History of Czechoslovakia from 1919 to 1968 depicts lives of its people and various crisis. Clip shows combination of still images and moving images, with background of Czech musical soundtrack. A burning Nazi plane shot by Soviet military during World War II. Soviet Red Army marches in Prague, Poland in May 1945 to rescue from German occupation and atrocities. People destroy Nazi emblems and symbols from buildings. People assemble in large numbers on roads and cheer for the incoming Soviet troops and tanks. Civilians of Czechoslovakia during normal life after World War 2. Workers in mines, farmers in field and women work in houses. Spread of communism and communists make a star formation during a rally in Prague (sometimes called the Prague Spring). President Edvard Benes in 1948 signs pact with Soviet government. Photos of Soviet General Joseph Stalin and other Soviet leaders in his office. Various Presidents and leaders of Czechoslovakia during the 1950s. Military and civilian communist groups march on streets in 1956. Czech Skoda automobile production factory scenes in mid 1960s. Workers work in factories and shops till night hours. A Czech textile factory scene. Czech men and women in 1960s fashions enjoying mugs of beer. Several scenes with Alexander Dubček, (Alexander Dubcek), then Soviet leaders Nikita Khrushchev and Nikolai Brezhnev arrive for meeting with Dubček. Smiling Czech people walk in cities and at a cafe during liberalization measures. Soviet and Warsaw Pact tanks, armored vehicles, infantry and aircraft start their occupation ending the Prague Spring in Prague, Bratislave and other cities in August 1968. Civilians protest, demonstrate, and argue with Soviet troops and demonstrate in streets. Some approach tanks and attempt to damage the tanks. Large crowd of civilians watch the retreating Soviet forces from Czechoslovakia in 1968. Red Army met with agitation and resistance on streets by civilians. Soviet troops fire at some demonstrating civilians.
Opening illustrated slate shows reduction of Amercan Armed forces personnel from more than 12 million in 1945 to only a little over 1 and a half million in 1947. U.S. Navy submarines are seen docked in storage. Men work spraying protective coatings over guns on Navy ships as they are placed in storage in the "Mothball Fleet." A lone sailor is seen on the deck of a ship with vast number of mothballed Navy destroyers in the background. A B-24 Liberator bomber being dismantled and a B-17 parked with engines removed, seen through stack of propellers in foreground. Airman sets a demolition charge. Views of several bomber aircraft being blown up as junk. Stacks of junked and scrapped American war materiel rusting. View inside a mill where molten metal is being processed (ostensibly recycled from junked war materiel). Narrator speaks of beating guns into plow shares. Several views of molten metal being poured into and from ladles. Views inside post-war factories returning to peace-time production, where industrial heavy equipment, railroad wheels, kitchen appliances, home appliances, rubber tires, and new 1946 Ford automobiles are assembled (looking exactly like the 1942 models).
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.
During Nuremberg trial Hans Frank describes the Nazi policies of exterminating Poles and others. Atrocities inflicted on prisoners in Ourador Sur Glane, France in Bande, Belgium in Catacombe, Italy and in Czechoslovakia. Nazi German soldiers engaged in destruction following massacre of many residents in town of Lidice, Czechoslovakia in 1942 (retaliating for the assassination of SS officer Reinhard Heydrich.) Dead bodies in Nazi concentration camps, including Auschwitz, in 1945. Bones visible in crematory ovens. Victims inside crowded barracks including women prisoners who have been liberated. Large piles of items taken from victims before their deaths, including luggage, hair locks, toothbrushes, shaving cream brushes, shoes, clothing. Bones of victims piled at a concentration camp. Rudolf Franz Ferdinand Höss (sometimes spelled Höß or Hoess or Hess) describes concentration camps at Auschwitz in Poland during testimony. Victims in hospitals are shown, as words of Hess describe medical experiments include lowering the body temperature, injecting the body with poisons and infectious diseases and subjecting victims to high altitude pressure chambers. View of mutilated corpses. Sign that reads, "Arbeit Macht Frei" over the Auschwitz concentration camp gated entrance. Corpses of victims in the concentration camps.
United States Veterans Administration's role for the war veterans of World War II. War veterans of World War 2 exit a separation center building with smiles on their faces, holding up discharge papers in 1945 at the end of World War 2. Veterans at United States Veterans Administration office. A map of United States depicts the 13 cities in which the Veterans Administration offices have been set up. Map of U.S. depicts the network of Veterans administration offices and traveling Veterans Administration representative locations across the United States. A traveling V.A. representative enters the "John Dyson" grocery, feed, fertilizer, and general store in a small town. Sign outside the building reads "Attention Veterans" and describes the weekly visit scheduled at that location.
A dramatized film about the training of U.S. Navy recruits at various naval training centers in the United States. The training and life of United States Navy recruits at U.S. Navy training center in Bainbridge, Naval Station Great Lakes in Illinois and Naval Base San Diego in California. The sailors watch a movie which depicts historic navy sailors on old masted sailing ships as they fire naval guns at another ship. The reenactment is of a 18th century or 19th century naval battle. The ship being hit by the enemy begins to sink. Sailors from the two ships in combat aboard a ship. Men jump into the sea and try their best not to give up the ship. A tall masted ship sinking. The naval gun canons aboard a ship being fired on another ship. Scene shifts to a mix of both authentic footage and several dramatized World War 2 combat footage scenes in the Pacific, circa 1943, 1944, or 1945, with U.S. Navy sailors on board ships firing at incoming Japanese aircraft. The enemy aircraft being shot down and they fall into the sea. A sailor clicks a picture of Japanese girls against a statue of Buddha. Narrator speaks about Navy recruitment. Sailors lined up on an open field during a ceremony at the U.S. Naval Academy.
CRITICALPAST.COM: About Us | Contact Us | FAQs - How to Order | License Agreement | My Account | My Lightboxes | Shopping Cart | Advanced Search | Featured Collections | Website Terms & Conditions | Privacy Policy ©2026 CriticalPast LLC.
License Agreement |
Terms & Conditions |
Privacy Policy
©2026 CriticalPast LLC.