Opening scene shows Spanish labor Union supporters marching in Valencia, Spain, in 1936, under a large banner with initals C.N.T and A.I.T. printed on its top corners (Standing for Confederación Nacional del Trabajo (CNT) and Asociación Internacional de los Trabajadores (AIT), respectively. The word: "Authores" (Authors) appears in large print on the banner. One marcher carries a large Spanish 2nd Republic flag with letters "A.I.T." on it. Next, closeups of uniformed band members playing instruments, are seen. Persons standing nearby raise their right fists in support of the Republican anti-fascist movement. Closeups of band musicians playing.
Film opens showing Catalan volunteers during the advent of the Spanish Civil War, standing in front of a statue dedicated to Catalan Volunteers who had fallen in World War I. (It is a larger-than-life bronze statue of a nude male figure with arms upraised, created by Catalan sculptor Josep Clarà. It stands in the Parc de la Ciutadella in Barcelona. It was dedicated on July 14, 1936.) Camera pans across the group, some in military uniforms, and others in mufti. Scene shifts to a street in Valencia, Spain, where men in business attire surround a man standing at a microphone, speaking. The general scene is festive, with flags and banners seen in places and people dressed in their best. "Plaza de la Generalitat Catalana" is written across a building front, identifying the location. View shifts to large well-dressed crowd, applauding the speaker. Closeup of the principal speaker and two companions at the microphone. Next, a large uniformed band of musicians is seen being conducted and playing for the crowd. Angled closeup of the band director. Another uniformed music director leads the crowd in a patriotic song. Some boy scouts are see participating. A troop of Boy Scouts, some shouldering rifles, march to accompanyment of a Boy Scout drum corps. View changes to men informally gathered around a large round structure. They smoke and socialize. Scene shifts to Parc de la Ciutadella in Barcelona, where spectators watch as a man places a huge bouquet of flowers on the ground in front of the statue dedicated to the fallen Catalan Volunteers of World War 1. View of statue silhouetted against the sky. Camera pans down the statue.
Under exposed film opens showing Spanish politicians at a gathering in the town hall of Valencia, Spain, during the 2nd Republic era, at the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War. Views of the politicians engaged in numerous conversations. Two Spanish military officers in smart uniforms converse near a window inside the building. Outside, Army soldiers and volunteers are seen standing with right fists raised, a gesture adopted by Republicans. The front of the Town Hall is silhouetted behind them in the background. The camera pans left, across many of them. Suddenly a tank or armored vehicle comes past the camera with many persons riding atop it. More views of persons riding on military vehicles. Next, the camera pans across school age children all posing with their right fists raised. (one little girl raises her left fist.)
The Spanish Civil War. Republican (Government) forces moving forward to engage Nationalist (Rebel) forces in the battle of Jarama during the Spanish Civil War. Black smoke rising where bomb shells burst from Nationalist artillery on the heights of La Maranosa. Republican infantry moving across a field. A rebel shell bursting close to the camera. Republican soldier rendering first aid and bandaging the face of a wounded comrade. A Russian T-26 tank moving towards the rear on a dirt road, where troops carry wounded on stretchers and place them into field ambulances. Wounded being treated by medics. Wounded sitting on the ground. Two soldiers rushing a wounded away on a litter. Medic treating face wound of a soldier. Various scenes of wounded being treated and evacuated. Field ambulance driving away with wounded on board. View through trees of a building and one span of the Arganda bridge over Jarama river. Next, the entire Arganda bridge is seen with Republican troops dug in defensive positions. View of troops firing rifles from those positions, and Nationalist (rebel) shells bursting nearby. Defenders firing machine gun at rebels. More scenes of shells bursting and smoke rising. The Republican tricolor flag waving in the breeze as narrator states that the counterattack has been successful. Camera pans battlefield. Soldiers gathering up equipment underneath span of the bridge. Vehicles moving over the Madrid-Valencia road, with Republican forces in control of the Jarama valley in that area, for the time being. Scene shifts to barefoot farm boy using a mattock to open way for water to flow from river into irrigation sluice to water local crops. View of the sluice. Water flowing in the fields and farmers directing its flow. Civilian and military traffic on the Valencia road. Troops and a black and white dog riding on a T-26 tank. Closeup of Republican soldier aiming and firing his rifle. Water moving to irrigate parched farm field. (Note: Scenes from film "Spanish Earth," directed by Joris Iven)
Prisoners in athletic attire march into courtyard of a prison in Valencia, Spain. On the opposite wall a sentinel guard mounts his sentry box. The prisoners perform bending exercises, push ups and gymnastics. (World War II period).
A prisoner leads an orchestra of prisoners as it plays in an open courtyard in Valencia, Spain. Prisoners and others listen to the music as they stand in the background. Writing above a doorway in the courtyard is obscured, but possibly reads something like: "academia de música y artes." (World War II period).