War in the Pacific 2

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on this edition of the CBS video library of world war two we will focus on the role of US air and sea power in the Pacific campaign we'll see dramatic footage of the great sea and air battle that took place of Midway will examine the strategy and see the action behind the taking of Tarawa the Marianas Iwo Jima will fly in a b-29 Superfortress on a bombing mission against Japan our first chapter in this historic compilation begins with the story of Japanese success we go back to the Year 1941 the month was December the date as President Roosevelt said later was one that would live in infamy [Music] in 1941 naval strategists measure the strength of a navy by counting its battleship the battleship strength of the United States Pacific Fleet is destroyed at Pearl Harbor almost unnoticed at the time none of the burning ships is an aircraft carrier the American aircraft carriers are on the high seas between Pearl Harbor and Midway [Music] Oh eight forty hours December seven message from Hawaii radio to Guam Midway wake to the Philippines this is not an exercise Japan has attacked Pearl Harbor the Japanese plan of attack calls for simultaneous strikes at Pearl Harbor and the Philippines and weather delays the Philippine strike for nine hours the Japanese expect they will have to fight their way into Clarkfield the main air force based in the Pacific the American commanders and the Philippines have been unable to decide on a course of action the American bombers are on the ground as the Japanese come in our field lies open vulnerable [Music] [Music] [Music] ten hours after the Pearl Harbor warning American air power in the Pacific is destroyed on the ground now the Japanese perimeter explodes through the Pacific without anything but token resistance from the remnants of Allied air power and sea power the enemy seizes control of the South China Sea the Sea of Java and the Seas of the East Indies [Music] the Japanese army plunges into Southeast Asia one after another supposedly impregnable allied fortresses fall to the enemy the British Army surrenders at Singapore with the fall of Singapore the Japanese achieve domination of Southeast Asia only one battle moves slowly the battle against the American army in the Philippines on Bataan the Japanese pressure is relentless [Music] the Japanese take Manila in January of 1942 [Music] the enemy takes baton and aims at the last refuse of the Americans Corregidor an island in the Bay of Manila [Music] Greg adore is invaded [Music] may 6 1942 the final surrender of the American army in the Philippine [Music] you the defeated Americans begin a death march to prison cats [Music] [Applause] the Japanese Empire has won the war it set out to fight the Japanese perimeter covers 20 million square miles of the earth [Music] the Japanese military estimated one year to conquer the South Pacific it has taken only six months a small clique points out that Japan has won everything for which she went to war it is suggested that Japan offered to negotiate peace with the United States but the Japanese Navy rules the military and the Japanese Navy has an inflexible doctrine symbolized by the doors of the Admiral Togo shrine [Music] COGO who a 19-5 defeated the Russians in one classic naval battle has left this military axiom destroyed the enemy's fleet in one decisive battle the commanders of the Imperial Navy argue that the United States Navy must be forced into a last decisive battle since the Americans have lost their battleships and since Japan may choose the point at which she will attack this battle cannot be anything but a victory for Japan this is the Japanese plan the objectives are Midway and the destruction of the United States Lee a later objective is Hawaii a key to the Hawaiian Islands is Midway the opening phase will be a surprise attack at Midway where the Japanese expect only light resistance the American fleet is expected to steam toward Midway after the Japanese strike the two fleets will engage in a classic sea battle and since the Japanese have superiority and battleships and aircraft carriers the American fleet will be destroyed look it hello I believe my general David ah hello you should up top the naval cadets ie Tajima are told yah we have won the battle so far but the enemy is not yet beaten the opponent is still strong ah right like yah we must meet them in one decisive struggle you will be called upon you must prepare yourself the essence of a surprise attack is secrecy and Japanese security has been compromised because the Japanese secret codes have been broken by the Americans all messages sent to the Imperial Japanese fleet are falling into American hands the successful decoding of the Japanese messages is the greatest intelligence victory of the war Midway will be prepared on the faces of the intercepted messages the United States Pacific Fleet begins to take up defensive positions near Midway the Empire of Japan has not lost a naval battle in 300 years the Japanese fleet will be at Midway numerically superior in all classes of ships what their intelligence is faulting the Japanese believe the main strength of the American fleet is still in Hawaii or in Australian waters the Japanese believe their attack on Midway will be a complete surprise hidden behind a bad weather front the Japanese fleet moves to Midway [Music] Midway was prepared as Pearl Harbor was not although the Marines were outnumbered the island was on the alert the airforce sends as many b-17s the Midway as the island can handle a force of seventeen heavy bombers is gathered on the island [Music] within a few hours after the planes arrive they are ordered into the air to make long-range searches [Music] although we know the Japanese are coming we do not know exactly where they are early in the morning of June 4th 1942 the decisive contact is made enemy carriers are reported enemy planes are seen inbound toward Midway [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] Japanese bombers caused some damage to shore installations but the attack does not succeed if the Japanese are to soften up Midway they must strike again Midway is still secure [Music] Admiral Miura knows he must launch a stronger attack against the island but if he is to strengthen his attack force he must use his reserve the Japanese reserve planes are armed with torpedoes if they are to attack Midway bombs must be substituted for torpedoes the Japanese Admiral does not know that the American carriers are in the vicinity he orders the change from torpedoes to bombs while the change in weapons is being made the Japanese carriers are vulnerable to air attack this is the turning point of the Pacific War suddenly overhead appear the carrier-based planes of the United States Pacific Fleet [Music] dive-bombers penetrate the Japanese fighter screen penetrate the Japanese anti-aircraft screen and catch the enemy carrier five minutes after the attack begins two great Japanese carriers a cog II and so you live broken in the water five minutes after the attack begins American naval aircraft assert their dominance over the surface ships the Orthodox naval doctrine of a battleship war is destroyed by airpower [Music] [Music] the Imperial fleet gathers for one last effort on the enemy carrier here you are the remnants of Japan's purse line naval pilots they are told at all costs and with all sacrifice attacked the American carriers [Music] [Music] [Music] meanwhile the American planes are returning to American torpedo squadrons have been wiped out and the survivors low on gasoline have difficulty finding their ships the Japanese planes are only a few miles behind the American [Music] [Music] as the enemy is sighted the American planes are waved off [Music] the Japanese attack is gallant and persistent Yorktown is hit damage control parties fight to save the ship then the Japanese torpedoes come in United States will lose the Yorktown but the Japanese will lose 200 of their best pilots a blow from which the Japanese Navy will never recover [Music] [Music] [Music] as suddenly as the attack began it is open the surface ships of both fleets have not exchanged one shot [Music] [Music] [Music] Midway remains American [Applause] after Midway there is no direction the Japanese perimeter can move except to retreat toward Tokyo following the Battle of Midway the Pacific War took on a pattern that was to hold sway for the entire campaign it was island warfare securing stepping stones toward the Japanese mainland bases for u.s. airpower in this next report we look at how this pattern became established the die was cast at a place called Tarawa November 1943 the Pacific Fleet is being ordered into its greatest offensive action today for three days the big carriers lay two refueling in safe waters pure loyal aviation gas and supplies come aboard [Applause] now from Hawaii and New Zealand from San Diego Pearl Harbor Samoa and Guadalcanal the task force assembled the whole Armada covers 50 square miles of ocean the fleet is steaming to an island of only 290 acres Tarawa [Music] [Applause] [Applause] here is our objective Tarawa and it's airstrip control of Tarawa means control of the Gilbert Islands control of the Gilberts means bases from which we can invade the Marshalls control of the Marshalls means bases from which we can invade the Marianas control of the Marianas means bases from which we can attack Japan herself this is the Central Pacific pattern the center of the pattern is the American aircraft carrier the planes are armed and ready the Army Air Force has already bombed Tarawa the naval carriers will finish the job the naval pilots are told there is the suspicion the deputies have abandoned Tarawa nevertheless the bombing and shelling will far exceed anything ever done in the past never in the history of warfare was so much high-explosive be dropped on so small an area [Music] against 290 Japanese acres we launched 200 planes [Music] within seven minutes a few enemy planes on the airstrip are knocked out the island is bombed and the returning planes report no signs of life nevertheless the fire control centers call for the first of three thousand tons of naval shells [Music] 10,000 yards from the beach the Marines transfer to the landing prep the run-in has been timed for high tide so that the heavier ships can sail over the coral be [Music] 6,000 yards the first error is apparent the tide is moving in the wrong direction it is low tide at not high but there's no answering fire from the beach the island may be about 3,000 yards [Music] 2,000 yards the Japanese are on Tarawa in great strength [Music] 1,000 yards low tide the landing craft run aground on the coral below the waterline there is nothing the track Marines can do but go ashore on the foot the troops wave to the Beach line against increasing small arms fire [Music] ten yards some units cannot gain the beat [Music] the small narrow beachhead is only twenty yards at its deepest point it is already too expensive [Music] for the first time in the history of the United States Marines this signal is sent issue in doubt if the enemy mounts a counter-attack he will push us into the sea [Applause] on the second day the second Marine Division makes its move inland the Navy has fired 3,000 tons of high explosive into one half a mile of Island the carrier planes have flown 1,000 sorties it still takes the flamethrower the machine gun the right and courage [Applause] on the fourth day Tarawa is secured but the cost is heavy a unifying six men out of ten have been wounded one out of eight lays dead on the beach the battle for Tarawa is one [Music] some men talked about tarawa in terms of tactics some men talked in terms of how many sorties had been flown some said we should have done more bombing others said we needed more rockets or we could have worked closer to the infantry the facts were and we knew it that a lot of Marines were dead but not one airman had died at Tarawa a new kind of carrier action is called for the Japanese could not have built Tarawa into a fortress if they did not have a supply Bastion deep in the Central Pacific this supply point is the strongest Japanese position outside the home islands if it can be neutralized further invasions may not be so costly the island is truck truck is the Japanese Gibraltar truck supplies the Marshalls the Marianas the Caroline's New Guinea truck will not be invaded truck will be destroyed from the air [Music] [Music] Japanese sound detectors pick up the American planes again the Japanese fighter strength on truck equals the incoming America the Japanese zero is the same plane used in the attack on Pearl Harbor [Music] Americans are flying a new fighter the Hellcat slightly less maneuverable than the zero the Hellcat is more rugged and can't climb and out dive the enemy [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] once the American fighters have won supremacy the dive-bombers are sent in [Music] the fighter victory is so overwhelming that not a single enemy plane challenges the diet bombers the only resistance comes from the enemy's anti-aircraft guns the white balls floating up lazily are Japanese anti-aircraft books [Music] the enemy ships in the lagoon are in an impossible position if they stay in trunk they have no protection if they try to leave the harbor the surface forces of the United States Navy are waiting to destroy in one day naval air power sinks 200,000 tons of shipping [Music] coming home some planes have been holed by flack the formations are ragged some are low on gas [Music] but most make [Music] he runs out of gas just short of the carrier [Music] [Music] the plane is thrown overboard to clear the flight deck [Music] [Music] [Music] the victory at truc is not without cost but after the American carrier strikes the Japanese right off truck as a naval base the air in the Central Pacific has been cleared of enemy opposition [Music] now air power reaches to the west and to the north toward the last islands Japan before the full force of American air power could be brought to bear against the Japanese mainland more Island bases were needed more stepping stones nearer to Japan the islands known as the Marianas Saipan Tinian Guam were next in line and that's where our story takes us we begin this chapter with a look at an airplane American be 24-hour found a truck we walk via the Caroline's the Marianas outbound to a hundred places whose names Americans never knew before the war and a forgotten since the war a b24 a flying gas tank not wanted in the European theater of operations because it handles like a truck and cannot easily be flown in formation a b24 sent to the Pacific because it has the longest range of any American airplane over the vast Pacific range is essential pilot to crew Blackjacks calling on enemy fighters no watch it watch it cloud bank and three o'clock high clock okay right wait there's another one for about seven of my children turning it you pick him up when he comes by manses 313 212 watch a dumb blackjack blue to black jack black bring it in closer boy liang straight ahead they're wide Bosphorus hundred people unclutched in estimate the target 30 seconds [Music] bombs away [Music] trunk we walk beyond the Carolinas the marianas the b-24 was not designed for this kind of bombing it was built as a strategic weapon to bomb the enemy's home industries but in the spring of 1944 we are 3,000 miles short of Japan the long-range bomber is the tip of our offensive spear the longest reaching tactical weapon in our arsenal the b-24 strikes at Japanese shipping Japanese supply dumps Japanese airfields but not yet at Japan itself [Music] the losses are never as high as Europe but some planes will never return some men will never return some run short of gas disks in the Pacific [Music] some run into trouble to try to make it into the first field they see Rios up coming into a fighter base where the runway is too short for a heavy bomber [Music] [Music] most make it home to airstrip swap in blood buna mission Dolabella lay London a hundred places whose names have been forgotten [Music] most make it home to tropical heat boredom uneasiness uncertainty most make it home to the bomber bases this is the bomber line in May 1944 we hold parts of New Guinea and some of the islands in the Bismark sea the bomber line threatens the Japanese positions in the Caroline's we hold the Solomons and the Gilberts the bomber line protects our convoys to Australia we hold bases in the Marshalls the bomber line threatens Japanese positions in the Marianas but there is a 3,000 mile gap between our bomber line and Japan the logical step the next chain of islands the Marianas in May of 1944 the Americans assemble and invasion fleet they correspond it wrote we have assembled 500 ugly ships and are loading them with a quarter of a million naval shells and more than a half million cubic feet of refrigerated foodstuffs we are carrying railroad equipment for the narrow gauge railroad we expect to repair on Saipan it brought together a hundred and thirty thousand men and ten million rounds of small armed Saipan and the Marianas will fall because the percentages are all our but there's another percentage nobody talks much about in two years of invading Islands we've learned that there will be slightly more than one American casualty for every two Japanese soldiers on the island this means that 10,000 Americans of this group will be killed wounded or missing by the time Saipan is taken 10,000 casualties at a minimum that's what it will cost to advance the bomber line 1,000 miles [Music] [Applause] approach the battle takes three weeks during the first days poker crap games speculation conversation later the ships are quieter casual discussions disappear slowly the tension relaxes the sea is so fast that there seems no end to the voyage it is so calm the danger seems remote a slips in today small events that break up the routine become important atabrine tablets to guard against malaria [Music] there is an old army maxim a good soldier never stands when he consent never sits when he can lie down never stays awake when he can sleep now hear this the destination of this past force is the Marianna this unit is assigned to the invasion of Saipan our primary objective is the athlean o'hare field resistance is expected to be heavy unit commanders will make known all particulars of the order of battle that is all [Music] you [Music] Viraj continues for two days and nights after the first hours the effects of any parchment must diminish the enemy is either dead or hidden in fortified position Saipan is riddled with caves only a direct hit at the mouth of the cave can be affected the fire is shifted to the shoreline to cover the first waves of American troops [Music] [Music] [Music] the attack force the second and fourth Marine Division the reserve force the 27th Infantry Division [Music] [Music] now it's all behind you all the big shifts the big guns the training the planning it's all behind [Music] you're all alone in the next ten minutes you may be dead all you have left in the world of the 12 men in your squad what happens to them happens to you you're going with they're going [Music] Japanese resistance begins not all the enemy's heavy guns have been knocked out the Japanese begin to recover from the effects of the naval bunker Japanese artillery begins to find the range of the American landing craft [Music] the first waves land without too much difficulty there is some disorganization because some units have landed in beaches not assigned it the move inland is delayed the whole action is behind schedule the Japanese have regrouped they begin heavy fire against the beachhead the American beachhead is 100 yards deep but it is pinned to the sand and not moving some troops begin to dig in if the assault waves dig in on the beach they will be slaughtered by the enemy's mortars and artillery but if the men get up they will be in an exposed position issue is in balance everyone waits for the next man to move then one man takes command the rest bottle and the Marines get up and go [Music] as the Americans reach toward the first airfield Japanese resistance between the beach and the first airstrip from the battlefield turns quiet there are two possibilities either the enemy has decided not to defend the flat land surrounding Islita field or he is drawing the Americans into an exposed position the order of the day reads advance with caution secure the airfield but be prepared to withdraw at the Japanese counter-attack as Lito airfield is taken heavy equipment comes ashore immediately clusters and bulldozers to clear away the right Japanese equipment [Music] graders and sheepsfoot rollers to lengthen the runway putting the equipment on shore so soon is a calculated risk we are concentrating our material into a small area a major counter-attack could be disastrous but a serviceable airstrip will permit American fighter planes to land the airfield is our first objective and we must take the risk [Music] the Japanese prepare their counter-attack it is to be a manoeuvre without military meaning but with great religious overtones to the Japanese themselves a Banzai charge a suicide attack which will not end until the last Japanese is dead [Music] American lines waiver but the attack is beaten off now the infighting began remaining Japanese are holed up in the caves of Saipan they will not surrender they must be burned in their caves they will not surrender they must be blown out of their caves by grenades they will not surrender they must be killed by small arms fire the Japanese lose 32,000 men the Americans take 16,000 casualties [Music] you [Music] we underestimated the number of Japanese on Saipan by 12,000 we underestimated how bitter the fight would be to extract the Japanese from the caves of Saipan the Japanese suicide charge split the ranks of one division and led to heavy American casualties on Saipan 16,000 casualties on Tinian 4,500 casualties on guam's 10,000 casualties total casualties before the Marianas are secured 28 [Music] the marianas are American we took our losses so that we could build airstrip we mourn our dead hospitalized our wounded and build airstrip 28,000 feet of runways are being built for each foot one American casual [Music] there's no longer any need for combat men the war is turned over to the machines the battlefield is becoming an air people there's something special about the runways we are building their foundations are more than twice as thick as the runways of any bomber base ever built in the Pacific there with this half again as great as any strip we have ever built a b-24 bomber can land in a mile runway but the bulldozers scratched out airstrip say mile-and-a-half-long only a handful of officers know why the extra half mile of runway is necessary then in the skies above the island a new airplane the b-29 inbound to Saipan Tinian Guam the Marianas inbound the Superfortress the highest biggest bestest bomber of the war inbound to take over the battle this is an airplane don't defeat the war in a new way not a tactical bomber not a weapon to be used against the Japanese Army and Navy but a strategic farm built to destroy a Japanese industry and the Japanese home islands now that the Marianas have been taken strategic bombardment of Japan can begin [Music] this is what the sacrifice of the foot soldier was for this airplane will carry the burden of the war up to Japan this airplane will end World War two [Music] with late summer of 1944 when the b-29 bomber arrived in the Pacific Theater of war the war with Japan had less than a year to go how that particular airplane combined with the sacrifice of so many u.s. Airmen sailors and Marines speeded the end of the war is the subject of this story we call it super fort the Air Force hopes that an invasion of Japan will not be necessary or the strategic weapon is at hand in theory this strategic bomber should settle the issue in theory we know just where the bomb should be placed first priority bomb the Japanese aircraft industry hope the manufacturer of military plane establish air supremacy over Japan second priority bomb Japanese port an urban industrial area submarines were blockade Japan 329 will destroy the enemy's tool this is the theory of strategic bombardment these are the weapons [Music] the 21st Bomber Command at Saipan is combat ready its first target the nakajima aircraft engine plant producing nearly 30% of all combat aircraft engines in Japan for the first time since the Doolittle raid two and 1/2 years earlier American bombers are flying a mission to Tokyo [Music] 24 November 1944 the first super portrayed against Tokyo the attitude of the command staff is one of confidence some opposition is expected from enemy fighters are black but casualties are expected to be late the b-29 is a specially designed for this kind of mission it is the first very long range high-altitude precision bomber the planes carry enough bombs to destroy the makishima plant on the single mission alone 111 super ports carrying a bomb load of over half a million pounds the first wave of the strategic Pacific based assault against Japan the theory of continuous strategic bombardment in the Pacific is about to be tested [Music] [Music] five hours out of the Marianas and still several hundred miles from Japan the b-29s encounter a typically severe weather front and are forced to climb [Music] the planes are unable to go above or around the storm they must go through it [Music] some planes are driven so far off course that they missed Japan [Music] coming into the target an unexpected obstacle the b-29s are swept along by the fastest winds in any part of the world a river of air called the jet stream the winds increased the speed of the Bombers by approximately 40 percent the super ports are moving too fast for accurate bump art the Bombardier x' cannot compensate for the wind speed the target is obscured by clouds [Music] only 24 of the hundred and eleven bombers hit the target less than 20 tons of bombs fall into the target area most of all wide into the duct and urban areas and into Tokyo Bay [Music] Japanese fighter defences less effective than anticipated [Music] only one super port is lost rammed by a suicide Oh deputies fighting the Japanese planes dock correspond to the American formation the score is even less than 1% loss to the attacking b-29 less than 1% damage to the aircraft engine factory [Music] the Hobart flight is 1,500 miles the bombers have expended their fuel reserves fighting the storm the trip home is five hours of tension there is an absolute minimum of fuel 1,500 miles with no place to land no place to jump nothing but the Pacific below [Music] thank my tank fuel gauges read tempting [Music] all tanks are almost dry when the marianas come into view [Music] the crippled planes come in first the right outboard engine is feather [Music] [Music] you [Music] during the next three months this is how they will come home short of fuel straining to make the runway although bombing results will improve Japanese resistance will also increase during the next three months the number of ditching increase there is nothing wrong with the theory of strategic bombardment there's nothing wrong with the superport it is a rugged plane that can take battle damage which would down any other bomber the men fly their missions take their losses and return when they can to the bomber bases then know the Bombers need fighter escort over Japan the crippled bombers need a refueling and repair point between the Marianas and Japan with a refueling point we could carry less gas and more bombs something must be done but the grand strategy of the war does not rest with the pilots [Music] the orders come down the chain of command the 7th Air Force and all available Bombers of the 20th Air Force are ordered to bomb a new target Iwo Jima is 1500 miles from the Marianas to Japan halfway between the Marianas and Japan is a small island Iwo Jima for 72 days previous to the invasion the bombers will strike the island then 61 thousand Marines will take a vow Jima Iwo Jima is only 8 square miles of volcanic ash and rock dominated by Mount Suribachi it has only two assets it is 700 miles closer to Tokyo it has three airfields Marines are told to expect a three or four-day battle the Navy will deliberate three-day barrage preceding the landings but the Marines are veterans of island warfare they know the Japanese tactics the enemy will be underground hidden in caves the enemy will be protected by thick walled concrete fortifications the Marines know they will take the world as they have taken other islands by individual combat the last religious service aboard shot before d-day you [Music] [Music] d-day of ura 19 1945 [Music] no answering fire from the shore [Music] the first waves of Marines land unopposed they cross the island at its narrowest point then the enemy opens fire [Music] Averell an aerial bombardment have caused little damage to the enemy's fortification Japanese artillery and mortars are zeroed in on every foot of the island [Music] by noon it is apparent that this will be the costliest battle in marine history by noon casualties in some battalions are as high as 25% the surface ships are called on to support the marine vessels move almost to the shore to fire point-blank into the Japanese positions only yards from the attacking marina a tank attack fail there is no room for manoeuvre for flanking attacks or deception there's only one order move straight ahead take the losses and get it over equipment it cannot be done quickly the enemy is too well in Christ [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] it on the fifth day the Marines take Mount Suribachi [Music] and twenty-one days later Iwo Jima is officially declared secure the eight square miles of evil Jima cost 19,000 marine and Navy wounded 6,800 marine and Navy dead the price is fantastic but the price had to be paid [Music] [Applause] [Music] but now until the war ends some twenty four hundred couple planes will make emergency landing at he will 25,000 American Flyers who might not have returned to the Marianas will be saved because the Marines took Iwo Jima the first crippled super ports land even before the concrete surface has been laid [Music] after Eva was taken Japan is doomed strategic bombardment will end the war [Music] Iwo Jima Tinian Saipan Tarawa Midway a role called a battle sites on which was played out the awesome drama of world war two in the Pacific there are other battlefields other campaigns other aspects to this global conflict relating those stories in this continuing series the CBS video library of world war ii I'm Walter Cronkite [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music]

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Channel: JORDAN KLEINER

Views: 255,939

Rating: 4.5846586 out of 5

Keywords: WWII CBS Walter Cronkite

Id: mWhlTFNl4vE

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Length: 88min 58sec (5338 seconds)

Published: Thu Jun 29 2017

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