From Hitler in Paris to the London Blitz and America’s Draft
About This Footage
Reel 5 of War Comes to America (1945) captures the turning point as Nazi victories spread across Europe and the United States accelerates its path toward war. It begins with Japan’s reliance on U.S. exports and Dean Acheson’s announcement of a trade embargo, then shifts to Germany’s lightning conquests of Denmark, Norway, Holland, and Belgium. Hitler’s triumph culminates in the fall of France: dramatic footage shows the armistice signed at Compiègne, Hitler surveying Paris, and German troops marching past the Eiffel Tower. The reel also notes over a million Germans living in South America, raising concern over Axis influence in the Western Hemisphere. At the Havana Conference of 1940, Allied leaders outline hemispheric defense while America begins its own mobilization. Factories expand ship and aircraft production, and young men answer draft notices under the first peacetime Selective Service Act. The reel closes on stark images of the London Blitz, with Nazi bombers pounding the city, civilians crowding into shelters, and U.S. destroyers transferred to Britain—underscoring America’s shift from neutrality to active preparation for global war.