Opening scenes shows men in in a South Asian village having intense discussions. (USIA wishes to inform such discussions.) The free world also has practical interests throughout the globe. Film shows two geologists holding up what appear to be sheets of mica. Women at work in a factory. Narrator suggests they are using scarce industrial materials (like tungsten). Men in a factory cutting mica. A man shoveling an agricultural product. Men carrying hemp and placing it on poles to dry. Impoverished Asian families. A man (ostensibly Communist agitator) speaking to Arabs. Marchers carrying large cartoon signs in Arabic, depicting "workers" striking down Uncle Sam and other Western powers. Narrator says deeds are more important than words. An American agricultural adviser is shown in a field with a native farmer. President Dwight D. Eisenhower seen standing with him, while Theodore Streibert is sworn in as first Director of the new U.S. Information Agency. Chart shows USIA absorbing information programs formerly administered by the Mutual Security Agency and State Department. Chart stating USIA mission is to: 1. Unite the free world; 2. Get the facts to people behind the iron Curtain; 3. Bring hope to captive peoples.
Nighttime views from deck of Destroyer, USS John R. Pierce (DD-753) as it recovers the space capsule, Aurora 7, which carried Scott Carpenter on the second U.S. orbital mission. View of capsule being supported by floatation collar in water where it splashed down, 200 km from Puerto Rico, . Flood lights shine on the capsule. Crew of sailors hoist the Aurora 7 capsule on board the USS John R Pierce, and secure it to the deck.. The ship's Captain, Commander Adrian Lorentson, and Executive Officer, Lieutenant Commander Dwight Osborn, are seen on deck.
Representatives of 12 nations in Washington DC. Flags of 12 nations displayed. Harry S Truman, Clement Attlee and other representatives sign on security treaty. Signed agreement is shown. 12 of the western democratic nations solemnly enter into a joint defense treaty. President Harry S Truman delivers a speech and calls it a 'shield against aggression'.
Camp Kashi, Kyushu, Japan. Members of U.S. 187th Parachute Maintenance Company train Japanese Self Defense Force paratroops. Japanese instructor and U.S. paratroopers help Japanese paratroopers to don and secure their chutes. They board U.S. Air Force C-46 aircraft. Views through open door of C-46, in flight, show American paratroopers accompanying the Japanese. On ground, drop zone is marked by smoke and one of several American Army advisors talks radiotelephone to coordinate the jump. Onboard the aircraft paratroopers hook up to static line. On the ground, Japanese officers look up towards plane, as troopers emerge and their chutes deploy. As they land, the Japanese paratroops wrap up their chutes and form up into units. Soldier takes his bag and runs. Japanese Self Defense Paratroops march in parade. after training of two weeks: Graduates of training course and officers attend the program. The flags of Japan and United States. Japanese General honors the students of training program by giving them paratroop wings and certificates. U.S. Army Brigadier General and Japanese General salute as new paratroops pass in review. View of Paratrooper's wings. Certificate from Headquarters 187th Airborne Regimental Combat Team. Smiling new Japanese paratroopers.
Japanese officials meeting in strategy session. Japanese infantry on mission to cut Chinese supply lines during 2nd Sino-Japanese war. Black smoke rises as they move along a river bank. Chinese prisoner-workers are forced to rebuild railroads destroyed by the Chinese people during their great Westward trek. Japanese soldier closely guards workers. A Japanese army armored train underway on the rebuilt railroad, as Japanese soldiers cheer. Animated map shows China's supply lines by sea, to Tsingtao, Hangchow, and Amoy, cut off by Japanese naval blockade. Japanese Navy launch with officers and crew moving near commercial ships as they take over Chinese river ports. War materiel and other supplies destined for China, including trucks, sit idle, unable to be transported to their destinations. Large oil tanks and drums of gasoline are shown, as well as gun barrels and a flightline filled with parked Curtiss P-36 Hawk aircraft. The Imperial Japanese Navy destroyer Asakaze (DD-3) and another, next to it, in a Chinese river port. A Japanese freighter with anchored weighed, secured by long lines to a wharf. Small boats flying Japanese Naval ensigns are next to it. View of map showing china, Burma, Indo-China, and Chungking, with Japanese blockading fleet stationed in the South China Sea. It traces path of narrow gauge rail line from Indo-china to Kumming,China, where it connected to an overland road to Chungking. Next it traced the old Camel Caravan route, across China, from Russia. Narrator notes these were to small to be useful and too close to Japanese-occupied territory. Next, the map traces a railroad that from the port of Rangoon to Lashio, Burma. It is separated from the road to Chungking, by mountains and gorges. Views of the actual mountainous terrain. Animal pack trains moving through the area. Construction engineers in a large drafting room designing a road to transit the area. View of modern road-building caterpillar tractor equipment of the type needed to accomplish this. View of Chinese laborers using manpower instead. They push large rollers and employ pickaxes and other hand-held tools to carve away and dig road beds. Masses of Chinese laborers at work, carving a road along the edge of a mountain. Two-men teams using manual tampers to pound down the roadbed. Children are employed along with adults. A woman with a baby on her back, pounding large rocks into gravel, surrounded by other children doing the same. View from above of the "Burma Road," the product of their labors, winding its way through the mountains and gorges. Many scenes of trucks moving along portions of the Burma Road. P-40 airplanes flying past white cumulus clouds, overhead. Animated map shows continued expansion of Japanese occupied areas to encompass two thirds of the rail lines in China with goal of controlling the remainder, starting at Chengchow, in Summer, 1938. View of Chengchow region, on banks of the Yellow River. Map illustrates flow pattern of the Yellow River. View from past of the Yellow River's Spring floods toward the Sea, with Chinese people throwing rocks onto dikes that keep the river flowing in a more Northerly direction than its former course. Illustration shows how with Japanese encrouching on Chengchow, the Chinese decided to destroy those dikes and allow the river to flood over its former more Southerly course. Japanese soldiers being inundated by the flooding river. Japanese infantry and tanks regrouping on their occupied side of the new (old) path of the Yellow River. Local Chinese residents of Chengchow, wade with belongings as they leave their flooded homes.
At opening, film shows U.S. Army Air Forces Bell P-39 Bell Air Cobra aircraft dropping bombs on on Japanese held northern airfield of Myitkyina, which was later captured by the 3rd Battalion Merrill's on July 26, 1944. Aerial view from U.S. aircraft bombing the Japanese occupied city of Myitkyina, on the west bank of the Ayeyarwady River, in Burma. Heavy smoke rising from bombs striking targets at the river's edge. (Narrator states, "the siege lasted 78 days.") Next, a regiment of Merrill's Marauders marches unopposed into the city. Animated map shows Japanese forces (15th and 33rd Division troops) attacking British-held town of Imphal, Burma. Ensuing scenes show well entrenched British forces in battle, with British soldiers firing heavy artillery, mortars, and Vickers machine guns. Glimpse of shells striking in hills. Momentary glimpse of Allied aircraft above the hills. (Narrator states the British "chewed up a couple of Jap divisions"," and the Allied rear lines of communication remained secure.) Animated map shows Chinese forces attacking Japanese forces west of the Salween River. View from a high position above the river bank. Rubber rafts line the shore and troops are assembling on the land. Next, troops are seen wading neck deep crossing the river with supplies floating along with them. Some paddle a jeep across the river on a makeshift raft. A truck at the edge of the river. Soldiers pulling together on a long rope line. Others crossing with hands on a line to support them as they wade in the water. Trucks bogging down in deep mud are helped by tow lines to others, ahead. Troops in a village where the road is inundated by rain waters flowing across it as a jeep goes past. Vehicles of all kinds sidelined by flooding waters. Jeeps speeding through water in some places and moving very slowly in the center of a muddy road where troops make their way on either side. Chinese soldiers scaling the stone wall of a fortress using ladders they made for the purpose. Troops firing a small artillery field piece and then charging towards battle-damaged buildings. Several are seen using flame throwers, that set building afire. More views of Chinese soldiers firing artillery and heavy machine guns. (World War II period)
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