 demonstration against the Axis stirs Santiago, capital of Chile. The government's policy of strict neutrality is opposed with a rally of more than 100,000 patriots. They demand fulfillment of Chile's good neighbor role, affirmed in the conference at Rio de Janeiro, and call on their country to take up arms in favor of the United Nations. Through the streets with flags of Britain and the United States, their signs leave no doubt as to their sentiments. Chileans, eager to become allies in America's fight for victory. United States warships engage the Japanese fleet off the Solomon Islands. The Japanese came from the north. Their main objective to retake Guadalcanal Island and its strategically important airfield, range United States bombers and carrier-borne fighters, race in to refuel, reload, and return to the fight. From Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, United States Admiral Nimitz directs the grand strategy of attack. To Vice Admiral Halsey aboard the flagship came word of a huge Jap troop convoy. American warships steamed into action. For three days and three nights, Halsey pounded the invading fleet with every gun firing. What was left of the Jap fleet staggered north, leaving more than 23 of their vessels at the bottom of the sea. Among them, a battleship, five cruisers, and more than 30,000 men. Along the sea lanes from Australia, United Nations convoys pour a steady stream of fresh troops and equipment. Men to man newly won bases as the first step in a general offensive. In personal command on the land front, General MacArthur orders crack divisions of United States mechanized forces into action. Flown in by bombers, land on a natural strip discovered in the jungle. Their job to flank the Japs retreating toward Boona, main enemy stronghold in New Guinea. Lentlessly, Australians press forward from the east, Americans from the west, swiftly and surely closing the prongs of their pincers upon the fleeing Japs. A convoy bringing supplies and ammunition moves up over a crude trail, hacked from the steaming jungle by United Nations engineers. American artillery making the wilderness a hell for the invader. Efficiently, United States infantrymen tracked down the Japs. Flamethrowers test their weapons, smoking out the enemy wherever he may be lurking. Through swamps and streams they advance. After months of bitter training, planning and preparing, American soldiers are on the offensive at a dozen unnamed ports. United States troops receive the orders for which they long have waited. Prepare to embark, destination overseas. Men train for just this moment, stream aboard transports lying with steam up, ready to sail. Weapons, supplies are swung over the side. Each ship puts to sea veiled in deepest secrecy. Bound across the Atlantic, keen eyes searching the horizon for a similar convoy headed out from Britain. Off Gibraltar, they rendezvous. 850 vessels, 350 warships. The greatest armada the world has ever known. Invasion ships of men and equipment stretched across the ocean as far as the eye can see. The cream of America's armed forces. Men eager for action, trained to perfection, sailing as their fathers did a quarter century ago. Fighting trim is a part of their daily routine. Hunters keep watch over sea and sky. Naval units steam back and forth, ever on the alert for a prowling enemy submarine. Orders at sea. A destroyer comes alongside the convoy leader with final instructions. Handlines haul the sealed packet aboard. And the orders are Africa. Breathing timed, planned, every move blueprinted months in advance. The invasion is a miracle of organization. Off or off, troop landings begin hours before dawn. As the first light of day streaks the sky, the final assault boats shove off for shore. There's a signal from the harbor. All's going well. And as the barges speed in, similar landings are being made at many points on the African coastline. These first pictures were made at one of many landing places west of O'Raw. For this was a vast action of synchronized local landings. Snub-nosed barges heavily armored, ferrying supplies from ship to beach. While troop transports and naval units stand guard offshore. Every point, American trucks and guns move in. The long practices at home now bearing the fruit of careful military preparation. It's the natives that the Americans come as friends. And the natives are more than willing to cooperate. Helping haul airplane gasoline for fighting planes and bombers. Combined with the British 1st and 8th Armies and units of the French, the Americans consolidate their positions. North Africa becomes the stepping stone to the United Nations second front. The offensive has begun.