Placeholder Image

字幕列表 影片播放

  • 從瓜島到長崎 (WWII Battlefield S4/E5)

  • In the summer of 1942,

  • the Japanese Empire stretched over a vast area of the western Pacific

  • After the attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941,

  • Japanese forces moved quickly to capture Hong Kong,

  • Burma,

  • Malaria,

  • Borneo, the Philippines,

  • and Singapore.

  • By the spring of 1942,

  • Japanese troops were in New Guinea

  • as the expanding empire swept into the Solomon Islands,

  • By the end of May,

  • Japanese territory spread as far as the large jungle island

  • that would give its name to one of the best-known episodes of the Pacific War,

  • Guadalcanal.

  • Japan's expansion was a seemingly relentless advance.

  • But around the time they reached Guadalcanal,

  • the tide was already beginning to turn against the Empire.

  • The May 1942, Battle of the Coral Sea

  • forced Japan to shelf(?) the idea of attacking New Guinea's capital.

  • Port Morseby.

  • In early June,

  • the stunning American victory at Midway

  • persuaded the Japanese leadership

  • to halt their expansion into the Pacific.

  • Consolidation was now the order of the day.

  • But the Empire was still a force to be reckoned with.

  • In the middle of June 1942,

  • Allied intelligence in the Solomon Islands

  • reported a worrying development.

  • The Japanese occupiers of Guadalcanal

  • were constructing an airfield on the north coast of the island.

  • Coconut trees were being felled in the thousands.

  • and the reports suggested

  • that the airstrip will be operational in a matter of weeks.

  • This was serious news for the Allies.

  • A Japanese air presence on Guadalcanal

  • would threaten the precious supply line between Hawaii and Australia.

  • In Washington,

  • the American chiefs of staff considered their response.

  • One idea was to carry out a raid against Guadalcanal,

  • and put the airfield out of commission.

  • But eventually a plan was hatched

  • that was far more bold in scope.

  • Instead of merely raiding Guadalcanal,

  • the Americans decided to capture the island.

  • The plan was to effect an amphibious landing by American Marine forces,

  • eject the small Japanese presence,

  • and establish an Allied airbase on the island.

  • By June the 25th,

  • the decision was made to go ahead with the operation,

  • its code name

  • Watchtower.

  • The Prelude

  • When the decision was made to capture Guadalcanal,

  • the American planners knew very little about the background that lay ahead

  • the island was almost entirely unfamiliar.

  • Maps were few and unreliable,

  • and only a limited air reconnaissance was possible.

  • And this was not the only problem that affected American preparations.

  • The success of the Guadalcanal offensive

  • would depend on the Marine troops

  • whose task was to go ashore

  • and physically capture the vital airstrip.

  • But when the Marine commander

  • General Vandegrift

  • received his orders at his headquarters in New Zealand on the 25th of June,

  • he knew that his men were far from combat ready.

  • It was early in the previous month that the marines

  • had left their home base in North Carolina.

  • And by the end of June,

  • only 1/3 of their number had arrived in New Zealand.

  • General Vandegrift had been told

  • not to expect any operational duties until 1943.

  • Now his unprepared division

  • was expected to go into battle in a matter of weeks.

  • Vandegrift was forced into urgent preparations in New Zealand

  • as his men and supplies arrived in the region.

  • Despite an outbreak of influenza amongst his troops

  • and the inconvenience of a strike

  • amongst the dock workers in the Port of Wellington,

  • by the end of July

  • the Marine troops were in position

  • on the island Fiji

  • awaiting a final rehearsal for the task ahead.

  • General Vandegrift by now secured a postponement to the day of attack

  • from August 1st to August seventh.

  • But he knew that his preparation time have been far from ideal.

  • And in Fiji,

  • the inexperience of the American Marines revealed itself.

  • The Guadalcanal expedition

  • would be an amphibious operation

  • quite unprecedented in size.

  • And the Fiji exercise

  • revealed the logistical difficulties involved.

  • There was little evidence of coordination

  • between the amphibious landing groups

  • and the accompanying naval and air support.

  • Equipment proved unreliable.

  • And the whole exercise was judged to be a little less than a farce.

  • But there could be no delay in the timetable.

  • August the 7th would be the date

  • when the American plan would be put into action.

  • The intentions of the American leadership for the Guadalcanal offensive

  • were relatively straightforward.

  • An armada of transport ships

  • would sail from Fiji to the Solomon Islands

  • and into the channel to the north of Guadalcanal.

  • There, the main amphibious force

  • would take to their landing crafts and go ashore

  • while supporting units

  • secure the smaller islands of Tulagi,

  • Gavutu,

  • and Tanambogo.

  • The transport vessels would not be alone.

  • Instead,

  • they were just part of a much larger invasion force

  • To the north and northeast,

  • lay a substantial protective naval presence

  • under the command of Admiral Crutchley of the Royal Australian Navy.

  • 5 cruises and 9 destroyers

  • Generous air support was also provided.

  • Some 100 miles to the south,

  • An American carrier fleet formed into position.

  • The value of the aircraft carrier

  • had already been proved dramatically at the Coral Sea and Midway.

  • And so the Carriers Saratoga,

  • Wasp,

  • and Enterprise were deployed

  • to provide fighter support for the Guadalcanal offensive.

  • Alongside the carriers,

  • one battleship,

  • 6 cruises and some 16 destroyers,

  • These substantial resources

  • were all deployed in support of Vandegrift's First Marine Division,

  • a landing force reinforced

  • with crack units of paratroops and Marine raiders.

  • But nothing could hide the fact

  • that the 1st Marine Division had only been formed recently

  • and the majority of its men

  • lacked any experience of battle.

  • The American Marines could not be sure

  • of the size of the force that waited them on Guadalcanal.

  • But they could guess the strength of the Japanese fighting spirit.

  • The best intelligence available suggested

  • that the force of 7,000 troops were in position on the island

  • and these were likely to include soldiers

  • with recent experience of fighting in difficult jungle conditions.

  • By contrast,

  • there were few men in the American Marines

  • who would ever come across

  • an environment like that of Guadalcanal.

  • The Americans also knew that Japanese strength

  • did not derived only from its positions

  • at Guadalcanal itself.

  • Somewhere to the northwest,

  • in the vicinity of New Britain,

  • lurked the might of Japanese naval power,

  • the 4th Inner South Sea Fleet.

  • These were the concerns that face the American commanders

  • on the eve of battle in early August 1942.

  • American Commanders

  • In overall command of the Watchtower Operation

  • was Vice Admiral Robert Lee Gormley.

  • The 57-year-old who had served as a liaison officer in London

  • Gormley arrived in New Zealand in March 1942

  • to take up command of the South Pacific area

  • and South Pacific Force.

  • Not long afterwards,

  • he received the order to proceed

  • with the Guadalcanal attack.

  • But Gormley would not be in the South Pacific

  • when the fighting finally ended.

  • His eventual removal

  • may have been the result

  • of one of his decisions in the early days of the offensive.

  • But in August 1942,

  • Admiral Gormley was the man in charge.

  • Amongst his subordinates,

  • Rear Admiral Frank J. Fletcher,

  • known to his men as Blackjack,

  • a veteran of the Battle of the Coral Sea and the Battle of Midway.

  • Fletcher was seen as an ideal choice

  • to command the naval task force

  • on which the success of the Guadalcanal offensive would depend.

  • But Fletcher's reputation

  • would also be affected by the decision of his superior

  • Admiral Gormley.

  • Once again, there was no such concern

  • when operations began.

  • Rear Admiral Fletcher's huge task force

  • was divided into two groups:

  • with the key amphibious force under the command of

  • Rear Admiral Richmond Jake Turner.

  • Like Gormley and Fletcher,

  • Turner was in his late fifties.

  • Although he had never seen active combat service

  • instead he was regarded as an authority in the business

  • of planning an amphibious attack.

  • At Guadalcanal,

  • he would get the chance to put his theories into practice.

  • Rear Admiral Turner's direct subordinates included

  • Major General Alexander A. Vandegrift.

  • And it was this marine commander

  • who would become most associated

  • with the eventual outcome of Guadalcanal.

  • A veteran of the so-called Banana Wars in the Caribbean

  • Vandegrift knew all about jungle fighting.

  • Though he was astonished when he learned

  • how little time his 1st Marine Division would have to prepare for the offensive,

  • this gifted soldier put aside his concerns

  • as he took on the business of leadership on the ground.

  • Vandegrift's marine division

  • was reinforced with paratroops.

  • It was also supported by the 1st Marine Raider Unit

  • under the command of Colonel Merit Edson.

  • Like his commander,

  • Edson had combat experience

  • and it's for this reason that his raiders

  • were given one of the most difficult tasks on the opening day of battle.

  • Known to his men as Red Mike,

  • Edson was a master of special tactics

  • and he would become one of the most celebrated soldiers of the Pacific War,

  • with Guadalcanal

  • the first location to witness his abilities as a leader of men.

  • Japanese Commanders

  • The Americans enjoyed no monopoly

  • of excellent leadership at Guadalcanal.

  • In charge of Japanese naval operations in the South Pacific

  • was Vice Admiral Gunichi Mikawa(三川軍一).

  • Prior to the American attack,

  • Mikawa had expressed well-documented concerns

  • about the fractured nature of the Japanese Pacific command.

  • But when fighting began,

  • Mikawa would put his opinions to one side

  • as he deployed his naval forces in brilliant style.

  • Complimenting Mikawa's naval forces,

  • the Japanese regional ground presence

  • consisted of the 17th Army of Lieutenant General Harukichi Hyakutake(百武晴吉)

  • General Hyakutake had a formidable force at his disposal

  • The 50,000 men that made up 17th Army

  • included the 35th infantry Brigade of Major General Kawaguchi(川口清健),

  • a commander who revealed his keenness for the fight

  • as soon as he was engaged on Guadalcanal.

  • A strong desire to get to grips with the enemy

  • was also revealed by Colonel Kiyonao Ichiki(一木清直)

  • a veteran of the war in China

  • and a passionate believer

  • in the prowess of the individual Japanese soldier.

  • As commander of the 2nd Battalion,

  • 28th Infantry Regiment,

  • Colonel Ichiki

  • had the chance to put his beliefs to the test

  • in the first major land action on Guadalcanal itself.

  • It would be an engagement where Colonel Ichiki

  • revealed just how much motivation a commander can instill in his men

  • It would also be an action

  • that would give rise to one of the most enduring myths

  • about the Guadalcanal offensive.

  • But there can be no doubt that Colonel Ichiki experienced the first-hand

  • the power of the weapons available to his enemy.

  • American Weapons

  • The American triumph for the Battle of Midway

  • proved once and for all

  • the importance of powerful carrier aircraft.

  • And of the dive bomb was available to the American commanders

  • that was none better than the Douglas SBD,

  • the Dauntless.

  • All through the Pacific War,

  • this two-seater warplane

  • proved a menace to Japanese ships.

  • With one 1,600 pound fuselage mounted bomb

  • and two 325 pound devices on the wings,

  • this elegant aircraft was quick to prove its value

  • against ground positions during the fighting at Guadalcanal.

  • Colonel Ichiki's men

  • would become especially aware of the Dauntless's power.

  • American commanders were also able to deploy

  • a great carrier borne fighter in the Guadalcanal theater.

  • The F4F, the Wildcat,

  • a single seat fighter

  • whose distinctive foremost powered by a 1,200 horsepower engine

  • generating a top speed of 318 miles per hour.

  • By August 1942,

  • the Wildcats had also seen action at Midway

  • and at the Coral Sea.

  • ___ perhaps not as great a warplane as the Dauntless,

  • the introduction of the Wildcats proved invaluable

  • for the American efforts of Guadalcanal.

  • The Bell P-400

  • was essentially an export version of the P-39 Air Cobra.

  • And as such,

  • lacked amongst other components,

  • the ability to fit oxygen bottles

  • giving it a maximum seating of 12,000 feet.

  • Unusable as an interceptor,

  • its formidable armament of one nose mounted 37 mm canon

  • 2 x .50 caliber

  • and 4 x .30 caliber machine guns

  • together with two 500-pound bombs

  • ideally suited the P-400 to the ground attack role.

  • But it's unusual tricycle under carriage

  • and the engine placed behind the pilot

  • the propeller drive shaft running between his legs,

  • the P-400 was not popular with the man who flew it.

  • Despite this valuable support from the air,

  • Vandegrift and his colleagues knew

  • that they would also need substantial amounts of ground resources

  • for the kind of jungle warfare that lay ahead.

  • The marine troops themselves were a key resource.

  • To get them from the transport ships to the shore,

  • the American forces relied on the landing craft

  • like the LCIL,

  • the Landing Craft Infantry Large,

  • In operation,

  • this one 164 ft vessel

  • had the ability to deliver 210 troops to the beach

  • via the ramp gangways (?)affixed to the bow.

  • The LCIL

  • could also be

  • used to deliver 75 tons of material.

  • At Guadalcanal,

  • American hardware on the ground

  • included light mobile tanks

  • well-suited to jungle warfare.

  • The most famous of these was the M3.

  • First produced in 1941,

  • its 6 guns were dominated by a

  • main weapon of 37 mm caliber

  • with armor up to 43 mm thick

  • The M-3 provided strong protection

  • for its 4 men crew.

  • Unfortunately,

  • a problem with the disembarkation

  • at the Guadalcanal beachhead

  • meant that General Vandegrift could not

  • call on as many of these fine vehicles

  • as he had originally hoped.

  • But the contribution of the M-3

  • was still crucial

  • in some of the fiercest engagements of the offensive.

  • The conflict on Guadalcanal

  • saw the use for the first time in a combat situation

  • of the American build

  • landing vehicle tracked

  • or the Alligator,

  • developed from the rescue craft

  • used in the swamp areas of the southern U.S.A. in the mid-1930.

  • Powered by 2 Cadillac V-8 engines,

  • propulsion through the water came from paddles attached to the tracks

  • which would also have mobility on soft sandy beaches.

  • Over 18,000 vehicles were built,

  • including various models with differing offensive armaments

  • ranging from the fitting of a tank turret to the upper surface

  • through the additional 75 mm howitzers

  • But the main benefit of the Alligator

  • was its ability to drive straight out of the water

  • and into cover before unloading its cargo,

  • making it far less a target

  • than ships, men, and supplies lined up on an exposed beach.

  • Another American weapon that proved itself

  • not only at Guadalcanal

  • but also in subsequent jungle battles

  • was the 75 mm pack howitzer,

  • the M-1A1.

  • Light and maneuverable,

  • the pack howitzer was a long established weapon

  • in the American arsenal.

  • Ideal for dropping by parachute,

  • the M-1A1

  • possessed a maximum range of some 9,700 yards

  • and the Japanese would feel

  • the force of its 13 pound shells

  • in the fighting of 1942.

  • A light and versatile weapon,

  • the 37 mm gun

  • when used in the antitank role

  • fired a solid shot round

  • that could penetrate 25 mm armor

  • at 1,000 yards,

  • and an armor piercing round

  • that could penetrate 58 mm.

  • Both types of rounds

  • proved more than adequate in defeating the lightly armored tanks

  • used by the Japanese on Guadalcanal.

  • If one was used in the anti personnel role,

  • the 37 mm gun

  • proved its worth with devastating effect.

  • Using canister fire,

  • the gun was effectively turned into a 37 mm shotgun.

  • While posing little threat against tanks,

  • it could decimate the frontal infantry attacks favored by the Japanese.

  • Weighing at 912 pounds,

  • the gun was very light

  • and could easily be dismantled and transported through the jungle.

  • Over 18,000 were produced,

  • and the gun was widely used in the Pacific theater.

  • The standard weapon of the infantrymen of the 2nd World War

  • was the rifle.

  • Most of the world's armies at this time

  • used the hand operated bolt action weapon

  • that had been in use since before the 1st World War.

  • The only exception to this rule

  • was the U.S. military.

  • Entering service in 1936,

  • an standard issue by 1940,

  • the M-1 Grand Rifle

  • was a gas operated semiautomatic rifle

  • fed by an 8 round magazine.

  • Slightly heavier than the traditional rifle,

  • the M-1 Grand

  • was a particularly reliable weapon,

  • a significant advantage

  • when fighting in the damp jungle conditions of Guadalcanal.

  • But for all the quality of the American hardware

  • the circumstances of the Guadalcanal assault

  • meant not enough material

  • was actually landed on the island.

  • The fact that American ground commanders

  • were not able to call on their full complement of hardware

  • continue to be discussed today.

  • What is certain is that when the American transport ships withdrew,

  • half their material cargo was still on board.

  • And the marines left behind

  • knew that that enemy also possessed many fine weapons of war.

  • Japanese Weapons

  • Success in jungle warfare could often be decided

  • by one of the most ancient of all aspects of combat

  • --- the skill and resources of the individual soldier.

  • And for the Japanese infantryman,

  • much of his strengths derived from the quality of his rifle,

  • typically, the type 99.

  • Originally introduced as the type 38

  • in the early years of the 20th century,

  • the 1930's saw this 9 pound weapon

  • modified from its original 6.5 mm caliber

  • to accommodate a new 7.7 mm cartridge.

  • Extensively used in the fighting in China,

  • the Type 99

  • was an ideal gun for the jungle sniper.

  • And Japanese troops were also keen to use the weapon with its bayonet attached

  • as the American marines found out

  • in one of the bloodiest engagements of the Guadalcanal fighting.

  • The Japanese infantrymen

  • could also draw confidence from the weapons used to support him.

  • The Type 92 battalion gun

  • may have been one of the strangest looking machines of the Second World War,

  • but it was also one of the most widely used.

  • It's relatively short range

  • meant that it was often used for direct fire duties

  • in close contact with the enemy,

  • a task greatly assisted by its relative lightness in action.

  • This enabled the Japanese gunners to attack, move on,

  • and then attack again

  • from an entirely new direction of fire.

  • A tactic that may be disturbing impact

  • upon the troops who found themselves in a tight 92 sights.

  • The Japanese, like the Americans,

  • also recognized the value of carrier launched war planes.

  • And in 1942,

  • they possessed seaborne carrier aircraft at the peak of its powers.

  • The legendary

  • Mitsubishi A6M

  • the Zero fighter.

  • Or as American troops christened it, the Zeke.

  • A single seat aircraft,

  • the zero was introduced in 1939.

  • And its capabilities came to the attention of the Allies

  • when it was used during the attack on Pearl Harbor.

  • Its range was remarkable,

  • its speed equally impressive,

  • and its pilots enjoyed excellent maneuverability.

  • The zero's armament was also a force to be reckoned with.

  • 2 machine guns in the nose

  • with two 20 mm cannons mounted in the wings.

  • Developed to replace the G-M3,

  • which had been in production since 1936,

  • the Mitsubishi G-4M

  • entered service in the spring of 1941,

  • The G-4M,

  • or Betty bomber as it was known by the Americans,

  • was a Japanese navy's frontline land-based bomber.

  • The Betty was armed with one canon and 4 machine guns,

  • and was also capable of carrying either a full bomb load

  • or a single torpedo,

  • a weapon ideally suited to the Pacific conflict.

  • In the early stages of the war in the Pacific,

  • the Betty proved to be a worthy opponent

  • against the limited performance of the U.S. fighters,

  • But as better Allied aircraft began to enter the Pacific theater,

  • the situation began to change.

  • Like the Mitsubishi Zero,

  • the Betty was designed without self sealing tanks

  • to increase performance and range,

  • and subsequently,

  • became notorious with the airmen flew it as a fire hazard.

  • Derived from the Type 89 medium tank

  • which first came into service in 1929

  • and saw extensive service in the war with China,

  • the Chi-Ha Type 97

  • was hopelessly outclassed

  • when engaging even the smallest American tanks.

  • The earlier Type 89's main gun

  • could not be loaded with armor-piercing rounds

  • which relegated it to an infantry support vehicle.

  • The Type 97's better armament

  • for the 47 mm gun and 2 machine guns

  • could do nothing to improve its combat effectiveness.

  • With armor plating no thicker than 13 mms

  • and half that of its American counterpart,

  • the Sherman,

  • the Type 97

  • was used widely by the Japanese army throughout the entire Pacific conflict.

  • The 70 mm infantry howitzer,

  • or mounting gun Type 92,

  • was found to be completely inadequate against American armor

  • and was relegated

  • to nothing more than an infantry support weapon.

  • The one major advantage of this artillery piece

  • during the conflict was that it was capable of being dismantled

  • and carried by its crew of 5

  • albeit with some difficulty

  • through the dense jungle and hilly terrain at(?) Guadalcanal.

  • A light gun,

  • weighing 468 pounds,

  • roughly half the weight of the comparable American gun

  • it fired an 8.3 pound high explosive round

  • up to a range of 3,000 yards.

  • While the Japanese military failed to recognize

  • the submachine gun as a viable infantry weapon,

  • it regularly employed the light machine-gun in an infantry support role.

  • The Nambu 7.7 mm Type 99 light machine gun

  • was actually based on the British Brandon gun

  • and used extensively in the Guadalcanal campaign.

  • The Nambu was an extremely accurate weapon

  • with a high rate of fire

  • and could even be fitted both with a bayonet

  • and a telescopic sight.

  • To the Japanese officer,

  • the samurai sword was a revered symbol of the spirit of ancient Japan

  • believed to be the embodiment of the summarized code

  • the expression of his iron discipline

  • and unswerving devotion to duty

  • The swords issued to Japanese offices were generally lower quality

  • mass made examples.

  • But as fighting weapons and as a symbol of military authority,

  • a sword was considered essential by Japanese officers.

  • Even by WWII

  • with the development of far more effective and destructive weapons,

  • the sword

  • carried into battle by a Japanese officer

  • held a vital link with the ancients Samurai code of honor, Bushidō(武士道).

  • As the American invasion force

  • moved into position in the Solomon Islands on the 7th of August 1942,

  • the story of the Pacific War still had a long way to run.

  • But the next chapter was about to begin at Guadalcanal.

  • The Landings

  • For the pleasant surprise of the American troops,

  • the landing on Guadalcanal was made without the attentions of the enemy.

  • This was fortunate

  • since the disembarkation proved to be as uncoordinated

  • as the rehearsal suggested it might be.

  • Before long,

  • the so-called Red Beach

  • was strewed with supplies,

  • men,

  • and material.

  • And no one seemed to know

  • who was responsible for what.

  • But at least the Japanese were no where to be seen.

  • And by the end of the day,

  • the marines were already moving towards the Japanese airfield.

  • But elsewhere,

  • the forces of the Empire were present in numbers.

  • At Tulagi,

  • the marine raiders of Colonel Edson encountered fierce Japanese resistance,

  • especially during the night that followed the landing.

  • In the darkness of the jungle,

  • no fewer than 4 Japanese assaults were beaten back

  • (?)and it took to the end of the second day

  • before Colonel Edson could report the final reduction of Japanese troops.

  • Fierce battles were also joined

  • the connected islets Gavutu and Tanambogo.

  • with the latter only (?)falling after the intervention of naval support

  • ---the big guns of the Destroyer Buchanan.

  • The Americans that always expected

  • the task of capturing the small islands to be difficult.

  • But on Guadalcanal itself,

  • success proved to be relatively straightforward, at least at first.

  • By the afternoon of the second day of operations,

  • American marines have moved west from Red Beach

  • to secure a position of the nearly completed Japanese airfield,

  • the site quickly given the name

  • Henderson field, in honor of the hero of the battle of Midway.

  • The Japanese forces had simply fled to the hills.

  • As dusk fell on the 8th of August 1942,

  • the first objective of the operation had been achieved.

  • And no losses on the northern islands had been happy.

  • General Vandegrift could reflect on the job well done.

  • But any overconfidence would prove to be premature.

  • War in the Jungle

  • As soon as the Americans made their move,

  • Admiral Mikawa of the Japanese 4th in the South Sea Fleet

  • ordered the battle group to set sail for Guadalcanal

  • through the Solomon Islands channel that became known as The Slot.

  • But before they could arrive,

  • Mikawa also dispatched the force of bombers

  • with fighter escort

  • against the American forces.

  • Alerted,

  • Admiral Fletcher dispatched 60 Wildcat fighters

  • to greet them in the skies over Guadalcanal.

  • In a fierce dogfight,

  • 16 Japanese aircraft were lost

  • against a total of eleven American airplanes.

  • Admiral Turner decided to move his own fleet into defensive positions

  • north and south of Savo island

  • with the Destroyers Blue and Ralph Talbot

  • in the advance positions.

  • It was these outposts

  • that were first cited by the Japanese battle groups

  • at 0100 hours on the morning of the 9th of August

  • Minutes later,

  • Admiral Mikawa with cruiser fleet

  • sailed past entirely unnoticed.

  • Now he ordered his small cruiser-borne float plains into the air.

  • At 0145 hours,

  • the pilots began to drop flares

  • that revealed the full presence of the Allied ships.

  • Now Mikawa gave the order for the torpedoes to be launched

  • and the big guns to be fired.

  • The battle of Savo Island had begun.

  • The Japanese had taken their enemy by surprise

  • and (?)they made their advantage pay.

  • The Allied cruisers

  • Vincennes, Quincy, Canberra, and Astoria

  • were all lost.

  • Another was seriously damaged

  • as the Japanese battle group swept around Savo Island

  • and back out through the slot to the northwest.

  • The Imperial Navy had triumphed in the first of 4 major battles

  • it would take place in the seas around Guadalcanal.

  • For the marine commander Vandegrift,

  • this loss of supporting fire power was a disaster

  • and the Battle of Savo Island

  • was a comprehensive victory for the Japanese.

  • But the Americans to console themselves

  • with the facts that Mikawa fleet had not taken out the transport ships.

  • But more bad news had already reached the marines.

  • In the hours before the Japanese attack,

  • General Vandegrift was informed of a decision made by Admiral Fletcher

  • he had decided to withdraw his forces of carriers in the south.

  • Having agreed with his superior Admiral Gormley,

  • the fuel of the aircraft resources were insufficient

  • to maintain a secure presence in the region.

  • As a consequence of this controversial decision,

  • Admiral Turner

  • announced that he would also have to withdraw his amphibious task force.

  • By the end of the 9th of August, just 2 days into the operation,

  • Admiral Turner's ships had left Guadalcanal

  • taking half of the marine supplies and material with him.

  • There had been no time to unload anymore.

  • On Guadalcanal,

  • and on the smaller island to the north,

  • the First Marine Division

  • were left to defend for themselves.

  • It was potentially a disastrous turn of events.

  • There was nothing else for Vandegrift to do

  • but secure his defensive perimeters as(?) best as he could.

  • And set his men

  • to the task of completing the Henderson field airstrip.

  • if it could be brought into operation quickly,

  • it would be a precious asset to the now isolated marines.

  • The work was hampered by the lack of materials

  • and also by the constant presence of Japanese war planes in the skies above.

  • Before long,

  • the enemy would be even closer ___.

  • In the hot, humid jungle conditions,

  • General Vandegrift's inexperienced man

  • were quickly learning

  • the often desperate facts of war.

  • The Japanese 17th Army of Lieutenant General Hyakutake

  • was now ordered to retake Guadalcanal.

  • And he selected the 35th infantry brigade

  • of Major General Kawaguchi to carry out the task.

  • It was now that the Rear Admiral Tanaka

  • came up with the imaginative idea

  • by moving troops from New Britain to Guadalcanal

  • using fast night convoys of cruisers and destroyers,

  • the so called ___ which became known as the Tokyo Express.

  • Such was the effectiveness of the procedure

  • (?)in delivering Japanese forces to Guadalcanal.

  • On the 18th of August,

  • with Henderson Field still not operational,

  • the first of these night convoys succeeded in landing 2 echelons of troops.

  • To the west, a special landing force went ashore at Kokumbona.

  • To the east at Taivu Point,

  • the 2nd Battalion of the 28th infantry Regiment

  • under the command of Colonel Ichiki.

  • It was a bold move,

  • perhaps a little too bold.

  • General Hyakutake

  • decided not to wait for his scattered 35th Infantry Brigade to form up.

  • instead, he acted at once.

  • And Ichiki's men quickly advanced from their beachhead.

  • By the evening of the 20th of August,

  • they had reached the edge of the American position

  • to the east of Alligator Creek.

  • That night,

  • Colonel Ichiki launched his attack.

  • It was a fearsome engagement.

  • That became known as the Battle of the Tenaru

  • The Japanese hold themselves __ the Americans in the bayonet charge.

  • Their courage was phenomenal

  • as they ran into the line of American artillery, machine gun and infantry fire.

  • When they were forced to withdraw,

  • the inspirational Ichiki

  • ordered survivors to regroup

  • and once again they charged the American positions.

  • But the bravery of Ichiki's men would not be enough.

  • By the following afternoon,

  • the Japanese assault failed.

  • And the last of the Ichiki's men

  • found themselves surrounded by an American force

  • now reinforced by light armor,

  • At some point Colonel Ichiki himself died in the fighting

  • although a popular myth suggests that he committed harakiri

  • when he realized that the battle was lost.

  • The American victory of the Tenaru was (?)total,

  • and the battlefield was a scene of slaughter.

  • 800 of Ichiki's 900 men were dead.

  • Significantly, the final elimination of the Japanese troops

  • was assisted by American power in the air.

  • The Henderson Field was now operational.

  • And on August the 20th,

  • 19 Wildcat fighters

  • and 12 Dauntless dive bombers landed on Guadalcanal.

  • The American occupation was now a less tentative enterprise.

  • But the battle for the island was still far from won.

  • In late August and early September,

  • the ships of the Tokyo Express

  • brought substantial numbers of troops to the east and west Vandegrift's perimeter.

  • In early September,

  • the American commander brought his Raiders and paratroop

  • down to Guadalcanal itself.

  • And on September the 7th,

  • dispatched them east to attack Tasinbako,

  • a village believed to be a center of Japanese strength.

  • Vandegrift's intelligence was accurate.

  • Japanese troops were based in Tasinbako.

  • (?)And a brief engagement resulted

  • before the raiders captured the village.

  • But the Japanese contingent was small

  • and Colonel Edson soon found out why.

  • A far larger force had been present in Tasinbako,

  • but they had now moved on.

  • This was the 35th Brigade of General Kawaguchi

  • and it set off south into the jungle

  • with the likely intention of moving west

  • before attacking Henderson Fields to the north.

  • Hurriedly General Vandegrift organized his men

  • into position for the suspected Japanese attack.

  • His assumption was that his Japanese counterpart

  • would strike against the ridge

  • that lay the south of the air strip. if they did

  • they would find the American raiders and paratroops waiting for them.

  • Vandegrift's assumption was correct.

  • On the evening of the 12th of September,

  • Japanese warship unleashed the barrage of shell fire,

  • not against the airfield

  • but against the ridge that would provide the (?)grim name for the battle to come,

  • --- Bloody Ridge.

  • It would be no exaggeration.

  • When the Japanese shelling ceased,

  • Kawaguchi's men made an initial assault

  • that push the American defenders back.

  • But the real attack came the following evening,

  • September the 13th.

  • That night

  • (?)saw the island of Guadalcanal being enveloped in the fog of war.

  • Kawaguchi's brigade now launched themselves

  • for a heroic drive against the American positions.

  • They were met by a line of mortar and artillery fire.

  • A heavy Japanese fire power was also deployed

  • from a group of 7 destroyers in a coastal water ___ ___.

  • The American Wildcat pilots

  • were also able to bring the power of their guns to there.

  • But still the Japanese infantry surged forward.

  • It was a night of desperate fighting.

  • No fewer than 12 occasions,

  • the Japanese troops charged the American line.

  • On occasions,

  • the defense appeared on the point of breaking.

  • But the raiders and paratroops

  • somehow held firm throughout the night.

  • By the morning of the 14th of September,

  • the battle was won

  • and what was left of Kawaguchi's forces

  • was retreating east.

  • The ridge was covered with bodies

  • and it was still in American hands.

  • Henderson Field remained secure.

  • General Vandegrift arrived on Guadalcanal on August the 7th

  • with a largely inexperienced body of men.

  • Now, 6 weeks later,

  • they had become a battle-hardened force to be reckoned with.

  • But it was no time for complacency.

  • The marines still faced many difficulties on Guadalcanal.

  • Tropical diseases such as dysentery were rife amongst the American troops.

  • A typical roll call

  • revealed one in 5 men on the sick list.

  • There was also the continued presence of the enemy.

  • Vandegrift's men were allowed no respite

  • from Japanese bombardment from the air and sea.

  • By mid-October,

  • the Japanese ground presence on Guadalcanal had also been reinforced.

  • The commander of the 17th Army

  • had moved his headquarters to the island

  • and General Hyakutake

  • could call on the force of 20,000 men

  • for a new assault against an American presence,

  • itself now 23,000 strong.

  • This would be the 3rd major Japanese attack.

  • It would also be the last.

  • In broad terms,

  • General Hyakutake's plan was for a simultaneous attack from 2 sides.

  • From the west, Major General Sumiyoshi would lead an assault

  • with armor support against the American perimeter,

  • at his disposal some 5,600 men.

  • Meanwhile to the south,

  • Major General Kawaguchi would attack with 7,000 men

  • and a strong artillery element.

  • On the evening of the 22nd of October,

  • the Battle of Henderson Field began.

  • To the west,

  • an artillery barrage announced Japanese intentions.

  • When the guns fell silent,

  • Sumiyoshi's battalions threw themselves

  • against the American defensive line with the support of their tanks

  • Now it was the turn of the American big guns to intervene.

  • Artillery pieces

  • and dedicated anti-tank weapons

  • rained down their shells on the Japanese men and armor.

  • Infantry fire was also ferocious.

  • Despite the trademark hunger for the fight displayed by the Japanese soldiers,

  • the western assault was complete repulsed in a matter of hours.

  • The American positions should also have been under simultaneous attack from the south,

  • but here it was silence.

  • General Maruyama had found

  • the march through the Guadalcanal jungle tough going.

  • Too tough,

  • at the stated(?) moment when the assault began,

  • his men were still hacking their way through the thick vegetation.

  • Crucially,

  • Maruyama had to abandon his mortars and artillery pieces on the way.

  • He was also out of communication with his colleagues to the west.

  • He was unable to tell Sumiyoshi to delay.

  • It was October the 24th,

  • (?)before the now weakened southern sector could make its attack,

  • and the result was predictable,

  • more fierce fighting and victory for the American marines

  • leaving behind another blood-soaked battlefield.

  • American satisfaction was now understandable.

  • The marines s__(?) off 3 major Japanese attempts

  • to eject them from Guadalcanal.

  • But celebration was tempered

  • by the loss of the American Carrier Hornet.

  • during a naval engagement to the north of Guadalcanal.

  • This was the Battle of Santa Cruz,

  • the last of the 4 great sea battles that took place

  • while the marines struggle to maintain their hold on land.

  • In general,

  • Japanese sea power around Guadalcanal

  • proved far more effective than the operations on the island itself.

  • Both the Japanese

  • and the American navies lost about 25 warships

  • in the course of their confrontations in the region.

  • But it is as a marine operation

  • that Guadalcanal is best remembered today.

  • When Vandegrift's exhausted men were finally withdrawn in early December,

  • they had endured 4 months

  • in isolated difficult terrain

  • with no respite from the attentions of the enemy.

  • 1,600 marines had died.

  • 4,700 had been wounded.

  • But they had won and the Japanese knew it.

  • Their casualty list was 4 times of(?) this size.

  • On December 31st,

  • the Imperial command made the decision

  • to withdraw the remaining Japanese forces from Guadalcanal.

  • By February the 8th, they had gone.

  • and the American 14th Corps were left in complete control of the island.

  • In the months that(?) followed

  • the Henderson Field air strip was built up into a major military facility.

  • The supply lines of Australia and New Zealand were secure

  • and Japanese advance had been turned back for the first time.

  • Now the Americans could consider the future with greater confidence

  • and Guadalcanal would be the first staging post

  • on the long road that lay ahead.

  • This previously unknown patch of jungle

  • is now deservedly famous.

  • It was the first of the many islands on which Americans were forced to halt

  • on their way to final victory.

  • In February 1943,

  • the armed forces of the United States

  • stood as a masters of the Pacific island of Guadalcanal.

  • The small jungle outpost had been virtually unknown 6 months before.

  • But it was now a name familiar to the American public.

  • The successful invasion of Guadalcanal

  • by the marines of General Alexander Vandegrift

  • had captured the national imagination,

  • and the departure of the Japanese

  • marked a turning point in the story of the 2nd World War.

  • The seemingly relentless Japanese expansion was over

  • and it was now the task of America and her Allies

  • to roll back the frontiers of the Empire.

  • But it would be a long and costly enterprise.

  • In February 1943,

  • Japan remained in control of a vast area of the Pacific ocean

  • and her forces were prepared to die to defend it.

  • The Allies were already familiar with this powerful warrior spirit.

  • At Guadalcanal, the Japanese defenders revealed

  • their distaste for any idea of surrender.

  • Death in battle was the only fitting end for a defeated Imperial soldier.

  • in the 2-and-a-half years that followed,

  • the same attitude showed itself across the western Pacific

  • as the United States led her Allies on an amazing journey

  • from island to island towards the land of the rising sun itself.

  • This was a period that saw some of the bloodiest fighting of the entire war,

  • at sea,

  • in the air,

  • and especially on land.

  • The names of battlefields like Tarawa,

  • Iwo Jima,

  • and Okinawa,

  • are now synonymous with close quarter fighting of the bitterest kind.

  • The Japanese desire to fight on to the end

  • resulted in casualty lists of biblical proportions,

  • and few were taken prisoner.

  • The missions of Japanese Kamikaze pilots

  • also come to typify

  • the disregard for life amongst imperial fighting men

  • even when the Allies had fought their way to the edge of Japan itself.

  • It took the most deadly weapon ever created

  • finally to bring the conflict to an end.

  • The journey from Guadalcanal to Nagasaki

  • remains one of the most revealing chapters in the history of warfare.

  • New Plans in the Pacific

  • The American triumph for Guadalcanal

  • force the Japanese imperial command to consider a new strategy

  • for the prosecution of the Pacific War.

  • 6 weeks after the Japanese withdrawal,

  • the new approach was decided.

  • In essence, it was a defensive strategy

  • pertaining to secure control of key strongholds across a vast frontline

  • while allowing for the possibility of a counterattack

  • if the opportunity existed.

  • March 1943,

  • also saw the agreement of the Allies strategy for the conflict to come.

  • For the Washington Pacific Conference,

  • the American Joint Chiefs of Staff

  • decided to pursue a 2 pronged attack

  • through the many islands of the western Pacific.

  • The Southwest Pacific Command was given responsibility

  • for an advance beginning at Guadalcanal.

  • Its task:

  • to sweep through the Solomon Islands and New Guinea

  • towards the islands of the Philippines.

  • In overall command

  • the charismatic Douglas MacArthur,

  • the general who had famously sworn to return to the Philippines

  • after the Japanese conquest in March 1942.

  • To the north,

  • the Central Pacific Area Command of Admiral Chester Nimitz

  • was allocated the second thrust of the American offensive.

  • This would involve a vast naval force

  • advancing from island to island

  • across thousands of kilometers of ocean

  • from the Gilbert Islands

  • through the Marshals and Carolines to the Marianas.

  • Eventually,

  • the 2 prongs of the offensive

  • would converge for a final

  • unified assault on the island of Formosa

  • before moving against the islands of Japan itself.

  • It was an audacious plan

  • but the vast amount of naval material required for Nimitz's objectives

  • was still not available in early 1943.

  • So it was the forces of Douglas MacArthur

  • that began the task of pushing back the frontiers of the Japanese Empire.

  • it will be an achievement of epic proportions.

  • in the spring of 1943,

  • the American Southwest Pacific Command

  • considered its options for the task that now faced them.

  • It was already obvious that the main Japanese stronghold in the region

  • was the fortress of Rabaul on the island of New Britain.

  • This was the headquarters of the Japanese 8th Area Army,

  • a force of 100,000 fighting men.

  • If Rabaul could be destroyed,

  • then further progress towards the Philippines

  • would become a far easier enterprise.

  • By early May 1943,

  • General MacArthur and his colleagues had determined their plan.

  • MacArthur himself would lead an advance along the northeast coast of New Guinea

  • driving the Japanese back before crossing over to New Britain.

  • At the same time,

  • his deputy Admiral William 'bull' Halsey,

  • would lead an invasion force from Guadalcanal through the Solomon Islands

  • so that Rabaul could be attacked from 2 sides.

  • The operation was given the code name

  • Cartwheel.

  • And on the 30th of June 1943,

  • the fight back in the Pacific began.

  • That day

  • the 43rd American infantry Division

  • took to their landing craft for an assault on the Solomon Island at(?) Rendova.

  • The island was lightly defended.

  • And 2 days later,

  • the American troops were able to land on the island of New Georgia.

  • Their objective was now the Japanese airfield at Munda.

  • it was just 10 km away,

  • but it would take a month for a bitter fighting

  • before American troops secured the position.

  • A massive artillery barrage was required

  • but not even the power of the 155 mm howitzer shells

  • could force the Japanese to abandon Munda.

  • It took the intervention

  • of American air power and reinforcements on the ground

  • before the airfield was finally taken.

  • This was an auspicious beginning

  • to the eastern thrust of operation Cartwheel.

  • Admiral Halsey knew

  • that there were far more substantial Japanese positions located at

  • Kolombangara, and especially Bougainville.

  • This was the headquarters of the 17th Army

  • of General Harukichi Hyakutake,

  • a veteran of the Guadalcanal fighting.

  • But the American commander proved equal to the challenge.

  • Much to the surprise of Hyakutake,

  • Halsey ordered that Kolombangara should be bypassed.

  • Instead,

  • he dispatched American and New Zealand troops

  • to the more lightly defended island of Vella Lavella.

  • 2 month later, in early November,

  • Halsey also achieved tactical surprise

  • by launching his attack on Bougainville from the west.

  • General Hyakutake had not anticipated

  • the landing in the swamp region.

  • But by the time he scrambled his forces in response,

  • the American marines were establishing a bridge head on the island.

  • With this achieved,

  • the Japanese commander was never able to regain the initiative

  • and Bougainville eventually fell on November the 26th.

  • The eastern objectives of Operation Cartwheel

  • by now had been fully achieved.

  • To the west,

  • General MacArthur had also enjoyed considerable success.

  • On the vast jungle island of New Guinea,

  • Allied troops had been a grips with the enemy

  • well before the attack in the Solomon Islands

  • Early in 1943,

  • an Australian garrison at Wau

  • had been engaged in a bitter fight

  • to hold the position in the face of a keen Japanese assault.

  • Only a last minute airborne reinforcement of troops

  • had saved the Australians from defeat.

  • And the Japanese offensive

  • was finally abandoned at the end of February.

  • It had been a bloody engagement.

  • 200 Australians lost their lives in bitter close quarter jungle fighting.

  • But 1,200 Japanese also died at Wau.

  • And by spring 1943,

  • the Australian troops of General S__'s 3rd Division

  • were ready to play that part in support of Operation Cartwheel.

  • On April the 26th,

  • the Australian men left their base at Wau and set off towards the coast.

  • Their destination was a position near to the Japanese base at Salamaua.

  • It was a journey of just 55-km to the east

  • but it would take 2 months to cover the ground.

  • The jungle was virtually impenetrable

  • and the Australians also had to contend with

  • enemy outposts deep in the rain forest.

  • It was the 29th of June (1943),

  • before the exhausted units eventually arrived up the coast.

  • But they had achieved their objective.

  • Australian troops now joined together

  • with the landing party of American infantry

  • to attack Japanese positions at Salamaua and Lae.

  • Despite a vigorous defense,

  • by the 11th of September the Japanese were retreating into the mountains

  • in the face of the combined Allied attack.

  • By the 22nd of September,

  • Australian forces had arrived at the Japanese base at Fischhafen,

  • but the site was deserted.

  • The Japanese now chose to concentrate their resources in the regions of Sattelburg.

  • And it took another bloody engagement

  • before this stronghold fell on the 25th of November 1943.

  • But victory at Sattelburg

  • meant that the western thrust of Operation Cartwheel

  • had also completed its objective.

  • The next day, some 800-km to the east

  • American marines completed the capture of Bougainville

  • and the Japanese stronghold of Rabaul

  • was now under threat from two sides as planned.

  • But MacArthur and his colleagues

  • had already realized

  • that an assault on the Japanese 8th Army was unnecessary.

  • Simply isolating it would be enough.

  • it was a far less costly approach.

  • After establishing a defensive position on southern New Britain,

  • early in 1944

  • American and New Zealand troops

  • moved to capture the small islands to the north

  • the Rabaul Base was effectively surrounded,

  • and 100,000 troops found themselves cut off from the war.

  • With this achieved,

  • MacArthur's American forces moved against the northern coast of New Guinea

  • On the 22nd of April 1944,

  • an amphibious landing of some 80,000 men

  • arrived at the Japanese stronghold of Hollandia,

  • only to find it abandoned.

  • The Japanese presence on the island was now in retreat.

  • And with the Rabaul Base cut off,

  • there was little their commanders could do to halt the Allied progress

  • despite the best efforts of their men on the ground.

  • By the 15th of September,

  • a delighted Douglas MacArthur

  • was able to report his arrival on the island of Morotai.

  • The Philippines were not within striking distance.

  • MacArthur's promise that he would return to the islands

  • was now on the point of being realized.

  • And the Pacific War as a whole was going to plan.

  • In late 1943,

  • far away in the Gilbert Islands,

  • the men of Admiral Nimitz began their journey across the Central Pacific.

  • But this first step

  • gave Nimitz and his colleagues a hint of what lay ahead on the path to a victory

  • Progress at a Price

  • On the 20th of November 1943,

  • American Marines launched an amphibious assault on the island of.

  • Within days,

  • the American public knew that victory in the Pacific would come at a price.

  • Tarawa was a tiny objective,

  • an island just 3-km in length

  • but it took the loss of 1,000 American troops to capture it.

  • Many of these men never reached the shore.

  • Survivors recalled one Japanese machine gunner

  • who trained his weapon on the opening bow doors of the American landing craft.

  • For those troops

  • caught in his line of fire

  • there was little chance of survival.

  • Not for the last time,

  • the warm shoal waters of the Pacific ocean

  • were filled with the bodies of dead.

  • Tarawa was a taste of things to come.

  • When the Japanese guns eventually fell silent,

  • the island there was filled with the smell of death.

  • Only 17 of the 4,200 Japanese defenders were taken alive.

  • Prisoners of war would be a rare phenomenon during the Pacific conflict.

  • For the vast majority of Japanese fighting men,

  • surrender to the enemy was an option filled with shame.

  • It was quite literally

  • a fate worse than death

  • and it is this that provides the main explanation

  • for the tiny numbers of war prisoners taken in the Pacific.

  • But there was also another reason.

  • For the Allies, taking Japanese prisoners

  • could be a risky business.

  • At Guadalcanal,

  • American troops had discovered the fanaticism of their enemy.

  • Many commanders reported occasions

  • when a wounded Japanese came forward in an apparent surrender

  • When an American marine went to attend to his defeated adversary,

  • the Japanese pull the pin on a suicide grenade

  • that also killed his captor.

  • From Guadalcanal onwards,

  • American forces remained wary of taking any prisoners alive.

  • The concern that goes some way towards explaining the appalling death roll

  • that characterized the Pacific War.

  • But the slaughter at Tarawa

  • was still a shock to the American public in 1943.

  • And Admiral Nimitz was determined

  • to learn any lessons that he could from the carnage.

  • For his next objective, the Marshall Islands at Kwajalein,

  • the American commander did everything in his power

  • to minimize the Japanese threat

  • before his ground troops attacked.

  • The 3-day bombardment from the ships and carrier planes

  • of American task force 58 was launched against Kwajalein

  • before American infantrymen went ashore on February 1st 1944.

  • But as Nimitz must've suspected

  • not even this could neuter the fighting spirit of the individual Japanese soldier.

  • On the 4th of February,

  • the American commander was informed that Kwajalein had finally been taken

  • 173 man of his 7th infantry Division had lost their lives.

  • 4,938 Japanese had shared their fate.

  • Even when the battle was all but lost,

  • the soldier of the Japanese Empire

  • refused to surrender

  • and it was left to American flame thrower units

  • to complete the grim conquest of Kwajalein.

  • A similar loss of life was also reported on the Marshall island at (?)Ewinetor Atoll.

  • Here the Japanese lost all but 64 of 2,700 men

  • by the time the island was taken on the 21st of February(1944).

  • Again, an initial bombardment

  • by American naval and air forces contributed to the death toll.

  • But as on Kwajalein,

  • (?)it was a much closer kind of combat

  • that finally secured the capture of the island.

  • it was now clear to Nimitz and his fellow commanders

  • but the deployment of ground troops had to be a measure of last resort.

  • If strategic objectives could be obtained

  • without face-to-face fighting, then that would be the favored option.

  • Douglas MacArthur recognized this

  • when he decided not to attack the stronghold of Rabaul.

  • in February 1944,

  • Admiral Nimitz came to

  • a similar decision concerning the Japanese naval base at Truk Lagoon

  • at the Carolina islands.

  • The physical capture of the island was not essential.

  • Instead,

  • units ordered a massive two-day aero-assault

  • beginning on the 17th of February 1944.

  • Nine waves of Hellcat fighters,

  • avenger torpedo bombers,

  • and Dauntless dive bombers

  • transformed the paradise island into a scene of carnage.

  • Of the 275 Japanese aircraft situated on Truk,

  • just one was left in operation by the end of the so-called

  • Operation Hailstorm.

  • With Truk now effectively isolated,

  • Nimitz was able to proceed to his next objectives in the Mariana Islands.

  • By now American industrial strength

  • was securing a strategic advantage in the war,

  • In June 1944,

  • Nimitz deputy Admiral Raymond Spruance,

  • stood in command of a task force

  • whose complement of aircraft carriers alone totaled 15.

  • On board, a total of 900 warplanes.

  • The Japanese leadership knew that

  • the balance of materials was turning against them.

  • They also knew that the loss of Marianas

  • would be a catastrophe for the Empire.

  • if the islands were lost,

  • Japan itself would be within range of the heavier American bombers.

  • When the first amphibious landing was made on Saipan on June the 15th,

  • the Imperial Navy was given the task of

  • making a desperate strike against a huge American fleet.

  • Vice Admiral Jisaburō Ozawa(小澤治三郎)

  • now took command of a task force comprising 55 warships

  • including 9 carriers with 473 aircraft.

  • These included the Zero fighters

  • that the Americans first encountered at Pearl Harbor

  • and which remains one of the most famous war planes of the 20th century.

  • But by mid 1944,

  • the legendary Zero found itself out classed by the American Hellcat.

  • And when Vice Admiral Ozawa dispatched his first wave of aircraft

  • in the direction of the Marianas on June 19th 1944,

  • he must have suspected the likely outcome.

  • The Battle of the Philippine Sea

  • marked the end of the Japanese ability to wage carrier warfare in the Pacific.

  • The American task force

  • stationed to the northwest of Guam

  • not only possessed better aircraft,

  • they also possessed every detail of the enemy plan of attack

  • having succeeded in cracking the Japanese code system.

  • On the morning of June 19th 1944,

  • Ozawa launched 4 successive waves against the American fleet.

  • It became known as the great Marianas Turkey Shoot.

  • In just 3 hours of air combat,

  • a total of 243 Japanese war planes were lost.

  • Only 30 American craft shared their fate.

  • But the battle of the Philippine Sea was not yet over.

  • Despite his losses, Vice Admiral Ozawa was keen to re-engage the enemy.

  • after making a tactical withdrawal.

  • The American task force commander Marc Mitscher

  • was also willing to continue the fight.

  • When his reconnaissance planes located the Japanese fleet

  • on the afternoon of June the 20th,

  • Mitscher ordered his Hellcats, Avengers,

  • and Dauntless into the air

  • even though that objective was at the absolute limit of their range.

  • When the American aircraft arrived,

  • the result was another bitter of blow for the Japanese

  • with the Carrier Hiyō(飛鷹) sent to the bottom by a twin torpedo attack.

  • But the engagements of the 20th of June 1944

  • went not entirely one-sided,

  • 100 American aircraft were also lost.

  • Some of them in combat,

  • a far greater number

  • forced to ditch at(?) sea after running out of fuel on the way back to the carriers.

  • Despite this,

  • the Battle of the Philippine sea was a triumph for the Americans.

  • And in Tokyo,

  • the loss of so many Japanese aircraft

  • forced the resignation of the Prime Minister Hideki Tojo.

  • The Allied assault on the Marianas

  • could now continue without interference from the air.

  • By July the 7th, the major objective of Saipan had been achieved

  • though here once again

  • the occupying ground forces revealed a fanatical desire to fight to the end.

  • On the last day of fighting, the Japanese commander

  • Yoshitsugu Saito

  • ordered a final infantry charge

  • into a line of American artillery and machine gun fire.

  • 3,000 men died

  • including their commander

  • by the ritual suicide of harakiri.

  • With the fall of Saipan,

  • the end began to loom for the once-mighty Japanese empire.

  • By the end of July 1944,

  • the Marianas were at American possession

  • when(?) Japan now faced the menace

  • of long-range strategic bombing by the B-29 Super Fortress.

  • In August 1945,

  • it was also from a Marianas airfield

  • that the most devastating bomber raid of all was launched.

  • But a year earlier,

  • the American high command was still dependent on conventional weaponry

  • as the Pacific offensive continued.

  • Closing in on Japan

  • By the late summer of 1944,

  • the twin thrust strategy

  • had forced the Japanese to retreat across a vast area of territory.

  • But the American leadership now had to consider

  • the next steps towards the islands of Japan.

  • Originally,

  • the intention had been for the forces of MacArthur and Nimitz

  • to converge on the southern Philippines

  • and push toward the island of Formosa

  • before heading north.

  • But it was well known

  • MacArthur favored the capture of the entire Philippine chain.

  • And when his deputy Admiral Halsey

  • reported only light Japanese defenses in the south of the Philippines

  • during a raid in September 1944,

  • President Roosevelt decided to modify the American Pacific strategy.

  • MacArthur would be responsible for liberating the Philippines

  • while Nimitz would head northwest

  • towards Iwo Jima, Okinawa,

  • and the fringes of Japan itself.

  • The Pacific War was still far from over.

  • With Japanese defenses in the southern Philippines apparently light,

  • MacArthur decided to bypass the island of Mindanao

  • and make his landing in the center of the country.

  • On the 20th of October 1944,

  • in an emotional homecoming,

  • Douglas MacArthur once again set foot on Philippine soil

  • as his amphibious landing force secured the beachhead.

  • MacArthur could take confidence in the naval force that defended him

  • --- the American 3rd and 7th Fleets,

  • a total of 800 ships.

  • And this vast armada

  • soon found itself

  • involved in the largest naval battle of the world has(?) ever seen,

  • the Battle of Leyte Gulf.

  • As soon as the Japanese Imperial Command received news of MacArthur's landing,

  • they made the decision to deploy their naval forces

  • in a final attempt to stem the American advance.

  • In overall command,

  • the Tokyo based Admiral Soemu Toyoda,

  • at sea, Admiral Takeo Kurita took charge

  • and it was this

  • 55-year-old commander

  • who almost pulled off a famous victory.

  • Kurita's plan was to engage the American fleet

  • positioned to the east of the Philippines

  • in support of the landings at Leyte.

  • 39 warships would attack from the west

  • in a two-pronged pincer.

  • But Kurita also deployed another decoy carrier group

  • in the direction of the northeast.

  • This was a force that was superficially strong,

  • 17 vessels including 4 aircraft carriers

  • under the command of Admiral Jisaburo Ozawa.

  • But there were virtually no aircraft on board.

  • The whole group was a sacrificial offering,

  • intended to lure

  • Admiral Halsey's Third Fleet away from its position in support of the Leyte landings.

  • And the American commander took the bait.

  • On the 24th and 25th of October 1944,

  • the Battle of Leyte Gulf unfolded.

  • For the Japanese, the results were initially mixed.

  • Although the U.S. carrier Princeton was destroyed in a dive bomber attack,

  • American aircraft succeeded in destroying the huge Japanese battleship

  • the Musashi(武藏號),

  • (?)was still

  • The southern half of Kurita's pincer

  • found itself trapped overnight

  • in the narrow Surigao Strait

  • while his vessels were wiped out by the big American naval guns.

  • But Admiral Kurita's northern group remained intact

  • having made a tactical nighttime withdrawal to the San Bernardino Strait.

  • And the American 3rd Fleet

  • was now sailing away from this main Japanese deployment.

  • During the afternoon of October the 24th,

  • Admiral Halsey

  • was informed of what appeared to be the main Japanese attack force.

  • The commander already reveled in the nickname Bull Halsey

  • because of his habit of making immediate charges on the enemy

  • and now he lived up to his reputation.

  • By ordering his fleet to sail north,

  • he left the 7th Fleet of Admiral Kinkaid exposed.

  • And in the morning, Admiral Kurita

  • sailed into Leyte Gulf to face a drastically weakened force.

  • The decoy plan had worked.

  • Kurita's battle group now engaged the American battle group

  • known as Taffy III.

  • And Rear Admiral Clifton Sprague found himself outnumbered.

  • Three of his destroys were sunk.

  • The carrier Gambier Bay also went down

  • as the American ships maneuvered desperately to escape Kurita's attack.

  • Appeals for help was sent to the departed Halsey in the north,

  • but it was only when Admiral Nimitz himself intervened

  • that the 3rd Fleet finally turned around.

  • Halsey had been fooled

  • and his fleet was still unable to assist his colleagues.

  • The American landings on Leyte

  • were in real danger.

  • But now the Japanese commander made a mistake of his own.

  • Uncertain of the size of the American force that faced him,

  • Admiral Kurita decided to withdraw.

  • The Americans could hardly believe it.

  • Their landings on the Philippines were secure.

  • But the Battle of Leyte Gulf had one final sting in the tail(?).

  • On the evening of the 25th of October,

  • the American 7th Fleet was attacked by a new kind of weapon from the air.

  • --- obsolete aircraft,

  • packed with explosives,

  • and piloted by young Japanese men,

  • fully aware that they would die in the course of their mission.

  • These were the pilots of the so-called Divine Wind,

  • the Kamikaze.

  • And it was Leyte Gulf

  • that the Americans first felt the power of the suicide bombers.

  • In the months that followed,

  • a total of 40 American ships were destroyed by this (?)sunsettling weapon of last resort

  • and thousands of lives were lost in the process.

  • If there were any lingering doubts

  • about the willingness of the Japanese to die for their country,

  • the introduction of the Kamikaze removed them once and for all.

  • Despite this,

  • the American bridge head on the Philippines

  • was secured by the end of October 1944.

  • And there could be no doubt in Tokyo

  • that the war was now a lost cause.

  • The Battle of the Philippine Sea

  • had wiped out the Japanese power in the air

  • and the Battle of Leyte Gulf

  • marked the final effective appearance of the Imperial Navy.

  • But the fanatical resistance of Japanese ground troops continued

  • and it was this that led the United States to consider

  • the use of terrifying new weapons finally to bring the war to its end.

  • The fighting for the Philippines

  • typified the Japanese desire to fight on to the death.

  • tens of thousands of defending troops lost their lives

  • by the time the capital Manila

  • fell in early March 1945.

  • Tragically, 100,000 citizens also died

  • before Douglas MacArthur could fulfill his promise

  • to return to the Philippine capital.

  • Bitter, close quarter fighting continued in the Philippines

  • right up till the end of the war

  • as MacArthur initiated a series of amphibious landings to retake all of the islands.

  • As late as September 1945,

  • pockets of Japanese resistance

  • continued to hold out

  • with no thought of surrender.

  • But the battle for the Philippines had effectively ended earlier in the year

  • as the attention of the American public

  • turned to the progress of Admiral Nimitz force in the northwest

  • with the greatest interest

  • in the outcome of 2 amphibious island invasions

  • operations that more than anything

  • persuaded the American leadership to turn to the ultimate weapon to bring the war to an end.

  • By February 1945,

  • bombing raids on the Japanese home islands had become commonplace.

  • But the B-29 taking off from airfields in the Marianas

  • still lacked effective fighter protection.

  • The island of Iwo Jima

  • could provide a base for American fighters

  • and so the decision was made to make an amphibious assault on Iwo Jima

  • beginning in February of 1945.

  • It would be the first of two amphibious assaults

  • that would be amongst the bloodiest episodes of the entire Second World War.

  • On February 19th 1945,

  • American marines began their arrival on the beaches of Iwo Jima

  • and it seemed at first as if their task would be a simple one.

  • The island had been subjected to a ferocious bombing campaign

  • and the landing troops

  • encountered nothing in the way of resistance on the shores.

  • But it was a very different story in land.

  • Under the command of Tadamichi Kuribayashi,

  • a total of 21,000 men

  • had dug themselves into deep defensive positions

  • with the peak of Mt. Suribachi, a focus for the defense.

  • Within hours of landing,

  • the American marines realized that these soldiers would have to be flushed out

  • almost one by one

  • with explosives,

  • and flame throwers

  • often proving more effective than infantry or artillery fire.

  • Predictably it was a terrifying task.

  • The marines

  • had to engage enemy for whom death was the greatest honor attainable in battle.

  • Soon, the smell of slaughter filled the air

  • as the assault on Mt. Suribachi began.

  • To add to the unsettling nature of the task,

  • the offshore American fleet

  • found itself attacked by the Kamikaze as the land fighting continued.

  • At times, the American advance

  • was slowed almost to a halt by the tenacity of the Japanese defense.

  • But on the morning of the 23rd of February,

  • 4 days into the assault,

  • the Stars and Stripes flew from the highest point (?)of the Iwo Jima.

  • It remains one of the most striking images of the Second World War.

  • Even as the flag was being raised,

  • American construction battalions had begun the task of building new airstrips

  • as the Japanese resistance

  • slowly drew to its inevitable end.

  • By the end of March,

  • American victory on Iwo Jima was complete.

  • And a vital new airbase was in full service.

  • But the price had been high.

  • 6,800 US servicemen died in the battle for Iwo Jima.

  • All but 200 of the 21,000 Japanese lost their lives.

  • In the subsequent fighting for the island of Okinawa,

  • the death toll was even higher.

  • In a virtually identical operation,

  • the American dead alone totaled 15,500.

  • 80,000 Japanese shared their fate

  • along with 42,000 civilians.

  • it was a horrific outcome.

  • But for many Americans it was the Japanese tactics at Okinawa

  • that were more unsettling than the statistics of death rolls.

  • On April 7th,

  • the American offshore fleet was attacked by the biggest ever Kamikaze attack.

  • Some 350 pilots flying aircraft packed with explosives,

  • descended from the sky,

  • and aimed their planes at the American ships.

  • And this was just the first of many Kamikaze raids on the American fleet at Okinawa.

  • By the time the island was eventually taken after 12 weeks of fighting,

  • some 32 vessels had been lost to the Kamikaze,

  • and 5,000 seamen lost their lives.

  • Many Americans found the very idea of suicide bombing disturbing.

  • They wondered what kind of enemy they were dealing with.

  • The Japanese were now desperate to try

  • any tactic that might make an impact no matter what the cost in lives.

  • On the same day as the first big Kamikaze raided at Okinawa,

  • a flotilla of 10 Japanese warship arrived on the scene.

  • This was all was left of the once proud navy,

  • and it included the 64,000 ton Yamato(大和),

  • the biggest battleship ever built.

  • But the Yamato's journey to Okinawa

  • would be it's last.

  • Like the other ships, it was only given fuel for the one-way journey.

  • The Japanese high command knew the fate that awaited their pitiful fleet.

  • But they were prepared for the loss of life

  • if it could hamper the American invasion in any way.

  • As events transpired,

  • the monster Yamato made no impact at all.

  • With all remaining Japanese fighters deployed in support of the Kamikaze attack,

  • )the vessel was left as an easy target for American bombs and torpedoes.

  • In less than an hour,

  • three waves of attacks

  • sent Yamato to the bottom

  • long before she reached Okinawa.

  • It was as devastating as it was predictable.

  • And it was typical of Japanese tactics in the phase of defeat.

  • There can be no doubt

  • that the slaughter on Iwo Jima and on Okinawa

  • had a deep impact on the thinking of the American leadership.

  • The likely loss of American lives

  • in a full-scale invasion of Japan could only be guessed out

  • if a (?)seemed likely,

  • the enemy was prepared to fight to the death.

  • But in the early months of 1945,

  • another option began to grow in favor.

  • From November 1944 onwards,

  • the Japanese home islands

  • received regular visits from American bomber squadrons.

  • But in early 1945,

  • the commander of 21st American Bomber Command

  • conceived a devastating new strategy to force the ordinary Japanese citizen

  • to accept of the war was lost.

  • On the evening of the 9th of March, General Curtis Lemay

  • gave the order for a very different kind of bombing raid

  • from anything that had gone before.

  • That night

  • 290 U.S. bombers took off

  • on a low level mission against the very center of Japanese power,

  • Tokyo itself.

  • Their cargo:

  • 2,000 tons of incendiary devices

  • American planners knew that the Japanese capital was built largely of wood

  • and a concentrated attack

  • using napalm bombs could produce a terrible impact on the city.

  • Their analysis proved accurate.

  • On the night of the 9th~10th March 1945,

  • Tokyo was set ablaze.

  • The cumulative effect of the napalm devices

  • rendered futile any attempts to extinguish the fires that engulfed the city.

  • For a time,

  • the atmosphere itself took light.

  • And as many as 100,000 citizens may have perished

  • as a result of one bombing raid.

  • It was an overwhelming display of force

  • but if the American leadership hope that such an enormous loss of life

  • would bring that Japanese counterparts to the negotiating table,

  • they were wrong.

  • Although Japan was now hopelessly defeated as a military power,

  • the war carried on.

  • And the hellscape of Okinawa was still to come.

  • By July 1945,

  • many American citizens were resigned to the prospect of an invasion of Japan

  • --- an enterprise whose potential cost in lives could hardly be overestimated.

  • But the American leadership was now in a position to finish the war

  • in the most dramatic manner possible.

  • For years, Allied scientists had been working in secret on a new kind of weapon,

  • a bomb with the destructive power like nothing ever seen before,

  • the atomic bomb.

  • On July the 16th 1945, at the site in the deserts of New Mexico,

  • the new weapon was tested for the first time,

  • and it's power was obvious.

  • With the atomic bomb, the United States

  • could at last force the Japanese to accept that defeat.

  • On the 6th of August 1945,

  • an American B-29 bomber, the Enola Gay,

  • took off from a Mariana's airfield.

  • It flew at a height of 31,000 ft over the City of Hiroshima.

  • At 8:16 am local time,

  • an atomic weapon was released into the Japanese sky.

  • 43 seconds later,

  • the atomic bomb exploded over Hiroshima,

  • and as many as 80,000 people died in an instant.

  • Now the Japanese leadership knew

  • that their country could be completely destroyed

  • at virtually no cost to their American enemies.

  • Following the 2nd atomic attack on Nagasaki on the 9th of August,

  • the Japanese high command accepted the inevitable

  • and a formal surrender of Japanese forces was soon a reality.

  • WWII was over.

  • But it had been a long hard and in the end terrifying enterprise.

  • Beginning at Guadalcanal,

  • the Americans and their Allies had forced their way

  • across a vast area of the planet's surface.

  • With every engagement

  • they encountered the remarkable spirit of the Japanese fighting men.

  • In the end,

  • it was the superior industrial and technological might of the United States

  • that gained victory in the Pacific.

  • But it was a triumph that had to be secured on the ground,

  • on some of the bloodiest battle fields of the 2nd World War.

從瓜島到長崎 (WWII Battlefield S4/E5)

字幕與單字

單字即點即查 點擊單字可以查詢單字解釋

B2 中高級

從瓜島到長崎 (WWII Battlefield S4/E5)【英字全】 (從瓜島到長崎 (WWII Battlefield S4/E5)【英字全】)

  • 426 12
    甯健桃 發佈於 2021 年 01 月 14 日
影片單字