A film on the logistics and the psychology of war. Primarily shows training exercises, combat simulations, and dramatizations. Images of soldier and explosions. A U.S. sailor firing a Mark 4, 20 mm. anti aircraft. Gun from a ship. A U.S. M3 Stuart light tank heading toward the camera. American soldiers ostensibly falling to enemy explosions and gunfire. A shell exploding where American troops are hunkered down. Artillery batteries firing at night. A soldier cutting barbed wire and triggering a booby trap. . Troops under fire during amphibious assault. Soldiers manning an M1919A4 .30-caliber Light Machine Gun. Troops advancing through forest under fire. Some fall. Staged encounter between U.S. infantrymen and German soldier. The kill each other. Entire battle front erupting in explosions and smoke. Newspaper article by Ernie Pyle about too little training of U.S. troops. New York reporter's article noting that U.S. soldiers in Europe don't understand why they aren't fighting the Japanese who attacked America. Staged hand to hand combat between a German soldier and two American soldiers.
Montage of World War II scenes in rapid succession, including: British flag flying; British civilian men looking through debris and victims of Japanese bombing in China; a German armored car moving rapidly; Heavy artillery pieces firing; German SdKfz 251 half-track armored personnel carrier rushing past the camera; The German Nazi flag flying from the Eiffel Tower in Paris, France; German troops marching through the Arc de Triomphe (Arch of Triumph) as they occupy Paris; New York Times newspaper headline reading: "Nazis execute 50 French hostages in Bordeaux!" French Army prisoners of war; British Colonial troops in a labor gang; German Messerschmitt Bf 109 aircraft in flight; French refugees fleeing advancing German forces; Momentary closeup of ME- Bf-109 firing guns and then climbing away from roadway filled with refugees. Animated illustration showing shadows of German bombers flying towards Britain. Numerous dead civilians, victims of Axis military actions in various parts of the world. The White cliffs of Dover. Formation of German Heinkel HE-111 bombers coming over England. Aerial view from above of numerous German Ju 87 Stuka dive bombers in flight. British Royal Air Force airman ringing alarm bell and RAF pilots scramble; responding by running to their spitfire aircraft, taking off and climbing to intercept German bombers. Closeup of one pilot in his cockpit during dogfight. A formation of three German Ju 87s seen from below. Gun camera glimpse of one being shot down from behind. An aircraft shot down and crashing. German aircraft bombing England at night during Battle of Britain (1940). Point of view shots from inside German aircraft during blitz over Britain, with aerial views of explosions and fires on ground in England. Narrator mentions Coventry as a target. Smoking ruins from German blitzkrieg bombing. Aerial views of areas bombed by German aircraft. British civilians carrying coffins and lowering them into grave sites as they bury victims of Nazi German bombing. Closeup of the shoulder patch worn on uniforms of soldiers in the U.S. Service Forces. Views of war materiel in warehouses and being loaded aboard ships destined to the war zones. American soldiers on a Pacific island. United States Army soldiers engaged at communications centers and using radio and radar antennae. Military equipment and weapons being moved by railroad train. Military supplies being loaded on rail cars and railroad trains running on tracks. U.S. troops on a beachhead following an amphibious landing. A British soldier eating bread. Two American soldiers drinking from cups. Closeup of a military police "MP" armband. Large formation of marching U.S. soldiers. Closeups of soldiers in the field, using radio telephones, cutting through barbed wire, looking out of ship porthole windows, and some simply posing momentarily for the camera. A U.S. Army soldier showing the "V" for victory symbol with his hand.
A U.S. military training film titled "Pro Patria Vigilans" on the wartime and peacetime activities of the U.S. Signal Corps. United States Army General Douglas MacArthur aboard the U.S. Army Battleship USS Missouri during the Japanese surrender ceremonies of World War 2 in 1945. General MacArthur speaking on board the ship at the closing of the surrender proceedings. Aircraft flying in formation overhead. Antiaircraft guns directed towards the aircraft. Signal Corps recruits train at Fort Monmouth, New Jersey. The recruits dive and swim across water. The soldiers attend lecture by an officer. A sign reads: 'Field Radio Course'. Men working in the radio room are trained. Views of soldiers learning to operate radar. Various radar dishes. Closeup views of radar screens. An officer training the soldiers with the help of a model. The coastal defense training of the soldiers. The soldiers study the communication equipment. Soldiers working on communication switchboard equipment, telegraph, and teletype machines. A small messenger aircraft takes off and lands near the message center. A sign outside the building reads: 'Master Message Center'. Soldiers receive a map and clear it through the message center. Spinning equipment in the message center (possibly related to decoding or encryption). Officers seated at a desk, discussing a map.
Soldiers of the U.S. Signal Corps in the European Theater during World War II. Signal Corps cameramen of Army Pictorial Service photograph and film an amphibious landing. The soldiers wade ashore. U.S. soldiers advance on a battlefield, firing rifles. Camera man present. Street fighting on the war front. The wall of a building leans and crashes to the ground as a U.S. Army camera man captures moving image footage on camera. U.S. soldier rips a Nazi German eagle symbol from a building and it crashes to the street. A U.S. Army Air Corps B-17 aircraft in flight , seen from beside and close up from below and beside. View of exterior of Signal Corps Photographic Center building in New York. Men working inside the Signal Corps Photographic Center in the United States. Soldiers at film cutting machines at work, and view of film canisters in storage. The production of films in the center including a segment from "Why We Fight" and one from "The Fighting Men" pictures. Several war related films, and training and orientation films are produced. The foreign version of the films are also made so that they can be seen by other countries. Scene of an American soldier speaking Japanese in a U.S. military created film. Bing Crosby singing "Accentuate the Positive" during a filmed segment for the American G.I. audience at a USO show. Elevated view of war material and equipment stacked in a massive warehouse building, with Signal Corps workers moving about in the building. Men working and placing more equipment in the building. 'MacArthur's Headquarters' written on a wooden shipping crate. Boxes of war materiel being loaded into trucks, railroad train cars, and ships for transport to the war front in World War 2. Views of various kinds of Signal Corps communication equipment, radios, transmitters, cameras, vacuum tubes and other electronic equipment that was innovated during World War II. A moisture-proof switchboard is tested in the field. A U.S. Army Signal Corps soldier holding a phone during the switchboard testing.
U.S. submarines at a harbor in the United States. A submarine comes alongside the dock. Band plays at the end of the dock. Officers on board the submarine. They shake hands and discuss amongst themselves. A blind folded Japanese being brought over the bow from the submarine onto the dock. Mail call for the sailors. Men receive mails. Sailors seated aboard the submarine as they read their mails.
U.S. submarine at the Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, United States. Sailors and officers aboard the submarine. Conning tower of the submarine with men taking bearings. An officer addresses the sailors aboard the submarine. Other officers meet and discuss amongst themselves at the dock. Japanese prisoner being led over brow onto the dock. (World War II period).