Film opens showing the U.S. Congress filling the U.S. Capitol chamber on April 2, 1917, when President Woodrow Wilson asked Congress to declare war against Germany. Four days later, on April 6th, President Wilson is seen in black topcoat and top hat delivering an address from a building in Washington, DC announcing that Congress approved his request for a declaration of War. Former President Wiliam Howard Taft sits nearby. View of President Wilson dressed in summer white, relaxed and very casual, speaking impromptu to a group of persons in front of a brick building. Patriotic bunting is seen nearby. Change of scene shows Woodrow Wilson's youngest daughter, Mrs. W.G. McAdoo,Eleanor Randolph Wilson McAdoo. An unidentified old woman is nearby.
Opens with scene of Japanese Ambassador to Germany, General Hiroshi Oshima ascending stairs to greet German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop. The Japanese and German representatives are shown signing an economic pact. Scene changes to French young men working in a German plant in occupied France during World War II. Prisoner French young men are seen working as apprentices in the German artillery plant. Men working on machines in the plant and then seated in a dining hall to have a meal. The French workers receive diploma certificates on completion of their training.
View of a United States Air Force Military Airlift Command C-141 aircraft in flight overhead. Pilot and copilot in cockpit of a C-141 inflight. A flight engineer and navigator at their respective stations in the aircraft. C-141 aircraft from the 437th Military Airlift Wing, at Charleston Air Force Base, South Carolina, taxis on the ramp at RAF Station, Mildenhall, England. A C-130 on final approach, passing thatched roof cottage and stone house nearby. A C-141transport aircraft flying low over a highway as it descends to land at the Rhein Main Air Base, Frankfurt, Germany. The C-141 touching down on the runway. View of trams running in the city of Frankfurt. Quick closeup of airport control tower at Torrejon Air Base, near Madrid, Spain and camera pans to a C-130 aircraft parked on the ramp. View from the air of the las ventas bull ring, in Madrid. The Banco Central building as viewed from the Plaza de la Cibeles, in Madrid. A MAC C-141 taxiing to park at the Incirlik Airfield, Adana, Turkey. Flowers in gardens at the Sultanahmet Mosque in Istanbul. Brief sunset view of an unidentified mosque. view of the passenger terminal at Karachi International Airport, Pakistan. Camera pans across a ramp to a MAC C-5 aircraft with its nose loading doors open. View of the Pasig River and buildings, from aircraft flying over Manila, Philippines and ground-level view of a central square. A crowded commercial business and shopping area of Ginza, Tokyo, Japan. Japanese pedestrians on the sidewalks and streets and views of Japanese people in mid 1970s fashions walking on streets of Tokyo. The Sydney Harbour Bridge (and Sydney Opera House in background), in Sydney, Australia. A C-5 inflight departing a coastline. Interior views of C-5 aircraft cockpit, with crew members at work. A navigator with sextant mounted in roof of aircraft.
A montage of scenes related to British and French military readiness to face the threat of Nazi Germany at the onset of World War 2. An animated map depicts the disposition and status of belligerents on either side of the Maginot Line. Panoramic views of the Maginot Line. French troops double-time march out of the 'Caserne-Maginot' (Maginot Barracks) to take up their duty stations inside the Maginot Line forts. The soldiers are carried to their respective positions by subway cars underground. They are seen at work underground, tending one of the engines supplying electric power to the forts; stacking artillery shells; using pneumatic message devices and other communications; and preparing food. Some sing and dance Russian-stye. A slate in French reads: 'We Shall Win Because We Are The Strongest'. An animated map depicts France's and Britain's Colonial empires and their collective participation in defense of the Allies. British, French and Colonial troops parade in displays of military readiness. Some are seen parading before the Arc de Triomphe (Arch of Triumph) on the Champs Elysees in Paris, France.
Images taken by military and news cameramen during World War II. The North African Campaign, 1940: Convoy of British tanks, trucks, and infantry advance over the Libyan Desert. British soldiers fire artillery. Masses of Italian prisoners marched by British soldiers. Next shown is campaign on the Eastern Front, 1941, as Germany attacks Russia: Nazi tanks advance under Luftwaffe air cover into the Soviet Union. Aerial view of German Junker Ju 87 aircraft in flight. German tanks and armored vehicles rolling. Wide view of many German tanks rolling east. German soldiers leaping down from a hill with smoke all around as they battle in a Russian town. Russian Pe-2 bomber aircraft in flight. Interior view of pilot and crew in Soviet Pe-2 bomber while in flight. Soviet soldiers on tanks during a battle. Burning tanks. Soviet soldiers run toward battle front and pass a dead German soldier on the battlefield.
Pictures taken by military and news cameramen during World War II. North African Campaign: The British Eighth Army enters Tripoli in Libya. Allied soldiers on tanks. Civilians and children watch as the troops move into the city. A British flag. British Army Field Marshal Harold Alexander (1st Earl Alexander of Tunis) stands in a car and greets the troops and civilians as it moves along. Allied invasion of Sicily, 1943: Field Marshal Alexander's British Dominion and U.S. forces advance. The task force underway off the Sicily coast. Soldiers get off landing ships and crafts. They wade through shallow water and advance inward on the beach. Germany: Allied aircraft in flight. The airplanes bomb Nazi industries. The aircraft bay doors open, bombs away as bombs are released, and they descend towards the target area. Smoke due to the explosions.
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