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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.
08:21These 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.
08:45The helmet makes the swell wash basin.
08:53And you can't do this with a family sink.
08:58And 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.
09:05There will be two landings on New Britain.
09:09The first at Arroway, to divert the Japs from the main landing a few days later at Cape Gloucester.
09:17Arroway is a peninsula.
09:20A small force will make a landing up here, in the enemy's rear, they hope.
09:25And move down the peninsula to join with the main forces, who will land along here.
09:30Complete surprise is the main thing.
09:35Hit 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 Jap 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 that 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 getting over the coral reef at our weight.
12:31So buffalos and alligators have been selected to 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.
13:31Are there any questions?
13:40There'll be nothing to go back to.
13:41There'll be nothing to go back to.
13:42There'll be nothing to go back to.
13:43There'll be nothing to go back to.
13:44There'll be nothing to go back to.
13:45There'll be nothing to go back to.
13:46There'll be nothing to go back to.
13:47There'll be nothing to go back to.
13:48There'll be nothing to go back to.
13:49There'll be nothing to go back to.
13:50There'll be nothing to go back to.
13:51There'll be nothing to go back to.
13:52There'll be nothing to go back to.
13:53There'll be nothing to go back to.
13:54There'll be nothing to go back to.
13:55There'll be nothing to go back to.
13:56There'll be nothing to go back to.
13:57There'll be nothing to go back to.
13:58Now comes the parade of men and supplies.
14:22The loading, the checking, the counting, the packing.
14:28It's the war of logistics, adding up to the final question mark.
14:34Will 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.
14:46Remember, 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.
15:09The commander-in-chief, who is responsible for the coordination of the whole plan, comes down for the takeoff.
15:16General 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.
15:59The buffaloes and alligators are going to load on the mothership.
16:12The pyramids are doing their superpowers.
16:27What you going to do?
16:27What you going to do?
16:33Woo-hoo.
16:35That is so big.
16:37Meantime, the main force loads aboard its transport.
16:55Once up the net, the landing craft that brought them will be hoisted aboard.
17:00And the rubber boat detachments move out to load on the destroyer that will carry them.
17:07The convoy is on its way to meet its naval escort.
17:18This is D-Day minus one.
17:22The men know that means the day before invasion.
17:37This last-minute check on weapons goes on aboard every ship.
17:42And nobody has to be told to do it now.
17:52Ammunition to fight malaria.
17:55It's the daily Atabrine pill.
17:56This, too, happens on every ship.
18:11Last-minute instructions to officers and non-coms.
18:14It's called briefing.
18:15It's over there fast.
18:17Whatever happens, keep contacting.
18:20The message center will be in here.
18:24Get your messages back as fast as you can and go.
18:27Keep your men dispersed.
18:30Cut out a bunch.
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.
18:39We've all got compasses.
18:46We're at the rendezvous point.
18:48The task force commander leaves to board one of the destroyers of the escort.
18:52And 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.
19:07Tomorrow belongs to the headlines in hometown papers,
19:27to the radio commentators,
19:28and the casualty lists.
19:31But these few hours belong to each man to spend as he likes.
19:37D-Day.
19:53D-Day.
19:59D-Day.
20:01D-Day.
20:05Under the protection of the naval barrage,
20:10the first assault waves keep circling,
20:12awaiting the order to start in.
20:18There they go.
20:28A Jap plane.
20:29Rockets packed with high explosives.
20:59Calling cars to clear the beaches of small arms fire.
21:02more plans coming ours we hope yep it's a sky full of angels our own b-25s
21:32now it's the air force's turn and they know their way around they've been softening it up for days in
21:40advance
21:41propaganda leaflets to tell the chap what's happening to him and why
21:56the naval barrage drove most of the japs off the beaches up on the cliff
22:09and that's where the planes work them over strafing may not wipe out a ground force but
22:15it keeps them ducking
22:16there's the landing place
22:25the first casualty result of a jap machine gun burst
22:32it's safe to raise your head and look at the shore now and here's why
22:40this is what naval barrage and air bombing can do to a shoreline
22:47remember you can only go forward you can't go back there'll be nothing to go back to just grab a
23:06piece of beach and start shoving still a few snipers around
23:13patrols group ahead of the main body to feel out the champ's strength locate his positions
23:25the assault troops keep advancing
23:45the peninsula was lightly held but there are still plenty of japs to comb out
24:14you don't see many except this kind
24:20the objective is to push about three miles up the peninsula then dig in and hang on
24:33more and more troops are fed up to the rapidly advancing front by jeeps
24:41alligators
24:45buffalo
24:49grab is over now to hold on counter-attacks may strike anywhere anytime better be ready
25:01beach gun emplacements for all-round security
25:08that's an air raid warning truck under the camouflage
25:12and every man digs a place to dive into when the zeros come
25:18communication keeps pace with combat
25:26switchboard and message center open for business
25:30supplies are needed faster than ships can bring them
25:38parachute borne ammunition coming down
25:46but they don't always select ideal landing places a job for the pole line crew
26:02that dirty pool is being converted into drinking water by the engineer water purification unit
26:17men may one day forget many things of this war but never the taste of chlorine
26:23the air raid warning
26:26the air raid warning
26:31casualties from the front get attention in the surgical tent
26:35the man on the table got a shell fragment in the lake
26:40Enemy planes.
27:10This is what's left of the surgical tent filled with wounded men after a direct hit.
27:40The
27:41The
27:43The
27:47The
27:54The
27:59The
28:03The
28:07For 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.
28:34They met heavy machine gun fire before they could reach the beach.
28:38The boats were destroyed.
28:40The men were scattered.
28:42They just couldn't swim and fight at the same time.
28:45But the main landing is successful.
28:48The Japs have been driven back up the peninsula.
28:54The beachhead is established.
28:57The task force commander is ready to make his report.
29:04And now for the main event, the landings on Cape Gloucester.
29:17Arrowy was the fink with the left.
29:19Gloucester will be the right to the jaw.
29:22Here, here, and here.
29:25The forces will capture the airstrip and converge, setting up an American stronghold on the supply
29:33line to Rabaul.
29:36In the marine staging areas, it is Christmas Day.
29:39The last mass before sailing for Gloucester.
29:54The last mass before sailing for Gloucester.
29:54.
30:13.
30:14.
30:19The End
30:49This is to be the main effort.
30:59It is an army made up of two task forces in the teeth of known Jack power.
31:19These two landings are the first stage in the neutralization and envelopment of Rabaul.
31:26On Christmas night, a vast convoy sets out.
31:52Cape Gloucester, New Britain.
31:54Nearing the height of the naval bombardment, the first assault load into Higgins' boats.
32:17The End
32:26The End
32:35The End
32:44And the umbrella of air protection arrives on time.
33:11Back at the beaches, the jungle crawls with Japs.
33:34They're dug in and well fortified, but not against this.
33:38The bombardier once boasted he could hit a derby with a dime.
34:08Here's where accuracy really counts.
34:11Just back at the beaches, but not too far in.
34:16Just back at the beaches, but not too far in.
34:21Just back at the beaches, but not too far in.
34:28Just back at the beaches, but not too far in.
34:30Just back at the beaches, but not too far in.
34:35They were not.
34:36Now we have some areas and here.
34:40There's no activity that's achtergrant as close as snow.
34:42As before everyone knows, it's been туда-zubringed.
34:44Bit wind of fire, but not too far in there all.
34:45Not too far in Europe.
34:46Night In My glow.
34:47Now they are hot!
34:48Just back there!
34:48The Higgins boats keep moving in.
35:18And under this air cover, the invasion fleet creeps forward.
35:48The Higgins boats keep moving in.
35:55The Higgins boats keep moving in.
36:03The Higgins boats keep moving in.
36:10The Higgins boats keep moving in.
36:17The Higgins boats keep moving in.
36:24The Higgins boats keep moving in.
36:32Curtains of smoke to screen our landings.
36:39Here come the first waves in Higgins boats.
36:47Not ghosts from Pearl Harbor, but American boys.
36:56Tom, Dick, and Johnny.
36:58The boys who used to play baseball in the vacant lot on Saturday afternoons.
37:02The youngsters that drove jalopies and sang the popular songs.
37:06You may have wondered sometimes if they'd ever amount to anything.
37:13Well, here they are, giving everything they've got.
37:19This is jungle.
37:22These assault waves are like a hand stretched out in a dark room, feeling their way.
37:28If they are stopped here, the main force landing behind them is stopped too.
37:34The Higgins boats keep moving in.
37:52The Higgins boats keep moving in.
37:58The Higgins boats keep moving in.
38:03Contact with the enemy.
38:33Contact with the enemy.
39:03And here come the landing craft infantry, called LCIs.
39:10They're bringing the main fighting strength to back up the assault wave.
39:33The End
39:40The End
39:47Stuff has to be carried in the hard way.
40:15The trucks come later.
40:17The End
40:25Digging in.
40:40Up at the front.
40:52Here's a highly trained specialist.
40:55Even a Jap sniper can't camouflage his scent.
40:58Fresh troops forward.
41:02Wounded to the rear.
41:18You never know what's around the next bush.
41:34Dead Japs aren't always dead.
41:46Better be sure.
41:48Enemy strong point.
42:13Enemy strong point.
42:18The End
42:20That's very, very common.
42:21The End
42:30wind
42:31Let's go.
43:01Here's the bazooka.
43:14This is a hand-carried rocket gun.
43:17The fire in it takes close teamwork.
43:31Hand grenades, mortars, bazookas, and flamethrowers did this.
43:59This is a hand-carried rocket gun.
44:29After the LCI's have been emptied of men, the towering LSTs, landing ship tanks, move
44:40in, bringing everything for the establishment of a beachhead.
44:44This succession of ships, all in their proper order, thousands of men and tons of supplies
44:56have been one purpose, to keep a thin line of riflemen fighting their way forward into
45:02the jungle.
45:02Buffaloes and alligators.
45:20Mechanized sledgehammers, smashing holes in the jungle wall.
45:37Bucket lines to pass the ammunition.
46:05I don't know.
46:35I don't know.
47:01Medium tanks to crush pillboxes.
47:05An hour or two later, the trucks roll in.
47:30But they can't go everywhere.
47:38Ammunition is being spent fast.
47:40For every finger squeezing a trigger, there are a hundred others pulling, hauling, and carrying.
48:00It's all part of the same job.
48:02That's barbed wire there, Carrie.
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, from the flanks, or from the rear, or from the air.
49:07A final protective line against the air.
49:14At 235, enemy dive bombers.
49:44Jap planes shot into the water, more than 60, costing less than a dozen of our own.
49:56The Japs concentrated on the destroyer Bronson.
50:01That's the Bronson, standing on end, sinking fast.
50:14But among the floating wreckage are survivors.
50:27Exhausted, some dying, some dead.
50:54Some with clothes blown off by the concussion of bombs.
50:59These are a part of 208 survivors who will remember the Bronson when they fight again.
51:21Back at Gloucester, it had begun to rain.
51:28The folks back home are eating Christmas dinner about now.
51:57Out here is the day after, and just another day.
52:02The End
52:07Let's go.
52:36More enemy, mud.
53:06Information gained from prisoners confirms what we know.
53:23The advance is nearing its main objective.
53:25But every step forward means some men coming back on stretchers.
53:38Sometimes it takes too long for the stretchers to arrive.
53:56Medical officers scrubbing up for emergency treatment before evacuation.
54:20The country doctor, city surgeon, working together 25 hours out of the 24.
54:36Part of the price of a plan was to go to war.
54:42Part of the price of a beach landing.
55:12Yes, it's a wounded Jap, receiving decent treatment in a cigarette.
55:37And on the beach the next day, wreckage.
55:50Through the rain and darkness of enemy waters, there
56:11are going back to hospitals in rare areas.
57:24Fire!
57:27Fire!
57:37One day of American living.
57:40Fought and paid for.
57:57One day of American living.
58:27You
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