Desert Victory: Triumph in the Desert War is a powerful World War II documentary chronicling the Allied campaign in North Africa. Witness the strategies, determination, and courage that turned the tide of war against Axis forces. This historic film captures real wartime footage and authentic military operations, offering a vivid look at one of WWII’s most crucial victories.
Video sourced from public domain archives.
Audio restoration, mixing, and mastering by Rizal Indra Putra.
#documentary #WWII #history #warfilm #publicdomain #DesertVictory #vintage #classicfilm #militaryhistory #NorthAfrica
Video sourced from public domain archives.
Audio restoration, mixing, and mastering by Rizal Indra Putra.
#documentary #WWII #history #warfilm #publicdomain #DesertVictory #vintage #classicfilm #militaryhistory #NorthAfrica
Category
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Short filmTranscript
00:00:00The End
00:00:30The End
00:01:00The End
00:01:29Thousands of square miles are nothing but sand and stone.
00:01:35A compass is as necessary once off the road as it is to a sailor at sea.
00:01:41Water doesn't exist until you bore deep into the earth.
00:01:45You bark in your shaving mug.
00:01:48Flies have the tenacity of bulldogs.
00:01:51Boozes readily turn to desert swords.
00:01:54Days that are very hot can be followed by nights of bitter cold.
00:02:01When the hot campsine wind brings its sandstorms, life can be intolerable.
00:02:07The Arabs say that after five days of it, murder can be excused.
00:02:17The tide of this war in the desert has ended and flowed.
00:02:21But as Rommel advanced after we lost to Brook, never had our backs been so close to the Suez War.
00:02:27We had lost 80,000 men and much booty.
00:02:31There were earlier lines of defense on which General Orkin Meck might have said,
00:02:54that he was deliberately falling back on El Al-Aman, no more than 60 miles from Alexandria.
00:03:06To Rommel, advancing at considerable speed,
00:03:10Egypt, with the Nile Delta which gives it life,
00:03:13Cairo, British General Headquarters and Africa's principal city,
00:03:19Alexandria, Egypt's chief port and base of our Mediterranean fleet,
00:03:24and Suez, gateway to the Far East.
00:03:28All these must have seemed dazzlingly near,
00:03:31as near as a mirage,
00:03:34and as it proved, as much an illusion.
00:03:37It was a wise decision of General Orkin Meck to come back to El Al-Aman,
00:03:43much the strongest natural line of defense between the Libyan frontier and the Delta.
00:03:48More other, Rommel's lines of supply were here stretched to the limit.
00:03:53On the right, our flank rested on the sea.
00:03:57On the left, it approached the Quatara Depression,
00:04:00a trough the size of Wales,
00:04:03one-third of its salt marsh,
00:04:04and all of its territories that no vehicle can cross.
00:04:25On this 40 miles front,
00:04:27General Orkin Meck took personal command.
00:04:30His, the total responsibility.
00:04:31Not another yard back were we going.
00:04:36His much-depleted army dug,
00:04:38blasted, and wired its servants,
00:04:40and laid protective mines.
00:04:43Our front was one of discontinuous belts of minefields
00:04:46with strong points,
00:04:48and machine gun and anti-tank gun emplacements.
00:04:51But it was as yet
00:04:52extremely slender.
00:04:54Here, General Orkin Meck waited.
00:05:08And with him,
00:05:09men who had fought at Ghazala,
00:05:11and Sidera's egg.
00:05:13Others who had been twice to Bengali.
00:05:16Others who had escaped from Bear Hakeem and Tobruk.
00:05:19The Eighth Army had made a fighting retreat of 400 miles.
00:05:26And the battle which approached in its importance,
00:05:29the Battle of Britain,
00:05:30was now at hand.
00:05:33The Middle East,
00:05:34Jewels,
00:05:35and infinitely more,
00:05:37were at stake.
00:05:39The crucial days had come.
00:05:41The Battle of Britain,
00:06:11The line held.
00:06:37After several days of attack and counterattack,
00:06:40the British, Australians, Indians, and South Africans
00:06:43were still there,
00:06:45fighting as doggies as our infantry at Waterloo.
00:06:49The immediate crisis was passed,
00:06:52but anxiety remained.
00:06:54Into this situation
00:07:11stepped Mr. Churchill,
00:07:13bringing his own inspiration and vigor.
00:07:16He brought good news
00:07:18of reinforcement both in men and supplies
00:07:20which had already rounded the Cape.
00:07:24For five days he visited the Army and Air Force,
00:07:27explaining the task and its importance.
00:07:31And most dramatic of all,
00:07:33he brought new commanders,
00:07:35General Alexander and General Montgomery.
00:07:38Alexander, one of the last men out of Dunkirk,
00:07:41and whose small army withstood the Japanese
00:07:43the whole length of Burma,
00:07:45and Montgomery,
00:07:46who took over the Eighth Army,
00:07:48and then who lives as sternly as a crumball,
00:07:51and who is as much a part
00:07:52of his modern iron diet.
00:07:54THE END
00:08:07Battle, swallow up weapons faster than you can build them.
00:08:35At home in Britain, the machinery of war poured from the factories, and British women worked
00:08:43alongside men on the shells, the ships, the tanks, the aircraft, the explosives.
00:08:51In no country are women so thoroughly organized for war.
00:08:58The End
00:09:00The End
00:09:02In the United States,
00:09:31bigger and more powerful tanks were coming off the assembly line.
00:09:36The Sherman, for instance, with their 75mm gun, an all-round traverse, going to Egypt for
00:09:43the first time.
00:09:46Although American material used at LLMN was but a small proportion of the hull, it was
00:09:53vital to our success.
00:09:58The 8th Army had the longest lines of supplies that the history of war has ever known.
00:10:13There are two main routes to the Middle East from Britain and America.
00:10:18The first by sea round the Cape, 12,000 miles menaced by U-bugs, which nothing but the resolution
00:10:25of our merchant seamen and the main guard over them has kept open.
00:10:30And the second by air across the middle of Africa, over the Niger, and then north along the Nile area.
00:10:48Landing grounds have been cut from the jungle.
00:10:52On this route, fly aircraft brought by ship to ports on the west coast and they are assembled.
00:10:59But the work has its own problems, among them, malaria.
00:11:06In Sandra wanted actic stick to and клиenta.
00:11:10Gal medicine called Salvador Dididerberg.
00:11:11Hold the way of a visit of the war ohh ..
00:11:14Téhony mass AGAIN....
00:11:18GERSON SAID ALUGEN
00:11:29The land being 봤 the city of BT.
00:11:31lava certified aeroplankcho.
00:11:33GERSON SAID ALUGEN
00:11:34Behind the line, great reinforcement.
00:11:39In the line, Rommel had come for us again.
00:11:43It was two months later.
00:11:45He told his troops that on this day, they were going to Cairo.
00:11:50But five days afterwards, he withdrew.
00:11:54He left nearly 300 tanks behind to prove his generalship.
00:12:04In two or three months,
00:12:33we recreated and greatly enlarged the Eighth Army.
00:12:37Into Middle East ports came men from the United Kingdom, India, and South Africa.
00:12:43The 44th Home Counties Division and the 51st Highlands Division
00:12:47had actually left Britain in May and June.
00:12:50And it was at the time to Brookville that President Roosevelt,
00:12:54who had Mr. Churchill with him at the time, ordered the first German tanks to Egypt.
00:13:00Long-range planning was yielding its reward.
00:13:04The Air Force kept gone.
00:13:26Rommel, with a supply line one-tenth the length of ours,
00:13:36was himself building up his supplies as hard as he could go.
00:13:40But for a considerable proportion of them, there was no future.
00:13:56Our United Air Forces go to that.
00:14:01,
00:14:03,
00:14:05,
00:14:07,
00:14:09,
00:14:11,
00:14:15,
00:14:16,
00:14:21,
00:14:26,
00:14:58The Royal Navy and Fleet Air Arm also were busy destroying Rommel's convoys.
00:15:05Within a few weeks, our Mediterranean submarines sank or damaged 24 enemy ships.
00:15:11In August alone, of all that was shipped to him, 80% went to the bottom.
00:15:28Meanwhile, the Eighth Army trains to the last time.
00:15:39The physical fitness and hardness of an army is one of the biggest battle-winning factors in war.
00:15:45When two first-class fighters meet, he who's fixed it longest wins in the end.
00:15:51This has been proved time and time again and applies to all ranks, from general officers to private soldiers.
00:15:59And this includes all branches of the army, whatever their job and wherever they be.
00:16:06Fighting fit and fit to fight.
00:16:09The End
00:16:18The End
00:16:28The End
00:16:37Towards the middle of October, preparations on both sides were nearing completion.
00:17:04In the north, Rommel's forces stretched from the coast to a .10 miles inland.
00:17:10Here were the bulk of his German infantry, comprising the 90th Light and the 164th Divisions,
00:17:15together with the Italian Trieste Division.
00:17:18In the south, holding a front of 14 miles, were three Italian divisions.
00:17:23These were strengthened by the rest of his German infantry.
00:17:26The center was left deliberately weak, held by a single Italian division, the Bologna, holding a front of 16 miles.
00:17:36Behind the infantry in the north were two armored divisions, one German and one Italian, and similarly in the south.
00:17:42The British line began in the north, with the 9th Australians, and below them, the first South Africans.
00:17:51The 51st Highland Division, who had St. Valerie to avenge, and the 4th Indian Division, veterans of Abyssinia and the Western Desert, held the center.
00:17:59In the south, were the 50th Division from the Teeth and Tyne, with the fighting French of Bia Hakim, and contingents of Greeks.
00:18:09The tactical reserve was found by the 44th Division from counties close to London.
00:18:14Our armored divisions were three, all United Kingdom men.
00:18:19Some veterans of a score of desert battles, others new to the work.
00:18:23One division, the famous 7th, held the extreme south.
00:18:28The other two were in close support in the north, with the 2nd New Zealand Infantry Division alongside.
00:18:39Rommel was full of confidence.
00:18:42He was saying to journalists in Berlin,
00:18:45You may rely on our holding fast to what we have got.
00:18:49We hold the gateway to Egypt, with the full intention to fall.
00:19:07Hitler was experiencing one of his historic intuitions.
00:19:13He saw before him the destined conqueror of Egypt.
00:19:16And on him, he bestowed the baton of feud-marshaling.
00:19:24Rommel hoped that if we attacked first, we should strike at his center.
00:19:28That hope we deliberately encouraged by the disposition of our forces.
00:19:32Having allowed our armor to break through,
00:19:35he saw himself destroying it by attacks from both flats.
00:19:39That done, his own offensive would be launched.
00:19:42General Alexander, Admiral Harwood, and Air Marshal Tedder planned our men together.
00:19:54It was to be a joint operation.
00:19:57Unity of command had become a reality.
00:20:00In the desert itself, General Montgomery and Air Vice Marshal Cunningham lived cheek by jowl.
00:20:08There was no divided command, said General Montgomery.
00:20:11There was only one command.
00:20:13General Montgomery, realizing that a citizen army fights best when it knows exactly what's going on
00:20:25and what it is going to do,
00:20:27saw to it that the plan of battle was known to everybody, from general to private soldier.
00:20:32And it came down from one rank to another till the chain was complete.
00:20:38So that senior officers fighting in their third desert winter
00:20:41shared the knowledge with troopers going into action for the first time.
00:20:48The battle was against fixed lines.
00:20:51And against fixed lines, General Alexander said,
00:20:55the tactics are just like breaking down a wall with a crowbar.
00:20:58You drive it in as far as possible and then lever this way and that to make a small hole.
00:21:07Then you enlarge it.
00:21:09As soon as you have made a hole large enough,
00:21:12your armored divisions go through to wreck the enemy's artillery and lines of communication.
00:21:19As for General Montgomery,
00:21:21he said his intention was to hit the enemy for six right out of Africa.
00:21:25The final preparations began.
00:21:30The final preparations began.
00:21:30The final点 issue began.
00:21:31The final
00:21:47The final
00:21:48The final
00:21:49The final
00:21:53The final
00:22:26And now that all knew what was to be done, and always made ready, there were final moments
00:22:54of normal desert life, of rest, of washing clothes, of a swim in the sea for those near
00:23:02the coast, of cooking the evening meal.
00:23:05The coming of dawn over the Mediterranean, the sunset with a touch of green in the horizon,
00:23:19the mirage turning sand into water, and sprinkling that water with the sails of small ships.
00:23:25But many a soldier saw these things, perhaps for the first time, and he wrote his letters
00:23:33home, and smoked, and talked things over, or lay silent as he listened to the pipes playing
00:23:40island letter.
00:24:30The Battle of El Alamén began in the evening.
00:24:44As light failed, the final moves were made.
00:25:00The Eighth Army watched Rommel's lines.
00:25:29Lying in moonlight and shadow.
00:25:33At zero, minus 30, the barrage begins.
00:25:48At the same moment, the sappers will move forward to clear gaps in the enemy minefields, marking
00:25:57the gaps in white tapes.
00:25:59After 30 minutes, the barrage will lift from the first objective and creep forward.
00:26:07At zero hours, 10 o'clock, the infantry will advance.
00:30:55Infantry, tanks, and air force working as one.
00:31:32After a hard day's fighting, the 8th Army had made a salient to the north six miles wide
00:31:37and to a depth four miles beyond the first enemy minefield.
00:31:42Next day, attacks were made in the center and south.
00:31:45The attacks that Rommel had been expecting, and which he thought was a real thing, but
00:31:49they were merely diversion.
00:31:50In fact, our main attack was the 8th Army's crowbar had been driven in, and was being levered
00:31:59this way and that.
00:32:00In our salient, the Australian, the Australians were attacking again, and secured a three-mile front running west-northbound.
00:32:28West-north-north-north-north-north.
00:32:29Fire!
00:32:33Fire!
00:32:34Fire!
00:32:35Fire!
00:32:45Fire!
00:32:46Take cover!
00:32:48Rommel Contra-Tep, repeatedly during these days, was on the ground and in the air.
00:33:18Onc.
00:33:21Fl Boeing.
00:33:33Fl Boeing.
00:33:41Fl Boeing.
00:33:42Fl Boeing.
00:33:46The Air Force was doing a magnificent job.
00:34:16For the Luftwaffe, the skies became a place of deadly peril, and the machines that escaped
00:34:21us there were destroyed on the ground.
00:34:46On the fourth day of the battle, Kidney Ridge was assaulted by troops of the 7th Armored Division,
00:34:58riflemen, light tanks, and armored cars.
00:35:12The Air Force was shot.
00:35:42The Air Force was shot.
00:36:12The Ridge was taken.
00:36:29In the meantime, the Australians, backed by British tanks, were exploiting their former
00:36:38Northwood Trust and driving a wedge still further into the German forces near the sea.
00:36:43The Air Force was shot.
00:36:45The Air Force was shot.
00:36:52The Air Force was shot.
00:37:00Rommel was now fighting back with little pause and with increasing desperation.
00:37:30Let's go.
00:38:00These four days' bitter work cut off large numbers of Rommel's infantry.
00:38:30Some of whom, for the time being, fought on nicely.
00:38:34Casualties suffered were heavy on both sides.
00:38:37But large groups of prisoners were in our hands.
00:38:40They were in our hands.
00:38:45They were in our hands.
00:38:47They were in our hands.
00:38:53They were in our hands.
00:38:55They were in our hands.
00:38:57They were in our hands.
00:39:05They were in our hands.
00:39:07They were in our hands.
00:39:15They were in our hands.
00:39:17They were in our hands.
00:39:25They were in our hands.
00:39:32While the battle in the north was raging, Rommel had been forced to end.
00:39:46We had imposed our will on him.
00:39:48He moved two Panzer divisions, the 21st and Ariete, from the south to just below our salient.
00:39:56The air force began the task of preventing them from concentrating.
00:40:05Gentlemen, of course, without any distractions.
00:40:09They were in our hands.
00:40:10Never.
00:40:12Come forward.
00:40:13THE END
00:40:43THE END
00:41:13THE END
00:41:43THE END
00:42:13General Montgomery now gathered his entire armor, including his division from the south, ready for the crowbar's final front.
00:42:23The first phase was finished.
00:42:33On November the 1st, the ninth day of battle, the Eighth Army advanced on its entire front of 40 miles.
00:42:41But the blow we meant to be mortal was struck at the head of the bulge.
00:42:45The End
00:42:54The End
00:43:01The End
00:43:10The End
00:43:19The End
00:43:28The End
00:43:37The End
00:43:46It was the breakthrough.
00:44:10Within two hours, our light tanks were 40 miles behind Ronald's line, destroying his transfer.
00:44:17The result was consternation and chaos.
00:44:20The End
00:44:21The End
00:44:29The End
00:44:38The moment that Alexander and Montgomery had been waiting for had come.
00:44:41The entire weight of their armor was in readiness, and like a fleet of ironclad did sail through the gaps.
00:44:48Its purpose was simple, to destroy Rommel's armor.
00:44:52The End
00:44:53The End
00:44:54The End
00:44:55The End
00:44:56The End
00:44:57The End
00:52:04They tasted what they'd administered in France and Poland.
00:54:48In Cyrene, the Eighth Army passed from desert to a green countryside, which its Italian
00:55:00colonists had abandoned, and it was no more than a week between our taking to Brooke and
00:55:06entering Benghazi.
00:55:08At Benghazi, we paused to replenish our supplies.
00:55:13The harbor, bombed by us for over two years, so regularly that the pilots called it during
00:55:18the mail run, was now littered with sunken ships.
00:55:22Cranes, installations, and most of the keys were demolished.
00:55:27Yet the Navy and engineers worked to such good purpose that before long our ships were
00:55:32unloading.
00:55:34By seeing land, we were soon bringing up three billion gallons of petrol a week and eight
00:55:39thousand tons of ammunition.
00:55:48While we'd been building up our strength, Rommel had been digging in at El Aguila.
00:55:57But after remaining three weeks preparing to fight, he changed his mind and withdrew as
00:56:02soon as he felt the full weight of our attack.
00:56:05His indecision achieved nothing except to intensify our new onslaught.
00:56:09From El Aguila to Tripoli is 530 miles.
00:56:16It took the East Army 41 days to accomplish it.
00:56:19During that time, they fought several actions with Rommel's rearguards, putting down on one
00:56:24occasion a barrage rivaling that of El Alamein.
00:56:28But though we were delayed, our onward sweep was never in doubt.
00:56:31Just before the last stage began, General Montgomery said in an order of the day,
00:56:38Nothing has stopped us since the Battle of Egypt began.
00:56:41Nothing will stop us now.
00:56:44And nothing did.
00:56:45Eight days later, we were fighting on the outskirts of Tripoli itself.
00:56:49Eight days later, we were fighting on the outskirts of Tripoli.
00:57:19The surrender of Tripoli by the governor of Libya and the mayor of the city extinguished
00:57:28the Italian overseas empire.
00:57:31Country by country, the British army had conquered it.
00:57:35Abyssinia, Eritrea, Italian Somaliland, Libya, Tripolitania.
00:57:41Not a single town now remained to them.
00:57:49The End
00:57:51The End
00:58:19days, the Eighth Army had advanced close on 1,400 miles, a feat unparalleled in military
00:58:25history. Throughout the battle in advance, for every casualty suffered, it had inflicted
00:58:31five on the enemy. In the words of Mr. Churchill, you have altered the face of the war in the
00:58:40most remarkable way. What this must have meant in care and organization of the whole movement
00:58:47and maneuvers, what it must have meant in the endurance, tireless endurance and self-denial
00:58:54of the troops, and in the fearless leadership in action, can only be appreciated by those
00:59:01who are actually on the spot. But I must tell you that your fame, the fame of the Desert
00:59:09Army, has spread throughout the world.
00:59:17THE END
00:59:47THE END
00:59:52THE END
00:59:57THE END
01:00:02THE END
01:00:07THE END
01:00:12THE END
01:00:17THE END
01:00:22THE END
01:00:27THE END
01:00:32THE END
01:00:33THE END
01:00:34THE END
01:00:36The End
01:01:06First pictures of the United States offensive against Japanese bases in the Aleutians.
01:01:11September 1942.
01:01:13A large U.S. convoy slips through Aleutian fog to a secret destination called Fireplace and Co.
01:01:19A harbor close to Kiska, an easy bomber range.
01:01:23A blinker gives the signal.
01:01:24And under cover of fog, well-armed scouts scramble down the landing nets into ready assault boats.
01:01:30First step in America's advance in the Aleutians.
01:01:34Not many bomber miles away, Jap-occupied positions as yet are wholly unaware of this new American threat.
01:01:44Quickly soldiers pour ashore with small arms and ammunition, swarming inward for reconnaissance to make sure the island is uninhabited.
01:01:52And right behind, the first waves of equipment and supplies.
01:01:54Vehicles and heavier guns.
01:01:57A growing stream unloading quickly from Higgins boats which shuttle back and forth from bulging transports in the harbor.
01:02:04Wave after wave in careful pre-planned schedules.
01:02:08Never stopping, the military cargo ferries bring ashore an endless stream of food and water.
01:02:13Clothing, ammunition, and some of the vast quantities of fuel necessary to maintain a major landing force.
01:02:18Along the beach, protectors stay alert.
01:02:30Long recognized as important to both offensive and defensive North Pacific strategy,
01:02:35the 1,100-mile Aleutian string of largely uninhabited volcanic islands
01:02:39lies just above the shortest actual route from Seattle to Tokyo.
01:02:44The Great Circle Route, the way a plane would fly.
01:02:50About halfway along the 4,600-mile route is Dutch Harbor,
01:02:53and since 1938, defense outpost for the island chain and for Alaska.
01:02:591,800 sea miles from Seattle, but from Kiska snatched by the Jap in June,
01:03:04only 625 miles for enemy bombers to fly and drain destruction.
01:03:09Once, they got away with it.
01:03:12Dutch Harbor was the American frontier then,
01:03:14and in June, it suffered severe damage.
01:03:17But now the United States has struck back,
01:03:20hard, ready to avenge Dutch Harbor.
01:03:24Hundreds Commander General Landrum,
01:03:26the advanced striking base rapidly digs into its new quarters.
01:03:29A permanent camp is laid out quickly on the treeless,
01:03:37inhospitable slopes above the barren island beaches,
01:03:40protected by anti-aircraft gunners on constant alert.
01:03:45Meantime, communications around the island are promptly established.
01:03:48Landing operations are steady, hard work,
01:03:59and toiling troops are all too ready for chow
01:04:02and what little relaxation the bleak and empty island offers.
01:04:05But not too much time out now.
01:04:28Hour after hour, supplies roll ashore.
01:04:31A small fleet of sea barges carrying the heavy derricks,
01:04:33cranes and tractors and more supplies
01:04:35is brought into shore to form a dock.
01:04:38And crate upon crate, pile upon pile,
01:04:41jams up the beachhead waiting to be carted off by trucks.
01:04:44More and more ammunition
01:04:46and rows of U.S. bombs ashore and ready for the air offensive.
01:04:55The big cranes are put ashore.
01:04:57Their unloading job finished.
01:04:59While tractors, bulldozers and graders land to build the airport.
01:05:03And here it is.
01:05:13A long, flat area ideal for planes,
01:05:16except for a mountain stream overrunning its surface
01:05:18and forming many shallow lakes.
01:05:21Right away, the dozers go to work,
01:05:23scraping the volcanic earth into a dike at one side of the field,
01:05:26diverting the stream's course,
01:05:28making the field safe.
01:05:29The moment that engineers declare the soggy field
01:05:39ready for big, heavy-flying fortresses,
01:05:41bomber squadrons will be called
01:05:43to go into immediate action.
01:05:45Almost midway between Dutch Harbor and Kiska,
01:05:53new base at fireplace in the Adrianoffs
01:05:55puts the U.S. Army Air Force within fighter range of Kiska
01:05:58and easy bomber range of Attu farther west.
01:06:03And here they are,
01:06:04already poised in battle line on the new airfield,
01:06:07a carpet ride.
01:06:09The air arm of the United States forces in the illusions.
01:06:12Giant B-24s and B-17s.
01:06:15The liberators and flying fortresses feared the world over,
01:06:18ready for attack when motors and guns have been carefully checked.
01:06:22Bombs fill up the bomb bays of one big plane after another.
01:06:25A message for the Japanese in a language he understands.
01:06:28It's the beginning of America's round now.
01:06:31They've got a base within range of the Jap.
01:06:32They've got equipment, planes, and ammunition.
01:06:35They've got men here,
01:06:37skilled veteran flyers,
01:06:38who in an hour will be winging their four-motored sky fortresses
01:06:42over Jap-held territory.
01:06:43Welcome target for their bomb sites.
01:06:50In the dim Aleutian dawn,
01:06:52one plane after another fills with crew,
01:06:55eager and ready for attack.
01:07:02All set.
01:07:08Let's go.
01:07:09Let's go.
01:07:32Above the clouds of the foggiest area in the world.
01:07:47Below, island after island of the Aleutian chain,
01:07:50where for years,
01:07:51innocent-looking jet fisher boats lurked in disguise,
01:07:54plotting shoals and reefs for future reference and use.
01:07:58Approaching the island of Kiska,
01:08:02machine gunners poised for action.
01:08:05In the harbor, a Nipponese warship.
01:08:07Without deviating from their course,
01:08:09the gunners scrape the decks.
01:08:15And now they're over the objective.
01:08:17Bomb bays open silently, ready for the signal.
01:08:23And there go American bombs hurtling downward.
01:08:25Japan's first taste of the United States' advance in the Aleutians.
01:08:31That's the Jap base at Kiska,
01:08:33with serious fires started by the big bombs.
01:08:42Another load, recorded by slow-motion camera,
01:08:45shoots toward the surprised enemy below.
01:08:47A first sample of treatment you can expect,
01:08:50daily from now on.
01:08:51The signs of their thorough handiwork blazing behind them,
01:09:03the American air fleet wings over,
01:09:05and heads home.
01:09:10Communicate from the Aleutians.
01:09:12At dawn, a fleet of United States B-17 and B-24 bombers
01:09:16took off from an advanced Aleutian base
01:09:18with Japanese installations of Kiska as objective.
01:09:22Captured enemy fire was encountered.
01:09:24One Japanese warship strained.
01:09:27High explosive and demolition bombs
01:09:29were dropped with success on objectives,
01:09:31and several fires were observed.
01:09:33All attacking planes returned safely to their base.
01:09:36The air fighters have come back to fireplace.
01:09:58New notches on their guns.
01:10:00No casualties,
01:10:01despite grim reminders of the enemy's marksmanship.
01:10:04But they'll be going out again tomorrow,
01:10:07and the next day, and the next.
01:10:11America's Aleutian offensive against Japan.
01:10:13An end of the beginning,
01:10:15and beginning of the end.
01:10:16America's Aleutian offensive against Japan.
01:10:17America's Aleutian offensive against Japan.
01:10:18America's Aleutian offensive against Japan.
01:10:19America's Aleutian offensive against Japan.
01:10:20America's Aleutian offensive against Japan.
01:10:21America's Aleutian offensive against Japan.
01:10:22America's Aleutian offensive against Japan.
01:10:23America's Aleutian offensive against Japan.
01:10:24America's Aleutian offensive against Japan.
01:10:25America's Aleutian offensive against Japan.
01:10:26America's Aleutian offensive against Japan.
01:10:27America's Aleutian offensive against Japan.
01:10:28America's Aleutian offensive against Japan.
01:10:29America's Aleutian offensive against Japan.
01:10:30America's Aleutian offensive against Japan.
01:10:31America's Aleutian offensive against Japan.
01:10:32America's Aleutian offensive against Japan.
01:10:33America's Aleutian offensive against Japan.
01:10:34America's Aleutian offensive against Japan.
01:10:35America's Aleutian offensive against Japan.
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