecticut on November 21, 1916 headed back to Germany carrying silver bullion. The submarine had just completed repairs following a collision with the tugboat T.A. Scott Jr. when first attempting to leave New London on November 16, 1916. The North German Lloyd Shipping Company submarine Deutschland is seen leaving the dock at New London, Connecticut. The officers on the submarine Deutschland wave. Periscope of submerged submarine is seen slicing through calm water. Sailor on an Italian destroyer blows general quarters call on bugle. Another sailor brings a telescope on deck. Next, crew members fire their deck gun at periscope in the water. Change of scene the shows the destroyer making way, leaving visible wake, astern, as crew members load and fire depth charges from the ship's stern. View of a submarine underwater. Exploding depth charges raise huge columns of water. Underwater view of submarine shows columns of bubbles nearby. View of Austro-Hungarian Battleship SMS Szent Istvan (Saint Stephen), capsizing and rolling after it is torpedoed off the Dalmation Coast of the Adriatic Sea by Italian torpedo boats on June 10, 1918. Survivors being rescued in small boats. View of a merchant vessel at dock and in a harbor. View of survivors of the May 1915 Lusitania disaster, with belongings, arriving in a harbor. Men and women with children posing. Two small girls pose among the group of Lusitania survivors.
roads and at the government buildings in Budapest, Hungary. They burn Soviet flags in the streets. Soviet machine guns and tanks fire at the revolutionaries. Hungarian citizens drive on tanks on the roads of Budapest. A tank drives past Heroes’ Square (Budapest, Hősök tere, 1146 Hungary). A man fires at government tanks. Damaged buildings in Budapest following battle with Soviet forces. Molotov cocktails prepared by protestors to throw at Soviet forces. Bodies of combatants killed during the revolution lying on the roads. Hungarian communist Prime Minister Imre Nagy addresses the nation during the Hungarian revolution of 1956.
Hungarian Revolution of 1956 against the Stalinist government in Hungary. Civilians, police and military mingling amiably. Hungarian Communist Leader, Janos Kadar enters a car with an Army General. Civilians walk around a Soviet tank in a market. Hungarian soldiers stand on roads and talk to each other. Animated map shows flow of Soviet Forces surrounding Budapest to put down the insurrection. Soviet tanks firing point blank into buildings. Fires raging. A radio announcer is seen at a center from which multilingual broadcasts are being made about the events in Budapest. A technician in broadcast center. Speaker labeled "Hungarian." Brief view of UN meeting in New York. Revolutionaries fire on Soviets from remnants of destroyed buildings. Damaged Soviet tank. Hungarian National flags fly over abandoned litters in a small park. Dead revolutionary in a coffin being transported for burial in a cemetery. Some snow on the ground. People in various parts of the world express sympathy for the Hungarian insurrectionists. Black wreathes are hung. Youth in West Berlin, Germany, carry banner calling for Freedom for Hungary. Supportive demonstrations in Vietnam, France, and Italy. Black wreathes are placed in Poland.
Soviet tanks in Budapest, Hungary during the Hungarian Revolution of 1956. Civilians walk along sidewalks as Soviet T-55 tanks and trucks pass along a road. People look on as Soviet tanks, trucks and armored vehicles advance in a city square. Soviet tanks roll towards the Heroes' Square (Budapest, Hősök tere, 1146 Hungary).