Was The War In The Pacific Decided By Aerial Combat? | Air Wars | War Stories

this channel is part of the history hit Network [Music] [Music] [Music] foreign foreign Naval battles like those at Midway and the great Marianas turkey shoot in the Philippine Sea had stripped Japan a valuable carriers and a vast number of aircraft many more planes both land and carrier-based had also been lost in vain attempts to prevent the Americans from capturing the Marshall Solomon and admiralty Islands or landing on New Guinea on the 17th of October the day that vice admiral tageero onishi took command of the Navy's first air fleet American warships began to assemble of sulawan Island at the mouth of lete Gulf in the Philippines the following day Japanese Imperial headquarters ordered implementation of operation show a pre-arranged plan to counter any such threat of invasion vice admiral takayo corrita's second Fleet including the massive battleships Musashi and Yamato were to slip through the San Bernardino Strait and attacked the American concentration from the north a dawn on the 25th of October corita had no carriers with him so air cover would be provided by onishi's land-based command reinforced by a flotilla detached from karita vice admiral kiwhide ashima's fifth Fleet would simultaneously Advance through the South China Sea to attack from the south a third Force containing a fleet carrier and three light carriers with their escorts was to sail from the Japanese Homeland to decoy American carriers away from the two Japanese fleets to protect kurita the first air fleet could muster scarcely 100 operational aircraft including just 30 Fighters the second air fleet expected to arrive shortly with reinforcements for operation show had recently suffered badly in clashes with American carrier-based aircraft off Formosa it would not be at full strength either surveying his poultry command onishi decided on a shock tactic a single aircraft crashing on a warship often did more damage than a conventional bombing attack he reasoned that if such crashes became deliberate great Devastation would be done to the enemy Fleet especially its carriers [Music] in effect onishi proposed launching a series of human guided missiles would be difficult to stop because the pilots would not deviate from course even if hit by anti-aircraft fire furthermore heroic success would bolster the morale of Japanese forces which had suffered serious reverses over the past 18 months knowledge that the attacking aircraft were intent on diving into them he hoped would in turn adversely affect American morale more uh um two days after taking a post onishi revealed his intention to a small group of Staff officers and Squadron commanders of the 201st Air Group and 26th air flotilla at mabalakat on the island of Luzon history hit is a streaming platform that is just for history fans with fantastic documentaries covering fascinating figures and moments in history from all over the world from the Battle of Trafalgar and the revolutionary era right through to the second world war if you are looking for your next military history fix then this is the service for you we're committed to Bringing history fans award-winning documentaries and podcasts that you cannot find anywhere else sign up now for a free trial and War Stories fans get 50 off their first three months just be sure to use the code War Stories at checkout he outlined the seriousness of the overall strategic position stressing the need to stop American aircraft from interfering with Kirito's passage to Let It Go we must hit the enemy's carriers and keep them neutralized for at least a week to achieve this he intended to organize suicide attack units composed of zero Fighters armed with 250 kilogram bombs with each plane to crash land onto an enemy carrier [Music] after the meeting dispersed Commander asayechi tamayi explained the proposal to 23 non-commissioned officers of the 201st Air Group they all agreed to implement it according to tamay in a frenzy of emotion and joy referring to the typhoon that destroyed a Mongol Fleet in the 13th century tamayi said we have set a Kamikaze in motion meaning divine wind the term Kamikaze would be adopted by the Allies to describe the suicide Airmen [Music] on the 20th of October 1944 onishi formally ordered the 201st Air Group to organize a special attack core which would if possible by the 25th of October destroy or disable the enemy carrier forces in the waters east of the Philippines the core was to be called the shimpoo attack unit consisting of 26 fighter planes of which half were to be assigned to crash diving missions and the remainder were to escort the kamikaze pilots were treated as Heroes and onishi told them that they were already Gods without Earthly desires like Samurai Warriors they wore a folded white cloth around their head initially designed to keep the Warrior's eyes clear of hair and sweat but these imprinted with a crimson Circle became the kamakazi's badge of honor writing later one of onishi's Staff officers explained that it was only natural that Japanese fighting men were determined to sacrifice their lives for Emperor and Nation such patriotism had a spiritual basis the deep-rooted belief that the entire nation society and even Cosmos was unified in the single emperor the Japanese warriors code of Bushido which influenced the Kamikaze emphasized not only bravery but the desire to die a purposeful death at an appropriate place and time The Last Words which many kamikaze pilots shouted into their microphones as they began their final Dives would be long live the emperor I don't know foreign but that mission and others on the three succeeding days were frustrated by unpredictable rain squalls and low cloud no enemy ships were even sighted meanwhile the Yamato section of the shimpoo unit comprising five zeros with three escorts had flown 400 miles south to Cebu Island to form the basis of another Kamikaze unit at the Cebu Air Base all but two of the non-commissioned ranks who were sick volunteered immediately and were soon joined by officers Keen to take part alerted on the 21st of October by reconnaissance reports of enemy carriers within range five zeros were preparing to take off when American fighters and bombers attacked the Airfield a troyed them all three more did get airborne later but two returned without finding a Target the third simply disappeared potential Kamikaze aircraft the had been lost for nothing and like seiki's men at madalacat three more days of frustration ahead onishi's worst fears were 24th of October reports came in that kurita's second Fleet had been heavily attacked by American carrier-borne aircraft three battleships being damaged and the Musashi the first air fleet and the shimpoo Kamikaze unit in particular had failed in its primary objective the Musashi was one of three massive battleships built by the Japanese specifically to challenge the American Fleet in a fleet action Laden she was 70 000 tons she had main Armament of 18-inch guns and secondly armored of six-inch guns she carried seven aircraft so she was in fact an enormous ship loss of the Musashi in this action together with the loss for so many aircraft carriers meant that the Japanese were greatly reduced in their ability to challenge the Americans at sea it meant that the Kamikaze tactic then became even more important at last on the 25th of October with a force of five Kamikaze and four escorts Seiki claimed the first Kamikaze victim shortly after 10 45 he and another zero crashed onto the escort carrier Cinderella which sank and the other kamikazes damaged three more escort carriers in rear Admiral Clifton Sprague's covering Force for The Landings on the tactic that caught the Americans off guard Japanese Imperial headquarters in Tokyo swiftly issued a sensational communique stating that the shikishima unit of the Kamikaze special attack Corps had attacked an enemy task force containing four carriers 30 miles Northeast of suluan Island and the two planes hit one carrier which was definitely sunk a third plane hit another carrier setting into flame and a fourth plane hit a cruiser which sank instantly in truth only a slight exaggeration on the 26th of October the cebu-based Yamato unit launched two attacks totaling five kamikazes and three escorts of which one escort returned to claim that a carrier had been sunk and another damaged in reality only the Suwanee escort carrier had been damaged nevertheless in two days the kamikazes had made a promising start to onishi's Unique campaign yet on the other hand the Japanese Naval forces had suffered grievously the flotilla detached from karita was surprised at attempting to negotiate the siliguro strait losing two battleships sunk three destroyers and one Cruiser badly damaged alerted by this catastrophe Admiral shima's fifth Fleet turned back had lost two Cruisers to pursuing aircraft ozawa's decoy Force did succeed in attracting several of the American carriers away from Lady golf but American aircraft sank all of the decoy forces four carriers in three days the Japanese lost three battleships four carriers ten Cruisers and nine destroyed aircraft had failed to protect them the second air fleet's conventional attacks making very little impression on the American Fleet despite launching over 250 aircraft on the 24th and 25th of October income on the 25th of October just five kamikazes had sent one U.S carrier and damaged two or three others onishi was convinced that only Kamikaze tactics could inflict decisive damage on The Americans for two days he tried to persuade vice admiral Shigeru fukudome that the second athlete should adopt them on o200 on the 26th of October after prolonged and exhausting discussions fugodome at length agreed the two air fleets were then brought together as the combined land-based Air Force Under fukudomi with onishi as his chief of staff the number of Kamikaze volunteers now rapidly increased within 24 hours of fukudomi agreeing to follow onishi's tactic four units had been formed in the 701st air group from the second air fleet isolated successes continued to be recorded on the 28th of October the light Cruiser Denver was damaged but a major Naval clash with the opportunity for decisive election did not immediately develop there are two types of American Cruisers heavy and light they were both approximately ten thousand tons the difference was in the Armament that They Carried the heavy Cruisers carried eight-inch Armament the light Cruiser's six-inch Armament they both had a speed of about 32 knots but the importance of the light Cruiser was it had a greater operational Range 14 000 miles at 15 knots [Music] the standard operational Force became three Kamikaze aircraft with two escorts the latter necessary to fight off attackers and bring back news of the mission experience pilots who volunteered for kamakazi service were instead reserved for escort Duty as the number of Kamikaze units multiplied and the supply of available zero Fighters inevitably decreased Judy bombers carrying a 500 pound bomb were allocated to the kamikaze pilots more varied methods of approach evolved too tax would be made from different altitudes high-level flight at 18 to 20 000 feet was Justified on the grounds that interception was less likely at that height and it was easier for inexperienced Pilots to maneuver the dying had to be shallowed to avoid loss of control through the force of gravity Japanese was a dive bomber with a two-man crew speed of 350 miles per hour but it had also been used in two other roles as an armed reconnaissance bomber and also when it was land-based as a night fighter when it was used in the Kamikaze roll it only had one pilot of course and it carried 500 pound bomb thing with the Judy bomber as with some of the other kamikazes was that sometimes instead of just crashing straight into the deck they dropped the bomb first and then dived into the deck which meant that there was a double explosion [Music] the alternative ultra low level approach was devised to counteract American radar which was thought able to detect high altitude aircraft a hundred miles away once an enemy Target ship was cited kamikaze pilots flying at low level were told to climb quickly to 12 to 15 000 feet and adopt a steep dive at relatively short range onto the deck of the target hitting the side of a ship was less effective before they took off kamikaze pilots bequeathed their belongings to friends and wrote final letters to their families often enclosing personal mementos like locks of hair foreign foreign foreign at all you know [Music] loss of so many Japanese ships in the Battle of Little Gulf caused thoughts of a major Naval confrontation to recede onishi argued that the Kamikaze should Now operate in conjunction with army units to attack American Invasion vessels including transports not solely to concentrate on carins he secured the agreement of Imperial headquarters to increase the Special Attack Force by 300 aircraft yeah in the event only 150 aircraft set out for training in Formosa of which 140 arrived carrying an additional eight pilots who had hitched lids these were the recruits who required to fill out the Kamikaze Force have given a lasting incorrect impression that all the volunteers were untrained for these recruits because of the deteriorating situation only seven days of preparation could be made available the first two days were devoted to practicing takeoffs the next two to formation flying the final three to approaching an attacking Target once the Americans had taken Leyte Island it proved too swampy to allow the building of airfields so general Douglas MacArthur determined to take mindoro Island 300 miles north foreign [Music] on the 12th of December 1944 a task force sailed from Leyte only to come under Fierce attack from Kamikaze aircraft which used the small islands in the Philippine chain as cover and came in low to avoid radar detection the light crews in Nashville was hit suffering 137 dead and almost 200 wounded including the Task Force Commander Brigadier General William C Duncan the Destroyer harridan was also damaged by a Kamikaze leaving 15 dead and 25. ships turned back but survive the fletcher-class Destroyer was the main Destroyer used in the Pacific War by the Americans she had a speed of 37 knots she carried 10 torpedo tubes with depth charges and therefore she had an anti-submarine role which made her ideal to protect Capital ships such as battleships and cruises but the flesh across Destroyer also had very effective radar which meant that it was also ideal for Picket Duty in advance of the main Fleet speed and maneuverability were the main characteristics of the fletcher-class destroyer in the in the Pacific War the mindoro Convoy sailed on and carrier-based Hellcat Fighters accounted for another 30 Japanese aircraft some of them Kamikaze before they could reach their targets once mindaro had been secured MacArthur launched a major attack on the principal island of Luzon where the capital Manila and extensive clarkfield Air Base was situated on the 2nd of January 1945 another powerful task force protected by battleships Cruisers destroyers and carriers of the U.S 7th Fleet left Leyte the kanakazis made the voyage a painful ordeal on the 4th of January the escort carrier Armani Bay was so badly damaged that she had to be sent following day 16 kamikazes evaded the fleet defenses and nine American and Australian ships in the Armada were hit others found ingenious ways of deflecting the danger the escort carried a Savo Island used a Searchlight to Blind and confuse her potential execution even the landing area of lingayan bay on the west coast of the island did not provide Refuge from noon until dusk on the 6th of January determine Kamikaze attack sank a Minesweeper and damaged a dozen other vessels including two battleships the Kamikaze aircraft which crashed into the bridge of the battleship in New Mexico killed 29 including the British liaison officer Lieutenant General Herbert Lumsden three days the kamikazes caused over 1 000 American and Australian casualties the Kamikaze threat to the Luzon Landings abated only when American aircraft from Admiral William F halsey's third Fleet carriers forced the Japanese to abandon airfields on Busan by the 7th of January the danger from there was over from the 20th of October 1944 until the 6th of January 1945 the Japanese claimed that Kamikaze aircraft operating from the Philippines sank 37 American warships and damaged 59 a total of 96. in fact they sank 16 and damaged 87. a total of 103. the kamikazes were not yet finished surviving units now withdrew to Formosa where they joined the new recruits anticipating an American assault on Okinawa however Imperial headquarters concentrated the bulk of its air strength in the southern Japanese island of Kyushu Formosa the first air fleet which had regained its independent status after the breakup of the short-lived combined land-based Air Force was reorganized with a new special attack call nitaka unit established on the 18th of January 1945 its dedication ceremony onishi emphasized that the noble Spirit of this Kamikaze attack Corps would keep the Homeland from ruin when an American task force was spotted South southeast of Formosa on the 21st of January the nitaka units and 10 Kamikaze Judy bombers and zero Fighters into action escorted by seven zeros against a Target 200 miles away this Force damaged the aircraft carrier to kondaroga like carrier Langley and Destroyer Maddox [Music] on the 20th of January 1945 the Imperial headquarters Drew up an outline of Army and Navy operations designed to protect the Japanese home air strength would be concerned so that a decisive blow could be delivered once an invading Fleet came within the defense sphere a joint Army and Navy operational plan agreed on the 6th of February ordered a concentration of all units in the area of the East China Sea during February and March 1945. primary emphasis was laid on the Speedy activation training and mass employment at their special attack units by now several Japanese Army Air Force Special units were available for Kamikaze operations no you got um foreign meanwhile the Americans continued to reinforce their forces in the Philippines which conventional action by the third Japanese athlete failed to prevent so under orders from the athlete commander on the 18th of February 1945 captain ryichi sugiyama of its 601st air group called for volunteers to form a kamakazi unit he was overwhelmed with applicants he selected Lieutenant morikawa to lead the new unit comprising 32 aircraft which officially came into being on the 19th of February [Music] with no special training this formation took off on the 21st of February to attack American warships at Iwo Jima 800 miles east of Okinawa which had been invaded six days early returning escorts claimed one carrier and four transports sunk a second carrier and four other warships damaged in reality the escort carrier Bismarck C was lost the fleet carrier Saratoga escort carrier longer point a supply ship and two transports damaged [Music] this was the only Kamikaze attack at Iwo Jima which fell to the Americans on the 16th of March meanwhile the Bridgehead on Iwo Jima had been established and American warships been withdrawn to ilithi where Japanese reconnaissance aircraft identified eight Fleet carriers and seven escort carriers on the 11th of March 24 kamikazes took off from its base at katori to attack these tempting Targets in variable visibility and into a strong headwind due to poor navigation and mechanical failures only 11 reached urethia's Darkness fell there were no escorts to report their achievements but American records show that the carrier Randolph was damaged by March 1945 Japan's Naval Air strength comprised 2100 aircraft organized into five athletes one of which was deployed around Tokyo the first athlete on Formosa was already committed to Kamikaze tactics with the surface Fleet now impotent the fifth and 10th air fleets respectively on Kyosho and Honshu Islands were also ordered to prepare for Kamikaze attacks making a total of 1300 potential suicide bombers there were 2100 aircraft available the Japanese Navy in the area of Okinawa and the Japanese main Japanese Islands but of course all of those could not be committed to the Kamikaze tactic 1 300 Only were available because 800 were immediately defending Tokyo but again out of that 1 300 not all could become a car so because some of them had to act as fighters to combat the Americans and also to protect the Kamikaze as they went towards their targets so we're talking possibly of an area of round about 600 were available for kamagazi tactics during the final days of March a massive American task force converged on the island of Okinawa the last major stronghold before the Japanese Homeland 330 miles to the Northeast unknown to its members the Japanese would send another type of Kamikaze weapon against them the okar Cherry Bilson the piloted rocket-driven projectile which could be slung beneath a Betty twin-engine Bomber had been invented in summer 1944 and perfected that autumn a special unit under Captain okamoto had been formed to train volunteer Pilots at konohike air base near Tokyo the okar was a small single-seater wooden projectile packed with 1800 kilograms of explosive would be released 10 miles from its Target and use five rockets on the final independent approach run its pilot had to climb into the your car from the Betty and pull a lever to detach his craft thereafter he was on a suicide Plunge the Americans dubbed this weapon baka foolish but it posed yet another serious threat to their warships foreign mascara air cover for the 430 assault vessels committed to the invasion of Okinawa was provided by an American task force of 106 warships under vice admiral Mark a mitcher whose Fleet carriers contain nearly 1 000 aircraft the British were also operating a smaller task force of 22 warships and 244 aircraft principally to counter any Kamikaze threat from sakoshima Islands 150 miles Southwest of Okinawa further north in an early attempt to counter the Kamikaze threat aircraft from Admiral Raymond desperance's fifth Fleet had already begun pounding air bases on Kyushu and Honshu after refueling at Sea on the 16th of March spruance closed on his targets only to come under attack from 50 kamikaze pilots on the 19th of March two carriers the Franklin and the WASP were damaged by high-level bombers from the very airfields which they were seeking to annihilate we were sitting on the deck of the orc town waiting to take off and all of a sudden the cruiser that was off our Port battle started firing into the clouds and all of a sudden the plane comes out of the clouds and is aimed at us and I watched his bomb come down I thought sure it was going to light right in my cockpit but it dismissed the port side of the carrier and I got some of the uh Splash from the bomb anyhow they shot that plane down the next plane that came in uh dropped his bomb and it dropped short to the the starboard bow the third plane that came in hit um hit on the starboard side side of the Yorktown and killed a bunch of guys they canceled the flight and we retired to the ready room and uh um they announced that the smoke we could see in the Horizon was the Franklin so that was we lucked out the Franklin didn't despite claims of hitting four carriers the kamikazes caused no significant damage that day nor were they very much more successful on the 20th of March 20 Judy kanakazi bombers were credited with damaging two carriers but actually hit the Destroyer Halsey Powell submarine devil fish [Music] early on the 21st of March Japanese reconnaissance aircraft reported three U.S carriers southeast of Kyushu and vice admiral matomi yogaki commanding the fifth athlete decided to use okaz for the first time because of the relative slowness of the Betty mother aircraft the unit Commander captain okamoro called for a strong escort only 55 Fighters were available however hugaki ruled that no better opportunity to use the rocket-powered okar would arise so the operation went ahead a force of 18 bombers all but two with an attached okcar therefore took off shortly after 11 30. but only 30 of the scheduled 55 escorts appeared the result was Carnage American fighters attacked the force about 50 miles short of the target area for any of the old car Pilots had transferred to their craft the duty bombers promptly released their okaza and try to escape all were shot down or simply disappeared after almost a year of research development and crew training the operation was a complete fate the first phase of the invasion of Okinawa which commenced on the 1st of April went well for the Americans raising hopes that the raids on the southern Japanese Islands had neutered the kamikazes on the 6th of April that dream was dashed that day the Japanese launched operation tenichi Heaven one against the fleet of Okinawa with 700 aircraft from Kyushu the radar-equipped outlying screen of Destroyers 50 miles in advance of the main Fleet quickly came under attack a story circulated later that annoyed at being targeted by the kamikazes the crew of one Destroyer on picket Duty painted an enormous arrow on the deck with huge letters at its apex carriers that way although about 200 of the kamikazes failed to reach the main Fleet the remainder did cause damage overall the Japanese lost 355 aircraft in these attacks of the 6th and 7th of April but they sank three destroyers a tank Landing vessel and two ammunition ships besides damaging 24 other vessels 28 kanakasis in American ships as the term task force suggests it's a grouping of ships either for a permanent or a temporary role for example the fast carrier Task Force Under Admiral mitcher had a permanent role that was task force 58. but for example in the invasion of Okinawa there was a temporary Force the task force 51 which was a joint expeditionary Force to land the troops on Okinawa there were two other temporary task force task force 52 and task force 54 which carried out immediate roles in direct support of The Landings in addition there were two carrier task force tassels 57 was the British task force and task force 58 was the American fast carrier Force task force 57 and tassels 58 particular purpose was to soften up the Japanese defenses before The Landings and protect the ships during the course of The Landings the Japanese Onslaught continued relentlessly on the next day and following days during the 12th and the 13th of April 185 Kamikaze sank or damaged 14 warships on the 12th of April another okara attack with eight aircraft was launched by okamoto's 721st Air Group from kayushu but only succeeded in damaging the Destroyer Stanley that same day a Kamikaze aircraft sank the Destroyer Nana Del rebelli with a whirlwind of planes coming at us from every direction 150 kamikazes mounted yet another determined assault many were shot down short of their targets the two crashed on the carrier Bunker Hill killing 389 and wounding 264. Admiral Mitchell was forced to transfer his flag to Enterprise which was itself hit three days later the kamikazes attacked out of the northern Haze in groups combat Air Patrol sent up by the American carriers sought to shoot them down before they were committed to their final dive anti-aircraft Gunners to blow them apart with shells as they approached combat Air Patrol essentially protected a vertilla or a task force which was in range of the enemy and it normally comprised Fighters that went up in relays to defend the fleet against any enemy Air Attack though also reconnaissance aircraft which had dual roles they had radar which enabled them to spot any incoming aircraft they also had an anti-submarine rule which enabled them to alert the fleet in case they're a submarine attack in the office [Music] between the 6th of April and the 22nd of June 1945 when the Americans finally secured Okinawa including our car sorties a coordinated series of 1465 Kamikaze attacks were carried out by day and not the Japanese claimed 11 warships sunk 102 damaged incredibly American records show 26 ships sunk and 164 damaged by kamikazes during this period Commander nakajama later concluded that these high figures must include the victims of sporadic small-scale suicide efforts which occupied another 200 Army and Navy players the Americans estimated that about 15 percent of the Kamikaze attacks of Okinawa were effective apart from ships affected by direct hits another 97 were damaged by near misses nearly 10 000 American Naval casualties were suffered approximately half of them caused by kamikaze undoubtedly the kamikazes did cause considerable Havoc among the American warships during the final months of the Pacific War but despite their fatalistic determination they failed to achieve the decisive Victory sought by the Japanese High command Okinawa sharply illustrates this post-war the United States strategic bombing survey declared the Kamikaze Macabre effective supremely practical under the circumstances supported and stimulated by a powerful propaganda campaign so menacing with the Kamikaze attacks that in mid-april 1945 for a short time the successful invasion of Okinawa hung in the balance and news of them did not become public knowledge in the United States until the 12th of April 1945. six months after they started the Kamikaze is undoubtedly did enormous amount of damage to the American fleets at different times they not only damaged but they sank a number of vessels but they never made the Americans change their plans the nearest they came to disrupting the plans was against Okinawa in April 1945 when in the early phase of that operation before the beach had been established they sent in 820 kamitasi attacks but never did the Americans change their plans or indeed modify them [Music] if a kamikaze pilot could not find a suitable Target He was ordered to return to his base Preparatory to another mission he should not sacrifice his life unnecessarily so after the war there were many kamikaze pilots who had either aborted a mission or had never flown on one to interrogate members of the U.S bombardment investigation Mission closely questioned these survivors and the voluntary nature of the Kamikaze Force soon became absolutely clear emphasizing that the nation's basic philosophy is to sacrifice oneself for the country one interviewee held that the idea of Kamikaze tactics was discussed by pilots during the Great Mariana's turkey shoot of the Marianas in June 1944. the concept that the best fighting method was to sink a battleship with one aircraft developed quite naturally in the fighting Spirit of the younger Pilots another interviewed insisted that whole air groups applied for the Kamikaze Mission due to the tense battle situation in late 1944 a former selector of men for the Kamikaze program confirmed that air groups did volunteer on Mass but explained that only suns were not included a University graduate with minimal military training stated that we volunteered and determined to sacrifice ourselves so that our country could win a victory and Safeguard its heritage denying any spiritual influence One Survivor pointed to a purely practical reason so long as we used only ordinary air fighting or bombardment with our inferior and few aircraft it was impossible to win a victory over the overwhelming American forces whatever their motivation spiritual practical patriotic or simply fatalistic the kamikaze pilots for a short time transformed the Pacific War overall they claim to have sunk or damage 276 warships in reality the figure was 322. 34 sunk and 288 damaged on the other hand they claimed to have sunk six Fleet carriers in damage 38 whereas they actually sank none and damaged only 16. these were the critical figures to undermine the American Invasion forces in the Philippines at Iwo Jima and Okinawa they had to destroy the fleet carriers a final Hall of just three escort carriers sunk [Music] foreign foreign [Music] foreign December 7 1941 a state of War has existed United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by Naval and Air Forces of the Empire of Japan at 8 A.M local time on Sunday the 7th of December 1941 171 Japanese bombers and dive bombers armed with high explosives and Torpedoes escorted by 43 Fighters attacked the American Pacific Fleet in its base at Pearl Harbor nearby airfields fields on the Hawaiian island of Oahu a second wave of 124 bombers and 36 Fighters arrived 40 minutes later when the dust settled 2403 Americans were dead or missing another 1178 wounded including 103 civilian casualties attackers lost 29 of their 384 seven of the eight battleships at anchor and in Dry Dock were sunk or disabled five of the six airfields devastated 65 aircraft destroyed on the ground Japanese use basically three types of aircraft in the attack on Pearl Harbor the first one was the fighter the zero fighter which was faster than any Allied fighter at the time had two 20 millimeter cannon and two 7.7 millimeter machine gun it was I say very fast 350 miles per hour its aim was to protect the bombers as they came in and also to strafe the airfields and knee ships in the harbor the second aircraft they used was the valve dive bomber that had a speed of 266 miles an hour and carried and a bomb load of 800 pounds just over 800 pounds the third type that they used was the Kate now that was a name that the Allies gave to the aircraft and that was a aircraft an aircraft which could be used either as a torpedo bomber or as a level bomber it could carry one torpedo or the equivalent amount in tonnage which is 800 pounds the United States was outraged next day addressing Congress President Roosevelt referred to December the 7th 1941 a date that will live in infamy and on the streets angry citizens called for Revenge 18 months earlier after the surrender of France only 15 percent had favored War stroke the USA became a United not divided country industrial disputes were called off as workers patriotically resumed work and young men flocked to the recruiting offices Japanese Nationals were rounded up and in turned gone was all thought of isolationism and the Hope widely expressed in newspapers only that morning of continuing peace so alarmed were West Coast communities that a Los Angeles radio station warned its listeners about impending invasion the mayor of San Francisco declared a state of emergency and the governor of California called out the National Guard well my brother and I were we had an apartment together Sunday that Sunday morning I know it was about 10 o'clock 10 30 in the morning and all of a sudden over the radio here come the news that they were bombing Pearl Harbor uh and boy oh hell broke it was first we couldn't believe it uh but I'll tell you by the next morning and the morning after they had sandbags machine guns set up on practically all the uh intersections in Santa Monica particularly around the Douglas aircraft plant to protect it because we all knew at that time we were just we would have made book that the Japanese rumors were out like they always are the Japanese were about to invade the west coast and we were all just secure we get up next morning and we're going to see Japanese soldiers running up and down the streets in Santa Monica it soon became evident that Pearl Harbor had not suffered alone Thailand British Malaya and Hong Kong had been invaded American bases in the Philippines on Guam wake and Midway Islands bombed the main Japanese aim was domination of Southeast Asia to secure the area's natural resources especially oil the preemptive strike on the Pacific Fleet was an attempt to prevent American interference before that Conquest had been completed and allow time for an effective defensive Cordon to be established in England Winston Churchill reflected that the USA was like a gigantic boiler once the fire is lit under it there is no limit to the power it can generate how right he would be [Music] the Japanese strategy was the brainchild of Admiral izaroko Yamamoto commander-in-chief of the fleet he believed that the United States with her own Southeast Asian commercial and territorial interests must become involved in any war and that to strike first would be Japan's best option an advantageous negotiated piece might then follow admo Yamamoto had become CNC the Japanese combined Fleet in 1939 and at the time of Pearl Harbor was age 57 he was a leading Naval strategist in fact Dean eating Japanese Naval strategist who'd had experienced the United States had been to Harvard and had also been the naval attache in Washington so he'd studied there for the American methods and in particular was interested in aircraft carriers and development of aircraft carriers he knew what the strength of the Americans was and he therefore initially opposed the war once it was be decided upon he put his whole heart behind the Pearl Harbor project in his belief that a swift aerial assault on Pearl Harbor to [ __ ] the American Fleet offered the best chance of success Yamamoto was encouraged by the daring attack of British carrier-based swordfish on Toronto Harbor in November 1940 which sank three Italian battleships and effectively destroyed the Italian Mediterranean Fleet in June 1940 when the Italians came into the war it looked as if the Italian Navy was going to dominate the Mediterranean the British decided they would have to take out the Italian Fleet of it all possible and on the 11th 12th of November during the night they launched an attack by swordfish aircraft from HMS illustrious they launched it from 170 miles Southeast of Toronto and it took the aircraft two and a half hours to get there when they arrived they sank three battleships and only lost two swordfish and the important lesson as far as the Japanese were concerned was it was a very shallow Harbor so not only did they attack ships in Harbor they attacked them in a shallow Harbor having overcome opposition not least from Admiral Nagano chief of the naval staff and Admiral nagumo who would command the task force against Pearl Harbor Yamamoto delegated preparation of the attack to Commander minoro genda development of a modified aerial torpedo suitable for use in shallow water and special training for air Crews went ahead before gender had finalized his operational plan command agenda was the person given the responsibility of planning the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941 he was 37 he'd had experience of being the assistant Naval attache in London and therefore he knew a lot about the development of aircraft carriers and torpedo bombers in particular he was interested in the taranto operation he therefore studied that very closely and derived from that not only the idea of attacking with a surprise attack on the American Fleet in Pearl Harbor but also the need to develop a special torpedo would be effective at a shallow depth so not only did he plan the operation but he was very much involved in developing the torpedo which carried out the attack on the 26th of November 1941 nagumu set sail for the coral islands of Northeastern Japan in command of six aircraft carriers and two battleships with 12 escorting Cruisers and destroyers and eight tankers his 12-day passage to the point where the aircraft will be launched 275 miles north of Pearl Harbor was conveniently masked by storms and fog ahead an advanced expeditionary force of 27 submarines carrying five additional [ __ ] submarines was already closing on Oahu with hindsight the Americans had several indications that something was afoot but intelligence data requires correlation and accurate interpretation to be effective above all the will to believe the unthinkable governed by its policy of international Detachment after the bloodletting of the first world war and a long-standing aversion to overseas entanglements which could be traced through presidents Monroe and Jefferson to George Washington politicians and military leaders were still psychologically attuned to peace although contact was lost by radio interception stations with the Japanese carriers due to an unexpected change in their call signs American intelligence sources concluded that they were still in home Waters at worst they might be on their way to attack the Soviet Maritime Provinces Northwest of Japan or British and Dutch colonies in the south no special efforts were made therefore to identify more precisely potential anti-American activity except to note vulnerability of the Philippines and nagumu's warships went undetected 3400 miles from Japan Pearl Harbor seemed secure evidence of Japanese mini submarine activity of Oahu and radar reports of a large formation of approaching aircraft immediately prior to the surprise aerial attack were not taken seriously in the relaxed atmosphere of the weekend it was easy to believe that an expected force of B-17 bombers from the American Mainland or aircraft from the carrier Enterprise off the Hawaiian Coast were coming into land when Admiral husband e Kimmel commander-in-chief of the Pacific Fleet was informed that the Japanese are attacking Pearl Harbor and this is no drill he was dumbfounded like the Army Commander Lieutenant General Walter short he had never envisaged such an onslaught only sabotaged by Japanese residents in the event of hostilities was considered even remotely possible is a career officer he'd been in the Navy 30 years and at the time of Pearl Harbor was age 59. he was not though experiencing aircraft carriers and he did not believe that the Hawaiian Islands were at risk from an air attack he didn't leave for one moment that that would happen so therefore he was ill-prepared for the attack which did happen on December 1941. he was found guilty of dereliction of Duty and was removed from his post 10 days after the operation but after the war a congressional inquiry cleared him of that particular charge and said he just made an error of judgment the politicians and public at home had not anticipated a Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor either in shock they quickly demanded action to avenge such a treacherous and deadly assault fortunately the aircraft carriers Hornet and Enterprise had not been in Harbor and survived with their aircraft despite damage to its Shore installations Pearl Harbor remained an operational base then many personnel from the stricken warships were saved to fight on on the 17th of December Kimmel was succeeded in command of the Pacific Fleet by Admiral Chester W Nimitz who decided to make rapid use of his carriers by attacking japanese-held Islands to raise American civilian and Military morale which had been so severely dented [Music] adminimitzer joined the Navy in 1907 and had been a Submariner in his early part of his career after that he'd become a staff officer and in 1939 as an admiral had been in charge of the Bureau of navigation which meant that he was responsible for the development of the U.S Navy in the period immediately before the Pearl Harbor debacle once you've taken over a CNC Pacific he made very quickly use of the carriers so that he could restore morale he used them to attack Japanese held islands and he had a very good reputation for picking good subordinates and therefore he had a good team around him a plan to carrier-based attack on Wake Island captured by the Japanese on the 23rd of December 1941 had to be abandoned in January 1942 for technical reasons but on the 1st of February vice admiral William F Halsey led the carriers Enterprise and Yorktown against the Marshall and Gilbert Islands and a month later the Enterprise hit wake and Marcus fewer than 1200 miles from Japan on the 10th of March aircraft from the carriers Lexington and Yorktown attacked a Japanese invasion Force off New Guinea sinking four ships and damaging five others these were mere pinpricks and in Washington Admiral Ernest J King chief of the U.S naval staff began to consider a more effective response to Pearl Harbor an air raid on Tokyo from the American carriers Japanese land-based aircraft were capable of operating 300 miles offshore picket boats are further 200 miles from Land naval aircraft could not be launched outside these ranges to going closer would Hazard the carriers long-range Army Air Corp bombers might do the job though in January 1942 King discussed the problem with his principal staff officer Captain Francis s low in turn low approached Lieutenant General H.H Arnold Commanding General of the Army Air Forces who enthusiastically backed The Proposal as yet no feasibility study had been carried out Arnold therefore tasked Lieutenant Colonel James H Doolittle his director of operational requirements without letting him know why to find an aircraft which could take off in 500 feet carry a ton of bombs and Fly 2 000 miles a further constraint was that the takeoff area would be a mere 75 feet wide Doolittle aged 45 held a doctorate in aeronautical Sciences had served in the U.S air service from 1917 till 1930 afterwards gaining Fame for adventurous long-distance flying besides winning the Schneider and Thompson trophy races he had rejoined the U.S Army's air arm in July 1940 and moved to Washington on Arnold's staff in December 1941. James Harold Doolittle was born close to San Francisco but spent most of his early years at gnome in Alaska being a very small chap he had to stand up for himself and quickly became a very conscious Street Fighter but at the same time he became interested in new mechanical things he went off to study mining engineering at Berkeley University before joining the Air Service in the interwar period he became very interested in the air service and an accomplished Airman but in 1930 he left the full-time service to join shell petroleum and he's traveled the world promoting civil aviation but when the war was at hand in 1940 he was recalled to the service at the age of 43 as a major and of course one of his first jobs was to plan the operation which would bear his name not only did he plan that operation but being of extremely energetic man made sure that he led it to following Arnold's instruction Doolittle discounted the Douglas B18 and b-23 concluding that only the North American B-25 Mitchell twin engine bomber with a wingspan of 67 feet 6 inches met the requirements oh one hell of an airplane with a reputation honestly ain't earned as being the most versatile medium bomber built by anybody in World War II if you want to do some of that airplane you just went ahead and done it and it would do a fine job in tactical training even had a 75 millimeter cannon in the nose it was a fine fine piece of weaponry it had a terrific muzzle velocity and a flat trajectory so they beefed up The Recoil mechanism on it but it worked beautifully we'd make runs on targets out there in the water from a mile away and that projectile coming out of that 75 just flat it didn't drop it just straight on out there but they could not get the recoil dampened down enough and that will be 25 you chip off around that and it just you swear to God she just stop in the air you know momentarily and she'd shake like a dog getting out of the creek you know shaking off water only in this case a rivet's flying they found out after about 50 or 60 rounds that they had to survey the airplane when I say survey that means you Chuck it because they were just tearing them up Doolittle now learned the Target and was ordered to oversee technical aspects of the operation select and train the cruise special project number one or first aviation project had become a reality Captain Donald B Duncan dealt with the naval side of the mission and in due course at Pearl Harbor he briefed Nimitz and Halsey who would command the naval task force prior to sailing only a tight-knit group of officers knew the targets foreign the third week of January 1942 Doolittle arranged for a b-25b to be sent to the Mid-Continent Airline works at Minneapolis for alterations including fitting of an autopilot additional collapsible rubber fuel tanks were installed in the Bombay and fuselage to increase the fuel capacity by 60 percent the bomb racks were modified special photographic equipment fitted before the operation the lower ventral gun turret would also be removed b-25b bomber was ideal for the operation which became known as the Doolittle Raid the operation could only have aircraft on the aircraft carrier which had a wingspan of less than 75 feet and this had a wingspan of just over 67 feet and a length of 52 feet so that therefore was a good aircraft for that particular operation and was chosen by Doolittle for that reason it had a crew of five with five machine guns before the operation though two of those were taken out so when the operation went ahead they only had three machine guns the important thing about it was that it had a a range of 2000 miles that would give them the opportunity of taking off from the aircraft carriers bombing Tokyo and as planned go on to China if all had gone according to plan so the characteristics as far as the do literate were concerned was it had the wingspan which allowed it to be on board the carriers and also had the range Doolittle decided that the 17th bombardment group based at Pendleton Oregon comprising the 34th 37th 95th bombing and 89th photo reconnaissance squadrons would fly the mission Brigadier General Carl a spatz then on Arnold's staff but a future commander of the U.S Strategic Air Forces in the Pacific listed 10 Japanese cities with important industrial targets on the 28th of January Arnold disarmingly informed a white house meeting that at present a man is working on the proposition of bombing Japan from China or Russia need for security Justified this subterfuge foreign on the 2nd of February watched by Duncan two b-25s took off from the Hornet of Norfolk Virginia proving that this maneuver was practical [Music] shortly afterwards Doolittle summarized for Arnold his intention to bomb and fire the industrial center of Japan he outlined details of the proposed bomb loads and Signal procedures flying a bomber of the deck of a carrier was hazardous enough landing on it again impossible So the plan was to overfly Japan and land in nationalist-occupied China modifications to the aircraft will be completed by the 15th of March increasingly unfavorable weather in the Target area could be expected after the end of April so the mission must be mounted with this in mind [Music] Doolittle ended his briefing document with the Bold statement Lieutenant Colonel j h Doolittle Air corps will be in charge of the preparations for and will be in personal command of the project Arnold did not immediately agree declaring that no staff officer should expect to lead every Mission which he planned Doolittle persisted and in mid-march eventually received Arnold's reluctant sanction I beat it back to Elgin and hoped that hap wouldn't order me to stay home he never did do little recalled the aircraft carrier hornet together with Enterprise in Yorktown with three aircraft carriers were laid down specifically as new class aircraft carriers in 1939 and commissioned in 1941 so she was a new aircraft carrier at the time the Doolittle Raid she had a speed of 32.5 knots she had a tonnage of 26 000 and a crew of 2175. she was therefore a modern aircraft carrier the rigorous training program eliminated two b-25s through irreparable damage and one crew left voluntarily leaving 22 aircraft and 23 Crews there were other problems the added rubber fuel tanks tended to leak and Doolittle became exasperated with the belly turret a man could learn to play the violin good enough for Carnegie Hall before he could learn to fire this thing off it came with the bonus that more fuel could be carried the secret Northern high-level bomb site was removed and replaced by the low-level Mark Twain divine specifically for this operation Mitchell's carburettors were modified to ensure maximum fuel consumption at low level and two fake machine guns painted wooden broomsticks were placed in the tail position to deter pursuing Fighters in the third week of March a final trial took place shortly afterwards Duncan wired tell Jimmy to get on his horse the Navy was ready too haul it on its way from the East Coast via the Panama Canal to San Francisco once there on the 1st of April 1942 the b-25s were loaded onto hornet [Music] at 10 18 the following morning the aircraft carrier slipped anchor and in company with two Cruisers four destroyers and a refueling tanker left Port carrying a spare air crew and the naval liaison officer Miller who had officially been posted back to Pensacola A Farewell telephone message from Arnold to Doolittle ended goodbye good luck and come back safely during the afternoon of the 3rd of April the purpose and destination of the mission were broadcast Hornet officially recorded the cheers from every section of the ship greeted the announcement and morale reached a new high the accompanying ships were told to the Airmen were Bound for Tokyo detailed briefing of the bomber Crews now began including recommended Behavior if captured how to make friends and influence the Japs according to one cynical error do little stressed that at all costs bombing the Imperial Palace in Tokyo must be avoided and strenuous efforts made to avoid residential areas whenever possible the air Gunners practiced on kites and free flying balloons the b-25s too big to be transported in The Hornet's lifts had to be secured in the open on the flight deck which required constant checks to ensure that vibration had not interfered with control surfaces or made the aircraft liable to break loose in high seas a distinct disadvantage was that to make way for the bombers or on its own aircraft was stowed below making the flotilla vulnerable to Air Attack which fortunately did not materialize halsey's return flight from San Francisco to Pearl Harbor had been delayed by bad weather so Hornets rendezvous with his task group did not occur till the 13th of April after which Enterprise provided air cover for the whole Armada so when the two came together he had four Cruisers eight destroyers and two Oilers when he decided to carry out the operation he sent the Destroyers and Oilers back so when he the operation was launched he had simply with him the Cruisers and the two aircraft carriers of task force 16. the operational Plan called for Doolittle to take off immediately Hornet came within range of Japan in advance of the other b-25s to Mark the Tokyo targets with incendiaries at sunset this would allow the Mitchell's order to attack the Japanese Capital to do so after dark the rest of the bombs would go to Yokohama Nagoya and Kobe unknown to Halsey and Doolittle on the 11th of April the Chinese nationalist leader General Shan Kai-shek had asked for the mission to be postponed until May when he hoped to have captured more japanese-held territory so the task force sailed on eastwards unaware that satisfactory arrangements for their arrival in China had not been completed negotiations were hampered by need for security an unwillingness to reveal the true nature of the mission the most suitable Air Base was Chu Chao 50 miles Inland and some 1100 miles from Tokyo but quailin Kian yushan and lishu seemed feasible alternatives once halsey's carriers and cruisers had refueled a thousand miles from Japan on the 15th of April they left the Destroyers and the tankers behind Gusty weather interrupted the smooth operation of reconnaissance flights sent 200 miles ahead of the task force nevertheless no reports of enemy vessels or aircraft were received on the 16th and 17th of April so on the 17th of April the b-25s were fueled and positioned for takeoff white guidelines were painted on the deck for Pilots to follow with their nose wheels and left landing gear wheel this would ensure six feet clearance for the starboard Wing from the carrier superstructure Halsey remarked that were in the enemy's backyard Jimmy anything can happen from here in at 5 58 am on Saturday the 18th of April one of the aircraft covering the fleet reported enemy surface ship 36 degrees four minutes north 153 degrees 10 minutes east bearing 276 degrees true 42 miles believe cited by the enemy call the order an immediate alteration of course but at 7 38 am another Patrol boat was visually identified by Hornet whose radio room picked up a signal from the enemy vessel Halsey sent the cruiser to Nashville to sink the patrol boat which due to its low profile and Heavy Seas took close to an hour and the expenditure of 938 6-inch shells it was clear though that the Japanese boat had spotted the carrier so Halsey signaled hornet launch planes to Colonel Doolittle and gallon command good luck and God bless you the task force was by then 650 miles from Japan 150 miles short of the maximum agreed launch position to take off now would mean carrying out a daylight attack Doolittle did not even consider the contingency plan aborting and making for Midway rapidly calculating that his Mitchells would need even more fuel he ordered an additional 10 5 gallon cans of petrol to be carried dinghies and survival rations were already aboard pessimists suggested that even now the b-25s would run out of fuel well short of China [Music] we've been taking off in bad weather conditions Doolittle's 16 aircraft faced 640 miles before they got to their bombing points in Japan and then 1200 further miles before they got to China in theory this is all right because they had a maximum range of about 2 000 miles but of course weather conditions were such the possibility was that they were going to be in trouble with range they flew in daylight and the hope that they could evade detection they had to make an accurate landfall because they had to pick up specific targets they had been warned not to bomb civilian targets one of the problems they had apart from the weather and apart from the possibility of being cited was they had removed the under turret so they only had three machine guns 623 miles from land and 688 miles from the center of Tokyo 35 degrees 45 minutes north 153 degrees 40 minutes east at 0725 Doolittle took off with only a 467 feet run possible Halsey reflected that there wasn't a man topside who didn't help sweat him into the air one of his own Pilots recalled we watched him like Hawks wondering what the wind would do to him and whether he would get off in that little run toward the bow if he couldn't we couldn't weather conditions were atrocious with Hornets steaming into a 40 knot headwind Halsey recorded that the Wind and Sea were so strong that morning that green water was breaking over the carrier's ramps Lieutenant Edgar G Osborne was carefully positioned on the port side of the deck with a flag to signal each aircraft to commence its run so that it took off as the deck lifted each takeoff was perilous and potentially fatal from a slippery surface and with a cloud base of a thousand feet the Admiral wrote that one pilot hung on the brink until we nearly cataloged his effects so close was he to disaster this caused Miller the liaison officer to chalk on a board for the remaining Crews to see stabilizer in neutral every B-25 carried a crew of five two pilots a navigator a bombardier and an engineer Gunner three 500 pound bombs and a cluster of incendiaries the last of the 16 Mitchells took off at 0824 and a minute later the task force changed course commencing retirement from the area at 25 knots after fighting off pursuing enemy ships and aircraft it would reach Pearl Harbor on the 25th of April having one reconnaissance aircraft and two others through accidents on the way meanwhile a week earlier the b-25s had achieved complete surprise mainly because they had the Good Fortune to approach Japan just after conclusion of an Airaid precaution exercise many Defenders held fire believing them to be friendly aircraft returning to base Doolittle wrote that after takeoff he circled Hornet to establish his exact heading and checked the compass on his flight to Japan he passed and endeavored to avoid various civil and Naval craft until he made landfall near enable Shima north of the intended spot this would mean making an unscheduled approach to Tokyo from the north but allow him to evade anticipated strong defenses west of the city hugging the ground he dropped marker incendiaries before his high explosive bombs on his way to the Target do little sighted nine Fighters which were out of range and encountered anti-aircraft fire as he turned South towards the sea after bonnet his B-25 however was unscathed and he reached the Chinese Coast safely the ciao could not be raised on the radio with Darkness closing in the cloud ceiling down to 600 feet and hills in the vicinity 13 hours and 2250 miles after taking off from Hornet Doolittle gave the order to bail out Doodles crew crossed the Chinese Coast at one thousand feet in poor weather but because there was Hills in the area they went up to 8 000 feet failed to find any of the Chinese airfields which they've been briefed to look for and at 9 30 having covered 2250 miles Doolittle decided they would have to abandon the aircraft and they all bailed out he himself spent the night hiding in a mill three of his crew had been captured by gorillas and were very lucky to get away the fifth member of the crew had come down injured his ankle and had been taken into Care by friendly Chinese troops do little when the next morning found himself in trouble because he had to convince a Chinese major who was actually friendly and having done that he was taken to the center Center of administration in the province and found that his other four crew were there so all five of them came together like Doolittle skimming the rooftops and climbing only to 1500 feet to release their bombs the 12 other tokyo-bound aircraft began to release their loads at 12 15 on the designated industrial plants power stations and Munitions factories some would report inaccurate anti-aircraft fire and seeing a few Fighters which were fooled into keeping out of range by the dummy guns in the Mitchell's Tales the v25 detailed for Nagoya flew through heavy fire from the ground but was confident that it had hit its targets so was the Kobe machine which meant no opposition at all the bomber Bound for Osaka is believed to have attacked Nagoya instead use of the Mitchells prompted some Japanese naval officers to insist that they must have flown directly from Midway Island the Japanese immediately broke off the bombed areas so that little information leaked out they claimed that only a single Hospital in Tokyo had been struck although it did not cause widespread destruction which had never been possible with such a small Force unlimited bomb loads The Raid did hit significant targets like the aircraft carrier ryoho in Dry Dock [Music] unfortunately the Doolittle Raid did cause some collateral damage that is almost inevitable but it also hit a diesel production factory an aircraft Factory an Army ammunition dump a naval dockyard and damaged an aircraft carrier which was in dock its amount of damage that it did therefore was relatively small in specific terms but the psychological effect was immense it thoroughly shocked the Japanese and of course boosted the morale of the Americans so the effect of the raid was not necessarily one that could be gauged by the amount of damage it did but by the psychological effect none of the b-25s landed safely although a strong Tailwind hurried them across the China Sea several of the other aircraft unknowingly flew over chuchow in darkness rain and high winds below them the Chinese had doused all lights and Runway AIDS fearing an enemy attack captioned Edward York when he was on board the Hornet found that the final servicing at Sacramento the engineers there had changed the carburetors in his B-25 it was too late to change that now and result was that having taken off early he had a problem not only with the amount of fuel but because there was a rich mixture in the carburetors that he used that fuel up very quickly having bombed in Japan he decided he had no chance of making China so made for the nearest what he thought was friendly territory and put down on an Airfield 40 miles north of Vladivostok which was a Soviet in the Soviet Union it was the only one of the 16 aircraft to make a three-point Landing but he didn't get the joyous reception that he had hoped he was promptly interned his aircraft was confiscated and for the next year the whole crew was moved around the Soviet Union to different camps to finally on the Persian border they managed to bribe some guards got over the border and finally got back to the states in May 1943. four of the b-25s crash landed the crews of 11 others bailed out with many suffering grazes cuts and in some cases broken bones one Airman was killed in the parachute jump four others were drowned on reaching the ground safely like their drenched Commander most decided to stay put until first light he and the rest of his crew made their way down to a village at dorm where they were well treated and eventually reached the safety of chunking foreign [Music] was less fortunate running out of fuel it came down in the China Sea of ningpo three of the crews swam ashore but were captured by the pro-japanese Chinese the entire crew of another Mitchell which bailed out were caught by Japanese soldiers [Music] learning of their plight before he left China Doolittle made strenuous efforts to secure the release of his men even considering bribing a local warlord to attempt a rescue mission his efforts came to nothing all eight prisoners were tried and sentenced to death five had their sentences commuted to life imprisonment three were executed for inhuman acts another died in captivity of the ATM who took part in the Doolittle Raid 71 survived the war from the 16 b-25s which left Hornet on the 18th of April only one made a three-point Landing at Vladivostok the impact of the mission throughout the United States was dramatic the Japanese Mainland a tremendous morale boost exuberant headlines included do little dudit and in the Alaskan town where he spent his childhood gnome Town boy makes good despite the virtual news blackout the catastrophe of an Airaid on Tokyo gradually spread in Japan and Roosevelt's taunting claim that the aircraft had come from mythical Shangri-La added further insult at length the Japanese admitted to the public that several enemy planes had bombed the Tokyo Yokohama area that had been driven off with the loss of nine aircraft damage to our side appears to be slight the Imperial household is safe but for the Japanese military authorities the implications were worrying the potential for greater destructive attacks had to be thwarted Yamamoto therefore determined to seek a final showdown with the Pacific Fleet not knowing that the imperial Navy's code had been broken his angry response would unwittingly Hazard the Japanese Fleet cost him his own life after Pearl Harbor Admiral Yamamoto realized he would have to neutralize the American aircraft carriers if they were not to launch attacks upon the Japanese Mainland indeed to Japanese possessions so he devised a plan in June 1942 whereby a task force would seize the American island of Midway and entice the Americans then to try and recapture it when they tried to recapture it he would have eight aircraft carriers off the Midway which would then annihilate the American Air Force or air capacity and that would then enable him to get command of the sea in the Pacific didn't quite work out that way what he didn't know was that the Japanese Naval code had been broken by the Americans and they knew what his plans were so although he sent a decoy Fleet up to the Aleutian Islands they were really waiting for him and the result was that he lost four of his aircraft carriers and 322 aircraft it was therefore decisive it's one of the decisive battles in the uh in the Pacific Yamamoto himself was depressed by this and in the following year in 1943 again not knowing that the Americans had broken the Japanese Naval code he was on a tour of inspection when they shot him down apart from serving the short-term purpose of avenging Pearl Harbor the Doolittle Raid signaled the death knell of yamamoto's dream of a negotiated peace with the United States and demonstrated that the Japanese Homeland was vulnerable to aerial attack it was the Forerunner of the massive strategic bombing campaign waged on Japan by B-29 bombers from the Mariana Islands in 1944 and 1945. and ultimately the dropping of the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki [Music] returning to the United States Doolittle was deservedly awarded the Medal of Honor he claimed that the award in reality recognized the achievements of his entire Intrepid band and he wrote personally to the families of every man who had flown off Hornet with him those to the relatives of the men in captivity whose fate at that time remained unknown were the most difficult to compose mounted by Crews few of whose members had previously seen action and none of whom had taken off from an aircraft carrier even under calm peacetime conditions who were led by a commander not trained as a bomber pilot the do little raid was truly an epic achievement their flight was one of the most courageous deeds in all military history Admiral Halsey in June 1944 American forces began a decisive phase of their Advance across the Central Pacific towards the Japanese Homeland invasion of the Mariana Islands was considered critical for success there as elsewhere in the vast Pacific Ocean aircraft carriers would be the key to Victory [Music] foreign [Music] air-to-air action that I had was all built around the Marianas in the first battle of the Philippines say that was the most intense that was an active part of of the war unfortunately we had the opportunity to be there at that time a lot of shoot Downs a lot of changing of the tide of relative strengths between the enemy and ourselves the Marianas were a 425 mile long chain of 15 Islands stretching from Farallon de piros in the north to Guam in the south just over 300 miles to the north lay Japanese bases on Iwo Jima and 250 miles south in the Caroline Islands apart from Guam nearby Saipan and tinian had operational airfields with emergency landing strips as well all three would be prime targets capture of the Marshall Islands one thousand miles east of the Marianas in February and March 1944 provided anchorages from which to mount the assault including Beach landing craft 535 warships and auxiliary vessels would take part in the operation codenamed forager which involved transporting 127 571 troops was scheduled for the 15th of June Admiral Chester A Nimitz commander-in-chief Pacific would exercise overall command but Direct Control of all operation forager forces devolved on Admiral Raymond a spruance commander of the U.S fifth Fleet under spruance vice admiral Mark a mitcher led the first carrier task force 58 which provided air cover for the joint expeditionary force of marine and army units destined to carry out the invasion Mitch's task force 58 comprised four independent carrier task groups known as task groups 58 1 2 3 and 4. protected by escorting Cruisers and destroyers [Music] aircraft carriers would deploy 896 bombers and Fighters by the 8th of June the joint expeditionary Force had concentrated in the marshals with its own close escort of Warships the troops Bound for saipak left on the 9th of June those for Guam on the 12th [Music] as the final plans were drawn up critical aerial reconnaissance was carried out by long-range aircraft based in American occupied New Guinea the Marshall admiralty and Solomon Islands on the 18th of April as Naval liberators photographed Saipan and Guam escorting B-24 bombers attacked military targets on the 26th of April until the eve of the operation regular photographic reconnaissance flights were mounted from the marshals the B-24 bomber The Liberator is best known for its cooperation with the B-17 Flying Fortress and the Strategic bombing campaign against Germany but in the Pacific stripped of all its Armament and its bombing capability and given extra fuel it became a photo reconnaissance aircraft with a range of 2000 miles which was further than any other aircraft in the Pacific at that time it had a speed of 300 miles per hour and capable of a ceiling of 30 000 feet it therefore was invaluable when it was operating from territory to being captured from the Japanese like the Solomon Islands and the Marianas who could cover a vast distance and it was invaluable to adminster's fifth Fleet for some time the Japanese had anticipated an attack on their defensive perimeter in the Western Pacific which arched two thousand miles Northwest from New Guinea the commander-in-chief of the Japanese combined Fleet Admiral soyemu Toyota decided on a risky strategy of offense operation ago would lure the American Fleet into a decisive battle with full strength whether Japanese could use their shore-based aircraft to full advantage on the 3rd of May he designated the Palau islands and Western Carolines Yap and Wale as the decisive battle areas Toyota planned that a decoy force would entice the Americans into the Trap which would be sprung by the first mobile Fleet under vice admiral gisaboro Ozawa from tawitawi in the Sulu archipelago on receiving the executive order osawa would proceed immediately to the area east of the Philippines without leaving a Trace complete success is anticipated Toyota declared on the 16th of May asawa's Fleet converged on tawitawi at the southern tip of the Sulu archipelago five days later Toyota signal prepare for aego the basic fear of the Japanese was the American aircraft carriers and the basis of operation ago was to lure the Americans into a position where their aircraft carriers could be attacked and neutralized that meant that to make the maximum use of land boast aircraft they had to be lured to the southwest of the Philippine Islands there's an additional program as far as the Japanese were concerned was they were shorter fuel so what they aimed to do was to lure the fleet into this area and to attack both the aircraft carriers and also the task force Landing Force having got rid of the aircraft carriers it was then the possibility or indeed what they sought was a fleet battle [Music] land-based naval aircraft of the japanese-based Air Force would play a pivotal role in operation ago even after a formidable force was detached to New Guinea in early June 172 aircraft were stationed on Saipan tinian and Guam another 268 in Easy reach of the islands a further 500 were capable of being quickly flown in from Japan and the occupied territories aego required The Base Air Force to destroy at least one third of the enemy task force carrier units prior to the decisive battle as well as putting up regular reconnaissance flights before and during it although he was aware of American activity in the central osawa still had to get the American carriers within range when General MacArthur's troops attacked biak island off the New Guinea Coast he spotted an opportunity on the 9th of June he suggested to Toyota the Japanese Naval reinforcements might draw the American Fleet into the anticipated zone of decisive battle and enable them to launch ego the following day vice admiral matomi ogaki was detached from mazawa with two battleships a light Cruiser and six destroyers towards biak within two days he was recalled to implement aego the build-up to operation forager had been gradual in the last week of May American carriers attacked Marcus and wake Islands to the north of the Marianas and from the 3rd of June land-based Army Air Force aircraft bombed the Caroline and Palo islands in the south [Music] 11th of June task force 58 began to bomb and strafe the Mariana Islands at 1pm 208 Fighters and eight torpedo bombers attacked Saipan tinian and Guam we make our sweep on Guam expecting to catch all the planes on the ground and everybody having a brunch or at the swimming pool and it ain't so the airplanes aren't on the ground they're all up in the air Fighters are way up above us they came down on our backs right as we get got into our runs and started down and the anti-aircraft fire was exceptionally heavy we lost three Pilots to what we believe were the five inch size weapon they blew them right out of the sky one survived it uh and we ran into this terrific ground fire and um uh then the the uh those arrows jumped us then we got into on everything breaks down one on one uh essentially you're a wing man if he can stay with you or if he and I ended up with getting two of them and we chased a third but that was that was a good scrap we made many strikes on Guam four carrier task groups continued to pound the three Islands during the 12th of June the following day as two of them sailed North to attack chijijima and Iwo Jima from which Japanese reinforcements might be flown South the other two continued to engage Saipan and tinian preceded by heavy Naval bombardments on the 14th of June at dawn on the 15th of June covered by an air umbrella and the fire from warships offshore two Marine divisions landed on the west coast of Saipan American activity prior to The Landings had persuaded azawa to recall ugaki's Force the mobile Fleet left tawi tower on the 13th of June and two days later was fueling his ships at the guimara Strait in the Philippines where Toyota signaled a zawa to attack the enemy in the Mariana's area and annihilate The Invasion Force activating a go operation for the decisive battle the following day at 4 50 PM Ozawa and ugaki Rendezvous east of the Philippines Ozawa now had nine carriers five fleet and four light with five battleships 13 Cruisers and 28 Destroyers he had 430 carrier aircraft and 43 seaplanes for reconnaissance and Gunnery observation duties on his battleships and cruises the considerable Armada but inferior to the Americans nor had it concentrated without Trace as Toyota hoped the submarine seahorse reported ugaki moving North another submarine flying fish spotted Ozawa on the move the standard American submarine was the t-class submarine which had a speed of nine knots underwater and on the surface 21 knots that meant therefore it's much more effective on the surface stalking and picking off individual ships they were had 21-inched torpedoes and a crew of 85. they were used not only for stalking ships but also for observation and blockading purposes and this became very important when they were spotting the movement of the first Cruiser Fleet at the Mariana turkey shoot because of the submarine reports spruance now knew that two Japanese Naval forces were at Sea bazawa and ugaki and therefore postponed the invasion of Guam during the morning of the 16th of June under vice admiral Willis a Lee spruance created a separate force of seven battleships four heavy Cruisers and 13 destroyers with air cover provided by task group 58-4 to form a screen in front of the American main Force radar equipped seaplanes were flown from the marshals to operate from roadsteds off the west of Saipan once that area had been secured on the 17th of June whose Bruins had no intention of being passive our Heir will first knock out enemy carriers then we'll attack enemy battleships and cruisers to slow down or disable them American warships would follow up these aerial attacks to force a fleet action and with the help of the carrier's aircraft pursue any survivors without firm information about the enemy spruance reasoned he could not afford to sail west during the night of the 17th 18th of June in case the Japanese slipped by to put the invasion at risk at 3 45 am on the 18th of June a signal from the submarine cavalla revealed that the previous evening a large Japanese force had been cited 780 miles west of Saipan steering East spruance calculated that it could not be in a position to threaten him until the 19th of June Ozawa had refueled his force on the 17th of June and resumed his Eastwood course that evening when kavana saw him he had organized his ships into three forces a force comprised three Fleet carriers Tai ho in which azawa flew his flag zuikaku and shokaku with 207 aircraft B Force under rear Admiral T joshima had the two Fleet carriers Jung yo and heo with the light carrier ryoho together containing 135 aircraft these two groups 15 miles apart were escorted by one Battleship four Cruisers and 16 Destroyers the bait foresee 125 miles ahead under vice admiral karita consisted of three light carriers with 88 aircraft escorted by four battleships five Cruisers and eight Destroyers the Japanese carriers tended to be smaller than the Americans their Fleet carriers were 20 000 tons and They Carried about 60 aircraft their light carriers were about ten thousand tons and They Carried something like 40 to 45 aircraft so they were considerably smaller than the Americans as Dawn broke on the 18th of June neither Commander knew the precise location of the other kavala's information was over six hours old azawa had two slight advantages his carrier-based tziki Fighters and Jill torpedo bombers could attack the Americans at extended range and fly on to refuel a Japanese held Guam and Rota Islands on his battleships and cruises the reconnaissance seaplanes had a greater range than any of the U.S aircraft and could therefore give azawa early warning of his enemy's position the Americans gave code names to all the Japanese aircraft they refer to the Zeke aircraft which is in fact a zero that's a Mitsubishi Naval type O aircraft mark one and that was the type of aircraft that was used at the time of Pearl Harbor it had two 20 millimeter cannon and two 7.7 millimeter cannon had a speed of around 350 miles per hour the Jill was Nakajima torpedo bomber which carried a single torpedo at a speed of 260 miles per hour air search is mounted from Mitch's carriers Adorn on the 18th of June proved truthless but in the afternoon the Japanese made their longer range town 3 14 p.m one such aircraft reported several carriers two battleships an unknown number of other ships another at 4pm unknown number of carriers 10 plus other ships further south task force 58 had been located beyond the battleship Shield rear Admiral Obayashi the carrier group commander in 4C prepared to launch 67 aircraft against the Americans at 4 37. Ozawa was more cautious countermanded the order an altered course to keep outside the range of the U.S reconnaissance aircraft [Music] the following morning the 19th of June he intended to contact and destroy the enemy [Music] due to his fear of being caught too far west of Saipan had turned back as night fell on the 18th of June then Pacific Fleet headquarters at Pearl Harbor reported that at 8 23 PM its direction finding stations had used intercepted enemy Wireless signals to locate azawa 350 miles west southwest of task force 58. mitcha sought permission to change course so that he could be in a position to attack with his aircraft at dawn still concerned that a sizable Japanese force might sneak past him spruance denied his request apart from not trusting the direction finders information he was worried that a garbled message from the submarine Stingray might mean the enemy was closer than thought meanwhile a U.S naval seaplane had picked up on its radar two large groups of ships in the Philippine Sea almost certainly azawa's A and B forces such are the fortunes of war the due to bad Communications spruance did not receive this information until 9am on the 19th of June other aerial sweeps sent out during the night in a dawn from task force 58 failed to pinpoint the Japanese foreign was better served at 4 45 am on the 19th of June 4C catapulted 16 seaplanes from its escort ships to search for The Americans at 7 30 one-sighted task group 58 won sent off at 5 15 am 13 torpedo bombers from 4C reached the picket destroyers of Lee's Battleship screen but lost seven of their number to marauding hellcats without causing damage the Kate was a Nakajima Naval torpedo bomber which was the standard Japanese torpedo bomber at this time in the Pacific it carried one torpedo of 764 pound but it could also be used as a level bomber the Jake was a seaplane it was the standard Naval torpedo bomber in the Pacific it could carry a 1 250 kilogram bomb or the equivalent rate in depth charges it had a range of 1 200 miles and a speed a cruising speed of 203 miles per hour while its great assets was that it had air-to-surface radar Ozawa now had enemy carriers in his sights though he was unaware that the Japanese Naval coat had been broken which gave mitcha time to organize a warm welcome disaster though had already begun to hamper the Japanese operation even as azawa's Flagship Tai ho was launching her aircraft a torpedo from the submarine albacore struck although the carrier continued to function are known to those on board she had sustained a mortal blur since Dawn on the 9th June hellcats of task force 58 had been flying protective patrols over the fleet two Judy dive bombers from Guam were intercepted at 5 30 am 20 minutes later six Bond carrying zikis were driven off 6 30 a.m radar reported aerial activity over the island 100 miles away that's arriving at 7 20 found Japanese aircraft taking off from a roti field and summoned help shortly after 8 A.M a large force of enemy aircraft was reported heading towards Guam from the southwest reinforcements from truck and Yap Islands mitcher reviewing the situation concluded that we were probably due for a working over by both land-based and carrier-based planes he ordered his three Southern task groups each to send 12 hellcats to take over the Guam patrols and together they accounted for 30 zikis or hamps at five bonds meanwhile the first of four major raids that day had been launched from the Japanese carriers at 8 30 am 16 ziki Fighters 45 bomb carrying Ziggy's and eight Jill torpedo bombers were dispatched by 4C an hour and a half later they were picked up by radar in Admiral Lee's Battleship screen at a range of 150 miles mitcha immediately recalled the hellcats from Guam leaving only a small standing Patrol there and warned task force 58 to be ready for a maximum fighter effort the 1019 he gave the executive order a was later the first American fighters took off to counter what became known as raid one the Grumman Hellcat fighter was the standard Naval fighter in the Pacific in 1944. it had 6.5 machine guns and a speed of 376 miles per hour a range of just over a thousand miles but it could be used as a fighter bomber in which case it could carry a maximum of two thousand pounds of bombs one of the Adam was described was as truly a war-winning aircraft the enemy aircraft were now 72 miles away orbiting at twenty thousand feet prior to hitting the American carriers which gave the Defenders time to stack between 17 and 23 000 feet for a coordinated response at 10 36 Mitchell signaled all his carriers to keep Fighters available to repel these attacks Landing planes as necessary at that very moment a formation of 24 Japanese bombers and 16 Fighters came under attack from essex's hellcats which dispersed the formation and shot down six we were going in the Guam to to try to catch everything there but we only got in about halfway and we got a hay rube which means uh turn around and come back and we need help and we started back and we were almost looking down I remember on the right side about uh oh two o'clock I guess and you could see Japanese Cates and Val diver the typical carrier makeup uh heading in for the force and so what we did we we caught him going in and uh we went on down and again I got caught up in the fighters uh uh before I got into the main attack group but we had others that were in and shooting down the uh the dive bombers and the torpedo planes and uh we had a good mix up there I think I got a couple of down that time the fighters the minute they detect you they break right back into you and leave their support it gets down there to 1-1 again and it's a it's a dog fight some of the attacking aircraft managed to evade the forward hellcats and continued towards their targets only to run into a second defensive line three or four got Beyond The Destroyer pickets to attack the battleships we're at 10 49 a bomb struck South Dakota causing minor damage none reached the carriers and this raid was officially broken up at 10 57. the Japanese lost 42 from the 69 which set out Raid 2 launched from azawa's force a at 8 56 comprised 53 Judy dive bombers 27 Jill torpedo bombers and 48 ziki Fighters shortly after takeoff One Pilot crash dived a torpedo heading for his own ship and eight other aircraft turned back with engine trouble flying over 4C two more were shot down by trigger happy friendly Gunners and ate others so badly damaged the 1107 the remain remain 109 identified by radar at a range of 115 miles per septic 60 miles out by urgently scrambled hellcats attacking at 11 39 the American fighters accounted for about 70 but the survivors kept going to be met by the concentrated anti-aircraft fire at Lee Street and 42 more hellcats new six duties attacked task group 58-2 where an overhead burst caused casualties on wasps and near misses did some damage to Bunker Hill four of the dive bombers were shot down one escaped to rotor another to Guam simultaneously a small group of jills attacked task group 58-3 The survived and damages .bringing Raid 2 to an ignominious conclusion the 129 aircraft launched the Japanese had lost 98. they were not however finished Raid 3 comprising 15 Ziggy Fighters 25 Ziggy fighter bombers and seven Jill dive bombers took off from Force B between 10 and 10 15. due to false information they were initially sent too far north and 27 returned having seen nothing the remainder did pick up amended instructions that were detected 100 miles from the battleships at 12 55. 40 hellcats intercepted them and accounted for seven a few did attack task group 58-4 on the flank of Admiral Lee's scream did no damage the mother skipped from the 47 launched on Raid 3 40 therefore survived the Japanese zero was a very lightweight very agile aircraft and a good power loading uh absolutely zero pilot protection no no uh armor for the pilot or the oil tank or anything like that it was really a time bomb in a in a way uh just waiting to be uh sent off I think I only had one encounter where I was higher we were higher than the than the zeros when we got into combat they were always way above us up in the center where we couldn't see them we got jumped several times there in my in that cruise and ever saw him until the bullet started flying and you didn't stay in dog fight for zero it could turn tighter it could you know outmaneuver you and all of that that was a cardinal error to try you may make a turn or two but then you had to get out of there he'd be right on your tail you couldn't if he was an experienced pilot so most of the work against it was a slash attack maybe one uh quick turn or a wing over and back into it again but then you either had another enemy or you cleared out some way because you just don't you weren't going to do it raid 4 the final attempt launched between 11 and 11 30 am involved 30 zikis 9 Judy and 27 Val dive bombers ten ziki fighter bombers and six Jill torpedo bombers from three Force B carriers and one force a carrier aircraft of this raid were sent too far south and found some made for rotor were picked up by radar 45 miles from task group 58.2 and 5 were shot down elsewhere hellcats attacked other Raiders claiming nine successes a group of 49 aircraft from raid 4 made from Guam jettising their bombs on route as they did so at 1449 they were picked up on task force 58 Radars and 12 hellcats went off in Pursuit on reaching Guam they found the enemy machine circling a roti field waiting to land at this point 15 more hellcats arrived and the Americans shot down 30 of the 49 enemy one feature of the action during the 19th of June was lack of interference from the Japanese Islands particularly Guam which were attacked at intervals by American formations in order to clear their decks for fighters to engage the incoming Japanese attacks task force 58 carriers had sent off their bombers to orbit many did not Circle idly at 10 40 24 from Hornet hit Guam at 1300 dive bombers from Lexington attacked 30 parked aircraft there projected during the afternoon by Fighters other bombers carried out more raids and until 1845 hellcats kept our patrols over the island in talking to uh the Japanese subsequent to the war the thing they feared most were the Hellcat strafing the troops on the ground you can imagine you put yourself in a slit trencher in your belly and palm trees out there and they have the for a flight of four Fighters coming down you've got 12 50 calibers going it's absolutely devastating [Music] the Guam operations were not without cost six hellcats and one bomber were lost four of them two anti-aircraft fire during the four enemy raids minor damage was suffered by the carrier's wasp and Bunker Hill the battleships Indiana and South Dakota and 31 men killed by noon on the 19th of June though the danger to the American Fleet was over Commander Paul D Bui described the Carnage achieved by the hellcats as easy as shooting turkeys and the legend of the great Mariana's turkey shoot was born [Music] ozawa's airstrikes had failed spectacularly 243 out of the 373 aircraft launched by his three naval forces failed to return another 50-60 shore-based machines or reconnaissance seaplanes had also been destroyed American losses were 29 aircraft 27 Airmen after those rescued were counted counting during the afternoon of the 19th of June azawa suffered more Grievous setbacks at 12 20 PM the carrier shakaku was torpedoed by the U.S submarine Kavala finally sinking after a massive magazine explosion shortly after 3 pm at 3 32 the damage suffered in its own earlier torpedo attack caused a similar explosion on Tai ho which sank at 5 15 pm Ozawa had already transferred his flag first to the Destroyer wakatsuki then at 506 PM the cruiser agoro he had survived but two of his nine carriers had moved by the time of the Mariana turkey shoot in June 1944 the Japanese had already lost a number of carriers so to lose two Fleet carriers on that day the 19th of June for them was a major blow the Tai ho and Chicago were both Fleet carriers carrying 60-plus aircraft according to the American Naval historian Samuel Morrison this was a decisive action after which the Japanese could never compete on the same level with the Americans Ozawa was misled by reports from returning Pilots of vast numbers of Hellcat losses and claims of up to six carriers in flames Tokyo radio declared that 11 U.S carriers and many other ships had been sunk unaware that so many of his own aircraft had failed to reach the safety of friendly airfields on the 20th of June azawa planned to reveal his ships and recover the aircraft that he believed had flown on to Guam and Rota if Lee's Battleship screened 25 miles in front of them at 8 pm on the 19th of June three of Mitch's task groups turned West steaming at 23 knots to preserve fuel in pursuit of his hour they left behind task group 58-4 to cover the japanese-held Mariana Islands during the night its aircraft strafed tinian and Rota and again Bond Guam mitcha was aware of spirits's stern warning to ensure adequate protection of Saipan but also the fifth Fleet Commander's desire to attack the enemy the next day if they knew his position with sufficient accuracy locating azawa would not as it turned out be easy in theory task force 58 should have closed on the Japanese during the night of the 19th 20th of June because the mobile fleet was then steaming at only 18 knots two hours before the American set off in Pursuit azawa altered corpse he therefore eluded long-range reconnaissance liberators from the admiralty Islands seaplanes operating from the shelter of american-held Saipan and patrolling American submarines maintaining radio silence on the 20th of June the Japanese Commander had effectively vanished from 5 30 am Ozawa sent up relays of seaplanes from 4C to look for his enemy at 7 13 am one reported two American search aircraft but no warships he decided to continue refueling his Fleet but poor Communications on his present Flagship agoro meant that the exercise was highly disorganized and did not get underway until noon at 1pm Ozawa transferred his flag yet again to the carrier sukaiko there he learned the full extent of his losses the previous day however he clung to the belief that heavy damage had been inflicted on the Americans during the 19th of June and was determined to seek battle again on the 21st of June messages from tinian led him wrongly to conclude that air reinforcements had arrived from Iwo Jima and truck and Toyota had not discouraged him from renewing action suddenly his confidence was shattered at 4 15 the cruiser otago intercepted an American Transmission the Japanese had been cited within half an hour azawa had stopped all refueling changed course and set off at 24 knots in an attempt to outrun his pursuers throughout the morning and early afternoon the Americans had mounted increasingly desperate search at 3 38 PM an Avenger aircraft at last spotted asawa's ships approximately 275 miles Northwest of task force 58. but its message was incomplete [Music] complete not until 405 was the exact location of the three enemy groups received by task force 58. this was the transmission picked up by otago it was late in the day and the Japanese were at extreme range for the American carrier-based aircraft but mitcha immediately prepared to launch his squadrons Commander fifth fleet was informed that the carriers were firing their bolt in witch's words a single shot venture at 4 21 PM task force 58 turned into the wind and within 10 minutes at six Fleet carriers had launched 77 dive bombers 54 torpedo bombers and 85 fighter escorts all the hellcats and helldivers carrying extra belly tanks 30 minutes into their flight the American Pilots were given an amended location for the enemy Ozawa was 60 miles further away than originally thought this made mitchier abandon an intended second strike and gave those already in the air grave doubts about their ability to safely regain their carriers fuel would be at a premium we knew we weren't going to get back surprises that you don't necessarily like as we came up what we call the fly one position this is where the single one is to to launch a deck launch and the talker who was holding a Blackboard and he's got his earphones on and he's got a Blackboard and he's holding it against the wind over the deck new enemy position the bearing was a little bit different but distance 305 miles and right at that time you know there's no way we're not we're not going to get back the fighters uh would be the best off the torpedo planes the worst off and the dive bombers in between so you got this on your mind as you're going out [Music] some low in the Horizon six destroyers were trailing the three main groups which were virtually in line and each tightly concentrated to allow maximum anti-aircraft fire in the absence of formidable income aircraft from Hornet Yorktown and Bataan made for azawa's force a ozawa's new flagship through akaku was so severely damaged that it seemed in danger of sinking but did manage to live squadrons from Bunker Hill Monterey and Cabot concentrated on 4C where the carrier chioda battleship Aruna and Heavy Cruiser Maya suffered badly in the meantime aircraft room wasp set about the tankers causing two to be scuttled after heavy damage [Music] you got your head tucked between the shoulders because the AAA fire was horrendous one thing that I remember vividly is the color there was purple bursts lavender greenish blue as well as white and black it was like Fourth of July all the carriers were hit a single bone struck the old which escaped severe damage similarly remained in action despite being hit amid chips by two bombs EO however was first struck by two Torpedoes from Bello Woods Avengers then hit by dive bombers from Enterprise it sank two hours later leaving behind a devastated enemy shortly after 7 PM the American Pilots faced a hazardous return journey in darkness with dangerously low fuel we started home and it's dark and about a third of the way back we started hearing the torpedo planes call out it was not just our ship there were other carriers and ships involved uh uh running out of gas preparing to ditch and call after call after call from there on out it was chaos the first Pilots reached the carriers at 8 45 pm in an effort to guide them in mitcha ordered all carrier lights to be switched on the perilous tactic had Japanese submarines being near star shells were sent up and destroyers played their searchlights over the waves to pick out men and rafts in the water despite the various efforts to help several aircraft piled up on flight decks on Lexington five aircraft were involved in a multiple crash there was hysteria and I'll just call it hysteria pandemonium had developed nobody knew where their ships were they were running out of fuel we had four of our Pilots ran out of fuel right there by the ship two of them ditched right alongside the ship and two others went down in the landing pattern and then we have people making Landing approaches on Cruisers destroyers anything that had a light in on it and so that command turn on the lights from The Mark mitcher was a lifesaver those lights came on just while I was in my Approach we had Pilots that were down in the water we had them on other carriers we had pilots from other carriers in our carrier we had a lot of strange people in the ready room and we had to start sorting it all out well we started getting reports that we had Carmichael and so and so and so and so aboard the Yorktown and so and so aboard one of the other carriers and we were reporting who we had back to their home carriers and uh that was quite a night the last aircraft landed safely at 10 52. addition to 20 aircraft lost over the Japanese Fleet 17 hellcats 35 hell divers and 28 Avengers had been lost on the way back a massive rescue operation meant that in the end only 16 pilots and 33 crewmen were lost during this phase of the operation together with six men killed on the carriers during deck crashes at 7 12 p.m on the 20th of June at virtually the same time that his aircraft were leaving ozawa's Fleet mitcher proposed that Lee's battleships be sent in immediate pursuit of the Japanese spruance insisted that task force 58 be kept together and a dawn make the best practicable speed as a concentrated Force towards Ozawa after the American aircraft had been recovered on the evening of the 20th of June following their attack upon the Japanese there is a proposal that Admiral needs battleships should immediately set off to try and slow down the Japanese it was later known that they were approximately 570 miles from Okinawa at this time admush Bruins veto the idea on the ground said you wanted to keep the whole of the task force tactically concentrated during the night his fear was that if Admiral Lee had set off with his battleships they had no air cover and even if they caught up with the Japanese it was doubtful whether they could have done enough damage to slow them down before the task force 58 caught them up so he is therefore cautious and rightly so had Admiral leads battleships got within range of the Japanese it is likely that they would have been devastated by the remaining Japanese aircraft spruance is not to know that the Japanese had lost those two aircraft carriers but they still did have aircraft which could have attacked Bruins was encouraged by the report of a reconnaissance seaplane at 1 30 am on the 21st of June that some of ozawa's ships were trailing oil American search aircraft continued to Shadow the Japanese but by 743 the enemy were 360 miles away the main enemy Fleet might now be out of range but spruance pinned his hopes on catching damaged ships which had fallen behind throughout the 21st of June task force 58 press Northwoods as search aircraft continued to scour the area without finding any enemy warships at 8 30 PM spruance called off the hunt effectively though the battle of the Philippine Sea ended on the evening of the 20th of June its outcome decided by the turkey shoot of the previous day the result for the Japanese was critical the American Landings in the Marianas had not been halted and very soon Japan itself would feel the weight of a sustained offensive by B-29 bombers and captured Mariana airvis [Music] during the evening of the 21st of June Ozawa offered his resignation which Toyota refused so he remained in command of the mobile Fleet which reached Okinawa on the 22nd of June two-day battle the Japanese neither sank nor seriously damaged a single American warship at the end Ozawa had only 35 operational carrier aircraft over 100 Japanese aircraft were destroyed on the Marianas and other Japanese territory in Associated attacks including those which ditched or crashed after successfully completing their missions on the 20th of June the Americans lost 130 aircraft [Music] the great Mariana's turkey shoot opened the way for ultimate success in the war against Japan was a decisive victory for the Americans [Music]

Channel: War Stories

Views: 120,654

Keywords: military history, war, war documentary, military tactics, war stories, history of war, battles, Full Documentary, WW2, War In The Pacific, Pacific Theatre, Japan, USA

Id: 2yeIP3CBrI4

Length: 146min 29sec (8789 seconds)

Published: Fri Jun 16 2023