World War 2 Newsreel footage of British air raids on German occupied France, titled "Day and Night R.A.F. makes Nazis take it !" Six Douglas DB-7/A-20 Havoc attack bomber aircraft (American made, but ordered by Britain) take off from England and are seen flying in formation over the English Channel. A-20 Havocs approach beach. A-20 Havocs over French countryside. Point of view footage looking out from cockpit of airplanes flying low over French countryside and approaching German held industrial and chemical plants in Lille making German munitions. View of bombardier pulling bomb release trigger, followed by bombs away view. Damage done by bombing seen. Port and buildings being bombed by A-20 bombers at St. Malo. Explosions seen in dock areas from the air. Back in England, RAF pilots suit-up in cold weather gear for night bombing flights over Germany. View of a line of carrier pigeons each in a box, to be carried in each plane and released if the pilot gets in trouble. A pilot carrying a pigeon in a box. Bomber crews consult together at their planes before boarding. U.S. airmen being trained join together with RAF flyers and board Avro Lancaster bombers for the night raids. Lancaster bombers taxi and takeoff. Halifax III taxiing and taking off. Hawker Hurricane or Spitfire fighters seen in flight ready to engage Nazi fighters. Views of actual bombing raid on a German city by Lancaster bombers. Incoming flak and anti-aircraft fire. Explosions on ground over targets in Germany. [Note: Interestingly, the film uses shots of a German Junkers 88 bomber, instead of a Lancaster, to illustrate the nose of the aircraft at night.]
Opening scenes show Czech soldiers in retreat and withdrawal in Czechoslovakia after Munich Agreement makes way for Czechoslovakia to cede Sudetenland regions to Nazi Germany. Czech soldiers on roads with horses and equipment. German leader Adolf Hitler and his troops inspect former Czechoslovakia bunker defenses. A huge crowd gathers in the streets in areas ceded to Germany and cheers German soldiers. Hermann Göring greets cheering citizens and gives a cookie or candy to a little girl. Food and drink is served to local citizens in the streets by German Army occupying forces.
The Anschluss (Annexation of Austria by Germany) in 1938. Sign reads 'Bundesstaat Oesterreich' (State of Austria). Mounted German troops ride along the platform of railroad station. Sign reads: "Staatsgrenze" (State Border). Mayor of Kufstein greets mounted Commander of German troops as they cross the border between Germany and Austria. View of Kufstein castle. Crowds cheer as German troops proceed through the town.
Jewish refugees arrive in Havana, Cuba. 917 Jewish refugees from Germany aboard ship MS Saint Louis (Motorschiff St. Louis) land for a temporary stay on the Island Republic. Refugees wave from the ship. The ship sails away as it is denied access. (The ship ultimately returned to Germany.)
Activities of American first Army in Germany. Aerial and ground views of an Allied supply depot at Liege, Belgium. U.S. Army soldiers arrange supply boxes. Signal Corps engineers work on readying communication lines from the rear to the front and are seen stringing communication lines and preparing communication hubs. New transmission equipment of various kinds are received and installed for news. U.S. Army engineers supervise steel manufacture and sawmill operation in Luxembourg at a protected steel works facility that was taken over by the Allied Supreme Command. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers personnel walk on finished steel beams and check them before shipment front. Plank boards are cut and stacked for use in road projects. U.S. engineers repair a bridge over the Meuse in Belgium that had been damaged in the Battle of Belgium. Train crosses a repaired bridge over the Meuse, and U.S. military and civilian pedestrian traffic seen on the bridge road. Track connectors are installed to better grip in mud and allow passage of Allied tanks and tracked vehicles. Aerial view of Siegfried line and Dragons Teeth. U.S. forces seen using a tank bulldozer and mud to effectively bury Dragon's Teeth tank traps to allow passage through the Siegfried Line. Allied trucks and vehicles are repaired. A convoy of Allied supply trucks passes by through a snowy landscape bringing supplies to the front in preparation for invasion into Germany.
A meeting preliminary to the annual NATO sessions in Paris, France. Foreign Ministers of France Maurice Couve de Murville and British Foreign Secretary Lord Selwyn-Lloyd, confer with West Germany's Minister of Foreign Affairs Dr. Heinrich von Brentano. They come out of their cars and walk upstairs. They discuss with West Germany's Brentano in the conference hall.
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