The first preliminary trial of Nazi war criminals following end of World War II in Europe. Norwegian leader Vidkun Quisling is tried for high treason in Oslo, Norway. Men are seated during the trial. Vidkun Quisling sits during the hearing. View of the Norwegian ship "Patria" which is now Allied headquarters, in Flensburg, Northern Germany. On May 9, 1945, the Allies arrest all elements of the German shadow government at Flensburg. German prisoners march near the harbor. Ships in the background. High German officials are arrested. Two German Navy officers and a non-uniformed official (who has the appearance of a Hitler doppelganger) stand with their hands behind their heads. Exterior view of Castle at Flensburg. Inside lies the body of General-Admiral Hans-Georg von Friedeburg, after he committed suicide. Picture of Admiral Doenitz, on wall above the body. Colonel General Alfred Jodl, leaving the Germany Army Headquarters at Flensburg, as he is taken into custody. Exterior view of German shadow government headquarters at Flensburg. Grand Admiral Karl Doenitz, successor to Hitler, is taken into custody. Doenitz and Jodl, are escorted by Allied armed guards, through a tunnel in the Flensburg compound. View of house in Luneberg, Germany, where Nazi SS leader, Heinrich Himmler, commits suicide after his arrest by British soldiers. View of cyanide poison pills taken from Himmler, before he succeeded in taking one he had hidden in his mouth. Body of Himmler.
Representatives of three nations, seated around table at Potsdam Conference held at Cecilienhof in Potsdam, Germany. British prime minister, Clement Attlee; President of United States, Harry Truman; and representative of Soviet Union, Joseph Stalin at the Potsdam Conference, July 1945. They deliver an ultimatum of unconditional surrender to Japan. Swarms of B-29 bombers and Aircraft Carrier Task Forces destroy Japanese homeland. Planes on carrier decks.Navy Grumman carrier-based TBF aircraft dropping bombs.. Destruction of ships at sea. Mushroom cloud due to atomic bombing. Chart depicts the power of one atomic bomb. Britain's 'grand slam' bomb, most destructive conventional bomb ever produced. Doctor Ernest Orlando Lawrence, inventor of the cyclotron (atom smashing machine). A man works at the Cyclotron at the University of California, Berkeley. General Leslie Groves, head of the project speaks. He is seated with Dr Vannevar Bush, government director of science and research, and Dr Richard Tolman, technical expert. Quantities of uranium shipped from Alberta, Canada are used in bombs. The atomic bomb process (Manhattan Project) is developed in widely separated areas; scenes from Hanford Project plant in Richmond, Washington. Project personnel exit cars and enter into the search area before starting their work day. Lieutenant colonel Franklin T Matthias with the army corps of engineers, appointed to the Hanford Project. Sign of 'Oak Ridge' in Tennessee. Largest of the three atomic bomb plants located near the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) dam. Employed personnel in atomic bomb plants are seen going to work. Man and woman employees at the plan read and smile at a Knoxville Journal newspaper in August 1945 with news headline "Power of Oak Ridge Atomic Bomb hits Japs" after the atomic bomb was dropped in Hiroshima. View of dense prefabricated home communities to house large number of Oak Ridge plant workers. View of families setting up their houses in trailer towns after the prefabricated homes were full. People come out from the Henebry's Jewelers and supermarket, among stores setup to meet the needs of the quickly built city. Scenes changes to show view of Soviet leader Joseph Stalin at conference. Russian artillery and troops in a parade at Red Square in Moscow, Russia (these parade scenes are from the May 1, 1945 May Day parade, just days before Germany's surrender). President Harry Truman reports on the latest developments regarding the war with Japan. He states that the United States is prepared to destroy every productive enterprise in Japan and the U.S. shall completely destroy its power to make war. He warns of an attack by the U.S. due to the rejection of the July 26th ultimatum at Potsdam. He warns that Japan "should expect a rain of ruin from the air; the like of which has never been seen on this earth." Truman notes that it will be followed by an unprecedented sea and land invasion of Japan.
This film is a scattering montage of World War 2 scenes from 1939 through 1945. Part of an agreement between Nazi Germany and Yugoslavia is shown in English. It is dated June 1, 1939 and ostensibly signed by Adolf Hitler. Next, German Ju 87, Stuka dive bomber aircraft are shown peeling off from formation, on April 6, 1941, to attack Yugoslavia. Bombs bursting on the ground. Closeup of a Stuka airplane in a dive, making its characteristic whine, and dropping bombs. Bombs exploding just outside some concrete walls. German infantry running along railroad tracks and entering backyard of house in a village. German soldiers observing from overlooking hill; climbing over rubble; and marching along a road toward a village. Animated map showing German invasion areas early in World War II, extending through most of Europe and into Norway, by 1941. Animated map shows further invasions into France, Belgium, low countries, the Balkans, and Eastern front towards the Soviet Union. Map highlights Tokyo, Rome, and Berlin. Delegations walking in hall of Reich Chancellery in Berlin, to sign Tripartite pact, on September 27, 1940. The group is led by by Count Galeazzo Ciano (Italian Foreign Minister, and Mussolini's son-in-law); Joachim von Ribbentrop, Germany's Foreign Minister and Japan’s Ambassador Saburō Kurusu. The diplomats are seen, next, standing near a table as Adolf Hitler enters rendering Nazi salute. He shakes hands with Count Ciano and Ambassador Kurusu. Hitler is seated to watch the proceedings. Von Ribbontrop is seen signing for Germany. Next scenes show German armored units heading East in Operation Barbarossa (June of 1941). A sign identifies the town of Eydtkau (Eydtkuhnen) on the German-Lithuanian border. German armor and artillery moving eastward. German troops destroying international crossing barriers. German troops firing siege guns. Montage with glimpses of German battle scenes showing tanks, guns, rockets in action with attendant explosions, fires, and destruction. Formations of German warplanes in flight, including Junkers Ju-52s that carry troops, including paratroops. View from above of Junkers Ju-87 Stuka dive bombers in formation. Battle of Britain scenes, with view of St. Paul's Cathedral in London, England (which miraculously survived the Blitz). The Tower Bridge in London, seen through a haze following blitzkrieg. German Junkers 87 Stuka dive bombers peeling off from formation to attack. British anti-aircraft searchlights shining beams skyward. Diving bombers illuminated by the lights. Anti-aircraft guns firing. Nighttime scenes showing gunfire flashes, explosions, tracer bullets and fires in London. British fire brigades fighting fires in London buildings as some collapse from the German bombing during the so-called "Blitz." Scene shifts to Pearl Harbor, December 7, 1941, as a Japanese bomb explodes on a U.S. Navy warship. The USS Arizona billowing smoke and listing as it succumbs to Japanese bombing. Another view of the Arizona sinking. Smoke rising from Battleship Row, at Pearl Harbor. Glimpse of postwar Nuremberg trial.
On the life of U.S. General George S Patton Junior (with narration by Ronald Reagan). Fight at the Siegfried Line during World War 2. U.S. 3rd Army cross the Siegfried Line. General Patton with his officers. Patton's troops cross the Rhine. American soldiers in the streets of Germany. Patton presents the Medal of Honor to a soldier. Patton sees dead people at a concentration camp in Germany. Patton's army moves towards Denube Valley. Civilians in the streets. Patton with officers. Written on a wall 'Hitler is kaput'. Trucks loaded with soldiers. A gun thrown on a pile of guns on the ground. Patton in a barge. A welcome ceremony for General Patton on his return to US: A parade along Broadway in Los Angeles on June 9, 1945, as over 1 million citizens welcome General Patton home and cheer. Shops and offices on Broadway in Los Angeles. Patton waves at the people from an open jeep. Patton and General Doolittle in Los Angeles. General Doolittle makes a speech at a ceremony and introduces General Patton. Patton addresses the gathering and talks about the war and the accomplishments of the Third Army. He notes that from aerial view, Germany and Austria "look like hell from the top." And "that's what any place that the 8th Air Force and the Third Army worked on looks like." Also Patton says, "You must remember this. That from Brest, to various towns in southern Germany and Austria whose names I can't pronounce, but whose places I have removed," (laughter in crowd), "the trail of the Third Army and the 19th Tactical Air Command and the 8th Air Force is marked by more than forty thousand white crosses; forty thousand dead Americans." View of a military cemetery graveyard. General Patton lays flowers at the grave of one of his soldiers. Patton watches a race at Soldiers Field Academy. He shakes hands with the winners. Soldiers carry Patton's coffin wrapped in American flag. Patton's grave with flowers on it. Two soldiers stand beside it. Patton's statue at the West Point Military Academy.
Views of the U.S. Army Air Forces fair hosted at Wright Field, near Dayton, Ohio, in October, 1945.The highlights of the event were exhibits of captured German and Japanese aircraft, rockets, and equipment. A German V-2 Rocket Motor on display. Soldiers observe the rocket. A German Junkers Ju 388 Störtebeker multi-role aircraft on display. A German Messerschmitt ME-262 Schwalbe fighter on display. A German pilot's victories recorded on the side of a plane. Two soldiers take a look at a Japanese Kamikaze bomb. One of them gets into the bomb seat. American officers and soldiers view the exhibits. 'Alles Kaputt' written on the side of a German Junkers Ju-290 bomber (one of the candidate aircraft, with further development, in Germany's Amerika Bomber project for a long-range bomber capable of striking the United States). Soldiers walk under the plane. 'Transient Aircraft' written on the control tower building in the background. (World War II period).
Opening slate of this film reads" Churchill Defeated." It goes on to show Winston Churchill attending his last meeting with wartime allied leaders at Podsdam, Germany in July, 1945. He shakes hands with Soviet Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov. His replacement, Clement Attlee who is also there. View from above of Soviet leader, Joseph Stalin greeting the new British Prime Minister, Clement Attlee, who is accompanied by Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden and U.S. President Harry Truman, accompanied by Secretary of State James F. Byrnes. The wartime leaders gather around a large round table. Closeup of Marshal Stalin and Soviet Foreign Minister Molotov. Closeup of U.S. President Harry S. Truman at the conference table. View from above of the principals at the table. Film shifts to scenes of Major Attlee campaigning for votes. People in street listening to Ernest Bevin campaigning. Views of Winston Churchill being given a hearty farewell by a crowd, as he rides through on an open vehicle. Closeups of him he picks up a microphone to address the throng. Scene shifts to views of British voters casting their ballots. King George VI strolls with new Prime Minister Attlee and Winston Churchill. He poses with the new Prime Minister (Attlee) and Ernest Bevin on his right. At his left is Winston Churchill and Anthony Eden. Closeups of Clement Attlee.
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