Film opens with animated map showing Fort Eben-Emael in Northeastern Belgium, during World War 2. It higlights the Albert and the Willem Canals nearby. German troops are shown hunkered down near a path by a canal. Their commander orders one squad to advance. They cross the path and go down the canal embankment. A destroyed bridge seen in background. Next, the squad of four is seen in a small boat, passing the destroyed bridge as gunfire sounds.They reach the other shore and scramble up the embankment. A Panzer IV tank firing point blank to the rear, at a building. View from German held bank of a Canal as German shells strike the opposite shore. A Panzer IV tank moving past the camera and onto a bridge crossing a canal.(Narrator notes that the The 18th Army under Generalfeldmarschall Georg von Küchler and the 6th Army under General Walther von Reichenau, are participating in this campaign.) High ranking German officers riding in an open staff car carrying a gunner with a machine gun. German troops marching alongside a road as others in trucks drive past. German towed artillery moving along a road past local refugees carrying their belongings in horse-drawn wagons. Map highlights waterways and Dutch city of Moerdijk, which it reflects as German territory, along with other places as illustrates areas falling under control of the German armies advancing toward Rotterdam in "Fortress Holland." German soldiers fighting in urban Holland. Two hunkered down by a gas station. The sky illuminated by fires raging from German bombardment. German Commanders consulting with their officers. German soldiers climbing over house roofs and entering therefrom. Army trucks and armor advancing into a city. Two Dutch defenders surrendering. A Dutch officer accompanied by a soldier with a white flag, being escorted by a German officer. A Dutch vehicle with a white flag, leading several past a windmill. Dutch Commander,Colonel Pieter Wilhelmus Scharroo, enters a building with several staff, and sits at a table opposite Generalleutnant Rudolf Schmidt and other high ranking officers, to negotiate terms of surrender. The German officers are seen reviewing maps of the area. Numerous Dutch prisoners of war are seen marching along a road.
The Pacific fleet lies in Manila Bay, Philippines. U.S. Navy Battleships and warships in maneuvers in the Philippines, between World War 1 and World War 2. Smoke arises from ship smokestacks. View of boats and harbor area looking up Pasig River towards the business section of Manila from the walls of Fort Santiago. Governor On February 14, 1929, General Stimson and General MacArthur review a military parade in Manila on the Luneta (Rizal Park Ermita, Manila, 1000 Metro Manila) in which troops of the U.S. Army, U.S. Navy, and United States Marine Corps and cadets of local schools and colleges participate. Soldiers and sailors parade with guns and flags. The Rizal Monument seen in the background. Soldiers ride horses on the parade grounds. The 23rd Wagon Company (Philippine scout) load mules into railroad boxcars. Wagons are loaded on the train flat cars. Army officers talk amongst themselves at the Paco station. A child stands near the officers. A railroad train loaded with troops and military equipment passes by on the railway track.
Sergeant James Mansfield hosts the program 'The Big Picture', the series depicting the combat infantrymen in United States. History of the United States Infantry is discussed.Scenes include: large formation of U.S. infantry on parade field; statue of minuteman; Concord Bridge; memorials at Wide shots of revolutionary War sites such as Valley Forge, Bunker Hill, Fort Ticonderoga,Trenton, Monmouth, and Yorktown. View of Manhattan Island and tall skyscrapers of New York City seen. View of Lake Champlain.
U.S. Senate Subcommittee investigating Army Signal Corps Subversion and Espionage at Fort Monmouth. Committee Chairman, Senator Joseph McCarthy and Committee Chief Counsel question witness Joseph Levitsky about his relationship to Julius Rosenberg. In the course of his testimony, the witness invokes the 5th Amendment to avoid answering. Seeking a tie to Communism, McCarthy reads text of a Communist party pledge and asks if Levitsky ever signed such a pledge.
Scenes from the life of U.S. General John J. Pershing. View of a low adobe style building backyard or courtyard area, possibly Fort Bliss near El Paso Texas. U.S. Army 8th Brigade troops under Pershing's leadership, moving out on horseback and on foot during the Mexican Punitive Expedition in search of Pancho Villa. Tanks rolling by during World War I and scenes of a military graveyard. Troops in formation marching down New York City streets on the way to war. The 1918 armistice celebrations with jubilant people celebrating. General John J Pershing presenting an award to a soldier and in conversation with the soldier. General Pershing reviews the AEF cavalry troops. General Pershing passes in an open car surrounded by a large crowd. General Pershing mounted on horse back moves by in a parade. People gathered along the roadside watch. General Pershing dressed in a suit, poses for the camera inside.
Hogs at a farm in Ohio. Farmer loads pigs into truck in order to transport them to the market. The truck gets stuck in a muddy road and the farmer is unable to free his truck. The hogs get tired and jump out of the truck adding to the farmer's complications. Demonstrates problems with low quality road system for farmers getting from farm to market. Federally financed road construction shows workers during the Great Depression as they reconstruct and level rugged roads under the Farm to Market Roads Program. Various machines used for the purpose of building new roads. A farm truck drives across a smooth road. A school bus approaches a new consolidated school building using the developed roads. View of an older rural school house in Ohio that is no longer used as a school due to school consolidation under the Works Progress Administration or WPA program. Two boys play on a see-saw in front of the school building. Children wearing shorts get off the school bus. View of main entrance of OYO Boy Scout Camp in West Portsmouth, Ohio. Boy Scouts view a knot tying demonstration as they sit outside the newly constructed Block House log cabin, built with federal funds under the Civil Works Administration, at the camp located in the Roosevelt Game Preserve. Views of the camp Headquarters building at Camp OYO. View of buildings of Old Fort Recovery, built by General 'Mad' Anthony Wayne, and restored by WPA.