From the Tripartite Pact to Roosevelt’s Lend-Lease and Operation Barbarossa
About This Footage
Reel 6 of War Comes to America (1945) chronicles the tightening grip of Axis power and America’s growing commitment to aiding the Allies. The film begins with animated maps of U.S. military bases defending the Panama Canal, underscoring America’s strategic importance. It then covers the signing of the Tripartite Pact in 1940, where Germany, Italy, and Japan formalized their alliance to intimidate the United States. Footage from Tokyo, Rome, and Berlin captures Axis celebrations, contrasted with images of devastation from the German bombing campaign against England. President Franklin Roosevelt responds by urging increased production, and Congress passes the Lend-Lease Act in 1941, authorizing the shipment of vital war supplies to nations resisting Axis aggression. Animated maps trace the global flow of U.S. weapons, aircraft, and food to Britain and beyond. The reel concludes with Germany’s rapid conquests of Yugoslavia and Greece, followed by Hitler’s surprise attack on Russia—Operation Barbarossa—launched without a declaration of war. These events reveal the escalating global stakes and America’s shift from neutrality to active support, foreshadowing its direct entry into World War II.