Scenes shot in 1942 and 1943 from inside German occupied Paris, France during World War II. German officers and civilians at the Longchamps racetrack in Paris, France. Horses run on a dirt track. German troops at the Eternal Light for the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior at the Arc de Triomphe. A German Panther tank captured by the FFI (French Forces of the Interior) in 1944. French collaborator Ferdinand De Brinon speaks into a microphone. German officers listen carefully. Collaborators Marcel Deat, and Laval's son in law, Comte Rene de Chambrun also seen. French Regimental flag held by French collaborator militia. A crowd outside Notre Dame Cathedral. French Marshal Philippe Petain arrives in a car. French collaborationist troops stand at attention. Ceremony for the Legion against the Soviet Russia shows assemblage and German Swastikas on a wall.
Allied campaign against the Axis in 1944 during World War II. Exteriors of a building in Tehran, Iran where the Tehran Conference took place in 1943. Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin, U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill seated outside the building after the conference. A map depicts United States campaign against the Japanese in the Pacific Theater. U.S. troops land at the Marshal Islands. Troops fire and advance in Palau islands. Soldiers wade through water. Flakes burst and explosions occur at sea near Saipan. U.S. troops advance inland in Guam. A blind soldier walks.
Allied campaigns against Imperial Japan during World War II. Animated map depicts Allied victories in various Pacific islands like Guadalcanal, Palau, and the Mariana Islands. A map of the Philippines. United States troops invade the Philippines. Naval guns fire at a shore and flak bursts are seen. Dramatic shot of a Japanese Zero aircraft approaching United States Navy ships that are firing guns. The Japanese aircraft is hit at close range to the ship, a wing ruptures, it is consumed in fire and crashes with explosion in the sea beside the ship. Many landing craft with U.S. Army forces landing at beach on Leyte. Soldiers land and advance inland. United States Army General Douglas MacArthur and President Sergio Osmeña of the Philippines wade ashore. Filipino women and children on the island are assisted by U.S. forces and provided with food and protection. Following are meetings of wartime Allied leaders, shown briefly in the ending of the film: Prime Minister Winston Churchill meeting President Franklin D. Roosevelt on the battleship, USS Augusta, at Newfoundland, during the Atlantic Conference, 1941. Roosevelt stands at the railing, assisted by his son, Army Captain Elliot Roosevelt. Roosevelt and Churchill meeting with Generalissimo Chiang Kai-Shek, at the Cairo conference, in 1943. Joseph Stalin, Roosevelt, and Churchill pose outside the Livadia Palace (Baturyna St, 44-а, Livadiya, 98655) during the Yalta conference in 1945. Soviet Foreign Minister Molotov, American Ambassador Harriman, British Foreign Minister, Anthony Eden, and Churchill's daughter, Sarah, in uniform, are among those standing behind the seated Big Three. Delegates from 51 Nations gathered for the first meeting of the UN General Assembly, in Westminster Central Hall, London, England, in 1946.
First scene shows President Harry Truman shaking hands with Joseph Stalin on a porch of the Cecilienhof ( home of Crown Prince Wilhelm) in Potsdam, Germany. The two leaders are accompanied by their respective foreign ministers, James F. Byrnes, U.S. Secretary of State, and Soviet Minister of Foreign Affairs, Vyacheslav Molotov. Stalin descends steps from the building followed by Truman. View of the back lawn at Cecilienhof. View of its front entrance. Various views of the house and grounds. American, Soviet, and British flags flying from the building. Cars carrying the leaders on road to the Cecilienhof. President Truman and James Byrnes entering outside gate, followed by other attendees. Then Stalin is seen entering followed by Soviet officers and officials. U.S. General Dwight D. Eisenhower, Supreme Commander Allied Expeditionary Force (SCAEF) in Europea and U.S. Army Chief of Staff. George Marshall are seen walking together in a wooded glade on the meeting grounds. British Field Marshal Bernard Law Montgomery, entering the grounds for the meeting. British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, President Harry Truman, and Joseph Stalin stand on a step before an entrance to Cecilienhof. Truman places their hands together in a mutual handshake, at which Churchill and Stalin laugh. Views of the Kremlin and St. Basil's Cathedral, in Red Square, Moscow, Russia where foreign minsters of the United States, Britain, and the Soviet Union are seen meeting meeting in conference at the Spiridonovka Palace in October, 1943. Closeup of Soviet Prime Minister Vyacheslav Molotov, British Prime Minister, Anthony Eden, and U.S. Secretary of State, Warren Hull, successively signing a document. Scene shifts, to a C-47 transport aircraft flying over great pyramid of Giza in Cairo, Egypt. Next, the front of the Soviet Embassy in Teheran, Iran, is shown. The "Big Three" (Stalin, Roosevelt, and Churchill) sit on the porch of the building. Military officers from their countries stand behind them. Narrator (Franklin D. Roosevelt) says they agreed to launch a gigantic attack on Germany. Scene shifts to Germany, where German military is paraded on public display, showing artillery, Panzer I tanks carried aboard army trucks, Heinkel He 111 bombers in formation overhead, and marching troops giving Nazi salute silhouetted against bright pavement. View shifts to the Livadia Palace, in Yalta, Crimea, Russia. Brief view of the "Big Three" and their staffs sitting around a conference table. Change of location to San Francisco, California, where flags of many nations are displayed along with a United Nations Logo. Representatives of the many nations sign the Charter of the United Nations, founding the U.N. organization on 26 June 1945. Film shifts to Germany where victorious American, British and Soviet troops shake hands and celebrate victory. They share drinks and toast victory.
Siege of Stalingrad, from 1942 through 1943. Germans and Soviets battle for Stalingrad in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republic (USSR) during World War II. German Stuka dive bombers in a line for a take off. A formation of German Stukas JU-87s. Soviet troops march across a field. German Pz.III tanks go across dry land. German heavy artillery lay down a barrage on the city of Stalingrad. Explosions in the city. German troops advance across a scrubby terrain throwing hand grenades. German troops use flame throwers against Soviet troop positions. Shell bursts in the city. Smoke rises. Buildings in Stalingrad on fire. German soldiers advance into outskirts of Stalingrad which shows completely demolished buildings. Smoke rises in the city. Winter scenes show Soviet artillery firing at German troop positions following successful Soviet encirclement of German forces in Operation Uranus. A Soviet officer with his beard covered with frost. Soviet troops counterattack across snow covered fields. Aerial views of Soviet aircraft including Tupolev Tu-2. Dead German soldiers lying in a field. Soviet troops advance. Street to street fighting. Soviet machine guns fired.
Opening scene shows local citizens as they stand in the main square (Hauptplatz) of Linz, Austria, watching surrendered German troops depart at the end of world War 2. The troops climb over barriers at the base of the Trinity Column (Dreifaltigkeitssäule) and march in loose formation out of the city. A group of American troops watch from atop an M10 tank destroyer. View through a building archway as the German soldiers march past. The long column continues along a road looking down on the Danube River. Another view shows two U.S. soldiers with slinged rifles strolling at the head of the column. The departing German soldiers are all disarmed and carry their personal kit and gear. A group of German officers pass the camera, and one takes particular notice of the filming. A Sherman tank passes going in the opposite direction. A civilian man, carrying a brief case walks past the departing troops. (Note: Today, the Trinity Column looks different than in this film. In 1943 all removable statues and parts were taken from the column and safely stored in central cellars on Kapuzinerstrasse. They were recovered in 1945 and restored to the column, along with other changes, that were completed in December, 1947.)