War in the Pacific (1951) | Compilation #2: Episodes 13 - 24 | Westbrook Van Voorhis | Kentaro Buma

[Music] [Music] is the epic battle at tarawa in november 1943 brought home to the american public the cost of the war against japan though tarawa had been won at a great price the lessons learned there were to prevent the loss of other thousands of american fighting men in battles on other pacific island in january 1944 an invasion of the marshall islands was undertaken an invasion whose success depended in large measure on the experience gained at tarawa in the central pacific the marshall islands constituted a block in the path of the u.s drive westward if that drive was to be successful several strategically located islands in that group must be seized in hawaii admiral chester nimitz commander-in-chief pacific fleet and everyone in his command were vitally concerned with the preparations for the forthcoming assault on the marshals for the central pacific offensive begun so auspiciously with the victories in the gilbert islands at macon and tarawa depended for its success on a quick follow-up the planned invasion of atolls in the next major island chain the marshals was to be followed by further assaults on islands still far too westward in a giant island-hopping operation which would take american fighting forces to the very doorstep of japan itself in january 1944 the high command in the central pacific theater checked carefully over final preparations for the all-important invasion of the marshals the amphibious assault force left hawaii behind and headed for the marshals in late january stealthily the fleet moved into enemy waters gunners in the mightiest invasion fleet yet mounted prepared to knock out enemy defenses on the target islands this time they planned to see to it that no one could possibly consider the naval shelling too light on january 29th the warships began their softening up of kwajalein atoll for weeks liberators of the seventh air force pounded the atolls in the eastern and central marshals [Music] at kwajalein the world's largest coral atoll the main objectives were three small islands roy and namor linked by an artificial causeway were to be seized by the fourth marine division on route to the invasion of the islands marine officers familiarized the men with all available details of their objective their size shape and defenses at kwajalein atoll the fourth marine division went into action for the first time most of the men had arrived only recently from marine training camps in the united states for the first time the assault waves took their own supplies with them h hour delayed almost two hours was only minutes away the men would be real veterans soon [Music] [Music] as the first waves of marines neared the landing beaches the carrier pilots gave the enemy a last-minute once-over the men were prepared for another tarawa american troops were storming the first piece of pre-war japanese territory and from all indications the enemy planned to hold on to it the fourth division marines were loaded for action they were prepared for the worst it was tough on the beach but it was no taro although enemy resistance was lighter than expected the battle was no pushover the area was still far from secure [Applause] the troops at fraudulent benefited enormously from the experience other american fighting men had had on similar atolls on the gilbert some two months before the pattern for dealing with a dug-in enemy on a tiny sand spit of an island had been successfully established the marines took every precaution in dealing with the fanatical defenders of roy and namur the marines took some prisoners at roy and lemur but they represented only a small percentage of the enemy force which defended the island 264 japanese were captured on the two islands but there were still many pockets of enemy resistance on roy the principal objective was the enemy airfield [Music] taking it was no simple task during the afternoon the battle raged on by late afternoon the back of enemy resistance on roy was broken this time the naval and air bombardment had achieved some notable results the airfield on roy was seized on d-day afternoon the strips had constituted an important launching platform for enemy planes a number of the japanese planes had been in no condition to leave the island before it fell nemour was rested from the enemy by the early afternoon of the second day on that island too the sturdy japanese block houses had proved unable to withstand the u.s bombardment the enemy defenses were a favorite subject for combat artists who sometimes accompanied the assault troops on pacific invasion the black houses proved equally fascinating to every marine on the island the enemy high command had ordered roy and namor defended to the last man marine general holland smith in command of the ground forces in the marshals was well pleased with the performance of the untested fourth marine division the general was favorably impressed too with the job the navy warships had done in other operations he was not usually satisfied with the navy's bombardment but at kwajalein he felt they had done well by his amphibious forces the japanese who garrisoned roy and namur hadn't believed it possible for their stronghold to fall to an american over water assault after the battle the marines had an opportunity to inspect the souvenirs they'd collected the most highly prized memento throughout the pacific was a japanese samurai sword usually carried only by high-ranking enemy officers there was plenty of japanese money for the invaders but no place to spend it the man who'd made the assault hadn't had a chance to take their shoes off since leaving the transports for the invasion they almost felt civilized again with the battle won u.s forces had reached another milestone on the road to tokyo many of the men who had helped achieve that forward step had been cut down during the battle in all cases possible positive identification of the dead was sought by the graves registration section of the fourth marine division casualties were light compared with the figures of american losses on tarawa but 190 marines lost their lives at roy and namur in the struggle to establish a foothold for us forces in the marshalls [Music] each new victory in the drive across the pacific was marked by still another burial service and the dedication of another square of hallowed ground thousands of miles from home the men who survived felt a very real sense of loss for a strong feeling of kinship springs up between men in battle for a common cause the dead would not be forgotten by the men who had fought with them side by side [Music] meanwhile the u.s army's seventh division was occupied with the enemy on the southernmost island of kwajalein atl on february 1st in mid-morning the assault waves moved into the beach these gis had last seen action on the illusions in quite a different setting world war ii was the first major war to be thoroughly covered by combat cameramen to record the war on film motion picture cameramen went ashore with the first waves of assault troops and stayed with them in the thick of the fight the seventh division gi's pushed across the island against spotty enemy opposition on that first day on kwajalein u.s casualties were light less than 70 men were hit by enemy fire with the tanks pacing the advance the gi's took the island yard by yard the soldiers pressed the attack in the face of stiffening enemy resistance tanks played a major role in the victories in the marshals but it was still the men with the rifles who seized and held the territory [Music] on fraudulent islet the coordination of tanks and infantry operating together had still not been perfected but the advance was well executed it was now easy job to overwhelm all the enemy troops on the island for five days the seventh division gis battled the enemy on fraudulent and for five days the enemy had to be located and blasted out of his hole [Music] [Music] more and more enemy soldiers were being knocked out of the battle by the determined gi's enemy casualties mounted steadily [Music] the weary gi's continued the attack against a well-entrenched enemy as on roy and namur to the north the japanese garrison on kwajalein islet had solid positions from which to carry on their stubborn defense of the island in the process of seizing the islet from the enemy 1214 american soldiers were hit on fraudulent the lightness of american casualties could be traced to the more careful preparation on the part of both the army and navy on february 5th the battle on kwajalein island had been won after the spirited struggle 170 enemy troops were taken prisoner all that was left of a garrison force of some four thousand the enemy had lost the three key islands of one of the most strategic [ __ ] in the central pacific the defeated troops were beginning to have a few doubts about the invincibility of the japanese war machine in february 1944 u.s forces pushed deeper into enemy territory to the extreme western end of the marshall islands chain we talk at all was invaded in mid-february by two regiments one marine one army the 22nd marine regiment landed first on angebi island and in a furious day-long battle knocked out a strong enemy character the marines on angebi were seeing action for the first time and they acquitted themselves well [Music] tanks were used to good advantage in the marine assault [Music] [Applause] [Music] the three principal islands of any weta atoll were successfully seized by the five battalions of marines and soldiers in seven days here on any we talk islet u.s soldiers and marines choked off enemy resistance but not without suffering some losses many of the casualties among the riflemen were attributable to the light bombardment of this particular island on parry islet 22nd regiment marines fought almost a duplicate of their earlier battle on angebi except that the enemy on parry held out a bit more stubbornly but the marines mopped it up on the second day during the final stages of the fight to seize the major islands of any wetac atoll work on the airstrips was being carried forward often under enemy fire by the hard-working members of a navy service known as the cb organized early in world war ii the navy's construction battalions achieved miracles in building airstrips on islands all across the pacific in unbelievably short periods of time and under any conditions the seabees never wasted any time the job was always done the quickest possible way and the seabees never lost an opportunity to take advantage of whatever came their way including enemy equipment on any we talk at all a strip capable of accommodating four squadrons of fighters was hurriedly finished the speed with which the seabees could build an airstrip on any kind of terrain was a constant source of wonder to the fighting men in the area even the army was impressed with the seabees accomplishments in the pacific the work of the construction battalions on islands all across the pacific was greatly admired by the marine corps charged with seizing and holding those bases the sabi's most vital functions included the construction and repair of air strips of coral and sand [Applause] for on the speed with which those air strips were put into operation depended the speed of the continuing advance toward japan the majority of the quarter of a million men and the seabees had had experience in some phase of construction work before entering the service that experience proved invaluable to the us fighting forces but even the most knowledgeable construction men were faced with many completely new problems on the islands of the pacific once their job was done the seabees never had long to wait to see the results of their work windmill washing machines became familiar sights on the islands where the seabees were on the job just one evidence of the versatility of the navy's newest branch but aids to comfortable living in the tropics were only spare time projects after the airstrips were built or repaired on an island base the seabees fell to work on the construction of the necessary buildings for the forces which would garrison the new base the job of creating a camp the size of a small city was usually only a few weeks work for a battalion of seabees their favorite boast we do the difficult immediately the impossible takes a little longer was not considered an overstatement by the troops in the pacific the housing of the fighting men was only one of the seabees responsibilities one of the impossible jobs they performed was providing ice at tropical pacific bases whatever the need the seabees could be counted on to fill it and without delay their philosophy was summed up in a standard two-word answer to any request can do the u.s now had possession of two key atolls in the marshals group those two quick victories on a few sandy islands made a considerable difference in the areas of control exercised by the two principal warring powers in the pacific far from the marshals the u.s air force was in excellent position to launch attacks against the caroline islands and in particular the enemy's powerful base at truck from kwajalein in mid-march seventh air force bombers began a series of strikes against that enemy stronghold the liberators could make the trip from kwajalein to truck and return in less than nine hours if the weather was favorable for that period the seventh air force planes were reinforced by bombers of the 13th air force operating from south pacific bases the target the group of islands called truck was the most important enemy staging area between japan and the southwest pacific the legend of truck's invincibility was about to be punctured effectively [Music] the liberators were depositing the new 2 000 pound bombs on the enemy's base the attacks were highly successful in less than four months once mighty truck was to become virtually useless to the enemy [Music] in a single month in early 1944 u.s air force planes dropped a total of 1813 tons of bombs on truck the enemy's stronghold was reduced to a mere shell in the southwest pacific as 1943 turned into 44 the u.s fighting forces centered their attention on the bismarck archipelago and the northern coast of new guinea the road which led back to the philippines [Music] is world war ii in the pacific was fought under the most trying conditions difficult terrain and extremes of climate there were few more miserable battlegrounds anywhere in the world than the steaming jungles of disease-ridden new guinea the men who fought across the 1500 mile long island experienced war at its worst there was always a good chance that a sniper might be concealed only a few yards away in new guinea the allied fighting man could never be certain that the enemy was in any one place in australia during 1942 and 43 the attention of everyone on that island continent was concentrated on the road back a series of campaigns to be made by allied forces under the overall command of general douglas macarthur when i landed on your soil i said to the people of the philippines whence i came i shall return tonight i repeat those words i shall return nothing is more certain than the ultimate re-conquest and liberation from the enemy of those and adjacent by late 1943 the road back against the enemy lay principally along the northern coast of new guinea up the tail of the bird-shaped island by december u.s marines and soldiers had moved virtually all the way up the solomon islands chain to westward u.s and australian forces attacked the enemy in the bismarck archipelago area on december 15th the strategically situated island of new britain was invaded the assault was made by the army's 112th cavalry regiment 1700 strong [Music] the invasion craft were attacked by more than 30 japanese planes the invasion was carried out successfully despite intense air activity over the landing [Music] the soldiers in the assault waves hadn't expected to be hit before reaching the beach at arawa for the first time in a combat operation rockets were used to soften up the beaches the landings were successfully achieved in spite of the heavy enemy air attack and the beachhead was established attached to the 158th infantry regiment at arawa was a group of american indians who were used chiefly as scouts stealthily seeking out enemy troop concentrations was a specialty of the indians throughout the war in many pacific battles ground forces officers came to appreciate how valuable the indians were in their reconnaissance assignments silent and sure-footed the indian scouts went out on mission after mission behind the enemy lines in a war which called for the employment of stealth and deception the indians were beating the enemy at his own game [Applause] in addition to serving as scouts and snipers the indians often functioned as couriers they were most adept at carrying important messages safely through territory not yet completely won in the south and southwest pacific another small group of men called coast watchers played a major part in many allied victories in that area coast watchers were men who were thoroughly familiar with the territory held by the enemy top priority information on weather conditions and on the enemy's latest activities was gathered by these volunteers who worked with the help of friendly natives behind enemy lines discovery of course would mean instant death the coast watchers most of whom were australian transmitted this vital information to the allies by radio after each transmission the cw would usually be forced to change its location to circumvent discovery by the enemy if the message got through successfully to allied units in the area an invasion force or air or naval strike group could move in on enemy targets more quickly and also cut down on their own casualties in late december 1943 after the arawa diversion a u.s invasion was planned at another point on western new britain at cape gloucester in a pre-invasion strike us fifth air force plane strafed enemy positions and dropped 400 tons of bombs on the [Music] beaches [Music] the invasion was begun on the day after christmas 1943. the assault troops were first division marines most of the men in the assault waves were veterans of the long bloody campaign fought by the first marine division on guadalcanal commanded by marine general william rupertos the troops went quickly about the business of launching the invasion the scheduled plan for the assault on cape gloucester was executed successfully by the invasion force of marines [Music] resistance was not expected to be heavy but then no one could be entirely certain the main landing was made on the east coast of cape gloucester the beaches had been thoroughly softened up by pre-invasion bombardments and enemy opposition was light an unusual situation for marine assault waves in the pacific in 1943 with the beachhead quickly seized tanks came ashore and the drive was on for the capture of the all-important airfield though the enemy wasn't particularly troublesome for the first few days the great morass of mud slowed the marine advance down but the rifleman working closely with the tanks kept pushing inland without pause the marine tank crews handled their vehicles adroitly in the matted jungle drawing praise from the army every effective weapon was used against the dug-in enemy [Music] after 22 days the enemy was largely put to route [Music] the marines carved up the disorganized clusters of enemy troops who hadn't fled toward rabal [Music] the us had succeeded to complete control of western new britain the enemy was fast losing his south seas empire the attack on rebel on the far eastern tip of new britain was stepped up in early 1944 thousands of tons of bombs were dropped on the enemy's one-time stronghold in a six-month campaign u.s planes knocked out japan's most powerful base in the southwest pacific rabal was rendered completely useless to the enemy for the ground forces there was one more important area in the bismarck archipelago the admiralty islands the us command decided that they must be taken before the actual invasion of the islands a reconnaissance party went ashore on los negros to determine the enemy's strength 24 hours they took stock and discovered that the island seemingly deserted though it looked was actually heavily garrisoned it had been decided to assault los negros first and then invade manus the larger island the gis who were experiencing their baptism of fire headed towards shore on the morning of february 29th 1944 [Music] less than two dozen u.s planes appeared owing to poor weather [Music] the assault soldiers were expecting heavy resistance on the beaches a good percentage of the gis landed successfully but once ashore they found themselves in a furious battle against a determined enemy [Music] it was a rough fight in the campaign on the admiralties u.s ground forces suffered some 1200 casualties thanks to blood plasma and newly developed drugs many of the men who had been badly wounded were saved with the capture of the two principal islands and the admiralties the entire bismarck area was sealed off the u.s forces now controlled the strategic airstrips which had been used with great effectiveness by the enemy the quickening offensive in new guinea required the use of all available army divisions general frederick irving sped the 24th on its way into combat you're about to embark on your great adventure probably the greatest adventure that has occurred to you during your lifetime it is the operation we've been looking forward to for a long time we're all ready now the few miscellaneous things that i want to mention tonight first is i want to prepare you mentally for the confusion of combat if you keep quiet the [ __ ] does not know anything about you but as soon as you fire your rifle is the same as saying here i am at the same time you have little chance of hitting anybody in the dark you have a big chance of hitting your own men so keep that in mind firing at night spasmodically and so forth is a mark of ill and untrained troops i don't expect any of that in this division in conclusion i want to wish you the best of luck in this operation these organizations have a grand reputation i know that when the story of this war is written that you'll have more than your share of the decorations and honors and that there'll be no units no combat team that will equip themselves any better than they'll will this combat team here the next jump in the leapfrog operation up the back of the new guinea bird was to itape some 400 miles westward the offensive force was a powerful one the largest fleet to support any landing in the southwest pacific theater up to this point accompanied an assault force of some 22 500 troops a large proportion of the soldiers who were to make the invasion at itapay were battle-wise veterans of earlier new guinea engagements like the men of the 163rd infantry regiment we'd been in a few scraps with the enemy on new guinea but nothing this big this time it looked as though we were really going to throw a punch it was quite a show [Music] the bombardment cheered us all up the more those big guns pounded the beaches the fewer gaps there would be to meet us when we went ashore we started for the beach soon after dawn we were all a little nervous and that choppy seed didn't help that feeling in the pit of the stomach funny thing but no matter how many combat landings you made you never completely got over that case of nerves just before the battle once the shooting started on shore the spell was usually broken and you'd be so busy keeping on the alert that you wouldn't have time to be nervous [Music] the initial resistance to the landing at high to pay was relatively light but as the battle progressed u.s forces were subsequently to cut off and chop up the enemy's entire 18th army at the same time a larger u.s force was landing some miles farther west at hollandia in dutch new guinea invasions were made at two points along the coast opposition on both beaches was light the first phase of the attack was carried out according to plan the man of the army's 41st and 24th divisions executed the operation without a hedge [Music] the plan called for the troops to drive quickly inland toward the three airfields which were the principal objectives in the use of the northern new guinea coastal area the troops were faced with a serious transportation problem now and then the gis encountered the enemy but they offered no serious problem with the two invasion forces linked up the sought after airfields in the suntani area fell to the us after only five days but it soon became apparent that because of the swampy terrain the strips could not be built into major bases a month later u.s forces moved 145 miles farther west along the bird's back by seizing an area on the new guinea coast that tomb artillery could be employed to shell the real objective the island of wakka two miles offshore from the beachhead near tomb assault troops launched the shore to shore invasion of watka island spearhead of that assault was the 163rd infantry regiment the same men who had landed a die to pay three weeks earlier [Music] for some reason somebody decided that we had to have walked the island probably because the airfield was a little better than the last ones we took it was a short but tough battle [Applause] the enemy troops on wakta were well dug in and we had to use our most efficient weapons for getting at them and knocking them out of the battle we killed almost 800 in the two-day fight on wakta eight days later u.s soldiers made still another landing at biok 180 miles westward in gilvinck bay just before the landing the rocket ships went to work rockets were proving more effective than naval gunfire in last minute bombardments of the invasion beaches [Music] the gi's of the 41st division who made the assault on biak were expecting a rough time once they arrived on shore twelve thousand men went ashore on beyock on that first day twelve medium tanks were landed during the first ten hours the battle at biak didn't get started in earnest until the us force was well established to shore u.s shermans were to play a responsible part in the allied victory in the pitched battle biak turned into one of the most hotly contested engagements in the southwest pacific theater the enemy refused to surrender the island two and a half weeks after the battle on biak began general robert l eichelberger was placed in command of the ground forces with orders to bring the bloody fight to a successful conclusion for the second time in new guinea general michael berger cleaned up a messy operation in early july another hop to noomfoor island carried the us drive 80 miles still farther west the small island in gilvinck bay was invaded by some 7000 gis of the 158th regimental combat team the assault force expected to encounter heavy opposition on the only beach where a landing was feasible but the initial beachhead was established quickly and with comparative ease the u.s invasion force outnumbered the enemy on noon four by three or four to one once more the gis were prepared for a grueling campaign but the u.s command had overestimated the enemy's strength on the island against light resistance the gis moved quickly across the island but the command still expected trouble and called for reinforcements to be dropped by parachute over the recently seized airfield the paratroopers making the jump were the men of the 503rd parachute infantry regiment most of them veterans of the drop-on not sop earlier in the new guinea campaign but this time the operation was poorly executed the troopers had been scheduled to drop a distance of at least 400 feet but some were disgorged from the planes at heights as low as 175 feet in addition the plane should have flown in single file rather than to abreast and the landing area chosen was so narrow that only a part of the group managed to land on the field many of the men missed the drop zone some by a wide margin of the 739 men who made the initial jump at noom 4 almost 10 were casualties and not related in any way to enemy action nevertheless by the fifth day all three airfields on noon 4 were in us possession and all that was left was mopping up noom 4 was by no means the final objective in the new guinea campaign in late july the next hop to san sirpour took the us forces to the head of the new guinea bird the landing was not opposed but the 20 000 gi's of the sixth division were taking no chances the assault was made against an enemy which was discovered to be in the process of evacuating the area u.s forces had succeeded in driving across the length of new guinea to the very tip of the 1500 mile long island in mid-september u.s soldiers invaded moratai an island in the malaccas lying between new guinea and the philippines with this engagement the new guinea campaign was successfully concluded a never-to-be-forgotten experience in the lives of the men who fought there from the greenest private to general eichelberger historians will state that the two-year fight for new guinea was one of the toughest in modern warfare i agree with them the men who served under my command in new guinea from 1942 until late 44 fought day and night under conditions which would have broken the spirit of less doubt-hearted troops fighting on that terrain in that abominable climate and against an enemy as resourceful as the japanese was tough enough but the tropical diseases malaria dengue fever scrub titheless jungle rock provided the finishing touches the fact that we won that most vital island after some 20 odd months of doggett battling as a tribute to the fighting qualities of the american soldier while my gratitude goes out to our brothers of the navy and heir as an infantry commander i must say that new guinea was a war of instruments united states and australia and by virtue of our victory on new guinea the invasion of the philippines was made possible while the leapfrogging hops were made in the southwest pacific u.s amphibious forces in the central pacific were engaged in their own campaign of island hopping the marianas were a most strategically important invasion target in june 1944 [Music] is prior to world war ii the u.s area of control in the far pacific was limited the island of guam and the marianas group had been under american rule since the u.s victory on the spanish-american war in 1898 for some 40 years the guamanians led relatively peaceful uneventful lives as american subjects but only a hundred miles from guam the japanese were conducting a different kind of administration on tinian and saipan and the other marianas the islanders worked hard for their asiatic masters in the late 1930s the western pacific was dominated by the rapidly expanding japanese empire that expansion continued to the bursting point the war with japan had several memorable turning points all directly affecting the final outcome in the struggle for the marianas in the summer of 1944 the enemy's leaders realized that if u.s forces were successful at saipan japan could prepare itself for eventual defeat in hawaii the troops scheduled to see action in the marianas prepared to embark on the journey to the target general ralph smith commanded the army's 27th division one of the three divisions earmarked for the campaign on saipan during the last days of may 1944 the men became part of the northern troops and landing force assigned to the saipan operation by the 1st of june the last elements of the divisions which would oppose the enemy on saipon were aboard ship and operation forager was begun [Music] while the attack force was on route word of the landings on the beaches of normandy came through but the assault forces on the ships were occupied with their own invasion a campaign just as vital to final victory in the pacific as the normandy invasion was to the european triumph three days before d-day on saipan scout planes flew reconnaissance missions to search out any enemy naval force [Music] the men were briefed thoroughly on the principal features of the landing area the task force neared the objective before dawn on d-day the carrier planes were ready for their last pre-invasion strikes [Music] d-day morning june 15th was bright clear and hot u.s planes continued to work over the target and the teeth of enemy flank [Music] from all appearances the battle ahead looked like a tough one [Music] at dawn the warships provided a staccato introduction to the invasion the navy had a wide range of targets to concentrate on [Music] the naval guns worked overtime now and then they had to be cooled off before going back into action with each hour less than an hour away the assault force of marines who were to carve out the beachhead on saipan prepared for one more landing against a carefully entrenched enemy no matter how often a marine went ashore against heavy enemy opposition each new landing seemed just as tough or tougher than the last even veterans like marine private first class harry jackson of pittsburgh wyoming never got really used to the feeling that went with going in on an enemy beach after a couple of tough landings you couldn't help figuring that the law of averages was working against you in a way it was a good feeling to be on solid ground again but that meant you were wide open even though your buddies were all around you felt all alone on a beach-like saipan at least on this one the men got into the beach that hard ball in the pit of your stomach never left until you saw the first guy near you get hit that did it you wanted to even the score for the guys who got it saipan was rough right from the word go and this time there was a lot more island to take than there was on some of those atolls [Music] the first few hours on the island gave us a good idea of what the campaign was going to be like somebody said the 2000 marines got hit that first day nobody doubted it they finally called for some more support from the cans offshore and the zoomies gave us a hand once in a while too [Music] after the first couple of days we had a pretty good idea the place was ours with no ifs ands or butts then we moved on in to take over a real chunk of the island but it wasn't any cinch [Music] those tanks were handy to have around sometimes you'd be able to save a guy who got hit bad using the tank as a shield speaking of things that were handy to have around those rockets weren't just whistling dixie [Music] by d-day plus three we taken aslito airfield the enemy's most important airbase on the island the japs had really had it at us lido they pulled out awful fast by june 18th a sizable area had been seized by the assault marines of the second and fourth divisions assisted beginning on the second day by gis of the army's 27th division [Applause] after aslito field had been taken by the soldiers land-based planes and considerable numbers could be used in support of the drive north on the island [Music] the three divisions two marine one army worked abreast up the island [Music] on saipan both sides used tanks in general american mediums proved superior to the japanese variety in one pitched battle lasting three and a half hours 31 enemy tanks were knocked out the enemy counter-attack had been successfully beaten off but the fight to gain control of the southern sector of saipan had taken its toll of assault troops during the first week of the campaign the u.s invasion force suffered some 6 000 casualties in the campaign to gain control of this valuable cornerstone of the enemy's defense perimeter the day before d-day the u.s naval force off saipan learned that a japanese fleet was moving into the philippine sea off saipan's west coast to contest the invasion the enemy naval force raced east from the philippines but was met by a strong u.s armada in the philippine sea u.s carrier pilots could scarcely wait for this chance to close with the japanese fleet [Music] wow the pilots headed straight for the enemy force the japanese ships were prepared for a battle but not for the one that was shaping up in the philippine sea the japanese gun crews looked forward to a good day's shooting the enemy fleet was well set for the engagement when the first contact was made but the us plane swarmed all over the japanese fleet [Music] enemy planes fought back desperately [Music] the enemy air group began losing its planes in some numbers the us air complement suffered some casualties too but the enemy was overwhelmingly beaten in the two-day battle in the philippine sea which came to be known as the marianas turkey shoot the enemy threat to the beachhead on saipan was completely dissipated of the 216 american planes which pursued the fleeing enemy ships about half returned safely to their home [Music] carrier not all escaped unscathed [Music] some pilots were born lucky some of the men who made a u.s victory possible had fought their last battle the thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever amen under almighty god we commend the soul of our brother departed and we commit his body to the deep [Applause] ensuring certain hope of the resurrection unto eternal life amen once more the pacific received its death in the battle off the marianas the enemy not only failed in its intended purpose but suffered one of the most humiliating defeats it had ever experienced onshore at saipan the campaign was gaining momentum the toughest objective on the island was tapacho a 1500 foot mountain whose crest dominated the whole of saipan that crest had to be seized from the enemy at any cost [Music] marines and soldiers pushed the attack up its slopes for several days but the joint assault by the marines and army troops was not well synchronized in overall command of the ground campaign on saipan marine general holland smith was dissatisfied with the cautious forward advance of the army troops on june 24th the general lived up to his nickname howl and mad and fired the army commander the controversy over the marine general's action raged as fiercely as the battle itself [Music] at the same time along the west coast of the island marines of the second division pressed into the outskirts of garapan capital city of the marianas and got their first taste of street fighting [Music] now thousands of tomorrows whose homes had been demolished walked into the american lines at the first opportunity u.s fighting men made certain that the natives were out of harm's way many tomorrows had been hiding in caves for more than a week with little food and water some were on the edge of starvation when they came into american hands some chamorros no one knows how many were killed in the violent battle for their island home [Music] the natives of saipan would not soon forget the summer of 1944 [Music] by july 7th u.s forces had seized the major part of the island early that morning the japanese made a large-scale banzai charge against the u.s position the frenzied japanese drove deep into american lines into territory held by u.s artillery the charge was finally stopped in a bitter hand-to-hand struggle more than 2 000 japanese were killed faced with the loss of their island base they had chosen to die as a tribute to their emperor in the tradition of the bushido code enemy resistance on saipan had been almost completely eliminated most of the 30 000 enemy troops had been killed or captured virtually all of saipan almost to the northern tip at marpy point was now in us possession before starting to clean out the remaining area american forces waited while one last appeal was made to the enemy troops to surrender any natives hold up in the area were advised to come into the american lines immediately several dozen chamorros were convinced that they would not be tortured and killed as the enemy had told them and took advantage of the last opportunity to move into the u s held territory finally the attack was launched against the last piece of enemy held ground on [Music] saipan [Music] a few more enemy soldiers joined their ancestors in the closing days of the battle the number of enemy prisoners was swelled to more than a thousand but for every japanese soldier who surrendered there were many more who refused to give up [Music] some of the natives chose suicide on july 9th the us controlled all of saipan on the southern tip of the island u.s artillery pounded tinian three miles distant after two weeks breather the two marine divisions assaulted tinian the second marine division in an effective faint drew the enemy's attention to the southern beaches while fourth division marines went ashore to the north and drove down the island against scattered resistance back from their fake landing second division marines followed the fourth division marines ashore on the northwest coast the carefully executed diversionary movement had succeeded in fooling the enemy and throwing his defensive forces off balance the second division marines also landed against little or no opposition tinian has been termed by some military historians the perfect operation the drive south by the two marine divisions was as well coordinated as the invasion maneuver [Music] the enemy's defense of tinian lasted for only nine days aware that their elite army units on saipan had been wiped out the japanese forces on tinian almost seemed reconciled to their eventual defeat to the south of saipan and tinian another u.s amphibious force had moved into position for the assault on guam on july 21st navy warships provided the customary overture to the invasion guam was one of the first areas seized by the enemy in december 1941 marines of the third division and the first provisional brigade made the assault on the island opposition to the landing was moderate to heavy the fight to regain guam looked as though it would be a bloody one after two and a half dark years the long-awaited liberation of america's island outpost was finally at hand as the campaign continued the assault marines were reinforced by the army's 77th division on guam the marines and soldiers worked together well in a closely knit operation the battle against the stubborn enemy on guam lasted for 21 days the three major islands in the marianas had been successfully seized the marines were especially gratified at retaking the old marine corps base on the island the natives chamorros who had grown up under american rule until 1941 were again safely in u.s hands by late september guam had been pretty thoroughly cleaned out the capital city aganya had been hit hard during the bitter struggle for the island guam's recent history had been superimposed on the evidences of its spanish heritage on guam as at saipan and tinian the battle for the island was concluded with a familiar ceremony on all three islands in the marianas some five 000 marines and soldiers lost their lives in the campaign designed to hasten materially the end of the war with japan but for these thousands the war was already at an end with the major islands and the strategically important marianas in u.s possession the high brass charged with directing the conduct of the pacific war moved into the area to prepare for the knockout blows against japan itself and the most important items in the planning for the delivery of those knockout blows were the marianas airstrips on every newlywed island in the pacific readying the airstrip was always a top priority assignment but in the marianas that job had a special urgency for from the improved airfields on saipan tinian and guam america's new super fortresses the powerful b-29 would soon take off on missions against the enemy's home islands on the asiatic mainland the conduct of the war against japan was complicated by quite different problems china burma and india comprised one of the forgotten areas [Music] oh the war with japan was not limited to the battles on pacific islands on the asiatic mainland the struggle against the warriors of imperial japan was fought on some of the most difficult terrain in the world first to oppose nipanese aggression china's generalissimo chiang kai-shek battled the invaders for 10 years before pearl harbor fighting on china's side were three squadrons of some 250 volunteer american airmen who called themselves the flying tigers commanded by texas-born colonel claire chanel in those dark days before pearl harbor a handful of americans took an active part in the attempt to check the japanese aggressor in the late 1930s japan extended its area of control on the asian continent [Music] to the south the emperor's troops concentrated their attacks on china's coastal cities with the area bordering the sea conquered japanese troops sealed off china's armies in the interior most effectively but japan was well aware that china was not thoroughly blockaded as long as supplies from the outside world could be brought into rangoon thence transported by rail to northern burma finally across the mountains to china via the burma road in july 1940 that supply line 2 was sealed off in tokyo the british ambassador sir robert craigie advised japanese foreign minister arita that great britain was closing the burma road a move intended to appease japan while britain was engaged in a life or death struggle in europe and africa the vital lifeline to china was cut for three months in october the road was reopened by the british whose policy in asia was stiffening and supplies were again unloaded in burma for the long overland journey to central china on that tortuous route defended china's hope for survival and the desperate struggle against the aggressors by december 7th 1941 the japanese had succeeded in winning control of great areas of the asian continent on december 8th japanese troops in asia went to work in earnest one of their main objectives was burma japanese troops quickly took possession of lower burma where the british oil wells were located before pulling out british forces had set fire to the oil fields which fell into japanese hands in mid-april 1942 the conquerors embarked at once on a program of winning over the burmese to their own point of view speaking in burmese japanese officers expounded the doctrine of asia for the asiatics the natives in the areas already controlled by the japanese were skeptical but curious in the hills where britain's indian troops were in hiding the japanese were forced to go to a little more trouble to get their message across their propaganda was artfully introduced by authentic indian music [Music] but the invaders weren't relying wholly on propaganda to achieve their objectives the burma road was one of their most important targets in those early months of 1942 on the ground the japanese were intent on driving north from their newly conquered territory to cut the burma road and completely isolate china that ambitious plan called for japanese troops to advance more than 500 miles over difficult terrain against an allied delaying action the emperor's troops attacked with great determination in late march the invaders had seized tungu routing chinese forces commanded by u.s general vinegar joe stilwell thoroughly overpowered the allied forces retreated followed closely by the japanese and finally reached imphal in india just as the monsoon season began thus ended one of the most remarkable retreats in military history quantities of american munitions and equipment were seized by the enemy during the chase in their conquest of burma the japanese took a considerable number of british prisoners of war british resistance in all of southeast asia was ended by may 1942. throughout asia british prestige had dropped to a new low with the burma lifeline cut a new route to china was devised by way of india fenced by air across the towering himalayas to be leaguered central china into calcutta harbor came thousands of tons of supplies for china's troops who are still grimly battling the enemy in the interminable struggle plus the invaluable vehicles so necessary in mobile 20th century warfare at airfields in india's province of assam great quantities of american material were loaded aboard transport planes for the most difficult leg of the trip the flight across the himalayas came to be known in the cbi as flying the hump crossing the top of the world was a stirring experience for the airmen assigned to the run the trip never became routine the hump had to be cleared at more than eighteen thousand feet and there were no possible spots for emergency landings below [Music] across the formidable mountains lay the plains of china the airfield at kunming was the eastern terminus of the hump run the chinese gratefully welcomed the weapons and supplies which would enable them to continue the long desperate struggle against the invaders but getting that equipment to the chinese troops was far from an easy job transportation in the interior of china was still a primitive operation the last leg of the trip was achieved by the most ancient methods at a painfully slow rate of progress john's forces continued to fall back under the weight of fresh enemy attacks the chinese situation from a military standpoint was growing steadily worse and with every chinese defeat thousands of civilian chinese straggled back from the area seized by the enemy headquarters of the chinese government had been moved to chiang king as long ago as november 1937 here more than a thousand miles inland free china dug in determined to fight the enemy to the last air raid shelters were built out of the solid rock the inhabitants of chongqing grew accustomed to sudden raids by enemy planes china's new capital was a high priority target for japanese bombers as soon as the enemy planes were spotted far out of town the alarm would be turned in without a moment's delay was bombed with increasing frequency as the enemy gained ground in china for the chinese 1943 was a most critical year in the long war against the nepanese invaders chong king was also a nerve center for the chinese communists who early in the war had agreed to cooperate with the nationalists in the fight against the common enemy but in practice the communists rarely cooperated with the chinese nationalists throughout world war ii the nationalists were forced to cope with two enemies the plight of the chinese nationalist forces and the chinese government grew more desperate politically as well as militarily free china was being backed into a corner at the quadrant conference of allied powers in quebec the critical problems of eastern and southeastern asia were explored in some detail it was felt that the confusion of allied commands in that theater was contributing to the enemy's successes to help simplify the tangle situation the southeast asia command was created to be headed by admiral lord louis montbaton the new commander took over his post with a great feeling of optimism i feel very honored to have been appointed to the southeast asia command as you know it is an allied command and i am particularly proud to think that there will be united states forces and british forces fighting side by side in the southeast asia command with our chinese allies until we've finally thrown the japs out and final victory is won china generalissimo unfortunately did not agree on the conduct of the war with lord montbaton nor with his deputy us general joe stillwell but on lower levels the mixture of allied forces worked more smoothly chinese troops were instructed in the techniques of modern warfare by american soldiers the chinese were quick to respond to the american training from airfields in chinese territory u.s planes of the 14th air force flew countless missions against the enemy which was pressing the attack against the chinese the steady day-by-day operations of the 14th air force against the enemy in china helped materially to keep free china in the battle during those dark years [Music] in burma in late 1943 allied troops were set to embark on the road back to eventual final victory in late december at a small clearing in northern burma general vinegar joe stillwell returned to lead the forces back to the territory from which he had retreated a year and a half earlier in this drive stillwell had under his command two american trained chinese divisions the 22nd and the 38th the campaign to take machina was waged by a force of men fighting against overpowering odds the chief of staff of the u s army at the time general george marshall summed it up in his war reports the mission that the joint chiefs of staff had given general stillwell in asia was one of the most difficult of the war he was out at the end of the thinnest supply line of all he could have only what was left he had a most difficult physical problem of great distances almost impassable terrain widespread disease and unfavorable climate he faced an extremely difficult political problem and his purely military problem of opposing large numbers of enemy with few resources was unmatched in any theater in his drive back general stillwell was accompanied by another celebrated figure one of the small force of men who had made the memorable retreat dr gordon seagrave the famed burma surgeon during 1943 work was rushed on an overland route from india to a junction with the burma road this ambitious construction project was a corollary of stillwell's burma campaign when completed the lido road would give the allies a valuable supply artery between india and burma [Applause] the road builders followed closely behind the fighting men in the construction of the road american ingenuity was supplemented by time-tested asian methods the results were gratifying to everyone connected with the project but all this effort on the part of more than 20 000 engineers and laborers was to prove eminently worthwhile for the flow of desperately needed supplies for the chinese troops could be increased the enemy still held much of the area through which the road would pass from lido in india the route would wind across the rugged terrain to machina in northern burma and then to a junction with the burma road thus affecting a continuous highway from india to china behind the enemy's lines us general frank merrill and a band of three thousand officers and men who called themselves meryl's marauders played a leading role in the fight to gain control of mitchena airfield since the marauders were usually isolated they were supplied by airdrops of food and munitions this system of supply on which the success of the marauders depended demanded a close liaison between air crews and the raiders in their perilous operations merrill's men suffered heavy casualties using the same tactics employed to good advantage in burma a year earlier by wingate's raiders the marauders fought five major and thirty minor engagements against a stronger enemy force and achieved their objective gliders were employed to ferry some of the fighting engineers to mention her airfield to many veterans of the theater the struggle for mitchener airfield signified the turning of the tide in burma the engineers arrived at mitchener airfield soon after it passed into allied hands in mid-may 1944 in fact the airfield had just been seized from the enemy when work was begun on repairing the strip the only all-weather strip in northern burma mitchener airfield was vital to the success of the allied campaign in that country on the day after the strip was captured general stillwell arrived to pay his respects to general merrill whose marauders had succeeded in their difficult assignment from michigan airfield bombing runs could be undertaken against enemy forces in the fight for the territory surrounding the town of michonne on the ground forward observers called for more air support [Music] just as important as the pressing military needs in the cbi were the diplomatic considerations in an effort to keep peace among the allied forces in the orient the u.s sent several emissaries to chongqing among them vice president henry wallace mr wallace recommended to washington that china be separated from the command of zhang's bitter opponent u.s general stillwell a proposal seconded by the generalissimo but u.s policy in china in 1944 was as variable as the spring breezes which played among the reeds china's generalissimo was often toasted one day and scorned the next in the late summer and early fall of that year the chinese were forced to fall back again guilin and other cities in southeastern china were abandoned to the enemy the hapless chinese were the victims of a determined enemy offensive only in china was the allied position so weak that the enemy could still seize territory in considerable quantity at guilin and at leo joe the us 14th air force bases were in danger of being overrun and had to be abandoned before the american airmen pulled out they took great pains to be certain that the enemy would not get much use out of the installations in the field bombs were set at strategic points on the airstrips [Music] the major air bases at guilin and eugeo were evacuated in the autumn of 1944. the enemy gained possession of an area which included a total of eight forward u.s air bases but not in very usable condition all over the world the allies were driving the enemy back but in china the allied position was steadily deteriorating in chiang king u.s general albert wedemeyer replaced recently recall general stillwell as zhang's chief of staff in late 1944 the allied military picture grew somewhat brighter in china and india the finishing touches were added to air bases which accommodated america's newest and largest bombers from these bases it was confidently felt the enemy's offensives could be effectively dispersed by america's newest air weapon the new b-29s operating in the cbi as the 20th air force were capable of covering a range of targets which stretched from rangoon to japan itself [Music] in the reconquest of burma the super fortresses were used in softening up the enemy's hold on the country's capital and chief port rangoon in one raid on rangoon 56 b-29s participated [Music] to the north mandalay was under attack by allied planes and british ground forces for more than two months [Music] [Music] [Music] the southeast asia commander lord montbaton inspected mandalay soon after its capture by british forces meanwhile in lower burma between mandalay and rangoon american bombers attacked enemy military targets for the first time with azon bombs directed to their pinpointed objectives by radio control the results were most successful [Music] the capture of rangoon was speeded up by an invasion from the air a force of gurkha paratroopers jumped in an assault on a strong point which dominated the approach to rangoon the operation went off smoothly but it developed that the air invasion had not been necessary after all british ground forces entering rangoon via landings along the coast found that the enemy had abandoned the city 38 months after rangoon had been forfeited to the aggressors burma's capital was once again in british hand the reconquest of burma had required the services of more than a million men but final victory always made the long bitter campaign seem worthwhile in the retaking of burma a considerable number of british prisoners were liberated some had been taken captive by the enemy three years before but throughout their long internment they never gave up hope in early 1945 the first truck convoy left from lido india bound for china via the lido and burma roads now linked this invaluable artery across the rugged mountains helped materially to speed up the flow of supplies to china but even in full operation the overland route christened the stillwell road accounted for only a third as much tonnage as was flown across the hump in the waning months of the war to facilitate the flow of fuel from india to northern burma and china several pipelines were constructed from india the fuel was pumped by a pipe as far as kunming more than 900 miles away thus one more lifeline was established with beleaguered china in early 1945 the chinese mounted an offensive and succeeded in forcing the enemy back somewhat in certain areas but though the chinese scored limited gains the japanese were by no means in retreat throughout china by the closing months of world war ii the chinese gained some ground but also lost much valuable territory zhang's forces continued to attack but even the most optimistic of his allies never felt that the chinese could win back china in other parts of the pacific theater the allied situation was brighter in september 1944 a group of islands in the carillons was vital to u.s success in the western pacific from palau u.s plains could launch attacks against the philippines preparatory to and [Music] is by the end of summer 1944 american forces were well established in the marianas only 1500 miles from tokyo in the southwest pacific us army troops had swept to the western tip of new guinea but further progress from both of those newly won positions demanded the securing of the flank between western new guinea and the marianas lay a small group of islands on the carolinas called palau to the top strategists of the pacific war the problem was must heavily defended palau be taken in the late summer of 1944 the allied advance in the western pacific pointed to a quickening schedule of invasions morrow tie in the halmahera group was an obvious target on the drive from new guinea on the right flank of that root lay palau the necessity for the invasion of the palau islands was discussed by the top army and navy commanders in the pacific at great length general macarthur intent on retaking the philippines felt that palau must be seized to secure his right flank and also to provide a base from which air cover could be furnished for the philippine operation admiral nimitz agreed admiral halsey on the other hand felt that the palau campaign was not really necessary during september halsey's third fleet was on the prowl in the waters off the southern philippines and launched its planes in attacks against enemy airfields on those islands [Music] the carrier plane's attacks were highly successful [Music] because of the light opposition to these carrier raids in the philippines palsy recommended that palau be bypassed a recommendation which was not followed by his superiors at home in the late summer of 1944 america was demonstrating that she was fully capable of waging warfare successfully against the enemies in europe and in asia less than three years after pearl harbor u.s industry was achieving miracles in producing the machines and weapons of war in unbelievable quantities america was geared completely to the demands of the two ocean war supplying the troops on both sides of the world was the nation's number one business by the late summer of 44 america's millions had adjusted with good grace to the inconveniences and shortages of wartime living america was solidly behind the two wars being fought on far-flung battlefields on main street and on broadway us citizens were investing in that war to shorten the time needed to win that war the people young and old directed all their energies toward one goal the backing up of american fighting men of course everybody had to relax once in a while especially the servicemen just back from the front and there was a good deal to be happy about paris had been liberated and patton was racing across france most americans felt it wouldn't be too long before the nazis were knocked out of the war then the u.s could rarely go to work on japan mounting confidence was evident all over the united states but there were constant reminders too that the war wasn't quite won that there were still costly battles to be fought in the western pacific in early september 1944 the war was being carried forward toward eventual final victory by the powerful amphibious forces which were driving deeper into the enemy's zone of defense the immediate objective was the group of islands called palau to seize the most strategically important islands in that chain a force of sizable proportions was dispatched assigned to bombard and invade the designated target islands in mid-september the decision on which islands of the group to invade was a difficult one the largest number of japanese troops was concentrated on babel to up the largest island less than half as many enemy troops garrison palayu which also had an airstrip a relatively small force defended anger which was in a commanding position at the base of the palau chain the amphibious force which moved northwestward through the far pacific was to strike at the last two of those islands fella you and anger the naval and troop commanders checked over the planned invasions for the last time on september 15th 1944 the assault was begun on palawu island by the men of the first marine division the last pre-invasion air strikes were made concluding three days of softening up enemy strong points by strafing and bombing palau was to be invaded and captured so that u.s forces would gain possession of the vitally important airfield on the island a key to the control of the western pacific area before the assault troops stormed ashore on paladio the approaches to the beach were prepared for the first waves of boats this delicate and hazardous job fell to the underwater demolition teams composed of selected navy and marine volunteers popularly known as frogmen the underwater demolition men had to be able to swim long distances underwater and to work well completely on their own the frogmen had to work quickly first in locating the obstacle to be removed natural or artificial and then to set the high explosive charge correctly under the most difficult conditions then the trick was to get back to the pickup boat without being spotted by the enemy once safely out of the immediate area the job was completed [Music] during the latter years of world war ii the frogmen enabled many invasions to go off smoothly early on d-day morning the navy's warships sought to soften up the beaches by the final pre-invasion bombardment though the battle on shore was expected to be another tarawa the navy complained that they had run out of targets but there were many installations which the navy's guns did not even touch as hr neared the combat information center aboard ship became the nerve center of the operation at 6 30 on d-day morning the amphibian tractors carrying their compliment of assault troops started for the line of departure the area from which the final dash to the beach would be begun the landing craft each one a part of a designated wave rendezvoused before making the coordinated move toward the beaches in the paleo invasion each step of the operation by each unit was reported to the top commanders on the command ship they were thus able to gain an overall picture of the situation wave one quartz final line of departure at zero eight two five on deck the troop commanders watched anxiously as the landing craft moved toward the beaches the assault troops were preceded by a rocket barrage directed against the area behind the landing beaches [Music] resistance on pelieu was expected to be heavy as the armored amphibians moved towards shore they drew heavy fire from the enemy a good indication of what was in store on the beaches as the landing craft neared the shore the atmosphere aboard the command ship became charged with tension each message received from the assault units helped fill in a vital part of the broad mosaic of the battle for the beachhead this was the first amphibious assault made by the first marine division to be opposed by the enemy the landings at guadalcanal and cape gloucester new britain had been nothing like this in the marine corps the first division had earned the reputation of drawing operations which entailed easy landing but at palau this tradition of good luck was dissipated the first waves hit the beach to the accompaniment of intense enemy mortar and artillery fire the prediction that it would be rough turned out to be an understatement casualties on the beaches were heavy the first marine division was paying dearly for the small strip of coral and sand along palyu's western shore to hold on to the slim foothold the marines had to drive quickly inland to deepen their beach head in the face of withering enemy fire they pushed ahead on the left flank the battle was particularly tough the third battalion of the first marine regiment ran into very heavy opposition a brutal fight developed [Music] on d-day on palu the situation reports on the fierce and confused fighting were relayed regularly to the top command the line against the enemy was broken by two major gaps so serious that the position of the entire u.s force on the island was endangered we are under heavy inflate fire the critical situation was followed with careful attention to every minute detail by the commanders of the operation on the command ship offshore on the afternoon of d-day on palelu the marines found themselves faced with the necessity of stopping a strong enemy counter-attack the men of the first battalion fifth marine regiment braced themselves for the attack at 4 50 o'clock the marines opened up with everything they had in the savage battle american tanks once again took the measure of the obsolete japanese models the enemy counter-attack failed completely and ended in a familiar way the first objective for which the marines were fighting so bitterly was the airfield on palladium to seize that airstrip the exhausted marines pushed on in a determined effort to gain that prize before nightfall by the late afternoon the marines had possession of part of that objective but the conquest of palelu wasn't to be as brief as originally planned the biggest obstacle to the marines progress was bloody nose ridge hauled up inside many of the peaks in that ridge the japanese troops could exist for a long period could enter and leave by any one of a number of passages it was up to the marines to clean the enemy out of every cave entrance and they attacked the job with great determination [Music] oh [Music] the fight to take bloody nose ridge on pale you was one of the toughest spot actions of the entire pacific war [Music] casualties in the lines were taken back to a more protected area but sometimes that job was almost [Music] impossible [Music] many of the casualties were taken to a safer position behind the front right under the sights of the enemy's guns during the first two days one company alone suffered 67 casualties it became apparent that this was to be no quick operation as often as possible badly wounded marines were taken off the island entirely out of range of the enemy's fire during many of the pacific campaigns the wounded american serviceman was transferred quickly to a waiting hospital ship standing by offshore often the entire trip from the front lines to the sanctuary of the ship's hospital took less than an hour many of the difficult surgical cases would not have been saved in former wars indeed the advances made in medical science during world war ii helped keep us casualties at a minimum thanks directly to the efficient work of the army and navy doctors and the nurse corps the lives of thousands of american fighting men were saved the invasion of hangar was made by the army's 81st division on september 17th two days after the assault on paliyu the 81st nicknamed the wildcat division was commanded by general paul mueller who led his troops into combat for the first time on angar after the customary softening up of the beaches the men of the 81st landed against light resistance and went about the job of seizing the island from the enemy garrison force anger was not heavily defended but the enemy had to be wiped out yard by yard [Music] the gi's on angaur suffered some casualties too but fortunately not a high percentage of the troops committed the frontline work of the army medics under fire was notable for four days the gis pressed the attack on angar on september 20th all organized resistance ceased the enemy's defense of anger had crumbled the island was declared officially secure on that fourth day without any loss of time army engineers went to work on the construction of an airstrip on the island the work of clearing the area was carried forward under enemy sniper fire the field on hangar would provide a second bomber strip in the palaus and would lessen the amount of traffic on the pella new strip construction was continued even after dark the gi in charge of the lights which flooded the area was ready to pull the switch in a second if an alert was sounded on palayu the marines were having a tougher time dealing with the enemy in the caves of bloody nose ridge a fortress which was proving virtually impregnable to the marines continuing attacks progress was slow the marines advanced slightly only to be stopped after each small game [Music] sometimes the marines would be thrown back from their newly won positions the call for air support was quickly [Music] answered the man on the ground took a short breather while marine pilots went to work on the enemy crescendo of the howitzers prefaced each new attack [Music] some areas of bloody nose ridge were fought for several times on pale u advances were often measured in terms of a few yards once in a great while the marines gave their weapons a short rest the navy hospital corpsmen had plenty to do casualties were mounting at an alarming rate general william rupertos felt that his first marine division could carry on without help but his superior third amphibious core commander marine general roy geiger felt that it would be wise to bring in as reinforcement a regimental combat team from the army's 81st division relatively fresh after the short struggle on anger the gi's of the 321st infantry regiment were to relieve a badly chewed up marine regiment the first which had been clawing at the enemy at bloody nose ridge for eight straight days the soldiers were to work with elements of the seventh marine regiment on the drive north to secure the northern section of pale you the army troops edged around the ridge and approached it from the north in a move coordinated with marine attacks from the sides of the ridge some of the marines were assisted by war dogs who were trained to detect the enemy's presence the fight for bloody nose raged on from the airfield on palu marine pilots took off on the shortest bomb run in world war ii in the pacific one thousand yards to the target bloody nose ridge more formally called uma broco mountain sometimes the planes dropped napalm-filled belly tanks with instantaneous fuse mechanism the results were most effective napalm which had first been used against the enemy on tinian often proved more devastating than regular bombs particularly on jagged terrain week after week u.s troops assaulted bloody nose ridge with every weapon [Music] available a favorite weapon of japanese soldiers on suicide missions was the bangalore [Music] torpedo the campaign on paleo was continuing it became apparent that a supplementary operation would have to be conducted against an adjoining island engagement which was given a once-over by the marine pilots on september 28th marines of the 3rd battalion 5th marine regiment conducted a well-executed shore to shore operation from palinu to ingest this small-scale invasion was necessary to deny the enemy the use of a base for his artillery which was being directed against u.s troops on teleview gesavas was seized without too much difficulty by the thousand marines the island was taken quickly and us losses were light [Music] bloody nose continued without let up by the end of september the enemy was losing control of the island a number of japanese soldiers surrendered but they represented only a part of the force still alive on teleview for every enemy soldier who gave himself up there were many more still holed up in the caves of bloody nose ridge on palelu a handful of japanese troops were taken alive before the island was turned secure as for the rest the u.s forces spent another eight weeks sealing up cave entrances in the last pocket of enemy resistance an area about 900 yards long and 400 yards wide by late november the enemy was all finished on palelu in taking two key islands in the palaus u.s fighting men had seized a valuable area in the far reaches of the western pacific the stars and stripes flew over the most westerly of the caroline islands after a campaign which ranked with the most bitterly fought of the war in the pacific from that territory one at a cost of more than 1600 american lives us forces were in position for their next move in october a sizable airstrip capable of accommodating heavy bombers was in operation on anger from that field u.s bomber pilots made periodic runs over some of the islands in the palau group which had not been invaded by american amphibious forces the pilots concentrated on enemy positions on babel to up and corror occasionally these routine missions proved fatal but gradually the air over the western pacific came under u.s control with moratai in the malaccas functioning as one airbase and the palaus as another u.s planes could easily cover the forthcoming invasion of the philippines starting in october u.s bombers operating from palau attacked japanese fields and installations in the philippines and just one month after d-day at peleliu us invasion forces were on route to the long-awaited invasion of the philippine [Music] islands [Music] in washington in march 1935 president roosevelt approved the constitution of the new philippine commonwealth another step toward philippine independence but in the islands themselves the preparation for that long-sought freedom was interrupted in december 1941 and the month that followed by japanese assault troops in may 1942 the japanese won corregidor and general jonathan wainwright was forced to surrender all his forces in the philippines the united states suffered a humiliating defeat but the large majority of the filipinos remained loyal to the us while working toward the day of their liberation below the equator u s forces were mounting an offensive which was to carry them to final victory in the pacific [Music] in mid-1944 u.s forces seized the marianas but where to strike next should the philippine islands be invaded or as the navy advocated should the next move be to formosa and then the china coast in honolulu in mid-july 1944 admiral chester nimitz summed up the advantages of the formosa plan for an interested listener who expressed enthusiasm for the idea and seemed definitely opposed to general macarthur's proposed philippine operation but as the conference continued the general argued so convincingly for permission to make good his promise to return to the philippines that the president finally endorsed his plan u.s forces in the western pacific had progressed by september 44 to mauritai and palau one month later a strong invasion armada moved toward the island of laity in the vulnerable central philippines the carriers continued their attacks against enemy targets throughout the [Music] philippines [Music] the planes hit a great variety of targets [Music] in mid-october the invasion fleet began the last leg of the trip to the objective the mighty armada included combat and assault vessels of all types escorted by six battleships aboard the cruiser nashville general macarthur was confident of the success of his mission as he surveyed the powerful fleet this impressive convoy was transporting some 170 000 american soldiers to the invasion beaches on leyte gis from oregon and ohio mississippi and montana all intent on paying the japanese back for batan and corregidor on the morning of october 20th the invasion fleet stood off late and the assault troops moved toward shore near tacloban the first wave was scheduled to hit the beach at 10 o'clock the assault on leyte carried the fighting forces of the southwest pacific some 2500 miles from the point on new guinea where the offensive against the enemy and that theater had begun right on schedule the assault troops landed soldiers of the tenth corps of the u.s sixth army the landing near techloban went off smoothly and u.s forces quickly set about securing a position of sufficient area to facilitate a successful defense on the nashville general macarthur and philippine president sergio osmena prepared to go ashore several hours after the first waves landed osmanya was returning to his native land after an absence of some two and a half years the general set foot on philippine soil for the first time since his departure from corregidor in march 1942. about 20 miles to the south at dulog gi's of the 24th corps made a second landing coordinated with the invasion near tacloban [Music] by the end of d-day the beaches were secure and the area was given a careful going over for enemy mines while the beachhead was being cleared the 96th division advanced along the flank at dolog 2 the invasion was a complete success but the u.s advantage was not to go unchallenged two american submarines the daughter and the dace proceeding through a narrow channel off palawan in the western philippines in the early morning of october 23rd spotted a strong enemy naval force and promptly attacked torpedo attacks were made on three enemy cruisers two of the cruisers were sunk one damaged this engagement was the prelude to one of the most memorable battles in naval history the us third fleet lay in wait for a possible attack by enemy naval units in the philippine sea to the east of the central philippines the us seventh fleet protected the entrance to leyte gulf and the beach head on october 23rd and 24th two japanese naval forces proceeded eastward toward the u.s position on leyte at 9 10 a.m on the 24th halsey's carriers launched their planes in an attack on the enemy's central force at 10 20 the enemy fleet was spotted entering the civilian sea the us planes attacked immediately some 250 u.s planes hit the enemy fleet succeeding waves of u.s planes kept up a continuing attack for five hours [Music] at 3 30 the japanese force turned and withdrew after hits had been scored on several of its warships survivors of the super battleship musashi sunk by u.s air action were picked up by other enemy ships the enemy's naval strategy called for a decoy force to try to lure halsey out of position halsey bit he took his third fleet north to meet the expected threat since he thought that the enemy's central force had been routed but that force had reversed itself again seventh fleet escort carriers were all that stood between the leyte beach head and the japanese central force which slipped through san bernardino strait at midnight meanwhile the main strength of the seventh fleet was concentrated on surigao street as the enemy's southern force approached it from the other side a division of pt boats commanded by lieutenant weston pullen spotted the vanguard of the enemy's southern port all during that night we were under heavy attack from the enemies warships but some of our boats managed to get close enough to do some damage the battleships of the us seventh fleet which were equipped with the latest radar apparatus waited through the night until the enemy came well within range of their gun the enemy force was moving right into the trap [Applause] some of the battleships used radar fire control devices the gunners held their fire until the enemy's lead ship was only 21 000 yards away in the battle of surigao strait the enemy's naval force was overwhelmingly defeated but the japanese central force knifed down from san bernardino strait and attacked uss court carriers and destroyers sinking four ships meanwhile to the north the powerful us third fleet commanded by admiral halsey was pursuing the enemy's decoy fleet which the admiral was convinced constituted the main enemy striking force on the morning of october 25th the third fleet was hundreds of miles from the battle of samar word of the engagement came through but halsey's force continued chasing the enemy's suicide fleet at 8 10 that morning halsey's plane spotted the enemy and within 10 hours his task force sank four japanese carriers the remnants of the decoy force turned and fled palsy sped south but too late the japanese central force unaccountably left the area confusion and uncertainty characterized the actions of commanders on both sides during the battle for leyte gulf this epic naval battle marked the end of the japanese fleet as an active surface force in spite of faulty coordination between top u.s commanders the battle for leyte golf was a resounding u.s victory a victory which ensured the success of the philippine campaign since no further large-scale naval attacks could be made by the enemy on the philippine beachheads the battle for leyte golf was a notable milestone on the road to the final defeat of japan during the last days of october and throughout november the battle for leyte island continued the enemy strengthened his force on leyte by sending reinforcements from luzon as soon as japan's show plan number one for the defense of the philippines was put into effect some 40 to 45 000 japanese troops were moved from lusan and other islands to leyte but these reinforcements were usually dispatched in oddly assorted lots thus the japanese on leyte were never able to function as a single coordinated fighting force and the movement of troops to leyte was draining the strength of the elite japanese 14th area army whose men had been prepared to fight a carefully planned defense of busan on late the soldiers who arrived safely were simply added to units which were fighting a losing action against the american gis the fight for leyte finally resolved itself into a series of small unit actions [Music] the enemy's casualties on leyte continued to mount during the battle for leyte island japanese pilots introduced a new kind of aerial attack suicide pilots or kamikazes crashed their planes into u.s ships [Music] a number of american ships of all types were rammed in these desperate attacks [Music] the ship's crews could expect little advance warning [Music] but some of the kamikazes were more successful in their farewell dives [Music] on shore the battle for leyte island continued with the gi's advancing quickly by december 1st there were seven u.s divisions fighting on leyte three of which had joined the fight after the original landings the key port city of ormak fell to the 77th division on december 11th by the end of the year all organized resistance on leyte had ended and the island was once more in american possession after three years of enemy occupation meanwhile u.s troops went ashore unopposed on mindoro on december 15th and quickly established a beachhead as a base for subsequent operations then on january 9 1945 four u.s army divisions invaded luzon focal point of the philippine campaign the gis landed at lindgayan gulf early that afternoon general macarthur went ashore to inspect the rapidly expanding u.s beachhead the general was jubilant the lack of opposition confirmed his conviction that the enemy would be taken by surprise he considered the lingayen operation an unqualified success the 68 000 gis who landed on that first day were given a warm welcome by the overjoyed philippine old who had been dreaming of this moment for three years [Music] the troops were not accustomed to making this kind of an invasion the landing at lindgayan gulf had little in common with previous assaults made by the gis in new guinea and the solomon [Applause] filipino gorillas who had carried on sporadic raids against the enemy during the black years just ended enthusiastically joined forces with the gis volunteering to act as scout guided by the filipinos the american drive southward toward manila gathered momentum the gis passed numerous dugouts where enemy soldiers met their death along the mile route the american advance moved swiftly through the remnants of the enemy's elite busan force heavy u.s air attacks were made daily on airfields near manila [Music] [Music] with the enemy's airfields under almost constant attack gi's of the 37th infantry and first cavalry division closed in on the capital city from the north by february 4th both divisions were moving through the suburbs and were ready for the crucial battle for manila itself the drive to capture manila proper began with heavy fighting the gis were well aware that it would be a tough job the enemy was prepared to defend every building and took a heavy toll of u.s fighting men the straits of manila turned quickly into a battleground in the bitter fight for the philippines capital city the gis of the first cavalry division made their first objective the camp where many americans were held prisoner among them army nurse lieutenant eula fails of houston texas it's hard to describe how i felt when the first american soldiers reached us at santa to mars the great surge of joy on being free again is almost too much to bear after 32 months being prisoners without any question it was the happiest moment of our lives the prospect of actually going home again was a little hard to get used to at first i think we all felt that we were getting a second chance at life a chance which some of us didn't expect outside manila at cabanatuan prison camp american fighting men who had fought the desperate defense of corregidor during the early months of the war were liberated on january 30th 1945. at bilibid another camp in the manila area more americans were freed after three years of imprisonment some had managed to survive the ordeal others had not been so fortunate one american prisoner had died the day before the camp was liberated the fight for manila continued unabated on february 15th the struggle shifted to a strange setting for such a grim engagement harrison ballpark general mudge himself helped a private who had been wounded remove it casualty to safety the ballpark was finally taken by february 23rd the fight for manila was centered in the intramurals the old wall city gis of the 129th and 145th infantry regiment swiftly annihilated enemy resistance for four weeks manila existed in a state of complete chaos to the residents of manila february 1945 was a month of horror so [Music] [Music] so [Music] on february 16th an assault by air was made against corregidor the historic rock in manila bay more than 2 000 men of the 503rd parachute regiment were to make the jump the c-47s flew over the one-half square mile head of corregidor at low level and prepared to eject their cargo of experienced assault troops over the target area two small patches of clearing the men jumped from a height of only 400 feet an 18 mile an hour wind complicated the problem of landing precisely on the two pinpointed spots but most of the men made it successfully to the designated areas [Music] the operation went off on schedule but not exactly smoothly a few of the men missed the rock entirely the operation was considered eminently worthwhile since the enemy had not prepared for an attack from the skies [Music] 267 men were injured in the spectacular drop once on the rock the paratroopers went right to work on fulfilling their assignment to route the enemy out of his last ditch defenses on the island where american fighting men had made their unforgettable stand in 1942 to reinforce the air assault the third battalion of the 34th infantry regiment landed on the south shore of corregidor the troops pushed ahead quickly to take melinda hill opposition on the beach was negligible since the enemy had been caught completely off guard by the air invasion in addition the landing on the south shore of the island also came as a surprise to the enemy who had expected an assault on the northern beaches [Music] the fight for correct or lasted for almost two weeks [Music] soon after the seizure of corrected or general macarthur arrived for the formal ceremony which marked the island's return to u.s possession he ordered the assembled troops hoist the colors and let no enemy ever haul them down [Music] corregidor was a notable milestone on the road to tokyo three days after corregidor was invaded iwo jima some 1600 miles to the north was assaulted by three divisions of united states marines [Music] in the autumn of 1944 america's newest air weapon the powerful super fortress was used with great effect in raids over japan on these missions the b-29s were exposed to attack by japanese fighters without fighter cover the huge bombers were vulnerable to these persistent attacks by the japanese fighters just halfway between the b-29 bases in the marianas and the target japan the island called iwo jima was in an ideal position for use by the us as a base from which to launch fighters to accompany the b-29s on their mission in late 1944 the u.s high command decided that iwo jima must be seized and preparations were made for the assault against that island fortress beginning in october american b-24s made regular pre-invasion bomb runs to iwo the u.s seventh air force bombed iwo jima almost daily for 72 days in late 1944 and early 45. at u.s bases in the pacific marines of the third fourth and fifth divisions prepared for the assault the invasion troops were accompanied on the trip to the objective by great quantities of materiel the machines of 20th century war with the assault forces aboard ship the task force moved northward toward the island target in mid-february in waters so close to the enemy's homeland it was no longer possible to capitalize on the element of surprise the marines who were to make the assault were briefed on the enemy and his defenses no punches were pulled the men were told that ewo was the closest thing to a fortress in the pacific ocean at least they knew what to expect there was nothing further the commanders could do to change the complexion of the head-on assault before the men stormed the shore to seize the island fortress a last blessing was given by the troop chaplain the final divine services on shipboard were attended by many of the assault marines who welcomed the opportunity to rededicate their efforts to god the warships opened up on the island at 6 40 on d-day morning an interested observer aboard the flagship was secretary of the navy james forrestall who said at that time this target like tarawa leaves very little except to take it by force of arms character and courage mount surabachi which dominated the island was a prime target for navy gunners [Music] the preliminaries to the actual landing went off smoothly each hour had been set at 9 00 am and everyone was intent on making it on schedule trained to razor sharpness the marines took to the boats early on d-day morning some ten thousand men of the fourth and fifth marine divisions left the transports to make the initial assault on that faintly chilly february morning the sea was calm many of the marines were veterans of other campaigns some had never been in combat before men like private first class harold werger i tried to figure out what time it was in st louis my hometown this operation had all the earmarks of being a real fight at a time like this you felt all keyed up inside the blood coursing through your veins so fast your fingertips tingled [Music] you wanted to get a short quick and start getting some of those guys who are firing at our ships and scoring a hit every now and then it seemed like ours getting to the beach it began to get rougher but my outfit the first battalion 28th marine regiment made it okay we landed on schedule it seemed weird knowing how many japs there were getting set to let you have it and not being able to see a one of them [Music] pretty soon you knew for sure they were there on the beach it got really rugged i never expected it to be this rough some companies were cut down to half strength that first morning half their men knocked out more men were landed including the rest of my regiment the 28th marines [Music] we had to hang on to that beach head whatever happened [Music] what made it even tougher was the slow going in that volcanic sand it slowed us down and it slowed the equipment down the fight for the beachhead at ewo was a real nightmare i don't think any of us will ever forget it that first morning about a third of the men in our company got hit but we kept on fighting for that toehold ewo didn't get any more comfortable at any time during those first few days mccorman had their hands full they were busier than any of us a lot of our equipment got bogged down in loose sand and was knocked out by the enemy [Music] and an awful lot of marines got it on the beach at ewo on the evening of d plus two the u.s ships offshore were attacked in a heavy air raid [Music] the gunners scored hits on some of the japanese suicide planes in the furious three-hour long battle the u.s lost one carrier and had another damage 15 of the kamikazes were knocked down [Music] from mount suribachi the japanese poured their fire on the landing beaches below no spot on the u.s beachhead was protected from enemy fire as long as the japanese held suribachi the job of bringing additional troops ashore under that heavy pounding was a delicate operation and just as important as the added manpower was the material which was so necessary in the drive to reduce the enemy's fortress it became obvious on the first day that surabachi would have to be taken as quickly as possible elements of the 28th marine regiment were assigned the job of seizing surabachi including private first class forgers unit [Music] we gave the hot rock everything we had [Music] [Music] after that opening you'd have thought we could have walked right up the side of the mountain we gained a little ground but the enemy kept letting us have it we picked up a few yards here and there but we had a long way to go so many men got hit there weren't enough navy corpsmen to go around and they took heavy casualties too we kept pushing the head making every clip count but it was tough going they kept pulling it down on top of us [Music] it seemed like greeks just fighting for the land around the base of the rock [Music] finally on what they tell me was the fourth day on ewo we began to pick our way up the slope on the way up we ran into some japs but they didn't give us too much trouble this was no place for anybody with a weak stomach the marines of the 28th regiment spent four days in getting to the crest of the 556-foot high mountain once again the marine spirit had been a prime factor in the capture of this difficult objective against great odds on february 23 1945 the marines raised the u.s flag atop mount suribachi as a signal to the troops below that the mountain was won that flag was seen around the world during those first five days on ewo the marine corps suffered 6845 casualties of that number 5284 were wounded and a great many of those men were saved most of the wounded were surgical cases some of the casualties were suffering badly from shock the men who took suribachi were able to appreciate why it had been so tough the enemy had been solidly entrenched the japanese on iwo's mountain had fought one of the most determined defenses of the war but it had proved fruitless hundreds of dead japanese soldiers were strewn about the slopes of mount suribachi after the battle the situation was reversed the us forces now dominated the southern end of the island the original u.s beachhead was littered with wrecked equipment but though a considerable amount of material had been rendered useless to the us fighting men on iwo other machines and weapons in impressive quantities had been successfully brought ashore and put to use against the enemy ground forces commander marine general holland smith was anxious to have the area cleared of enemy mines and rendered safe for the landing of additional reinforcements and supplies for use in the drive north on the island third marine division combat troops which had been held in reserve landed on iwo with third marine division headquarters and attached unit the two regimental combat teams of the third marine division now on the island were to be used in the center of the drive north the reinforcements too were surprised by the difficult footing in the loose volcanic sand vehicles designed for use on any terrain bogged down hopelessly on iwo metal mats were essential for the movement of many vehicles inland from the beaches the invading marines had not expected to have so much trouble with ewo's soil but they overcame the problem in short order nevertheless before the concerted attack against the enemy for the northern section of the island some marines attended religious services only a short distance from enemy positions to the north one of the marines most pressing supply problems was the lack of water on the island after the southern end of the island had been secured the marines installed distillation units which converted the sea water and signaled the end of limited water rationing which had prevailed since the morning of d-day with surabachi and the southern end of e1 the us forces girded themselves for the conquest of the northern section of the island the three marine divisions which would fight that campaign were well prepared some of the men who had battled the enemy on mount suribachi took a few moments off to clean up before going back into action u.s forces controlled the southern end of the island but still had to seize the broader northern section general holland smith and his staff were faced with the problem of taking that territory from a well-disciplined enemy force of considerable size the marines campaign against the enemy on the northern part of the island which had been begun on the second day picked up momentum after surabachi had been taken and all the marine units on the island could be concentrated on the final sweep to the north that drive called for the perfect coordination of the troops of the three marine divisions working smoothly together under difficult conditions the success of the marine drive to the northern tip of ewo depended in large measure on the performance in action of u.s tanks some 150 shermans were employed on iwo to pace the advance of marine ground forces in the drive north this phase of the battle for iwo was much tougher than the fight for surabachi for a solid week fourth division marines fought for a series of ridges surrounding hill 382 less formally known as the meat grinder and for a week they were driven back then the drive northward on the right flank continued once its rockets were fired the vulnerable rocket launchers quickly left the area casualties grew heavier as the marines pushed the frantic enemy into a smaller and smaller corner of the island in some areas the territory had to be taken ridge by ridge [Music] the drive for the capture of the third airfield on ewo was executed by third division marines who led the advance up the island at the point of the wedge-shaped defensive in crashing through the enemy's strong defensive line the men of the third division took quite a beating the men of the two regimental combat teams of the third marine division broke the back of the enemy's main stand in the north of evil the enemy force on the island was rapidly being whittled down but even though the main defense belt had been penetrated the weary marine still had some territory to seize from the stubbornly resisting enemy the us force had suffered the loss of much equipment and thousands of fighting men but iwo jima only 750 miles from tokyo was almost entirely an american possession no longer would enemy planes take off from ewo strips on missions against u.s forces in the heart of japan's inner defense zone the campaign on iwo jima had several noteworthy aspects from a medical standpoint one was the employment of whole blood and plasma on a scale never before attempted with gratifying results it had been estimated that casualties would total 31 of the entire force actually casualties amounted to almost 33 percent of u.s manpower participating in the operation on the island the navy operated an evacuation hospital which began functioning on the island on the ninth day of the battle all the necessary facilities were available to navy doctors and corpsmen working only a mile or two from the front with the opening of several evacuation hospitals on iwo it was possible for all initial surgery to be performed on the island itself the most difficult cases were operated on as quickly as possible often less than an hour after the wound had been sustained and the lives of thousands of fighting men were saved starting on the 13th day of the battle for ewo many of the casualties were evacuated by air at certain times this method provided the only means of evacuation from the island because of unfavorable sea conditions or lack of facilities afloat during the last three weeks of the battle on iwo about 100 casualties a day were put aboard planes and flown off the island by march 16th the marines had won all of iwo except for a small area near the northern tip of the island japanese who had been taken prisoner were used to appeal to their brothers in arms to surrender but in most cases the appeals were not as successful as other methods of persuasion some prisoners were taken on ewo but they represented only a handful of the 22 000 troops who had fought the carefully executed defense of the island only 217 prisoners were taken 159 of them japanese as on other pacific battlegrounds the soldiers who surrendered spoke readily about the location of their positions the marines were eager to clean out the last enemy pocket the marines who were engaged in seizing the last enemy area had been fighting on iwo for almost four weeks it was slow exacting work finally by march 25th the men completed the job in the battle for the last pocket some of the enemy soldiers had held out until the very end in iwo jima the enemy lost one of its most vital defensive bastions after 36 days of the most bitter fighting american forces had ever known the us had all of evil for that eight square mile heap of volcanic ash jutting out of the pacific the us had paid an exorbitant price the lives of 5 563 marines and 982 sailors in addition to the dead the casualty figure showed some 19 000 men wounded in the battle for iwo jima tons of shell cases gave evidence of the important role played by artillery in the five-week long campaign u.s forces in the pacific had decided that ewo must be taken at any cost and they had thrown themselves into the struggle with all the power available with the job successfully accomplished the top priority assignment was the extension of one of the airfields so that it could accommodate america's newest heavy bombers marine engineering units and navy construction battalions accomplished their job in miraculously short order the fields great value to the us lay in its use as an emergency base for crippled b-29 unable to return all the way to their marianas bases more than 850 damaged b-29s landed safely at ewo during the following three months in addition ewo strips provided a perfect base for u.s fighter planes now capable of making it to japan and return with fighter cover the raids on japan were less hazardous after the victory at ewol okinawa was the next major enemy island on the u.s schedule an assault force of soldiers and marines made the invasion on easter sunday 1945 [Music] oh [Music] in early 1945 u.s forces focused their attention on an imposing objective okinawa flying only 350 miles from japan proper okinawa would make the perfect base from which to launch the proposed invasion of japan itself but though the japanese were losing more and more outlying territory on the home island the japanese military forces would be able to muster sufficient manpower to fight a strong defensive battle in early 1945 president roosevelt returned from yalta and reported on the most significant developments of that important conference with great britain and russia we haven't won the wars yet with an s on wars it's a long tough road to tokyo it's longer to go to tokyo than it is to berlin in every sense of the word the defeat of germany will not mean the end of the war against japan on the contrary we must be prepared for a long and costly struggle in the pacific that the unconditional surrender of japan is as essential as the defeat of germany in the far pacific three divisions of u.s marines were engaged in wiping out the enemy on a small strategic volcanic island named iwo jima japan still managed to supply its troops on the asiatic mainland where the emperor's forces were firmly entrenched if okinawa were taken by the u.s japan's supply line to those forces would be effectively severed in march 1945 at ulithi in the caroline group the u.s navy amassed an amphibious force of unprecedented proportion that force moved north directed by one of the navy's top amphibious fleet commanders vice admiral richmond kelly turner carrier planes of admiral spruance's fifth fleet hit the home islands of japan and then softened up the target island of okinawa [Music] meanwhile the warships of the 95th fleet moved toward the objective and on march 25th enemy positions on the island came under attack by a score of u.s warships which fired salvo after salvo on march 26th 77th division gi's assaulted the karama islands a valuable subsidiary base of operations and on april 1st the key island of okinawa was invaded so the assault was made by the u.s 10th army which was composed of gis of the army's 24th corps and marines of the third amphibious corps sixteen thousand men were in the first wave to land on japan's doorstep on the western coast of okinawa it seemed hard to believe but there was no opposition most of the veterans in the invasion force old campaigners who had fought at saipan late suspected that this was an april fool's day trick on the enemy's park the soldiers and marines pushed across the island and were followed by thousands more the men advanced quickly across the neck of the island toward the east coast against very light resistance only scattered enemy troops fired on the invaders [Applause] u.s troops gained ground easily the american plan was to bisect the island and thus divide the enemy's forces during those first few days on okinawa u.s soldiers and marines encountered only feeble resistance it was difficult for the men to understand only 350 miles from japan and no heavy opposition by the enemy in the advance across the island's neck the american fighting men did meet some enemy patrol but now opposition strong enough to impede the 10th army's progress the island was cut in two by april 4th when u.s troops reached the east coast during the next three days a considerable amount of territory was seized in the northern section the beach head was firmly established and supplies were being brought ashore in impressive quantities to keep the men of the 10th army fed and equipped put a heavy burden on the navy which employed more than a thousand ships of all types during the okinawa campaign at sea the men of the vast fleet standing off the island were growing concerned about the enemy's heavy air attacks [Music] off okinawa the japanese made maximum use of their frenzied kamikaze attack plan [Music] the navy took heavy losses as further waves of suicide planes dove into u.s [Music] ships [Music] the waters off okinawa became as violent a battleground as the island itself [Music] at airfields on kyushu southernmost island of japan proper more and more hastily trained pilots were inducted into kamikaze service no honor was considered greater than the privilege of making a suicide dive against an american ship [Music] fortunately not all the kamikaze missions were successful though the men in the fleet the skies seemed always full of kamikaze in the waters between okinawa and the japanese home islands some u.s ships were hit in enemy bombing attacks on the u.s carrier franklin casualties were very heavy in the struggle to save the ship chaplain joseph o'callaghan of cambridge massachusetts played a memorable park and was subsequently awarded the congressional medal of honor it appeared that most of the crew were dead and of the living almost everyone was wounded the few survivors of franklin will never forget that cold march morning in the far pacific white deck littered with dead and dying and now many pastors more than 250 u.s ships of all types were sunk or damaged by the enemy's air attacks in the okinawa operation on april 12 1945 u.s fighting forces lost their commander in chief while a sorrowing nation mourned his passing a new chief executive took the oath of office president harry truman was well aware of his heavy responsibilities as america's war leader in washington the nation's grief was mirrored in the faces of the crowds which lined the root of the procession [Music] [Music] [Music] halfway around the world on okinawa many of the combat troops paused to attend a memorial service not far from the front president roosevelt's death at this critical point was a real blow to the servicemen who had felt a close bond with their late commander-in-chief some officers worried about a drop in morale but most of the men resolved to fight with even greater determination to help achieve the final victory as quickly as possible on okinawa the battle was far from won cleaning out the long section of the island north of the beachhead was the job of the sixth marine division they moved quickly against an enemy force which was fighting from ideal natural defensive position on motobou peninsula the marines ran into sudden stiff resistance near mount yaitaki enemy pocket was wiped out during a three-day fight by the veterans of any weta in guam the men moved forward quickly and cleaned out the peninsula where most of the enemy's northern force on okinawa was concentrated in the thirteen day campaign on motorboat 2014 enemy soldiers met death [Music] the marines mopped up the rugged northern area of okinawa against sporadic resistance all but a handful of the thousands of japanese were killed by the sixth marine division and taking the northern section of the island on april 20th the marines of the sixth division secured the northern section of okinawa in a quick amphibious operation 77th division gi seized iashima where the foot soldiers great friend and supporter ernie pyle met his death on southern okinawa general simon bolivar buckner 10th army commander ran up against the enemy's main line of defense artillery supported by tanks went to work on the enemy's defensive line in early may the army's 24th corps stalled on the southern front was reinforced by the marines of the third amphibious corps the battle-wise enemy commander general ushijima had chosen to make his stand along a line which stretched across the island from naha to yanabaro on may 8th the 6th division marines prepared to attack south along the west coast and the drive to take naha and pierce the enemy's line to cut that western anchor of the enemy's defense the marines concentrated all their power in the new offensive the battle remained a stalemate partly attributable to the heavy rains which turned the countryside into a morass of mud most of the heavy equipment became hopelessly bogged down in the mire the army 24th corps which was trying to mount a crushing offensive against the bulk of the enemy's okinawa force found its assignment especially difficult with the beginning of okinawa celebrated plum rains which set in on a daily basis late in may and greatly complicated the operation [Music] a struggle to reduce the enemy's possessions of the naha area continued for several weeks dislodging the enemy from his carefully prepared defenses was a demanding assignment and a costly one the marines answer to the enemy's strong well-integrated defenses was the tank infantry team [Music] in the u.s attack some tanks were lost and the marines suffered a sizable number of casualties before they were able to move into the capital city after a bitter campaign the marines completed the capture of naha by may 28th [Music] the city was almost a total wreck for their successful seizure of this hub of the enemy's defense on okinawa two regiments of the sixth marine division the 22nd and 29th were awarded the presidential unit citation the city had felt the full weight of u.s firepower the fall of the capital city signaled the beginning of the last major phase of the battle for okinawa with naha in american possession the offensive picked up speed all along the line three army and two marine divisions pressed the attack with renewed spirit from one coast of okinawa to the other from the pacific ocean to the east china sea marines of the first division pierced the enemy salient at shorey in the island's rugged interior the u.s forces suffered a considerable number of casualties in beating down the enemy's grim defense of southern okinawa the news from the european theater gave the man a lift but on okinawa there was still a war to be fought the seizure of the unabarro area by soldiers of the 24th corps marked the collapse of the enemy's defense line on okinawa's east coast across the island sixth division marines encountered stiff resistance on oroku peninsula [Music] during the ten day fight for oroko peninsula the enemy suffered some five thousand casualties the marines worked hard to annihilate the enemy's last ditch defense [Music] with resistance eliminated on oroku peninsula the sixth marine division controls the entire naha area for this action the fourth marine regiment was awarded the presidential unit citation in the capture of oroku peninsula the us forces gained control of naha airfield complete with dummy planes which the enemy used to suggest a strong airbase with the airfield no longer in enemy hands us forces could finally make use of the port of naha by mid-june u.s troops had completely broken the enemy's main line of defense on okinawa on june 17th u.s forces were only a few miles from the southern tip of the island once the main defense of okinawa had been fought to no avail the japanese soldiers began to give themselves up more readily the combat efficiency of the remaining japanese units was cut down by the heavy casualties the defenders of okinawa were sustaining the advancing american troops also brought a number of civilians to safety some of the okinawans had holed out in any place of refuge available some had stayed hidden for weeks many had had no food or water for some time the okinawans had been led to expect far different treatment than they actually received at the hands of the american troops as the 83-day battle for okinawa neared its end thousands of inhabitants of that hilly island gave themselves up for the okinawans the war was at an end the natives now saw japanese claims of victory after victory in their true light on okinawa some 196 000 of the island's population were herded into internment camp areas to keep them out of the path of the final u.s offensive even under these hectic conditions an attempt was made to keep members of a family from being separated the prisoner of war camps were crowded with the largest concentration of japanese troops ever taken prisoner in any campaign during world war ii in the pacific in the closing days of the battle the enemy soldiers had finally refused to obey their officers had surrendered themselves to their conquerors the code of bushido death before surrender was no longer followed without question by japanese fighting men [Music] at the southern front tenth army commander general buckner had final victory in his grasp when his life was cut short by an enemy shell [Music] meanwhile the drive for the last piece of enemy territory in okinawa was underway a new weapon the recoilless rifle was used for the first time in combat during the campaign's final days [Music] on june 22 1945 the last enemy unit was overwhelmed american fighting men controlled okinawa to the extreme southern tip the enemy had lost an invaluable base only 350 miles from japan proper and the united states had gained still another island again after paying a heavy price [Music] general buckner was the only field army commander to lose his life by enemy action in the asiatic pacific theater during world war two and thousands of men in his command also gave their lives on okinawa the battle for this strategically important island near japan proved the most costly one for both warring nations the loss of the machines and weapons of war was also seriously felt by both sides the heavy destruction of aircraft was another crippling blow particularly to the japanese top us commanders like admiral nimitz remain firm in their determination to carry the fight to japan itself american forces fighting in the pacific have brought the war to the home islands of japan we have set the larger part of the japanese fleet and in the next few months we will exploit every opportunity to finish that particular job army and navy aircraft bombed large areas of japan's principal cities into rubble and unless japan surrenders soon we intend to complete that destruction [Music] [Music] oh the airplane as a military weapon was employed to a limited extent in world war one in the battle for western europe allied pilots like captain addy rickenbacker prepared to engage germany's top aviators in the skies over the battlefield but in that war the airplane did not contribute much in the achieving of the ultimate victory 25 years later the airplane had come of age in world war ii the airplane assumed a major role in the strategy designed to affect complete victory in the first truly global war the final knockout punch in the war against japan was delivered from the air for almost four years of war in the far-flung pacific this was the objective of every soldier sailor marine and air man serving in the asiatic pacific theater of operations the first attack on japan was launched early in the war in april 1942 the us carrier hornet moved deep into enemy waters to a position only 600 miles from the japanese coast the hornet's daring raid caught the enemy off guard [Music] colonel jimmy doolittle had trained his men diligently in the technique of taking off in a bomber on a short runway but this was the first real test the attention of every man above decks was focused on that first takeoff 16 feet b-25s took off successfully from the hornet's deck and headed for japan their mission the bombing of tokyo and three other japanese cities had a tonic effect on america's sagging morale the airmen who had crash-landed successfully in china or off the china coast were decorated by madam chang for their courageous flight two years later the first land base from which rage could be made on the enemy's homeland was put into operation from china america's newest heavy bomber the b-29 could fly to japan and back in one hop other bases capable of accommodating the super fortresses were put into operation in india thus the whole of eastern and southern asia from tokyo to rangoon was within range of the new us air weapon [Music] in mid-1944 the air attacks on the japanese homeland were not undertaken for the psychological effect alone from this point on the air war was designed to blast japan into total defeat from marianas bases b-29s would soon be able to attack japan in some numbers and the air war on the enemy's home islands could be greatly accelerated but the building of those bases was a job of far greater proportions than the customary air strips currently built on newly won islands on terrain so rugged that the enemy considered the building of a large airbase impossible u.s engineers went to work on the construction of three huge airfields which were to have a direct bearing on the time needed for achieving the final victory by november the first of the massive runways was almost ready to be put into operation the engineers worked around the clock putting the finishing touches on the field in october 1944 the first b-29s touched down at their new home bases in the marianas [Music] the 6 000 mile flight from california had taken them just 25 hours for the all-important missions which lay ahead the crews had trained in kansas colorado and in the caribbean now they were anxious to put that training to good use the first element of the 21st bomber command has arrived when we've done some more fighting we'll do some more talking the 21st bomber command was ready to go into business on the morning of november 24 1944 the giant planes were readied for their first bombing mission over japan 245 tons of bombs in 500 pound packages were loaded into the super force this was to be the first mass strike against the heart of japan several hours and 1500 miles later the b-29s were over the enemy's homeland over tokyo the bombardiers went to work [Music] at thirty thousand feet the superforts were reasonably safe from enemy anti-aircraft fire but not entirely over the target area the planes were attacked by japanese fighters some of the enemies fighters were knocked out of the sky by the super force crew but more kept pouring in on the big bomber [Music] mission accomplished the b-29s headed quickly for their marianas bases fifteen hundred miles away during those first flights back from the target the crews of some of the crippled super forts ended up in the chilly waters of the north pacific starting on november 27th the enemy struck back with a vengeance attacking the u.s base on sight [Music] the raiders did a fair amount of damage some b-29s were total casualties many of the enemy raids on us bases in the marianas were made at night meanwhile on the decks of u.s carriers in northern pacific waters additional raids on the enemy's homeland were prepared by the navy the carrier-based pilots of the navy's fast striking force were assigned targets in the heart of the enemy's industrial areas i want to assign specific targets on that factory area smitty bring your second group a little farther east and come down putting your division on these two large assembly plants and sand knock these big buildings out now you have specific targets to hit and i want you to all get here already runs from afla honest man a few hundred miles off japan the strike was launched [Music] in no time at all the planes were over the first of their targets and peeling off for the dive other planes attacked enemy airfields [Music] [Music] before heading back some of the planes went to work on enemy harbor installations and shipping [Music] inevitably not all the carrier planes escaped unharmed in many cases the pilots managed to bail out successfully in his rubber boat the downed pilot had a good chance of survival rain water replenished the limited supply of water each flyer carried thus if the weather were reasonably good the pilot had a better than even chance of being spotted in world war ii in the pacific u.s submarines performed a valuable supplementary function spotting and picking up airmen and sailors whose vessels had been destroyed by the enemy some 500 u.s servicemen were rescued at sea by u.s subs in the pacific during the war against japan with the seizure of iwo jima in february and march 1945 u.s fighter planes had a base from which they could easily fly to japan and return at the marianas b-29 bases preparations were made for heavier attacks against the enemy's home island now that the big bombers would have fighter cover over the target area the operation of the bases from which the raids against japan were launched became a larger and more complex problem during the early months of 1945. the mapping out of routes to specific targets in japan for some thousand b-29s was only one of the exacting jobs which added to the traffic problem for the operations center of the 21st bomber command this office was a highly geared nerve center in the preparation of the raids over japan shortly before takeoff time the crews had their targets spotted for them on the radar scope here's how the scope should look when you've located the target and have gain and tilt properly adjusted here's your target today the arsenal is located to the left side of the town however since the three degrees beam width tends to spread a town out along an axis perpendicular to the airplane do not aim at the edge of the town but a little inside the left edge you can see then that it's important that you hit your initial point on the money and make an accurate turn to the target heading otherwise you may not be able to find your target final preparations for the flight were made in an atmosphere which was always charged with excitement for the crew members no mission over the heart of the enemy's homeland ever became routine the start of another flight on the most dangerous run in the pacific theater was always a dramatic moment 300 super forts were ready for the takeoff the giant planes hurtle down the runway right on schedule [Music] [Music] some fifteen hundred miles from this island base lay the heart of japan the objective of the 300 b-29s in this early april rate over iwo jima halfway to the target the super forts were joined by mustangs of the seventh fighter command based on that island recently seized by u.s marines the p-51s embarked eagerly on their first mission to japan [Music] with fighter support the big bombers were much better able to cope with enemy attacks in the skies over japan but the japanese fighters gave battle nevertheless the mustangs went right to work the enemy planes kept boring in on the mustangs in spite of their losses 21 japanese fighters were shot down in this raid [Music] sometimes a u.s pilot got a close look at his recent adversary the b-29s assigned to hit the tokyo area usually check their position by sighting in on mount fuji before moving in on the target radar operator this is bombardier over here the site's set up we're ready to bomb roger out pilot correct eight degrees right roger mohammadier open bombay doors after turn [Music] roger get ready on 70 degrees ready on 70 [Music] degrees ready on 60 degrees [Music] away this was the moment when the long flight paid off [Music] the super forts dropped their bombs right on the target beginning in march b-29s from the marianas began dropping incendiaries on japan at night but these night attacks were discontinued since the results were not particularly impressive from the standpoint of damage done to military targets the super forts intensified their daylight attacks on industrial and military objectives in japan during the early spring months of 1945 tokyo came in for the largest share of attention from the b-29s of the 21st bomber command of the 20th air force these mass attacks had a shattering effect on japan's capital city the city was bombed into a great mass of rubble most of tokyo's fragile buildings had simply disappeared under the heavy pounding from the skies a few like the diet building where the legislature met had survived tokyo's inhabitants were thoroughly broken in spirit in march the b-29s had an emergency base on iwo jima located midway between japan and the marianas field crippled super forts unable to make it all the way back to their home bases after being hit over japan came into iwo some 2000 b-29s landed at ewo some not too successfully so thousands of airmen who would otherwise have perished were saved that he will the u.s third fleet also closed in on japan to administer a softening up of the home islands in preparation for invasions by u.s amphibious forces admiral bull halsey the third fleet's commander moved boldly into the waters off the japanese coast on july 17 1945 u.s and british warships fired some 2000 tons of shells into the coastal area northeast of tokyo the fleet units encountered no opposition during this daring attack on the enemy's homeland japan was ripe for invasion in the united states before the war albert einstein did extensive research in the field of nuclear fission dr einstein's findings were developed still further at the university of chicago's metallurgical laboratory by dr enrico fermi and his associates who worked out the process for making plutonium and produced the first atomic pile in july 1945 near alamogordo new mexico dr robert oppenheimer and his fellow scientists who had worked on the development of the new secret weapon prepared themselves for the critical first test the area was heavily guarded doctors venaver bush and james bryant conant were among the few spectators 10 seconds to go five four three two one now the first atomic bomb explosion was an impressive success in the marianas at 20th air force headquarters general curtis lemay and his staff worked at feverish speed on the planning for the use of the new top-secret weapon against the enemy if the atom bomb could be safely transported by air to a point over japan its use could well have such a devastating effect that the war might be materially shortened the target was finally selected the japanese city of hiroshima had escaped damage in u.s bombing raids on the home islands on that sunny august morning hiroshima had no premonition of its fate on tinian island in the marianas a b-29 named the anola gay prepared to make the first atomic bomb run over hiroshima and nagasaki the course of world history took a new turn the new weapon blasted the enemy completely out of the war japan no longer had the will to fight hiroshima lay in ruins within a few seconds the sizeable city had been demolished by the atomic blast on august 19th four days after the enemy surrendered a japanese plane arrived at iashima the tiny island off okinawa this was the first meeting between american commanders and japanese military men since the surrender the japanese negotiators stopped off at iashima to be taken by u.s transportation to manila to discuss the terms of the surrender in late august preparations were made for the formal surrender ceremony an excited japanese harbor pilot was transferred to the missouri from a ship alongside on the missouri u.s naval officers carefully studied the charts of tokyo bay which the japanese pilot had brought aboard every precaution was taken to be sure that the big mo would be guided safely through the channels to its birth in tokyo bay meanwhile at yokosuka naval base u.s fighting men went ashore to occupy the conquered country [Music] oh for four years from 1941 to 1945 the united states concentrated its energies on the conduct of a demanding global war the american people turned their full attention to the job of winning that war in the pacific asiatic theater u.s fighting men pushed the enemy back to the shores of japan itself by the summer of 1945 in early august the us brought the enemy finally to the point of surrender after some 44 months of the most grueling warfare a number of japan's largest cities lay in ruins the course of aggression on which the japanese nation had embarked some 14 years earlier had led to a tragic end on a day most americans will never forget august 15 1945 the third fleet was in waters near japan its commander admiral bulhausey was impatiently waiting for the news which all the world was anxious to hear i have received this afternoon a message from the japanese government in reply to the message forwarded to that government by the secretary of state on august 11th i deem this reply a full acceptance of the potsdam declaration which specifies the unconditional surrender of japan in the reply there is no qualification finally the all-important message came through by wireless the enemy had surrendered the war was over every man in the fleet from admiral to able-bodied seamen felt an immense surge of relief after nearly four years u.s fighting forces had won the victory [Applause] on august 30th american troops of the sixth marine division landed on japanese soil at yokosuka naval base south of tokyo u.s officers quickly assumed control of the installation and issued orders on procedure to the japanese officers who had been in charge with u.s command firmly established the stars and stripes was raised over the japanese homeland later that same day a silver c-54 bearing an important passenger came into atsugi airfield near tokyo the commander of u.s forces in the southwest pacific theater general douglas macarthur had completed the last leg of the long drive to the japanese homeland the general was greeted by one of his most faithful field officers lieutenant general robert eichelberger eighth army commander general macarthur was ready and eager to take over control of the conquered country on the u.s battleship missouri in tokyo bay a japanese delegation arrived early on the morning of september 2nd 1945 to make the unconditional surrender official the japanese contingent faced an impressive array of allied officers the ceremonies were directed by the new supreme commander of the allied forces in japan general macarthur who took a firm attitude toward the conquered people we are gathered here representatives of the major warring powers to conclude a psalm agreement whereby peace may be restored is my earnest hope and indeed the hope of all mankind that from this solemn occasion a better world shall emerge out of the blood and carnage of the past a world founded upon faith and understanding a world dedicated to the dignity of man and the fulfillment of his most cherished wish for freedom tolerance and justice i now invite the representatives of the emperor of japan and the japanese government and the japanese imperial general headquarters to sign the instrument of surrender at the places indicated representing the emperor at the proceedings which concluded the costliest war in world history was japanese foreign minister mamaru shigamitsu who formally surrendered for his country thus committing japan to accept the potsdam declaration calling for the complete disarmament and surrender of all military forces a few hundred u.s servicemen witnessed the climax of four years of war in the pacific that war ended officially at eight minutes past nine am on september 2nd 1945. let us pray that peace be now restored to the world and that god will preserve it always these proceedings are closed the formal surrender of the japanese nation on the deck of the missouri was followed by other dramatic surrender ceremonies on rota island on the marianas one of the many groups of japanese troops on bypassed islands gave themselves up to the victorious americans great quantities of japanese weapons and equipment were taken over by the gis and the enemy soldiers taken into custody preparatory to being returned to japan the last man off wake island colonel walter baylor was the first man back the japanese garrison surrendered the island to u.s forces on september 4 45 three years and eight months after other japanese troops had seized the island in a battle which will live long in the memory of all americans in malaya and throughout the southeast asia command british commonwealth forces accepted the surrender of the japanese troops although they conformed to the surrender protocol many of the japanese in this theater did not feel they had been defeated singapore was the setting for the principal ritual in lord mountbatten's command the union jack flew proudly over this british colonial city which had been beaten into submission in early 1942 in the philippines general jonathan wainwright arrived after a quick flight from japan to accept the surrender of the japanese forces in those islands forces commanded by general tamayuki yamashita the ceremony at the philippine summer capital at baguio in northern luzon took just 11 minutes the once feared tiger of malaya surrendered the remnants of his army in the philippines this was a long-awaited moment for general wainwright who had surrendered the philippines 40 months earlier and for britain's general percival who had surrendered singapore immediately following the brief ceremony the japanese commander and his party were taken away as prisoners of war japan wore the face of a conquered nation the country's traditional way of life which had prevailed for centuries was altered overnight general of the army douglas macarthur became the new ruler of a people who were accustomed to swearing allegiance to one person whom they considered [Music] the supreme was well suited to his role supreme commander of an occupation charged with exacting complete obedience from 80 million subjects of a nation which had until recently been a fanatical enemy technically the supreme commander was to be advised by a council of representatives of the four allied powers which had waged war against japan but actually this body was impotent from the start the delegates were constantly at odds and any recommendations they made were given scant attention the deposed ruler of the japanese people emperor hirohito and the empress nagako were stripped of their divinity by the occupation but it was decided not to try the emperor as a war criminal with the royal authority curtailed the emperor had more time for his study of marine biology the sparing of the emperor still revered by his people proved a good political move by the occupation but japan's top war leaders received far different treatment the men charged with the responsibility for guiding japan onto the road of aggression were taken in hand promptly by the occupation the number one war criminal was general hideki tojo wartime premiere on november 12 1948 after hearings which lasted two and a half years the international military tribunal convened to pass sentence on some of the top japanese war leaders [Music] premier tojo was charged with the planning preparation initiation and waging of aggressive war and with violations of the laws and customs of war and crimes against humanity but by assuming full responsibility for the war as charged dojo reestablished his reputation for loyalty and courage finally after the great mass of evidence had been sifted the court pronounced sentence on the accused accused on the counts of the indictment on which you have been convicted the international military tribunal for the far east sentences you to death by anger [Music] the occupation's job of controlling 80 million people who had until recently hated america and americans went smoothly the once despised gis were assisted by japanese police who had been judged trustworthy the japanese people seemed to reconcile themselves quickly to the fact that the war was over and they had lost the country's most immediate post-war problem was one of sustaining life a problem japan had in common with a number of other asiatic lands nippon's 80 million people simply could not produce enough food to keep themselves alive in the years following the end of the war the japanese were able to supply only about three quarters of the food necessary for the population of the home islands existing on a meager diet one possible source of food expansion lay on the removal of restrictions on the permitted fishing area the yield from the seas could conceivably be boosted above pre-war levels agriculturally the situation was less flexible the occupation had initiated a program of land reforms which seemed a hopeful experiment but the basic problem remained not enough arable land and the farmer's small income was drained by increased food and tax collection most japanese like hiroshi akabani took a philosophical view of the situation we japanese have always been frugal people but after the end of the war many of our men women and children went hungry many starved during the first half year considering that we are conquered nation most of our people felt they were lucky to be still alive of course our people all hope to live better at some future time and now that the war is over and out of the people's minds and hearts we can work toward making our life better than it is today on our islands which we once called mizuhonokuni land of plentiful rice the american soldiers became very popular in japan most of my people found them friendly and kind there were no unhappiness and no association with them japan was greatly helped by their presence the important offices of the occupation were very kind to our japanese diplomats and businessmen who were given much advice by those officers with their help japan struggled to build a new democratic nation the japanese diet convened on september 4th 1945 for the first time since the surrender the diet voted in favor of bills calling for an end to many long-standing japanese laws and customs always following directives from the us supreme commander's office the new japan's leading political figure premier shigeru yoshida had opposed the militarist clique and was thus in high favor with the occupation while the operation of the japanese diet and cabinet gave all appearances of actively guiding the country in actual fact they were simply rubber stamps endorsing policies originating with the occupation japan's political leaders were dependent completely on occupation approval the course of japan's political progress was not entirely smooth a small but active communist group operated openly the japanese communists were more interested in their own objectives in japan than in relations with moscow some party leaders like sanzo nosaka were denounced by russia the japanese communist paper akahata was eventually suspended by occupation authorities but the party itself was never formally outlawed it was felt that it was far wiser to permit its members to demonstrate openly than to give their movement impetus by driving it underground but in time the activities of the party were rigidly checked none of the party leaders was permitted to hold political office the communist movement in japan never became a matter of grave concern [Applause] beginning in 1946 with the return from the ussr of japanese prisoners of war the ranks of japan's communists swelled temporarily these men had been forcibly indoctrinated during their stay in russian territory but any enthusiasm for communism the soldiers may have had usually evaporated quickly in the stimulating climate of the new japan one of the first jobs the occupation concentrated on was instructing the japanese in the ways of democracy this introduction to an entirely new concept of acceptable conduct was received with interest by the japanese japanese women walked alongside their husbands rather than a few paces behind romance blossomed spontaneously japanese girl often met japanese boy informally without any pre-arranged plan on the part of the parents in the new japan women led active lives outside their homes in addition to caring for their families in the best american tradition japanese politicians campaigned for election although the privilege of helping select a candidate for office was still not fully appreciated by many japanese people they seem to enjoy the procedure in the new japan women were given the vote beginning in 1946 thousands of women who suddenly had political and legal rights by order of the government went to the polls some of the new voters cast their ballots for the same candidates their husbands backed some others voted exclusively for women candidates in the first general election women won 39 seats in the diet anything american even the square dance was seized on with great determination by japanese of all ages in their effort to become really democratic the japanese solemnly aped all the outward manifestations of american life concluding that co-educational schools were part of the democratic system the japanese made many schools co-educational schools for students of one sex were quickly transformed to accommodate both from the very beginning of the occupation the gis themselves were the best advertisement for democracy overnight the american soldiers changed in the eyes of the japanese people no longer were they the despised enemy in this lightning transformation they became the heroes of the new japan japanese children grew especially fond of american soldiers in tokyo and other large cities there are reminders of america everywhere you look american motion pictures again became popular with the people all over japan there is no doubt that the japanese were genuinely fascinated with the trappings of american civilization but this enthusiasm for things american in no way replaced the people's devotion to their traditional culture [Music] japan's age-old culture still exerted a powerful attraction whether democracy could be successfully superimposed over such a strong national tradition in a few short years was questionable but certainly the impression made by the american gis on the japanese people will be a lasting one for centuries most japanese have been ardent buddhists and today the majority of the population is buddhist in addition many japanese participate in shinto the worship of innumerable gods modern as well as ancient before and during the war the leaders of the government diverted this worship to their own purposes the furthering of the war effort and the building up of the militarists and their program in post-war japan shinto is as strong as ever but minus the elements of state shintoism in kyoto as in most large japanese cities shinto festivals are held at various times of the year in honor of specific gods this gyeon festival in kyoto japanese cultural center honored a god of prehistoric time [Music] the occupation was particularly concerned with getting japanese industry back on its feet labor unions were formed with the approval of the occupation but when they showed signs of becoming too strong their powers such as the right to strike were severely curtailed but the life of the worker in post-war japan is improving as japan moves toward its economic recovery in the first years of the occupation monopolies were made illegal but gradually the influence of the zaibatsu the pre-war industrial magnates again became strong in the new japan there was a decidedly conservative cast to the leadership of japanese industry matching the situation in japanese political life considering the circumstances which existed at the end of the war the accomplishments of the occupation in helping affect japan's recovery have been notable most americans in japan find it hard to be sure what the japanese people rarely think about democracy and the democratic institutions and habits they have acquired it is still too early to determine whether democracy will really take root in japan whatever the occupation's achievements prove ultimately to be the us has successfully transformed an enemy nation into an ally and gained the most important bastion against communism in the far east the urgent need for a military foothold in the orient grows more apparent with each passing month [Music] all over eastern and southern asia the end of world war ii was followed by eruptions of nationalism eruptions which the soviet union in some areas turned to its own purposes [Music] [Music] oh [Music] under the japanese occupation during much of world war ii the doctrine of asia for the asiatics was spread across eastern and southern asia during this period the people of many asiatic lands had their thirst for independence wetted that yearning for freedom was seized upon by the opportunistic japanese leaders in their campaign to stimulate the people to hatred of the allies with the end of world war ii the stirrings of nationalism flared into eruption throughout most of southern and eastern asia [Music] in the spring of 1945 american and australian bombers opened up on borneo the largest island in the invaluable dutch east indies borneo strategically located between malaya and australia was an important invasion target allied warships performed their familiar prelude to invasion australian soldiers went ashore at several points on the large island and drove inland against spirited resistance [Music] tank infantry teams made rapid progress on june 10th general macarthur landed on labuan island off british north borneo and congratulated the australians on a job well done japanese domination over the peoples of asia was nearing an end with the end of world war ii the islands of the east indies which had been ruled by the dutch before the war became the new independent nation of indonesia in the eyes of the people of those islands in carter java ahmed sircarno the native leader during the japanese occupation and a group of associates proclaimed the independence of the isles of the indies the nationalists consolidated their position quickly everyone available was enlisted to work in the common cause the setting up of a functioning government strong enough to withstand any attacks upon it by the allied forces scheduled soon to arrive the nationalists were determined to stand their ground in december 1945 the first dutch troops arrived in the indies four months after japan surrendered the dutch marines were assigned to take over the job of keeping order and restoring the islands to dutch rule a job which had been performed by british troops until the arrival of the dutch queen's forces the man went right to work in an attempt to quell the insurgents rebellion at cherubon on the island of java dutch and indonesian leaders affected a partial compromise of differences and a cease fire in the linga jhati agreement but that condition did not last long dutch troops moved into territory acknowledged to be republican by the terms of the agreement the dutch police action resulted in a renewal of violence a settlement of differences between the dutch and indonesians seemed more remote than ever bridges were destroyed by the retreating natives the indonesians ravaged their own land rather than have it prove useful to the dutch in mid-1947 the united nations attempted mediation australia's delegate william hodgson called for an immediate cessation of hostilities and peaceful arbitration but the issue was far from being settled the communists in indonesia who had been supporting the nationalists in their fight for independence rebelled the republican troops went to work quickly rounding up every communist they could locate the uprising was ineptly stayed and within a month it was decisively crushed by the indonesian republican forces with its leaders either captured or killed the communist force collapsed and the threat to the success of the nationalist cause ended in december 1949 the islands of the indies officially became the republic of the united states of indonesia elected president by the sixteen nagaras of the federation of indonesian states socano was sworn in in a ceremony at jug jakarta the new ruler who had collaborated with the japanese had been striving toward this day for some 30 years finally after four years of fighting and negotiating he and his people were officially recognized as an independent nation in indonesia as elsewhere in asia colonialism was dying india had been working toward an independent status for several decades with world war ii the stirrings of nationalism throughout southern asia accelerated the tempo of that movement the people of the subcontinent of india had been promised a certain degree of self-rule by the british finally on august 15 1947 jawaharlal nehru represented india's millions at the ceremony in which britain's lord mountbatten presented india her sovereignty the new india became an important member of the british commonwealth of nations but britain no longer ruled the vast territory which held a dominant position in southern asia in karachi lord montbaton attended another ceremony to celebrate the creation of a new independent nation muhammad ali jinnah and some 75 million supporters mostly muslim were at last the masters of their own destiny as the sovereign nation of pakistan the new muslim nation of pakistan was carved out of parts of what had been the india of the british empire the balance of the indian colonial territory became the new hindu nation of india but freedom for the peoples of the indian subcontinent was accompanied by rioting and bloodshed hundreds of thousands died in these fierce clashes between the muslims and hindus over the division of the land between pakistan and india some of the territory at issue became a no man's land millions of natives left their homes to move to an area where their religion was honored muslims poured into pakistan and hindus caught within the borders of the new muslim nation migrated to the new india for many the move meant uprooting their lives but no sacrifice was too great to make for their religious freedom india's independence was a high point in the life of mohandas gandhi the spiritual leader of the nation's millions and its most powerful nationalist leader passive resistance was gandhi's approach a doctrine he practiced with great effect in furthering the cause of nationalism but in january 48 gandhi was assassinated by a member of an extremist faction india had lost her steadiest guiding hand thousands upon thousands paid homage to india's great leaders the mourners included not only hindus but muslims sikhs and britain who sincerely believed that the world had lost a great man in pakistan as in india's strong efforts were made to affect conciliation of differences between the two nations [Music] but in kashmir a disputed province the strange situation flared into open warfare to the western world kashmir had long been a fabled remote land in 1947 kashmir's maharaja refused to exceed to either india or pakistan and the fight was on indian armed forces arrived to combat the muslim troops from pakistan in the closing months of 1947 the disturbance turned into a real war on january 1st 1949 through the efforts of the united nations a cease-fire was affected pakistan refused to withdraw its troops from the disputed province when india declared its intentions of keeping its soldiers in the area pakistan held some economic advantages over india or in east pakistan the bulk of the world's jute has grown pakistan's supply of this precious fiber no longer sent to india was now shipped directly overseas both nations underwent rigid economic readjustment even india's fabulously wealthy maharajas felt the pinch they were stripped of much of their political power and some of their wealth but india's former ruling classes still managed to lead a luxurious existence far removed from the lot of the untouchables at the lowest level of hindu life for millions of india's people lived on only a few grains of rice on january 26 1950 the republic of india was established india had been a free nation for almost two and a half years but this ceremony heralded the severing of the bond with the british crown that on and from this the 26th day of january 1950 india that is bharat shall be a sovereign democratic republic the rising of the flag of the republic's first president symbolized complete freedom to the indian people in burma which was granted its independence by britain in 1948 a struggle for control was waged by about a dozen political factions of varying shades including two communist groups in nearby malaya britain continued to rule but its colonial administration was constantly challenged by communist gorillas operating from the hills and colonial troops were pressed into service to protect malaya's rubber plantations and tin mines from the raids of the gorillas but the soldiers had difficulty in coming to grips with an enemy which disappeared into thin air or so it seemed to the colonial troops in the years following the defeat of japan britain's control of the melee peninsula was far from strong the philippine islands had been promised their independence by 1946 but with the japanese invasion and conquest of the islands the people's hopes dimmed but in spite of that strong setback the philippines celebrated their independence just as planned on july 4th 1946 with this ceremony a new nation is born a nation conceived in the centuries old struggle of a people to attain the political liberty to embark upon its own national destiny a nation upon whom the eyes of all oppressed peoples are today cast with the burning light of a new faith the formal declaration of philippine independence was made by u.s commissioner paul mcnutt i am authorized and directed by the president of the united states to proclaim the independence of the philippines as a separate and self-governing nation the infant republic experienced the customary growing pains during those first heady months of freedom philippine political life still reflected the upheaval caused by the war and the japanese occupation in fact one of the election issues in addition to government corruption and the control of communism was the degree of collaboration with the japanese indulged in by one or another of the candidates the philippine political picture remained modeled for many months the first president of the republic was manuel rojas who had worked with the japanese but was cleared by general macarthur the huk balahaps constituted the government's biggest headache once strongly anti-japanese the hux now trained their sights on the new government and its policies with the end of world war ii french indochina seemed destined for a revival of french colonial administration in the french empire no colony was more desirable than indochina general jacques leclaire the liberator of paris arrived in indochina in late 1945 to conduct mopping up operations against the vietnamese the vietnamese were ardent nationalists who lived in an area comprising almost half of french indochina the bitter clashes with the french troops marked the start of a full-scale war which continued for some 17 months the french proclaimed their control and backed up their statements by force of arms french soldiers were fighting in dead earnest our frenchman no part of the war-ravaged colony was entirely safe the military operations the french were conducting against the vietnamese were in no way dissipating the natives desperate urge for freedom from french colonial rule as they had known it before the japanese occupation most of the fighting was in vietnam which includes three of the five countries comprising pre-war french indochina finally on june 14 1949 the independent state of vietnam under baodai former emperor of anam was recognized by the french as independent but existing within the french union but to the natives of vietnam even this limited form of independence under a leader who did as directed by the french was some improvement over pre-war french colonial rule the age-old countries of cochin china anam and tonkin united as the democratic republic of vietnam embarked on a new era in the history of southeast asia a period which bore only surface resemblances to the era which ended in asia with world war ii this new day was inaugurated in vietnam as elsewhere throughout asia with warfare [Music] the most urgent task facing the french and vietnamese was the job of containing the advances of communist vietnamese forces which were operating in strong guerrilla groups throughout vietnam to the north asia's most troubled country china moved right from one war that with japan to another the war with the communist forces without a pause zhang kai-shek had led china through a series of great crises but with the end of war with japan zhang and china embarked on an even more critical period the new antagonist chinese communist maoxi tongue gained adherence quickly john's forces fought a long exhausting series of campaigns in a vain attempt to stop the communist advance from spreading across china [Music] over a period of two years after the end of world war ii china received hundreds of millions of dollars worth of material aid from onra the united nations relief and rehabilitation administration the major part of that assistance about two-thirds of the total amount was furnished by the us in late 1945 general george marshall arrived in china to try to affect the cease-fire between the two chinese forces at first his mission seemed headed for success during january 1946 a series of conferences involving both nationalists and communists achieved some positive results on january 10th a ceasefire agreement was reached endorsed by the nationalists and communists in the mediators presence but the marshall mission and the subsequent survey of the problem conducted by general albert wedemeyer both proved inconclusive meanwhile mao's forces grew stronger while the debate raged on what u.s china policy should be by early 1949 mao commanded a formidable fighting force in late may of that year shanghai fell to the advancing chinese communist armies the communist soldiers moved quickly into the heart of the city which had been evacuated by the nationalists after they had boasted that they would defend it with the last drop of their blood the chinese civilians in shanghai were quick to applaud their new masters overnight shanghai's population became ardently communistic in beiping in october 1949 russia's ambassador roshan presented his credentials to mao zedong and the bond between the chinese communists and the soviet union was cemented mao zittong once a lowly party worker now assumed the stature of the dominant figure in all of eastern asia the nationalist troops those that hadn't joined forces with the communists fled southward with their families many surrendered their weapons to the french in indochina the nationalist defense of china had turned into a route from a small area in north china mao's forces swept over all of mainland china formosa provided a haven for chang and the remnants of his army beginning in december 1949 on his island sanctuary zhang worked toward the day when china could be freed from the communist yoke he had the support of the united states but britain by recognizing red china weakened the cause of generalissimo and madame chang britain has bartered the soul of a nation for a few pieces of silver i say for shame to britain one day these pieces of silver will bear interest in british blood sweat and tears on the battleground of freedom for that which is morally wrong can never be politically right in addition to us military aid for his troops zhang was furtherated by the presence in waters off formosa of the us seventh fleet which was assigned by the u.s to save the island from the communists in korea which had been ruled by the chinese on the japanese during the past century the end of world war ii introduced two allied powers russia and the united states which occupied the northern and southern sections of the country it is my sincere belief that our great victories on the battlefields of the world will be followed by complete cooperation and collaboration around the council tables of the great nations resulting in continuance of world peace and at our conferences here will solve the pressing problems of the korean people i greet the korean people who are liberated from the long oppression of the japanese imperialists by the glorious troops of the wet army and the army of our allies the united states of america general hearts i would like to express assurance that our negotiations with your representative will bring the solution of urgent problems having vital importance for the whole of korea in north korea the soviet interpretation of administration and occupation consisted of impressing communism on the country soon after the russians arrived a communist government was functioning in north korea under such native leaders as communist kim il-sung a russian puppet at the end of world war ii korea had been divided arbitrarily at the 38th parallel south of that degree of latitude the us was the occupying power on august 15 1948 the us made south korea an independent republic most south koreans were determined to protect that newly won freedom in august 1948 that job did not seem too difficult but during the first years of the infant republic's existence the job of protecting that independence assumed larger proportions communist demonstrations inspired by natives in the northern half of korea gave the first inkling of further trouble ahead the 38th parallel of latitude was to prove a most ineffectual barrier against the sweep of communist aggression from the north [Music] [Music] uh when world war ii ended korea ruled by japan since 1905 was divided in half and occupied by two of the allied powers north of the 38th parallel the ussr assumed the duties of maintaining order and helping the koreans to re-establish their national entity but the administration of north korea as practiced by the russians was characterized by much more than a friendly interest in north korean industry and government soon after the start of the russian occupation a communist government was functioning in north korea guided by such native communist leaders as soviet trained kim il-sung and his henchman south of the 38th parallel the koreans made an earnest attempt to arrive at a basis for closer understanding with the occupying u.s force but to the south koreans young and old it was difficult to comprehend the mysterious foreigners from another hemisphere who had arrived in korea suddenly and set about introducing american methods into the life of south korea american occupation forces check the spread of disease and help the south koreans themselves to work more effectively toward improving the national health in south korea at least the people seemed destined for a somewhat better life than they had known for centuries by mid-1950 almost five years after the end of world war ii south korea had built up an army of some 100 000 men trained by american army officers and non-comms the south koreans felt in the spring of 1950 that they could handle any attack from across the 38th parallel but in late june that boundary was crossed in force by the north koreans the communist thrust across the 38th parallel heralded the beginning of one of the most tragic periods in the history of the korean people the south korean forces had proved pitifully inadequate for the job of withstanding the invaders for the citizens of the infant republic of korea whose independence had been proudly proclaimed less than two years before the immediate future looked all but hopeless the unquiet peace which had existed among the great powers of the world since world war ii was at an end in the us at lake success the united nations with the soviet member conspicuously absent took enforcement action against the aggressor 48 hours ago the security council in an emergency session determined that the armed invasion of the republic of korea by armed forces from northern korea constituted a breach of the peace accordingly the security council called for a cessation of hostilities both with and the withdrawal of the northern korean authorities of their armed forces to the 38th parallel it is clear that the authorities in north korea have completely disregarded and flouted the decision of the security council the armed invasion of the republic of korea continues this is in fact an attack on the united nations itself agreed that the armed attack upon the republic of korea constituted a breach of the peace the united nations of the world took decisive action peace and security recommends that the members of the united nations furnish such assistance to the republic of korea as may be necessary to repel the armed attack and to restore international peace and security in the area in korea for the first time enforcement action was taken against an aggressor by direction of the united nations on 28 june aircraft of the united states air force operating pursuant to the resolution of the security council of the united nations began our operations against the north korean invaders in support of republic of korea forces and later struck at military targets north of the 38th parallel with a view to disrupting the lines of communication and supply of the invading forces [Music] the badminton decimated republic of career forces reformed south of the han river sought to deny the north korean advance by sheer weight of numbers and material they were forced back step by step until on 2 july the town of suwan 20 miles south of seoul was reported in north korean hands meanwhile in pursuance of united nations recommendations the united states ground forces were committed to the area for stabilization of the front on 5 july a very small united states force made contact with the invaders south of suwan the first united states troops were small in number and were committed as a holding force only they were followed by additional supporting forces as rapidly as these could be transported to the battle line facing odds at times as high as 20 to one our army troops distinguish themselves in the most difficult of military operations a denying action the first u.n heroes were american gis of the 24th division [Music] in the deserted villages of south korea the nations of the free world would shortly make their stand against the forces of aggression in tokyo the appointment of general douglas macarthur as commander of united nations forces celebrated in a ceremony conducted by u.s army chief of staff general lawton collins during the first weeks of fighting south korean and american forces were pushed back toward the tip of the korean peninsula and the prospect of another dunkirk the outnumbered u.n forces took heavy losses during that first month in the desperate fight for time on july 31st elements of the first marine division arrived at busan swelling the force of american fighting men in korea to some 100 000 the battle to keep the enemy from overrunning all of korea approached its most critical stage men and materiel were now arriving from the us in some quantity 7 000 miles away at lake success new york on the following day august 1st marked the return to the united nations security council of the hitherto absent soviet member jacob malik who assumed the presidency of the council for the month of august the discussion of the korean aggression flared into violent and bitter debate at intervals throughout soviet delegate malik's month as the security council's president the ussr delegation declares to the security council and to the public opinion of the world that the united states resolution is intended to extend the scale of the united states government's aggression against the korean people when the president as such or as the representative of the soviet union it makes no difference which hat he wears while he's doing it but when he undertakes to persuade this great audience here present and in all the world outside that the united states of america is an aggressor in korea i'd like to ask whose troops are attacking deep in the country of somebody else whose troops the north koreans who is assisting the republic of korea to defend itself the united nations with the support of 53 out of 59 members is the soviet union one of the 53 no the united states government is now making every effort to extend its scope to wage war on an increasingly large scale to drag as many other governments as possible into this war not only against the people of korea but also against the other people of asia the whole world knows that armed intervention in the internal affairs of korean people armed aggression in korea is being carried out by american forces and the personal orders of president truman and under the command of the american general macarthur now let us consider the trick of concealing guilt through accusation the classic example of this trick of course is that of the thief who is running away and cries top thief stop thief at the honest man ahead of him in order to confuse his pursuers the soviet delegate referred several times to quote the aggression of which the united states is guilty against the korean people and this statement has been repeated over and over through every soviet-inspired channel on earth we've had it telegraphed to us by others and we've heard it again today it is a lie it is a big lie to call the action of those governments who are seeking to support the resolutions of the security council acts of aggression is a falsehood so grotesque that even the technique of the big lie will not disguise it the determination of the united nations to ensure that korea shall be free unified and independent of outside influence from any great power on or off the continent has never wavered this is what the united nations forces are fighting to uphold in korea it is a supreme effort to give the korean people the right to control their own destinies a right that so many countries caught in a net of imperialism with a new name communist imperialism have lost in korea the identity of the aggressor was no mystery by late august the north korean forces had seized most of south korea except for an area surrounding the port of busan with their backs to the sea american forces fought desperately to hold their ground against the powerful enemy drive the crucial battle was fought in the hills flanking taigu it was a bruising fight for the bone weary american girl but they never gave up the battle in holding the busan perimeter the american forces suffered heavily but the enemy offensive was beaten back thanks to the sacrifices of american fighting men korea did not become a communist peninsula by early september the busan perimeter was no longer in immediate danger of being overrun on september 15th the tide of battle turned by virtue of a daring amphibious attack at inchon the attack force which made the assault on korea's west coast was engaged in an extremely difficult operation an operation undertaken at the insistence of general macarthur the problems of fluctuating tides unpredictable currents and narrow channels made the success of the on landing a doubtful quantity the burden of responsibility for risking the forces committed in an operation which might well prove a failure rested with general mcarthur twelve thousand marines many veterans of world war ii headed for shore in the first amphibious assault of the korean war with the marines who stormed the beaches at walmey and inchon was time life correspondent frank gibney also a veteran of the war with japan some of the marines in the assault had been brought from duty in the mediterranean others had been pulled out of the line in southern korea inchon had to be taken to cut the enemy's communications with the southern front and to trap thousands of his troops in between the marines didn't give the enemy time to recover from the surprise attack on his flank progress was swift many of the marines i was with were past masters at flushing enemy troops out of holes and acquired talent they never lost hundreds of north koreans were killed on that overcast september morning d-day at inchon the surprise north korean troops had failed completely in their hurried attempt to beat off the amphibious attack the operation was a spectacular success a proud day for general macarthur whose judgment was vindicated and for marine general o p smith on the southern front the situation had changed considerably by virtue of the inchon operation for the enemy the battle had taken a turn for the worse us eighth army gis smashed into enemy positions with renewed spirit and moved slowly but steadily forward in the incheon area the marine stepped up the attack in a drive to take seoul as quickly as possible on september 24th only ten days after d-day at inchon u.s marines and soldiers were fighting in seoul the fight for the south korean capital was bloody but relatively brief for five days the battle for soul raged on the us troops took their losses but efficiently stamped out enemy resistance three months after the communist invasion saul was once again free thousands returned to the homes they had abandoned before the communist thrust overwhelmed the korean republic's capital other thousands upon thousands had stayed on during the communist occupation as soon as the fight for soul was ended they fell to work rebuilding their badly battered city for the inhabitants of seoul life was a good deal more makeshift than it had been before the communist invasion government officials of the republic of korea who returned to seoul after its recapture addressed the inhabitants who had been subjected to daily doses of communist propaganda on south korea's immediate problems during the summer of 1950 many thousands of south koreans were killed by their countrymen from the north whatever the future held for korea it could hardly prove more tragic than the early years of the infant republic's existence in many lands freedom had been achieved by bloodshed but nowhere was newly one freedom put to a stronger test than in the republic of korea by early autumn fighting forces from other member countries of the united nations arrived in south korea to join the struggle in defense of south korean independence [Music] to that crusade britain committed some five thousand soldiers several of the nations which had fought in the pacific during world war ii sent troops to south korea a thousand filipino soldiers and a thousand australians swelled the ranks of the united nations forces the diggers from down under who had fought so well in the steaming jungles of new guinea eight years before were determined to add further laurels to their battlefield record in korea on october 1st south korean troops pushed northward across the 38th parallel three months and one week after the communist attack as the rocks republic of korea soldiers seized more and more territory in their northwood drive they were impromptu celebration commemorating the liberation of the area the koreans along the route seemed genuinely happy to greet the advancing rock forces the city of kaesong just south of the 38th parallel was seized by americans of the first cavalry division on october 8th the gis then drove quickly north to the well-publicized boundary which the u.n had authorized its forces to cross by october 15th the united nations troops had swept across the 38th parallel and seized a considerable area in north korea 2500 miles east wake island was the scene of the most important engagement that mid-october morning president harry truman had flown seven thousand miles to talk with his top general in the far east a man he had never before met they conferred for one hour in complete privacy and then held a more general discussion in one of wake island's few buildings this conference included the president's top military advisors joint chiefs chairman bradley and army secretary pace before the meeting broke up a decoration ceremony was held to the delight of the photographers though only the two men knew what had been said at the secret meeting they claimed to be in complete agreement on october 20th rock soldiers and american gis seized the north korean capital of pyongyang after five years the communist hold on that city had been broken by the u.n forces two days later troop carrier planes transported paratroopers of the 187th airborne regiment to an area some 25 miles north of pyongyang over the target area near supjan and sunchon the paratroopers hit the silk general macarthur cruised above the area watching the initial stage of the operation the 800 foot drop took each man only about a minute the operation went off smoothly the drop was made at precisely the points indicated in the original planning the trap on the enemy was sprung some 30 000 north koreans were bottled up between the u.n forces in pyongyang to the south and the men of the 187th airborne regiment the north koreans were completely taken by surprise by this unfamiliar maneuver on north korea's east coast off one sun u.s minesweepers went to work on clearing out one of the most intensive c minefields in military history the job was done by laying magnetic lines finally after a six day delay the landing at wansan was made by advanced elements of the first marine division [Music] but this landing was not in the tradition of marine amphibious invasions for the area had already been taken two weeks earlier by other un troops though the landing was no problem the marines had been alerted to expect plenty of action when they reached shore and began the push along the east coast of the peninsula the marines first assignment was to mop up a large group of organized north korean gorillas the job was done efficiently by men who were experienced in that line of work [Applause] [Music] the marines fighting along the east coast were part of the u.s 10th corps a combined marine army force commanded by u.s army major general edward allman who reported directly to general macarthur in tokyo on korea's west coast lieutenant general walton walker commanded the u.s 8th army both u.s forces were driving palmell toward the northern boundary of korea that objective received the full attention of both eighth army and tenth corps commanders who did not coordinate their movements but reported independently to tokyo the frozen yalu which separates korea from manchuria was reached at the north korean town of heisanjin by gis of the seventh division most of the men felt that this achievement signaled the answer to their prayers the end of the war and a chance to get home for christmas but the gis did not realize on that cold november afternoon that an even greater enemy across the yalu was about to attack on november 26th in a move which stunned the un forces the chinese reds hurled their armies into north korea and drove deep into the soft center of the u.n

Channel: Classic TV Channel

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Rating: 4.7472 out of 5

Keywords: WW-2, Film, TV, Entertainment, war documentary, Movies, Crusade in the Pacific, World War 2, War in the Pacific tv show, japanese empire, War in the Pacific episode, War in the Pacific tv series, War in the Pacific, Westbrook Van Voorhis, Kentaro Buma, Frank Gibney

Id: KG5S_S3doto

Length: 306min 3sec (18363 seconds)

Published: Thu Jan 28 2021