United States President Franklin Roosevelt sits in a room. He speaks of Fascist decline in Italy during World War 2, saying "the first cracks in the Axis has come." He stresses that the U.S. terms to Mussolini in Italy are still unconditional surrender. President wears a bow tie during his speech.
Crowd fills the Plaza Venezia in Rome where Benito Mussolini appears on the balcony of the Piazza Venezia (formerly known as the Palace of St Mark) in Italy, on June 10, 1940. He announces that Italy has entered World War 2 on the side of the Axis powers. Views of the jubilant crowd waving Italian and some Swastika flags. Next, a road sign points to Paris and to Poissons, in France followed by view of German troops triumphantly entering Paris, through the Arc de Triomphe during occupation of France. View of the Eiffel Tower, and of a German flag flying atop it. More views of German troops marching through Paris. A German railway gun firing. (Narrator implies that the target is the Maginot Line, which is not correct. It was bypassed by the Germans, negating need to attack it directly.) Other German railway guns and siege mortars firing and many huge explosions and fires are seen, including some from flame throwers. Next, German troops are seen marching around a circle where a railroad car is parked near Compiègne, France. This rail car is the scene of Germany's surrender to France in World War I. Statue of French Marshal Foch, who had then, received the delegates of vanquished Germany here. Adolf Hitler walking past a German Honor Guard, salutes. He is accompanied by Marshal Hermann Goering and other high ranking military persons. The nearby 1918 "Alsace-Lorraine monument" is covered by a German flag. The German delegation headed by Hitler and Goering, enter the rail car and take their places. Outside, the French delegation, headed by General Charles Huntziger, is escorted by German officers. They enter the car and he German delegation stands. Both delegations exchange salutes. Next, Hitler is seen stepping from the rail car, followed by Goering. The German delegation walks past the honor guard, and Hitler salutes them. German and French officials still in the rail car exchange salutes. Hitler expresses jubilation.
June 10, 1940, American man, in San Francisco barbershop, reads newspaper report that Italy enters World War 2 as part of Axis and against France and Britain. Barber cuts the mans hair. They both look over at a portable radio on a counter and listen as President Roosevelt denounces Italy's action. American family with a husband, wife, and boy sit in a living room and listen to the radio while William L. Shirer broadcasts from Compiègne as France signs an armistice with Hitler. Views of railroad carriage in clearing surrounded by German troops in formation. Hitler strides with Hermann Goering, Admiral Erich Raeder, and others. Statue of Marshal Foch. French General Huntzinger, and his delegation escorted by German officers. Hitler and his delegation rise as the French delegation enters the rail car. Germans drape Nazi flag over the Glade of the Armistice monument (French: Clairière de l'Armistice). View of the Eiffel Tower. German troops marching through the Arc de Triomphe on the Champs Elysee in Paris. Hitler's railroad train entering Paris station. Hitler taking an early morning tour of Paris in an open car. Hitler and party admiring the Eiffel Tower during German invasion of France and occupation of France. View from Eiffel Tower of German troops marching along street. German rail guns in new positions on coast of France, pointed toward the English Channel and England. The German rail guns moving on tracks and firing. Animated map showing Allies overseas possessions. German residents in Brazil in largely German communities, with German schools, German school children, Nazi textbooks, and Nazi German newspapers in a town in Brazil. A Hermann Goering glider club operating in Brazil, as a glider is prepared for flight. View of Japanese residents in Brazil on behalf of Imperial Japan. SEDTA German airline planes with bomb racks operating in Ecuador, South America. Germans exercising at exclusive German clubs in Argentina, modeled after Hitler Youth. Narrator indicates these operations represented a "Fifth Column" ready to take over.
Documentary titled the "'Rehearsal of War." Film begins showing shells bursting in hills as a soldier runs for cover in foreground. Next, a Republican Soldier helps a wounded comrade walking along a road. More views of combat in Spain. View of the State, War, and Navy Building in Washington, DC. Sign over a doorway reading: "Chief of Staff." Inside, General Malin Craig, in civilian clothes, flanked by two officials, examines a report entitled, "Analysis of the "Brihuega Campaign." The document also reads: "Guadalajara Front." and is dated 3/27/1937. A document (Classified "Confidential") is shown that discusses the capabilities of the French 20mm Moteur canon firing 300-400 shots per minute with explosive shells.Glimpse of an Army officer's hand marking a map in a book. On his table is a book entitled,"Two World's in Conflict, We or They." Flags of Germany and Italy are seen. Closeup of Benito Mussolini in arms-crossed pose. Italian crowd cheering. View of Adolf Hitler standing with Marshal Hermann Goering, German Army Chief of Staff, Werner von Fritsch, and Rudolf Hess (just barely seen). Animated map of Europe shows Germany and Italy with desired expansion of both. Mussolini walks with military officers past a large Italian trimotor transport aircraft. A field filled with Italian light tanks armed with one small gun each. Each is crewed by one man. A parade of German Sd.Kfz.7 halftrack transporters filled with troops and each pulling an 88mm Flak gun on a Sonderanhänger 201 trailer. Brief view of formation of high wing monoplanes with fixed landing gears, flying overhead. German troops in realistic field exercise of infantry and Panzer I Ausf. A tanks. Closeup of tank with troops. Flame throwing tanks firing in a desert area. Adolf Hitler addressing an audience, finishes with a half-hearted Nazi salute. U.S. Military officers discuss Axis blitzkrieg tactics charting reports from the Spanish campaign on maps. View of Saint Jean de Luz, France, where U.S. Ambassador to Spain, Claude Bowers, is seen on the telephone at the Miramar Hotel where he has taken temporary refuge. Final scenes show a 4-stacker U.S. Navy warship patrolling in Spanish waters and the Captain and officers inside aboard ship reviewing maps and positions.
Slate announces "Fall of France." in World War 2. Next, huge crowd of enthusiastic people is seen jamming the Piazza Venezia in Rome. Prime Minister Benito Mussolini ("II Duce," the Leader) of Italy is seen on the balcony of the Palazzo Venezia, overlooking the Piazza. View from behind him as he waves to the crowd. Closeup of Mussolini announcing that Italy will consider herself at war with Great Britain and France effective 11 June 1940. Another view of the crowd, from the Palace balcony. Scene shifts abruptly to fires burning in a town in France and scenes of death and destruction in France from invading Axis forces. French soldiers and police assist a French civilian lying on the ground near a path in a bucolic setting in France. Several Frenchmen on bicycles ride along the path, behind them. More scenes of fires and destruction. A civilian being carried on a stretcher, accompanied by a nurse in white. A French boy walks next to the stretcher bearers. A French woman holding a baby with look of anguish on her face. Closeup of young boy and girl children among French civilians fleeing bombing. The boy is asleep on a burlap sack, with a woman's arm over him. The girl simply looks wide-eyed at the camera. A French civilian woman and a child, lying together on a stretcher on the ground. Glimpse of a person's hand lying open on the ground.
American soldiers in jeeps are part of a traffic jam in Lyon, France, following its liberation by French forces in September, 1944. An air of celebration permeates the scene, Several French women ride with U.S. soldiers in American jeeps. A Blue vehicle displaying "FFI Police" (Free French of the Interior) and the Cross of Lorraine, is caught in the jam. A small black sedan displays "FFI" in white letters.Local civilians crowd the streets and ride on every possible spot on the various vehicles. Crowds of pedestrian spectators are restrained behind rough wooden fences. Camera views from vehicle crossing the Rhone River, show the destroyed Wilson bridge, and parts of city in background. Complete change of sequence to Rome, Italy. The Flag of Italy flying on an official building. Italian women surround American soldiers, Sergeant Lester Koenig and another NCO as they sit in a jeep. They all laugh and talk. Several Italian soldiers (one a medic) and women pose for the camera.
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