This episode of the U.S. Army’s “The Big Picture” TV show is entitled “Three Faces of Evil”. It is one of a series of episodes in the “Army in Action” series which focused on WWII history. This episode specifically examines the aftermath of WWI and the lead-up to WWII, with the rise of the dictators Tojo in Japan, Mussolini in Italy and Adolf Hitler in Germany. Copyright 1964.

Opening: Paintings of conquerors and defenders. Narrator explains how bow & arrow gave way to guns then to tanks and planes. Title: The Big Picture – Army In Action – The Three Faces Of Evil (:07-2:19). After World War I, Poland attacks Russia and Lithuania to reclaim ancient boundaries. Headlines discuss Romanian troops attacking Budapest. Czechs, Poles clash in Border Dispute reads the headline. Artillery is fired. Troops march in Germany. Map of Germany. Turmoil in Italy. National Fascist Party on rise in Italy. Benito Mussolini, an ex-newspaper editor is their leader. New York City, life goes on. Roaring 20s in America, a beauty contest.(2:20-4:16). German military. Men practice with rifles. German soldiers march. Some on horseback. Mussolini speaks. Adolf Hitler. Riots in Germany. Hitler writes a biographical book in jail, ‘Mein Kampf.’ Hitler speaks to the people. September 1931, an explosion on a railway provides cover for a Japanese invasion of Manchuria. Miserable Chinese soldiers are shown tied up as prisoners (4:17-6:26). Newspaper headline: Shanghai Bombed! Japanese troops. 1933 – Hitler is Chancellor of Germany and shares the duty with the elderly Paul Von Hindenburg. August 1934, Hindenburg dies. ‘Heil Hitler’ signs. Hitler becomes the maximum ruler of Germany. October 1935, Mussolini attacks Ethiopia. Primitive firearms are no match for the guns and bombs of Italy (6:27-8:35). Ethiopians bow. March 1936, Hitler invades France. July 1936, Spanish Civil War. German pilots help Franco’s fascist army win victory in Spain. Spanish Civil War becomes a bloodbath as German planes from the Kondor Squadron drop bombs. Wounded are carried off (8:36-10:55). October 1936, Rome-Berlin Axis is formed, Hitler meets with Mussolini. December 1937, Japan sinks a United States gunboat, the USS Panay. Injured Americans. Headlines react to this incident. Japanese Ambassador apologizes for the ‘accident’ (10:56-12:36). Troops march, Hitler and Mussolini meet in Rome. Italian soldiers on parade. Gestapo round up people. Japanese soldiers execute Chinese civilians. A man holds a dead baby. A man in NYC reads a newspaper while getting a shoeshine. Grand Central Theatre in NYC. Atlantic and Pacific oceans (12:37-14:23). USA faces the Great Depression. The dustbowl. Headlines of the day. Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC). The CCC was a voluntary public work relief program that operated from 1933 to 1942 in the United States for unemployed, unmarried men ages 18–25, it was eventually expanded to ages 17–28. People work near a dam. People work in the snow (14:24-15:50). Army manages many CCC camps. Educational facilities were provided by the Army. People learn skills. President Roosevelt visits a CCC camp. The U.S. flag is lowered (15:51-17:53). Italian army invades Ethiopia. Spanish Civil War. Planes drop bombs. People run. Buildings reduced to rubble. Japanese flag flies. Japanese troops cheer. American army men (17:54-19:15). U.S, Navy. U.S. Marines. U.S. troops train. 1938 – Hitler adds Austria to his growing Reich. People cheer Hitler. Democratic Czechoslovakia is dismantled. The Nazis focus their rage on the Jewish people. Jews are publicly beaten by Nazis. Events leading up to Krystalnacht (20:48). Construction of concentration camps, and Jews rounded up and placed into them (19:16-21:24). Hitler addresses the German parliament while British Prime Minister Chamberlain returns to the UK to announce “peace in our time” (21:55). Maginot Line (22:49). Newspaper headlines tell what’s happening (sound is off from here until the end of the episode). Factories. Soldiers grab rifles (21:25-23:17). U.S. troops are woefully unprepared for war, and perform exercises with wooden rifles and wooden machine guns (24:14/25:35). Hitler’s shown with Hermann Goering and there are images of Tojo (25:05) . The armies of the fascist powers are strong and ready to go to war, while the armies of the free nations are weak and ill prepared for war. Narrator wraps up (25:39-28:00). End credits (28:01-28:19)

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