A B-52 strategic bomber aircraft takes off. A flight of B-52s in formation. Higgins boat landing craft motoring toward shore in the amphibious assault and landing at Inchon, during the Korean War (also spelled Incheon). A U.S. Landing Craft Tank (Rocket), LCT(R), firing rockets at shore during the assault. Wider view of the assault with rockets being fired and smoke obscuring much of scene. General of the Army Douglas MacArthur, Commander-in-Chief, Far East Command, is seen seated aboard the USS Mount McKinley (AGC-7) during the Inchon Korea landings, September 15,1950. Behind him is Rear Admiral James H. Doyle, U.S. Navy, Commander of Task Force 90 and Major General Edward M. Almond, U.S. Army, Commander, Tenth Corps (looking through binoculars). More scenes of the amphibious landing including view of Landing vehicle Tracked (LVT) in the surf. Infantrymen clambering ashore. An M4 Sherman tank in action. Smoke and fire. North Korean soldiers surrendering with white flags and taken captive as prisoners of war. American tanks passing through captured North Korean town.
Many photographers crowd together to take pictures. Scene shifts to the subject: Major General W Austin Davis, Ballistic Systems Division Commander, presenting ,what appears to be a large facsimile missile launch key, to Lieutenant General Archie J Old, 15th Air Force Commander at a ceremony. View from behind photographers, taking pictures. Next, General Old is seen presenting launch keys to a pair of Nuclear and Missile Operations Officers, dressed in white flight suits. Closeups of the recipients, showing their missile badges, aviator wings, and their missile launch keys on chains around their necks.
Nazi propaganda extolling the growth of the Nazi party from 11.55 million in 1933 to 15.7 million in 1936. Remilitarization of Germany in lead up to World War 2. Mobilized German troops enter the demilitarized zone of the Rhineland and, as slate suggests, reoccupy their old garrison there. Triumphant scenes of German soldiers marching into Frankfurt, Karlsruhe, and Cologne, to the enthusiastic cheers of the residents. Hitler and Goering and others in open car as crowds cheer them in Berlin. Hitler on a balcony reviewing a torchlight parade of SA and SS troopers. Brief glimpse of Hermann Goering in civilian clothes. Euphoric crowds greet Hitler on Heroes Memorial Day, March 7, 1936, the same day he ordered German troops into the Rhineland.
Scene of a Viet Minh attack on the Bai-Thao outpost in Indochina. View of Improvised French military camp site located 15 km from Sept-Pagodes and 8 km from Bentam. A French radio operator seated at a table alongside his equipment. French troops stand nearby and use binoculars to survey the camp area. A crowd gathered around corpses. Feet of one are tied together. Bullets lie near a corpse on the ground. Fly infested corpses after the attack. A sign post reads 'Bai-Thao'. An ambulance truck makes its way past the sign on a dirt road. French Officers talk with a Vietnamese boy. A French soldier stands near an artillery piece and looks out at a winding river. Vietnamese woman rides in a bicycle rickshaw and a man pulls a hand cart in front of French soldiers in parked Sherman tank. Three soldiers look out of the tank hatches. An officer stands atop the tank.
Brief opening scenes show ships being engulfed in flames and smoke from Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, December 7, 1941 in World War 2. Focus is primarily on the USS Arizona. Scene shifts to Japanese troops assembling on a pier and boarding troop transport ships bound for Manchuria and China, following the Mukden Incident of September, 1931. Japanese troops are then seen marching into Manchuria on September 18, 1931. A formation of Japanese soldiers presents arms. In another formation, they shoulder swords. Closeup of a Japanese soldier in a steel helmet with chin strap in place. A steam locomotive pulls a train into the Chin Hsien station on the South Manchurian Railway. A Japanese train on that line had been dynamited, triggering a Japanese push into Mukden. View from behind a train leaving Chin Hsien on the South Manchurian Railway. Japanese battalions place bundles of straw across a stream to facilitate troop crossing. A column of Japanese troops is seen crossing the water on the makeshift straw crossing. Japanese troops advancing along with supplies carried by pack animals. Troops traverse a sandy berm past an abandoned two-wheel cart. A formation of 12 Japanese G3M bombers flies overhead in a "V" formation en route to bomb Mukden. View of Chinese population running for shelter from the bombing. Chinese walk past some civilian casualties lying in a street. The League of Nations headquarters in Palais Wilson, Geneva, Switzerland. A memorial to Woodrow Wilson at the Palais Wilson reads: "A La Memoire De Woodrow Wilson President des Etats-Vnis,Fondatevr DL La Societe Des Nations, La Ville de Geneve." A car driving away from the entrance of the League Headquarters. Closeup of doorway with sign identifying it as the entrance for delegates and members of the Press. League delegates are seen inside its meeting hall. Japanese warships are seen next, attacking 15 miles from Shanghai with naval gunfire.Three Mitsubishi 2MR4 (Type 10)Reconnaissance biplanes are seen in flight above the barrel of a large naval gun. Japanese troops marching into Shanghai, as people on the roadside wave Japanese flags. Next, they are seen marching out of Shanghai at the insistence of the League of Nations. After signing a truce with China, on May 4, 1932, Japanese troops are seen entering Mongolia, in September, 1932, which they reconstituted as the Puppet State of Manchuko. A Japanese soldier standing atop a building waving a Japanese flag. Japanese statesmen resigning and leaving the League of Nations in protest after it labeled Japan an aggressor. Japanese forces fire a long barrel Type 89 cannon (150mm) as they push into China proper. Group of Japanese artillerymen use range finders, Periscopic viewers and binoculars to guide the gunners. Shell explodes raising large amount of earth. More views of artillery firing and infantry advancing. Infantry crossing a bridge and raising siege ladders to scale a fortress. Engines running on Japanese Ki 30 Type 97 airplanes, as pilots get final briefing and orders. They salute, board their aircraft, and are seen in formation aloft, dropping bombs. View from the air of bombs striking below. View from a bomber of its bombs dropping from the aircraft (bombs away view) and exploding on the ground. A column of Chinese soldiers moves along a section of the Great Wall of China heading into the interior of China. Civilians moving all manner of equipment and machinery into the interior.
Film begins showing formation of German bombers in flight. Next, British and French troops are seen retreating under fire across a river using inflatable rafts. British artillery fires guns from sparse tree line. German troops crossing a river, in small inflatable boats, under heavy Allied artillery fire. German soldiers launch boats next to a destroyed bridge over a river. British artillery firing from tree line. Shells striking near the German forces by the river. German soldiers in Einheits-Pkw field cars ford a shallow river. German troops unroll a spool of communications wire upon the ground using a rolling dispenser. Sd.Kfz.11 German half-track pulling a 15 cm schwere Feldhaubitze 18 (heavy field howitzer) up a muddy hill. Soldiers moving in a river aboard a Sd.Kfz. 251/1 Ausf. A armored car. A Panzer tank being offloaded from a barge. Various German artillery firing, including a siege mortar, with their shells exploding on targets. German soldier holds his ears as heavy gun is fired. German troops, with shells bursting near them in water, carry timber to repair bridge. Line of Panzer tanks advancing. German heavy gun firing. Silhouette of tank treads moving through fire. A rocket sails through the air and strikes ground. Many rounds of machine gun tracer bullets seen in night. Fires consuming numerous buildings in Louvain (Leuven), Belgium. A dead horse on the street. Inhabitants fleeing the city on foot, bicycles, and in cars. View from distance of heavy black smoke over the city. Closeups of burning buildings. Police help an injured woman lying in grass beside a path. Glimpse of another woman lying on a stretcher. More scenes of fires. In Louvain, the tower of St. Peter's Church crashes in flames. More views of refugees in countryside, continuing to walk away from the city. One is a young girl with a wooden leg prosthetic using a cane. German troops entering the city. German troops, without helmets, manually moving an artillery piece along a path. A soldier seated, sleeping, at side of path. Two soldiers asleep on a motorcycle and sidecar. Many views of German soldiers sleeping beside the path. Another soldier asleep in the sidecar of a BMW motorcycle. Scene shifts to black smoke billowing from burning oil storage facility at Antwerp, torched by Allied forces in retreat. Aerial views from German Henschel He 126A-1 reconnaissance airplane, of Brussels, which was spared from destruction. German forces seen moving in the city. Shadow of reconnaissance airplane seen on ground as it flies over the city. Street level view of German forces in various vehicles driving on city street and others in countryside. Some troops on horseback and on bicycles. White smoke rising from industrial facility. A sign identifies the city of Sedan, Ardennes, France. A building smoking after being shelled. huge fires burning in Sedan. View from Meuse River of fires burning in Sedan. (Allied forces retreated to Dunkirk, from where many were safely evacuated to Britain.)