- 2 weeks ago
Experience the intensity of World War II in the Pacific as soldiers clash in the treacherous terrain of New Britain. Strategy, courage, and survival collide in epic battles that will decide the fate of the islands.
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Short filmTranscript
00:00The End
00:30The End
01:00There's an old saying in the army, the longest march always begins with the first step.
01:07By the same token, the greatest battle usually begins with one word.
01:11One simple code word which becomes the symbol of the whole operation.
01:16So it happens that the battle for New Britain begins with the word overpower.
01:21The secret army code word.
01:25And it means that at a certain time, at a certain place, American troops will land on the Jap-held island of New Britain.
01:34It's a tough island to crack.
01:37The Japs gave it plenty of teeth.
01:39A powerful naval base at Rabaul, good airstrips, and over 100,000 troops spotted in different places and expecting a visit.
01:48And besides Japs, there's always the jungle.
01:52Never before in history has a large-scale war been fought on such difficult battlefields.
01:57Looks pretty, doesn't it?
02:02Pretty is a picture and a pre-war travel advertisement.
02:05But how is it to live in?
02:08Ask Joe Soldier.
02:09A jungle-clad paradise crawling with bugs, snakes, and lizards, spiders.
02:17Ask him about sweating out a march through blazing equatorial heat.
02:22Ask him about the smell, that wet stench of the jungle.
02:27Yes, and don't let him forget to mention those tropical sunsets bringing the malarial mosquito.
02:33An attack is prepared in staging areas where the men are rehearsed for the job.
02:41Quietly, secretly, systematically, men and equipment start moving into three separate areas along this coast.
02:49This is done so there'll be no large concentration of troops in any one spot to tip off the plan.
02:57A task force is a miniature army, tailored for a particular job.
03:03This one consists of a regiment from Texas, a battalion of artillery and service troops, quartermasters, signal corps, engineers, and medicos.
03:13They know what this staging area means.
03:16A jumping-off place for something big.
03:18Out here, housekeeping starts from the ground up.
03:31You pick yourself a place and start chopping.
03:36It used to be hard work mowing the lawn on Sunday afternoons.
03:40Try mowing cunai grass with a machete.
03:42Meantime, a couple of hundred miles to the north, the second task force marches into their staging area to prepare for their part in the operations.
03:54These men have seen something of jungle fighting.
03:57They're Marines, and they cut their teeth on Guadalcanal.
04:00In the third staging area, it's more Marines, more guns, more shells, more thorns to press into the side of Tojo's Island of New Britain.
04:17On back of the men come the trucks, the half-tons, the jeeps, the bulldozers, a community on wheels, carrying the thousand and one needs of a task force.
04:30Food for bellies and gun barrels.
04:33Canvas for cover.
04:35Wires for communication.
04:37The tools of the jungle army.
04:39When the lot is cleared, you stretch out your house.
04:45It doesn't take long.
04:46Just fasten the ceiling, get under the center pole, and hoist.
04:53And leave plenty of slack on those ropes.
04:57The first rain will do the tightening.
05:00Nudging out elbow room in this wilderness and getting your stuff across swamps and streams is pretty rugged.
05:07But it's good practice for jungle warfare.
05:09Britches need plenty of attention.
05:23Mountain rains can swell these streams to torrents that can drown the truck.
05:28And transportation is important out here.
05:35When it comes to jungle construction, you can't beat a fuzzy wuzzy.
05:39Uncle Sam has thousands on his payroll.
05:51The foreman checks everything.
05:52Thatched roofs keep out most of the rain, some of the heat, and none of the bugs.
06:06And don't think these builders don't know the value of money.
06:10Money will buy a pig, and a pig can be exchanged for a wife.
06:13Here's where that Boy Scout training comes in handy.
06:35And this lad is an awfully tough critic.
06:37Outfits sprawl over a staging area for miles.
06:44It's a signal cord job to tie them together with telephone lines.
06:48Not much like hometown telephone poles, but the technique of climbing them hasn't changed a bit.
06:56The nerves run back to the brain.
07:07The switchboard at headquarters will handle a thousand calls a day.
07:12Orders, reports, requests, instructions.
07:16To field phones out where the jungle begins.
07:18When a jeep or a truck is issued to a driver, that's his baby.
07:31And he keeps it clean.
07:32The old swimming hole, jungle style.
07:43It's the bath, shower, and laundry combined.
07:50First scrub your skin, then scrub the clothes you just took off.
07:54This may not be your favorite cafeteria, but it's the only one handy right now.
08:05And it's the quartermaster's job to see that the army is fed.
08:15There's a mess of vitamins that'll pat your ribs.
08:18But don't get us wrong.
08:19We still like home cooking.
08:24These are the canvas cities that Joe Soldier built out of jungle and kunai grass.
08:32Like their forefathers, these troops have tamed a corner of wilderness into a temporary home.
08:41Uh-uh.
08:425.45.
08:44And the day begins.
08:50The helmet makes the swell wash basin.
08:52And you can't do this with a family sink.
08:57And now to work.
09:00It begins with the task force commander giving the details of the job to the men who are going to do it.
09:06There will be two landings on New Britain.
09:09The first at Arroway.
09:11To divert the Japs from the main landing a few days later at Cape Gloucester.
09:17Arroway is a peninsula.
09:18A small force will make a landing up here in the enemy's rear, they hope, and move down the peninsula to join with the main forces who will land along here.
09:32Complete surprise is the main thing.
09:34Hit fast and hard.
09:37Gain a foothold before the Japs can move a large force against you.
09:41That's what unit leaders are telling them.
09:44A soldier has to know what he's supposed to do, where he's supposed to do it, and why.
09:50And this is the time to check your weapons.
09:58A gun jam on a beachhead might happen only once.
10:03The same thing is going on up in the marine staging area.
10:08Weapons, equipment, and the men themselves get a personal once-over.
10:11Anti-aircraft protection stays on its toes, just in case.
10:2137-millimeter anti-tank teams have to load, aim, and fire almost simultaneously.
10:27They can get off about 30 rounds a minute.
10:30It's rumored that a lone star governor once said,
10:38By gad, if the United States ever goes to war, Texas will go with it.
10:43And here she is.
10:54There'll be artillery, too, for knocking out Japs' strongpoints.
11:00Sometimes it takes a flamethrower to burn out a pillbox.
11:04They work well in jungle warfare.
11:07That could be a NIP installation.
11:13Native fighters, or bongs as they're called,
11:16give our troops a few tips on the technique of jungle fighting.
11:20The training is carried out under simulated battle conditions.
11:33And, soldier, those aren't pebbles hitting the stream.
11:36You've got to know how to fire at sounds, too.
11:40Because jungle fighters seldom see each other alive.
11:44The last stages of training begin aboard the ships
11:49that will carry the troops to their mission.
11:52This practice ends in a full-dress rehearsal.
11:55Two detachments are going to make the landing in rubber boats.
12:05It takes a lot of practice to handle these.
12:08It's dangerous.
12:09Plenty dangerous.
12:11No protective armor.
12:12No more speed than your own paddle power.
12:15Regular types of landing craft may have trouble
12:28getting over the coral reef at our weight.
12:31So buffalos and alligators have been selected
12:33to bring the first wave of assault troops ashore.
12:37What's an alligator?
12:39It's an amphibious tank.
12:41What's a buffalo?
12:42It's an amphibious tank, too, but it's got more armor.
12:47They look like bad dreams.
12:49And they'll deliver the first punch.
12:52And now let's hear what the general thinks.
12:54The secret of your success is your squad and platoon leaders.
12:58They must get hold of their outfits and control them.
13:01But control doesn't mean bunching.
13:03The buffaloes will land in a wave.
13:05From then on, their tanks.
13:07They crash through the underbrush.
13:08They knock out trees, followed by riflemen.
13:10You run upon a Jap machine gun nest.
13:13What do you do?
13:13You circle it, infiltrate, use grenades.
13:16And don't make the mistake of stopping to help a man who gets hit.
13:19You haven't got time.
13:21Let the medical men pick him up.
13:22So now, it's up to you.
13:24Remember, you can only go forward.
13:26You can't go back.
13:27There'll be nothing to go back to.
13:29Just grab a piece of beach and start shoving.
13:35Are there any questions?
13:36I'll see you.
14:06Now comes the parade of men and supplies.
14:22The loading, the checking, the counting, the packing.
14:28It's the war of logistics.
14:30Adding up to the final question mark.
14:33Will the troops who make the landing have what they need, where they need it, and when they need it?
14:41Training is over. Rehearsals are over.
14:45This is it.
14:52Remember, this is only one of three task forces.
14:55And it's going to make the landing at our way a few days ahead of the big staff at Gloucester.
15:03The commander-in-chief, who is responsible for the coordination of the whole plan, comes down for the takeoff.
15:15General MacArthur and General Kruger on the right, commanding the 6th Army, have a last-minute chat with the task force commander.
15:28What they said is a military secret.
15:31The first assault waves are ready.
15:33Time doesn't even wait on generals.
15:48And time is running out.
15:50This is goodbye.
15:52And good luck.
15:58There they go.
15:59There they go.
16:03The buffalos and alligators are going to load on the mothership.
16:12There they go.
16:12There they go.
16:30There they go.
16:34Meantime, the main force loads aboard its transport.
16:55Once up the net, the landing craft that brought them will be hoisted aboard.
16:59And the rubber boat detachments move out to load on the destroyer that will carry them.
17:12The convoy is on its way to meet its naval escort.
17:19This is D-Day minus one.
17:22The men know that means the day before invasion.
17:38This last-minute check on weapons goes on aboard every ship.
17:42Nobody has to be told to do it now.
17:52Ammunition to fight malaria is the daily atabrine pill.
18:08This, too, happens on every ship.
18:11Last-minute instructions to officers and non-coms.
18:14It's called briefing.
18:16Go over there fast.
18:17Whatever happens, keep contacting.
18:20Message center will be in here.
18:23Get your messages back as fast as you can and go.
18:27Keep your men dispersed.
18:29Cut out one feet.
18:31Look out for this high ground over here.
18:33You have to hit it from the flanks, I think.
18:36And above all, keep moving in this direction.
18:40You've all got compasses.
18:45We're at the rendezvous point.
18:48The task force commander leaves to board one of the destroyers of the escort.
18:55And now the convoy will fail through the night to arrow it.
19:01Troop ships flanked by destroyers,
19:04and led by minesweepers and sub-chasers.
19:10Oh, I hate to see that evening sun go down.
19:23Tomorrow belongs to the headlines in hometown papers,
19:26to the radio commentators,
19:28and the casualty lists.
19:30But these few hours belong to each man to spend as he likes.
19:35D-Day.
19:54D-Day.
19:56D-Day.
20:07Under the protection of the naval barrage,
20:09the first assault waves keep circling,
20:12awaiting the order to start in.
20:14D-Day.
20:17D-Day.
20:18D-Day.
20:19There they go.
20:28A Jap plane.
20:49Rockets packed with high explosives.
20:59Calling cars to clear the beaches of small arms fire.
21:19More planes coming.
21:24Ours, we hope.
21:26Yep.
21:27It's a sky full of angels.
21:28Our own B-25s.
21:35Now it's the Air Force's turn.
21:37And they know their way around.
21:39They've been softening it up for days in advance.
21:49Propaganda leaflets to tell the Jap what's happening to them and why.
22:04The naval barrage drove most of the Japs off the beaches up on the cliff.
22:10And that's where the planes work them over.
22:13Strafing may not wipe out a ground force, but it keeps them ducking.
22:19There's the landing place.
22:28The first casualty.
22:30Result of a Jap machine gun burst.
22:35It's safe to raise your head and look at the shore now.
22:39And here's why.
22:43This is what naval barrage and air bombing can do to a shoreline.
22:49Remember, you can only go forward.
23:02You can't go back.
23:03There'll be nothing to go back to.
23:05Just grab a piece of beach and start shoving.
23:11Still a few snipers around.
23:12Patrols grope ahead of the main body to feel out the Jap's strength and locate his positions.
23:25The assault troops keep advancing.
23:41The assault troops keep advancing.
23:45The peninsula was lightly held, but there are still plenty of Japs to comb out.
24:15You don't see many, except this kind.
24:27The objective is to push about three miles up the peninsula, then dig in and hang on.
24:37More and more troops are fed up to the rapidly advancing front by jeeps, alligators, buffaloes.
24:53Grab is over. Now to hold on.
24:57Counterattacks may strike anywhere, anytime. Better be ready.
25:05Beach gun emplacements for all-round security.
25:09That's an air raid warning truck under the camouflage.
25:14And every man digs a place to dive into when the zeros come.
25:23Communication keeps pace with combat. Switchboard and message center open for business.
25:29Supplies are needed faster than ships can bring them.
25:44Parachute-borne ammunition coming down.
25:48But they don't always select ideal landing places.
25:51A job for the pole line crew.
26:04That dirty pool is being converted into drinking water by the engineer water purification unit.
26:09Men may one day forget many things of this war, but never the taste of chlorine.
26:22Men may one day forget many things of this war, but never the taste of this war, but never the taste of this war, but never the taste of this war.
26:33Casualties from the front get attention in the surgical tent.
26:38The man on the table got a shell fragment in the leg.
26:43Enemy planes.
26:52Enemy planes.
26:54Enemy planes.
26:54Enemy.
26:54Enemy planes.
26:55Demons.
26:55Enemy planes.
27:20Enemy.
27:21This is what's left of the surgical tent filled with wounded men after a direct hit.
27:51For these men, the road's the longest.
28:18Having received emergency treatment, the wounded are evacuated to hospitals in New Guinea.
28:25This landing was a complete surprise to the Japs, so resistance was light, except at the
28:30upper end of the peninsula where the rubber boats went in before dawn.
28:35They met heavy machine gun fire before they could reach the beach.
28:39The boats were destroyed.
28:40The men were scattered.
28:42They just couldn't swim and fight at the same time.
28:46But the main landing is successful.
28:48The Japs have been driven back up the peninsula.
28:55The beachhead is established.
28:57The task force commander is ready to make his report.
29:12And now for the main event, the landings on Cape Gloucester.
29:16Arrowy was the faint with the left.
29:19Gloucester will be the right to the jaw.
29:22Here, here, and here.
29:26The forces will capture the airstrip and converge, setting up an American stronghold on the supply
29:33line to Rabaul.
29:35In the marine staging areas, it is Christmas Day, the last mass before sailing for Gloucester.
29:58The landings on Cape Gloucester.
30:00The place will be the right to the east.
30:02The air is called Keynesian.
30:06It is the 80s to the west.
30:09The night to the east, the north, the south.
30:11The back to the west, the north.
30:16The north, the west, the north.
30:19The north.
30:20The north.
30:21The north.
30:22The north.
30:22The north.
30:23The north.
30:24The south.
30:25Masses of men to land upon three separate beaches in the vicinity of Cape Gloucester.
30:55This is to be the main effort. It is an army made up of two task forces in the teeth of known
31:03Jack power.
31:20These two landings are the first stage in the neutralization and
31:24envelopment of revolve.
31:31On Christmas night, a vast convoy sets out.
31:46Cape Gloucester, New Britain.
31:53Nearing the height of the naval bombardment, the first assault load into Higgins' boats.
32:00Nearing the height of the naval bombardment, the first assault load into Higgins' boats.
32:37Nearing the height of the naval bombardment, the first assault load into Higgins' boats.
32:44Nearing the height of the naval bombardment, the first assault load into Higgins' boats.
32:52Nearing the height of the naval bombardment, the second assault load into Higgins' boats.
32:59And the umbrella of air protection arrives on time.
33:07And the umbrella of air protection arrives on time.
33:31Back at the beaches, the jungle crawls with Japs.
33:35They're dug in and well fortified, but not against this.
33:38The bombardier once boasted he could hit a derby with a dime.
34:09Here's where accuracy really counts.
34:11Just back at the beaches, but not too far in.
34:12Just back at the beaches, but not too far in.
34:13Just back at the beaches, but not too far in.
34:14Just back at the beaches, but not too far in.
34:15Just back at the beaches, but not too far in.
34:16Just back at the beaches, but not too far in.
34:17Just back at the beaches, but not too far in.
34:18Just back at the beaches, but not too far in.
34:19Just back at the beaches, but not too far in.
34:20Just back at the beaches, but not too far in.
34:21Just back at the beaches, but not too far in.
34:22Just back at the beaches, but not too far in.
34:34Just back at the sky.
34:36Just back at the sea with a top fish, but not too far in.
34:37THE END
35:07THE HIGGINS BOATS KEEP MOVING IN
35:37AND UNDER THIS AIR COVER THE INVASION
35:44FLEET CREEPS FORWARD
35:46THE END
35:48THE END
35:50THE END
35:52THE END
35:54THE END
35:56THE END
35:58THE END
36:00THE END
36:02THE END
36:04THE END
36:06THE END
36:08THE END
36:10THE END
36:12THE END
36:13THE END
36:14THE END
36:15THE END
36:16THE END
36:17THE END
36:18THE END
36:19THE END
36:20THE END
36:21THE END
36:22Curtains of smoke to screen our landings.
36:44Here come the first waves in Higgins boats.
36:53Not ghosts from Pearl Harbor, but American boys.
36:57Tom, Dick, and Johnny.
36:59The boys who used to play baseball in the vacant lot on Saturday afternoons.
37:03The youngsters that drove jalopies and sang the popular songs.
37:09You may have wondered sometimes if they'd ever amount to anything.
37:13Well, here they are, giving everything they've got.
37:16This is jungle.
37:23These assault waves are like a hand stretched out in a dark room, feeling their way.
37:29If they are stopped here, the main force landing behind them is stopped too.
37:33Here come in.
38:03Contact with the enemy.
38:33Contact with the enemy.
39:03And here come the landing craft infantry, called LCIs.
39:09They're bringing the main fighting strength to back up the assault wave.
39:19They're bringing the main fighting craft infantry, called LCIs.
39:25They're bringing the main fighting craft infantry, called LCIs.
39:31They're bringing the main fighting craft infantry, called LCIs.
39:37They're bringing the main fighting craft infantry, called LCIs.
39:42They're bringing the main fighting craft infantry, called LCIs.
39:46They're bringing the main fighting craft infantry, called LCIs.
39:52Stuff has to be carried in the hard way.
40:15The trucks come later.
40:22Digging in, up at the front.
40:52Here's a highly trained specialist.
40:55Even a Jap sniper can't camouflage his scent.
41:01Fresh troops forward.
41:16Wounded to the rear.
41:18You never know what's around the next bush.
41:44Dead Japs aren't always dead.
41:47Better be sure.
41:48Dead Japs aren't always dead.
42:18The End
42:48The End
43:18The End
43:48Hand grenades, mortars, bazookas, and flamethrowers did this.
43:59The End
44:01The End
44:03The End
44:35The End
44:37The End
44:39The End
44:41Bringing everything for the establishment of a beachhead.
44:50This succession of ships, all in their proper order, thousands of men and tons of supplies have been one purpose.
44:57To keep a thin line of riflemen fighting their way forward into the jungle.
45:02Buffaloes and alligators.
45:21Mechanized sledgehammers, smashing holes in the jungle wall.
45:37Bucket lines to pass the ammunition.
46:07Thanks, guys.
46:11Jeeps do a lot of things, but they can't swim.
46:41Medium tanks to crush pillboxes.
47:04An hour or two later, the trucks roll in.
47:34But they can't go everywhere.
47:38Ammunition is being spent fast.
47:54For every finger squeezing a trigger, there are a hundred others pulling, hauling, and carrying.
48:00It's all part of the same job.
48:04That's barbed wire they're carrying.
48:19As soon as there's any place to phone to, there's a telephone line to do it.
48:37A final protective line against counterattack must be prepared.
48:53You may be hit from anywhere, anytime.
49:03From the flanks, or from the rear, or from the air.
49:07The end of the flanks, or from the air.
49:21The end of the flanks, or from the air.
49:27At 2.35, enemy dive bombers.
49:47Jap planes shot into the water.
49:50More than 60.
49:52Costing less than a dozen of our own.
49:55The Japs concentrated on the destroyer Bronson.
50:01That's the Bronson standing on end, sinking fast.
50:24But among the floating wreckage are survivors.
50:27Let's go.
50:28Let's go.
50:29Let's go.
50:30Let's go.
50:31Let's go.
50:32Let's go.
50:33Let's go.
50:34Let's go.
50:35Let's go.
50:36Let's go.
50:37Let's go.
50:38Let's go.
50:39Let's go.
50:40Let's go.
50:41Let's go.
50:42Let's go.
50:43Let's go.
50:44Let's go.
50:45Let's go.
50:46Let's go.
50:47Let's go.
50:48Let's go.
50:49Let's go.
50:50Let's go.
50:51Let's go.
50:52Let's go.
50:53Let's go.
50:54Let's go.
50:55Let's go.
50:56Let's go.
50:57Let's go.
50:58Lets go.
50:59Let's go.
51:00Let's go.
51:01Let's go.
51:02Let's go.
51:03Let's go.
51:04Let's go.
51:05Let's go.
51:06Let's go.
51:07Let's go.
51:11A little bit of a kind of bombs.
51:15These are a part of 208 survivors who will remember the Bronson when they fight again.
51:24Back at Gloucester, it had begun to rain.
51:27Gunned to rain.
51:53The folks back home are eating Christmas dinner about now.
51:57Out here is the day after, and just another day.
52:27Just one more enemy, mud.
52:57Information from prisoners confirms what we know, the advance is nearing its main objective.
53:27But every step forward means some men coming back on stretchers.
53:52Sometimes it takes too long for the stretchers to arrive.
53:57Medical officers scrubbing up for emergency treatment before evacuation.
54:13The country doctor, city surgeon, working together 25 hours out of the 24.
54:35Music.
54:37Music.
54:39Music.
54:41Music.
54:43Music.
54:45Music.
54:47Music.
54:49Music.
54:51Music.
54:53Part of the price of a beach landing.
55:07Music.
55:23Yes, it's a wounded Jap.
55:25Receiving decent treatment and a cigarette.
55:37And on the beach the next day.
55:39Wreckage.
55:41Music.
55:43Music.
55:45Through the rain and darkness of enemy waters, they're going back to hospitals in rare areas.
56:03Music.
56:04Music.
56:05Music.
56:06Music.
56:07Music.
56:08Through the rain and darkness of enemy waters, they're going back to hospitals in rare areas.
56:15THE END
56:45THE END
57:15THE END
57:17THE END
57:19THE END
57:21THE END
57:23FIRE!
57:24FIRE!
57:25FIRE!
57:26FIRE!
57:28FIRE!
57:30FIRE!
57:32FIRE!
57:34FIRE!
57:36FIRE!
57:38FIRE!
57:40FIRE!
57:42FIRE!
57:44FIRE!
57:46FIRE!
57:48FIRE!
57:50FIRE!
57:52FIRE!
57:54FIRE!
57:56FIRE!
57:58FIRE!
58:00FIRE!
58:02FIRE!
58:04FIRE!
58:06FIRE!
58:08FIRE!
58:10FIRE!
58:12FIRE!
58:14FIRE!
58:16FIRE!
58:18FIRE!
58:20FIRE!
58:22FIRE!
58:24FIRE!
58:26FIRE!
58:28FIRE!
58:30FIRE!
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