A Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress bomber takes off from the airfield during 15th Air Force Operation Reunion (Operation Gunn,) to rescue Allied prisoners of war in Romania during World War II. . Men carry an injured airman on a stretcher to a B-17 Flying Fortress bomber. The men go under the bomber. Men raise the stretcher up the B-17 Flying Fortress bomber’s bomb bay door. Injured POWs on stretchers are taken inside the evacuation aircraft through the bomb bay door. Prisoners of war assist each other in boarding the aircraft. POWs form a line as they board the aircraft one by one. Some prisoners of war board the aircraft through the belly. A POW (who lost a leg) board the bomber. A prisoner of war smiling before he boards the evacuation bomber. Bomber starts engines. B-17 Flying Fortress bomber taking off from Popesti Airfield.
15th Air Force Operation Reunion (Operation Gunn) to rescue Allied prisoners of war in Romania during World War II. B-17 takes off from Romania. An injured prisoner of war (with head covered in bandages) takes a seat inside plane. A POW smiles while holding a newspaper. Another POW waving goodbye from a window. Groups of bombers in flight. A Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress bomber lands in San Giovanni Airfield. Allied prisoners of war disembark from the bomber after landing. United States troops greet their comrades after their evacuation from Romania. A happy reunion for prisoners of war and their comrades in Italy. Former prisoners of war smiling outside the bombers. Chief of Staff Colonel Taylor speaks to the former prisoners of war after their arrival in Italy. Officer gathered, including Colonel Taylor, General Nathan F. Twining, General Bourne.
United States Office of Strategic Services (OSS) agents relaying reports via radio to high command in Egypt during World War II. Animated map shows radio waves from the Balkan region reaching Cairo. Radio towers at Huckstep station inside Camp Huckstep. Radio operators pick up radio signals in control room. A radio operator takes message to his colleague. High command officers deliberate plans in Europe before a large map. United States Army Air Force 15th Bombing Command bombardiers and pilots attend a briefing with officer pointing to maps. Ground control radio operator gives commands at air field. United States Consolidated B-24 Liberator bombers taxiing and then taking off from airfield, including one dubbed, "Ready, Willing, and Able" and another named "Strawberry Bitch." Bombers in formation overhead. Close up of a hand of bombardier pushing bomb release button to drop bombs. Close up view of bombs dropping out of open bomb bay of B-24. View of bombs dropping over what narrator claims to be a Balkan city. Aerial view shows thick smoke covering the bomb sites.
Allied troops move against German counterattacks in Belgium and Western Germany during World War II. United States troops move along a muddy road in Belgium. Incendiary explosion. Tire on fire from incendiary. A soldier looks at wrecked American military jeeps and ruined buildings. Heavy smoke rises from a pile of wreckage. Fleeing civilians and refugees walk on the road on foot. Some of the civilians bring bicycles. Belgian Roman Catholic priests wearing Cappello romano hats are seen moving with the group. African American motorized infantry moving into Belgium. An African American soldier smoking cigarette on passing truck. Soldiers in the Ardennes Forest. A soldier plants M1 anti-tank mines in the Ardennes. He places a mine in a hole in the ground. The soldier covers the mine with a pile of dried leaves. Soldiers setting up roadblocks and covering tanks with foliage for camouflage. An M3 Stuart light tank is covered with hay to disguise as a haystack. United States soldiers carefully search the field for Nazi paratroopers. A soldier finds abandoned parachute equipment and white snow cape. Soldiers inspect passing trucks at an intersection between Bastogne and Martelange in Wallonia, Belgium. Belgian civilians fleeing a German advance on Highway 15. American Military Police personnel diligently searching for disguised German soldiers to prevent infiltration. A Military Police officer inspects a Belgian man’s identification paper. Military Police personnel questions a driver of a Jeep. Soldiers digging a dugout. Soldier with an M1917 Browning Machine gun. Artillery crew firing a M101 105 mm Howitzer. A pile of shells stands beside the Howitzer. An officer gives out orders to fire over telephone. Howitzer Motor Carriage M8 tanks firing in the Ardennes. A soldier inspects with binoculars. Infantry troops moving across a field and village. Soldiers firing rifles from behind a stone fence. A soldier deposits a charge into a basement window, followed by explosion. Soldier fires bazooka in haze. Soldiers looking up to the sky searching for air support. Allied bombers flying over Belgium. British Royal Air Force bombers dropping bombs over a road junction as seen from bomb bay view.
Gunners with a Bofors 40 mm anti-aircraft gun west of Monschau, Germany during World War II. One of the gunners is holding a stack of shells. Snow-covered M10 tank destroyers of the 644th Tank Destroyer Battalion in defensive position in the woods. Snow covers the woods and trees. A soldier tosses shell cases near the tank destroyers. Tank crewmen talking to each other as they warm themselves at a fire. 602nd Engineers Camouflage Battalion (attached to 15th Engineers, 9th Rif Division) raise camouflage nets to screen road from German enemy observation. Cable spool at the back of a truck. Camouflage nets are raised up.
The narrator and host of the film is seen sitting on an armchair. He speaks about United States’ lack of desire to establish a global hegemony. “We have constantly reiterated by word, by deed, that we have no desire to establish a colonial empire” the host said. Wilson Line SS Ariosto ship unloads a tractor. Ship loads sacks of cement in Puerto Rico. A doctor adjusts the x-ray machine. A nurse tends to a ward with patients lying in bed. Sign for Africa Freedom Day on April 15, 1959 at Carnegie Hall. African musicians playing drums as dancers perform a traditional folk dance. A man speaking to the audience at Carnegie Hall. African Americans clapping. New York Times newspaper article by Tad Szulc titled “New Latin Accord is Offered By U.S.” with a photo of United States President John F. Kennedy on the right side. The host explains that the Soviet Union accuses the United States of imperialism to deflect Soviet colonialism. “Now on the face of things, one would assume both imperialism and its twin colonialism are on the way out” the host said.