Prelude to War
1942 · National Archives and Records Administration (via FedFlix)
Finding US Government work
The record names a federal body as the creating agency: Department of Defense. Department of the Army. Office of the Chief Signal Officer. A work prepared by an officer or employee of the United States Government as part of that person's official duties has no US copyright (17 U.S.C. 105; before 1978, section 8 of the 1909 Act).
The record names a federal body as the creating agency. A work prepared by an officer or employee of the United States Government as part of that person's official duties has no US copyright (17 U.S.C. 105; before 1978, section 8 of the 1909 Act). This says nothing about copyright outside the United States, or about music, stock footage or other material the film may incorporate.
- Creating body, as recorded
- Department of Defense. Department of the Army. Office of the Chief Signal Officer
- National Archives Identifier
- 36067 (local identifier 111-OF-1)
- Internet Archive item
- gov.archives.arc.36067 (uploader's licence mark: http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/)
The record
The Internet Archive item's description, as transcribed by the uploader from the source archive's record. Check it against the National Archives catalog entry linked above.
National Archives and Records Administration ARC Identifier 36067 / Local Identifier 111-OF-1 Prelude to War Department of Defense. Department of the Army. Office of the Chief Signal Officer. (09/18/1947 - 02/28/1964). This motion picture film explores the background of World War II. Reel 1 shows the bombing of Pearl Harbor, London air raids, cavalry and tank battles in Russia, and Panzer and Luftwaffe operations in western Europe. Footage also shows Fascists in Italy and Nazis in Germany as they riot and parade. In Reel 2, Emperor Hirohito inspects Japanese troops. Footage also shows military demonstrations in the Axis countries, their legislatures in session, German slave labor, Alfred Rosenberg's denunciation of the church in Germany and reenactments of political assassinations. In Reel 3, Axis school children receive political indoctrination, Secretary of State Frank Billings Kellogg hands the 1929 Peace Pact to President Hoover, and U.S. citizens state isolationist views. Footage also shows Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) and Works Projects Administration (WPA) workers constructing a road. Reel 4 contrasts play of U.S. children with military games of Nazi children and diagrams territorial ambitions of the Axis. The reel contains footage of Adolf Hitler, Hermann Goring, Rudolph Hess, and Joseph Goebbels. In Reel 5, Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto speaks of Japanese desires, troops parade in Berlin, Japanese troops advance in Manchuria, Secretary of State Henry Stimson denounces the Manchurian action and Japanese delegates leave a League of Nations meeting. In Reel 6, Japanese troops land at Shanghai, Chiang Kai-shek leads a parade in China, the Italians invade Ethiopia, Haile Selassie asks the League of Nations to intervene in Ethiopia, and President Franklin Roosevelt denounces the Italian action. DVD Copied by Master Scanner Thomas Gideon.