World War 2 in the Pacific - No Surrender! | Episode 2 | Documentary

summer 1942 6 months after Pearl  Harbor the tides of War are shifting an American victory at Midway strips  Japan of its dominance of the waves but this Epic War for Supremacy in the Pacific is far from  over hitting Island after Island it's clear the US is facing an enemy that is willing to fight to  the [Music] death this is the story of terrifying fanaticism and personal heroism told in compelling  detail with specially enhanced color fil and rare footage shot by the troops themselves all  p

ut together for the first time to answer the question does America have what it takes  to endure and win this is World War II in the Pacific by the summer of 1942 it's clear Japan's  attempt at knocking America out at Pearl Harbor failed in fact the US victory at  the Battle of Midway has enabled them to assert dominance at Sea it's a  shift in power that has America ready to strike back a Japan's Empire  the question is where to [Music] begin US military planners led by Army Chief  of Staff Geo

rge C Marshall identifi Japan's Achilles heel a complete lack of Natural  Resources it's why Japan has seized all those territories around the Pacific to  create an empire to supply oil rubber tin and food essential for maintaining the war  effort cut off these resources and Japan will [Applause] [Music] fall the problem  is Japanese Commander General Hideki Tojo knows it too he has built a  defensive Ring Of Steel around Japan's Empire a string of Island bases complete with troops ships and air

craft  to protect Japan's supply lines taking them would demand more  than American Naval superiority it will mean driving the Japanese from  their bases across the ocean Island by Island this will require an entirely new form of warfare the amphibious Landing America  has never attempted anything like this before but us Chiefs believe there's  no alternative to the island hopping strategy they decide to attack along two fronts Admiral Chester Nimitz the  commander-in-chief of the US Fleet will

seize key strategic Japanese bases in  the Central Pacific along the Gilbert Marshall and Mariana Islands general Douglas MacArthur  the supreme commander of Allied Forces in the Southwest Pacific would take New Guinea and  the Solomon Islands to the south of Japan's Empire fortunately for MacArthur allies stationed on New Guinea have prevented  Japan from seizing the entire Island the Japanese invaded  New Guinea in March 1942 but came up against Australia's forces stationed [Music] there with

the help of the Native  on the Australians have fought back against Japan's South Seas [Music] forces  and have retained an important base at Port morby this will provide the US with  a foothold from which to launch their [Music] offensive a America's first  Target a tiny Island on the southern tip of the Solomon Islands  the very bottom of Japan's defensive ring guadal Canal the offensive opens with shelling by us warships [Music] b7s from 26th Squadron  rain down destruction for 7 [Music] days

only when Japan's defense enses have been  softened up does the US launch the first landbased assault Marines go into amphibious  combat for the very first time low light and heavy clouds allow  the approaching landing craft to go undetected wave after wave of  Marines pour onto the beaches everything is going like clockwork but as  they press up the beach the Japanese are waiting Japan's Garrison fight back with shocking ferocity the first and 11th Marine Corp  pounds the enemy defenses with h

owitzers it's not enough  they are forced to getting close the Japanese are driven by a code of honor  it's better to die in battle or commit suicide than surrender a code that Americans quickly  discover means they're in for a fight to the death within hours 10,000 US troops  reach land outnumbering the enemy 5 to one as more us heavy artillery and tank support  arrives American optimism grows that they have the Japanese outgunned and outnumbered  Japan's 2,000 strong Garrison is quickly overwh

elmed by 8:00 p.m. after just  14 hours of fighting American troops secure their main objective an  air stream on the north of the island the US now has an air base from which  to support its Advance on Japan's Island Empire but control over the  island is far from secure [Music] 12 Days Later Japan mounts a Counterattack a wave of a thousand soldiers from their nearby  Island stronghold of rabal lands on guadal Canal American forces stand firm almost all of the Japanese  that attack are [Music]

killed but they keep on coming wave after wave of Japanese  reinforcements pour onto the island fighting continues for 6 months until Japan is forced to concede [Music] all remaining Japanese forces are  evacuated from guadal Canal by February the 7th 1943 the battle for this one tiny  Island costs America 7,100 lives Japan's losses are a staggering 24,000 guadal Canal is a taste of  the war of attrition that is to [Music] come the American victory provides a key foothold on the edge of the Jap

anese  empire a secure Airfield for General MacArthur to start island hopping his  way towards the ultimate goal Mainland [Music] Japan February 1943 with guadal canal under their  control us Chiefs can now begin the process of cutting Japan off  from its supply of natural resources reau on the island of  New Britain is America's Next Target from here Japan provides  air and Naval support to its Supply routs MacArthur's plan is not to capture  rabal but to isolate it off it will cease to pose an

y military threat operation cartwheel is launched General MacArthur intends  to encircle rabal with a pins maneuver macara himself will lead  the Western pinsa from Port morby up the Japanese occupied northern coast of New Guinea the Eastern pins commanded by  Admiral William bull Holly will start from gual Canal and move north through  the Japanese controlled Solomon Islands from these two points the US Navy can complete the encirclement as with guad Canal cartwheel  begins with intense aerial

bombardment and shelling [Music] then marine and army units assault the beaches this time the Japanese unleash  heavy mortar sniper and machine gun fire as the US presses in land  Japanese resistance becomes even stronger the enemy are well dug in  lurking in a network of pillboxes caves and underground bunkers American forces  have to get in close a task for grenades and flamethrowers still the Japanese  soldiers stay true to the samurai code of honor rather than surrender they  mount suicide c

harges shouting bansai as the combat continues US troops face a new enemy the jungle terrain on  the island is riddled with disease soldiers fall prey to dentry scrub  typhus and worst of all malaria in fact across the entire war in the Pacific malaria claims  more American casualties than the [Music] Japanese but despite the appalling jungle  conditions the US waiting numbers tips the balance Japanese fanatical bravery  is no match for America's military mind it takes nine bloody months  of con

flict but eventually the two pincers of operation cartwheel incircle [Music] rabal American casualties run  into the tens of thousands staggeringly more than 150,000 Japanese are killed operation cartwheel has done its job rabal along with its Garrison of  over a 100,000 men is now isolated and will play no further part in the the war  vital resources including oil from the Dutch East Indies and rubber from New Guinea  are successfully cut off from Mainland Japan meanwhile to the East Admiral Ch

ester Nimitz and the US Fleet are preparing to attack  Japan's Empire on a second [Music] front operation galvanic aims to drive the Japanese off  the Gilbert and Marshall [Music] Islands these outposts provide vital Military Support  to Japan's supply routes in the Central Pacific the campaign's first Target the island of taraa [Music] it  starts with by now tried and tested tactics a naval and air bombardment from the fifth Fleet then the second Marine  Division heads for the beaches this time

America's lack of experience of amphibious Warfare shows  when the troops land at low tide they are forced to leave their Landing  crafts with water up to their wasts and razor sharp coral reefs underf exposed to enemy fire  hundreds of Marines are cut down by machine guns meanwhile the bulk of Japan's  4,700 strong Garrison is waiting in land outnumbered by the invading Americans 7 to one every one of them is  ready to die for their emperor [Music] their extreme dedication makes the next  4 da

ys some of the fiercest and bloodiest battles in Marine Corps [Music] history by the time the  island of taroa is secure 1,700 American lives are lost out of the entire Japanese Garrison  only 17 allow themselves to be captured [Music] alive with the Japanese unable to Halt their  charge nimitz's forces continue to steam North by February the 22nd he seizes all the  key Targets in the Gilbert and Marshall Islands US forces now have their sights set to  the north on the Japanese controlled Marian

a Islands Admiral Chester Nimitz and  his Naval task force launch operation forager the first Target the Mariana island of saan 165,000 shells are fired Japan's defenses 2 Days Later the amphibious Landings begin 8,000 Marines of the second and  fourth divisions are ashore by early morning the fighting follows are by now familiar pattern but this time the Japanese have  a surprise they don't just have ground troops they call up their Navy a huge carrier Fleet including five fleet  carriers and f

our light carriers advances into the Philippines [Music] Sea the aim is to cut  the US troops on sipan off from their supporting ships but there is a flaw in the Japanese plan most of experienced Pilots  were lost at the Battle of Midway these Pilots are [Music] rookies a first wave of just 61 zero Fighters take [Music] off Nimitz scrambles 220 F6 Hellcat Fighters these are America's  most advanced fighter planes their pilots are battle [Music]  hardened it's men against [Music] boys outnumbered

and outgunned  Japan's zeros are mercilessly blasted from the [Applause] [Music] sky  the Japanese launch another wave of 120 aircraft and then another [Music] 47 [Music] by Nightfall the US losses standed just 29 planes Japan's are almost 400 aircraft it goes down in history  as the great Mariana's turn shoot at sea level the battle is just as one-sided us submarines torpedo  and syn two Japanese aircraft carriers in less than 24 hours  the Imperial Japanese Fleet is routed they lose three car

riers and almost 600 aircraft this crushing blow means that Japan  can no longer compete in carrier-based Warfare the battle of the Philippine Sea  is an important American [Music] victory back on sipan the  conflict plummets to new depths of haror it's not the bansai  charges that shock the US troops it's the suicidal fanaticism  of the 8,000 Japanese civilians on the island American soldiers watch in horror as men women and even children jump  from Cliffs to their [Music] death the message to

America  is clear to beat Japan the US won't just have to overcome a vast  Army but an entire nation that Will Never [Music] Surrender how can you  defeat an enemy that just won't back down summer 1944 and America is  winning the war in the Pacific Japan's Empire is being rolled back  but the cost of human life is [Music] horrifying us losses stand at around  46,000 men Japans are massive at over [Music] 300,000 Mainland Japan is  deprived of Natural Resources and their war effort is taking a to

ll  on the Japanese people food is in short supply Japan's Agricultural  and transport infrastructures are disintegrating but the war seems no nearer to ending in the US High command an argument  is underway chief of Naval operations Admiral Ernest J King argues that the war  could be brought to a swift End by moving the fleet west from the maranas to  the island of Formosa modern day Taiwan it would put Japan's home  Islands within easy striking range of us heavy bombers King's plan  would mean

bypassing most of the remaining Japanese bases across the  Pacific leaving them undefeated but isolated General MacArthur has other ideas the US Supreme Commander in Southeast  Asia tells President Roosevelt that America must continue with his island hopping strategy  in particular he must drive the Japanese off the Philippines this approach he argues  would provide bigger bases than Formosa from which to launch bombing raids and  consolidate America's strangle hold on [Music] Japan there's som

ething else MacArthur had  promised the Filipino people that he would return when he was driven off the island  in December 1941 he means to keep that [Music] promise on July 26th 1944 President  Roosevelt backs MacArthur's plan it is a decision that will prove  fateful for hundreds of thousands of [Music] people as preparations  for the campaign begin MacArthur deliberates where to make his first assault  he targets the island of Ley in the southern Philippines the general launches and vious La

ndings an expert in PR is filmed striding  ashore with his troops showing the folks back home that he has indeed returned by now America  is accomplished at amphibious Landings and within hours the sixth Army establishes an 18m Long  Beach head from which to begin their advance in land the Japanese High command know they  have to try something different to break the cycle of American success they Gamble  and mobilize all their remaining major Naval vessels they call it operation show meaning Vic

tory the plan is to lure America's Naval  support away from the ground troops on [Music] Ley the Imperial Fleet is split  into three one Convoy advances through the San Bernardino Straits to the north and  another through the suruga Straits to the South the third Japanese Convoy including the Imperial Navy's last four carriers  approaches the Philippines from the Northeast on October the 23rd the  northern Convoy of operation show is spotted Admiral Hy commander of the third Fleet intercepts the

following morning he  scrambles aircraft to attack the Japanese Convoy the Japanese come under Fire but then turn and Retreat it's a trick designed to lead holon he takes the bait heading straight towards the Japanese carriers  to the Northeast and away from ly meanwhile to the South Admiral King Cade heads out to intercept the second Japanese  Convoy approaching through the suraga [Music] streets Japan's plan is working just a  few us vessels remain to support the landing on Lon now under the

cover of Darkness the  Japanese Fleet that had appeared to retreat turns back to attack the handful  of American ships still covering the landing this could be the  victory that Japan so desperately needs but at the last moment they lose their nerve fearing they are sailing  into a trap the Japanese turn again and Retreat the opportunity is lost in the suraga Straits  Admiral Kim Cade and the US 7th Fleet unleash hell on Japan's Southern Co Convoy three Japanese destroyers  and two battleships a

re sun to the Northeast Admiral Hy and the third  Fleet reach the four remaining Japanese [Music] carriers having lost most of  their aircraft and pilots in the Marianas Japan's carriers are sitting [Music] ducks [Music] all four are sunk it should be the final knockout  blow against the Japanese Imperial Navy but Japan believes it can  still Strike Back Against the US Fleet with a terrifying tactic that  takes its fanaticism to a whole new level the Imperial High command calls for  volunteers t

o form a new aerial Strike Force they are called kamakazi meaning  divine [Music] wind and they are required to make the ultimate  sacrifice in the name of their [Music] emperor in the fall of 1944 the  first kamakazi Pilots drink Sake before climbing into their aircraft Laden with fuel and explosives their targets are  America's aircraft carriers supporting the troops on the Philippine island of ly us Fighters and anti-aircraft  guns respond to the [Music] threat some kamakazi are blown out of

the [Music] sky others miss their targets [Music] but a direct hint is devastating the carrier ST  Low is sunk killing a 100 Americans as horrific as these attacks are they're  not enough to turn the tide of the wall out of some 2,600 kamakazi sorties only  19% hit their targets sinking less than 40 US ships [Music] back on LY Ground Forces face off against  Japanese defenses across the [Music] island attritional Warfare  continues for two solid [Music] months but once again Japan's deter mintio

n  is no match for America's sheer weight in numbers they are outnumbered 4 to [Music] one on New Year's Eve 1944  General MacArthur's men finally capture ly almost the entire Japanese force of 50,000 lies dead now Matha can launch his attack on  the main Philippine island of [Music] Luzon early in the new year over 100,000 troops of the sixth Army division land on the  south coast of the [Music] island The Landings are relatively [Music] unopposed the Japanese Garrison is  poorly equipped and i

s no longer receiving air and Naval support  or reinforcements from [ __ ] Japan no match for America they are  forced to fall back to Mountain strong horns as us reinforcements pour onto Luzon  MacArthur heads straight for the capital [Music] Manila after just 2 weeks of close quarter  combat MacArthur's troops are just 60 km from the capital they retake the major  US Airbase of Clark Field that had fallen to Japan in [Music] 1941  with Manila in his sights it looks as if General Douglas MacArt

hur is about to  make good on his promise to liberate the Philippines the first Cavalry division  take the bridge over the tulan river and on February the 3rd the US enter  the capital city [Music] Manila the Japanese hold manila's historic architecture  in highest [Music] [Applause] [Music] steam to preserve it General  Yamashita gives orders to withdraw [Music] completely but a Garrison Commander named Sanji  iuki defies the order along with 20,000 [Music] men they swear to uphold the Japanese

Imperial  code of honor and defend the city to the death the battle for Manila becomes the first and  fiercest example of urban Warfare in the Pacific Theater American soldiers in  through the capital [Music] they face snipers machine gun nests and hidden artillery historic Manila is reduced to Rubble [Music] after a month of fighting US forces  drive iuki and his remaining troops to the historic center of the city known as intramuros there they will  make their last stand [Music] American sold

iers unleash 140 gun artillery barrage US troops then assault the [Music] stronghold the battle is brutal lasting 3 days at dawn on the 26th iuki and his officers  commit sabuku the Japanese Act of ceremonial suicide the battle for Manila  is finally over by March the 3r American losses stand at  a th000 Japan's at 177,000 but over a 100,000 Filipino civilians  lie dead many of them massacred by the Japanese it is the highest death toll  of any battle in the Pacific Theater so far MacArthur has

kept his promise  but at a devastating [Music] price the battle for the Philippines  will continue for five more months as the US are made to weed out pockets  of Japanese Defenders dotted around the islands [Music] when it's finally over it has  cost America around 14,000 dead and almost 50,000 [Music] wounded  Japan has lost almost 350,000 soldiers lives strategically the campaign has been a  success Japan's Navy has been crushed its last supply lines to sources of oil and food have been  seve

red but everyone knows the war is far from Over the Japan jaanese believe they can still win if they can make the fighting  brutal enough and just fight on whatever the cost they are convinced  that America will not have the stomach to continue us Chiefs know this too  they need to find a way to force Japan to surrender quickly and unconditionally but [Music] how