- 2 days ago
“Desert Victory” (1943) is a classic World War II documentary produced by the British Ministry of Information. It depicts the Allies’ hard-fought victory in the North African campaign, showcasing real battle footage, strategic maneuvers, and the courage of soldiers in the desert.
This Academy Award-winning documentary captures a pivotal moment in history and remains one of the most powerful wartime films ever made.
This Academy Award-winning documentary captures a pivotal moment in history and remains one of the most powerful wartime films ever made.
Category
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Short filmTranscript
00:00:00The End
00:00:30The End
00:01:00The End
00:01:30Thousands 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 swans.
00:01:54Days that are very hot can be followed by nights of bitter cold.
00:02:01When the hot camps in 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 Wall.
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 Iberani or Mercer Matroux, for example.
00:02:57But he was deliberately falling back on El Alamein, no more than 60 miles from Alexandria.
00:03:06To Rommel, advancing at considerable speed.
00:03:09Egypt, with the Nile Delta, which gives it life.
00:03:14Cairo, 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 another man.
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 Quatada Depression.
00:04:00A trough the size of Wales.
00:04:03One third of its salt marsh.
00:04:04And all of its territory that no vehicle can cross.
00:04:07On this 40 miles front, General Orkin Meck took personal command.
00:04:30Here's the total responsibility.
00:04:31Not another yard back were we going.
00:04:36His much-depleted army dug, blasted, and wired itself in.
00:04:40And laid protective mines.
00:04:43Our front was one of discontinuous belts of minefields with strong points.
00:04:48And machine gun and anti-tank gun emplacements.
00:04:51But it was as yet extremely slender.
00:04:54Here, General Orkin Meck waited.
00:05:08And with him, men who had fought at Ghazana and Sidi Rezegh.
00:05:13Others who had been twice to Benghazi.
00:05:16Others who had escaped from Bir Hakim and Tobruk.
00:05:19The Eighth Army had made a fighting retreat of 400 miles.
00:05:26And a battle which approached in its importance the Battle of Britain was now at hand.
00:05:33The Middle East, the U.S., and infinitely more, was at stake.
00:05:39The crucial days had come.
00:05:41The Eighth Army had come.
00:06:11The line held.
00:06:37After several days of attack and counterattack,
00:06:40the British, Australians, Indians, and South Africans were still there,
00:06:44fighting as dogged as our infantry at Waterloo.
00:06:48The immediate crisis was past, but anxiety remained.
00:06:54Into this situation stepped Mr. Churchill, bringing his own inspiration and vigor.
00:07:02He brought good news of reinforcement, both in men and supplies, which had already rounded the Cape.
00:07:10For five days he visited the Army and Air Force, explaining the task and its importance.
00:07:17And most dramatic of all, he brought new commanders,
00:07:21General Alexander and General Montgomery.
00:07:23Alexander, one of the last men out of Dunkirk,
00:07:25and whose small army withstood the Japanese the whole length of Burma,
00:07:29and Montgomery, who took over the Eighth Army.
00:07:33A man who lived as sternly as a crumbler,
00:07:35and who is as much a part of his modern iron diet.
00:07:39A man who lived as sternly as a crumbler, and whose small army withstood the Japanese the whole length of Burma,
00:07:46and Montgomery, who took over the Eighth Army.
00:07:48A man who lived as sternly as a crumbler, and who is as much a part of his modern iron diet.
00:07:54Excellent.
00:08:11.
00:08:13.
00:08:14.
00:08:16Battles swallow up weapons faster than you can build them.
00:08:36At home in Britain, the machinery of war poured from the factory.
00:08:40And British women worked alongside men on the shells, the ships, the tanks, the aircraft, the explosives.
00:08:49In no country are women so thoroughly organized for war.
00:09:10In the United States, bigger and more powerful tanks were coming off the assembly line.
00:09:35The Shermans, for instance, with their 75mm gun, an all-round traverse, going to Egypt for the first time.
00:09:44Although American material used at LLMN was but a small proportion of the whole, it was vital to our success.
00:09:54The 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.
00:10:17The first, by sea, round the Cape.
00:10:2012,000 miles, minutes by U-bugs, which nothing but the resolution of our merchant seamen and the mailing guard over them has kept open.
00:10:28And the second, by air across the middle of Africa, over the Niger, and then north along the Nile barrier.
00:10:47Landing grounds have been cut from the jungle.
00:10:51On this route, fly aircraft brought by ships to port on the west coast are there assembled.
00:10:58The work has its own problems, among them malaria.
00:11:17Behind the line, great reinforcement.
00:11:38In the line, Rommel had come for us again.
00:11:42It was two months later.
00:11:44He told his troops that on this day, they were going to Cairo.
00:11:49But five days afterwards, he withdrew.
00:11:53He left nearly 300 tanks behind to prove his generalship.
00:11:59The End
00:12:08In two or three months, we recreated and greatly enlarged the Eighth Army.
00:12:27Into Middle East ports came men from the United Kingdom, India, and South Africa.
00:12:42The 44th Home Counties Division and the 51st Highlands Division had actually left Britain in May and June.
00:12:49And it was at the time to Brookville that President Roosevelt, who had Mr. Churchill with him at the time, ordered the first Sherman tanks to Egypt.
00:12:58Long-range planning was yielding its reward.
00:13:23The Air Force kept guard.
00:13:28Rommel, with a supply line one-tenth the length of ours, was himself building up his supplies as hard as he could go.
00:13:51But for a considerable proportion of them, there was no future.
00:13:57Our United Air Forces saw to that.
00:14:00A few years later, the Air Force kept guard.
00:14:03What after that?
00:14:04The Air Force came at the Union.
00:14:06When you saw us at Paris.
00:14:09A few years later, the Miriam.
00:14:12A few years later, they were going to follow us.
00:14:14The Air Force came as well.
00:14:15The Air Force was at a time-tenth the moment.
00:14:17A few years later, the Air Force jumped and it revealed us.
00:14:49The Royal Navy and Fleet Air Arm also were busy destroying robot convoy.
00:15:05Within a few weeks, our Mediterranean submarines sank or damaged 24 enemy ships.
00:15:11In August and November, of all that was shipped to him, 80% went to the bottom.
00:15:19Meanwhile, the Eighth Army trains to the last time.
00:15:38The physical fitness and hardness of an army is one of the biggest battle-winning factors in war.
00:15:45When two first-star fighters meet, he who sticks 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.
00:15:58And this includes all branches of the army, whatever their job and wherever they be.
00:16:06Fighting fit and fit to fight.
00:16:19The End
00:16:49Towards the middle of October, preparations on both sides were nearing completion.
00:17:05In the north, Romuald's forces stretched from the coast to a point ten miles inland.
00:17:10Here were the bulk of his German infantry comprising the 90th flight 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.
00:17:27The centre was left deliberately weak, held by a single Italian division, the Bologna,
00:17:33holding a front of 16 miles.
00:17:36Behind the infantry in the north were two armoured divisions, one German and one Italian,
00:17:40and similarly in the south.
00:17:42The British line began in the north with the ninth Australians, and below them the first
00:17:49South Africans.
00:17:50The 51st Highland Division, who had St. Valerie to avenge, and the 4th Indian Division, veterans
00:17:57of Abyssinia and the Western Desert, held the centre.
00:17:59In the south, were the 50th Division from the Tees and Tyne, with the fighting French of
00:18:05Bia Hakim and contingents of Greeks.
00:18:08The tactical reserve was found by the 44th Division from counties close to London.
00:18:14Our armoured 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
00:18:32alongside.
00:18:39Rommel was full of confidence.
00:18:42He was saying to journalists in Berlin,
00:18:44You may rely on our holding fast to what we have got.
00:18:49We hold the gateway to Egypt with the full intention to act.
00:18:54Hitler was experiencing one of his historic intuitions.
00:19:11He saw before him the destined conqueror of Egypt.
00:19:17And on him, he bestowed the baton of feud-marshals.
00:19:24Rommel hoped that if we attacked first, we should strike at his centre.
00:19:28That hope we deliberately encouraged by the disposition of our forces.
00:19:33Having allowed our armour to break through,
00:19:35he saw himself destroying it by attacks from both fronts.
00:19:38That done, his own offensive would be launched.
00:19:47General 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 cheap by jowl.
00:20:08There was no divided command, said General Montgomery.
00:20:11There was only one command.
00:20:19General Montgomery, realising 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.
00:20:33And 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.
00:20:46The 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.
00:20:59You drive it in as far as possible,
00:21:02and then lever this way and that to make a small hole.
00:21:07Then you enlarge it.
00:21:08As soon as you have made a hole large enough,
00:21:12your armoured divisions go through
00:21:14to 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.
00:21:27The final preparations began.
00:21:38The final preparations began.
00:22:08THE END
00:22:38And now that all knew what was to be done, and all was made ready, there were final moments of normal desert life, of rest, of washing clothes, of a swim in the sea for those near the coast, of cooking the evening meal.
00:23:08THE END
00:24:40The Battle of El Alamén began in the evening. As light failed, the final moves were made.
00:24:47THE END
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00:25:15The Eighth Army watched Rommel's lines, lying in moonlight and shadow.
00:25:44At zero, minus thirty, the barrage begins.
00:25:49At the same moment, the sappers will move forward to clear gaps in the enemy minefields, marking the gaps in white tapes.
00:26:00After thirty minutes, the barrage will lift from the first objective and creep forward.
00:26:08At zero hours, ten o'clock, the infantry will advance.
00:26:38The Eighth Army is a very strong man.
00:26:45The Eighth Army is a very strong man.
00:26:49The Eighth Army is a very strong man.
00:26:53Fire!
00:26:56Fire!
00:27:02Fire!
00:27:07Fire!
00:27:09Fire!
00:27:37Fire!
00:28:07THE END
00:28:37THE END
00:29:07THE END
00:29:37THE END
00:30:07THE END
00:30:19THE END
00:30:21By early morning, the first objectives were in our hands. The barrage had done its work. The guns had been heard in Alexandria, 60 miles away. The enemy had been taken partly by surprise. Our infantry was in their pajamas. But elsewhere, fighting was severe. It was a good deal of fairness work.
00:30:40And now our forces moved up. Consolidating and advancing further. Infantry, tanks and air force working as one.
00:30:58THE END
00:31:03The END
00:31:08The END
00:31:10The END
00:31:12After a hard day's fighting, the eighth army had made a salient in the north six miles wide and to a depth four miles beyond the first enemy minefield.
00:31:28THE END
00:31:30After a hard day's fighting, the eighth army had made a salient in the north six miles wide and to a depth four miles beyond the first enemy minefield.
00:31:40The next day, attacks were made in the center and south. The attacks that Roman had been expected and she thought was a real thing. But they were merely diversion. In fact, our main attack was to be in the north. The eighth army's crowbar had been driven in and was being levered this way and that.
00:31:58THE END
00:32:22In our salient, the Australians were attacking again and procured a three-mile front running one.
00:32:27The final front running west north.
00:32:29THE END
00:32:31Fire!
00:32:33THE END
00:32:47Take cover.
00:32:49THE END
00:32:53Rommel Contra Tet, repeatedly during these days, was on the ground and in the air.
00:33:07The END
00:33:19Fire!
00:33:21The END
00:33:25The END
00:33:27THE END
00:33:57The Air Force was doing a magnificent job.
00:34:16For the Luftwaffe, the skies became a place of deadly peril.
00:34:20And the machines that escaped us there were destroyed on the ground.
00:34:27The Air Force was doing a great job.
00:34:57The Air Force is the armored division. Riflemen, light tanks, and armored cars.
00:35:07Fire!
00:35:08Fire!
00:35:09Fire!
00:35:16Fire!
00:35:20Fire!
00:35:21Fire!
00:35:23Let's go.
00:35:53Let's go.
00:36:23The ridge was taken.
00:36:32In 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.
00:36:43Let's go.
00:36:45Let's go.
00:36:48Let's go.
00:36:50Let's go.
00:36:53Let's go.
00:36:54Let's go.
00:36:58Let's go.
00:36:59Let's go.
00:37:03Let's go.
00:37:04Let's go.
00:37:06Let's go.
00:37:07Let's go.
00:37:08Let's go.
00:37:09Let's go.
00:37:10Let's go.
00:37:11Let's go.
00:37:12Let's go.
00:37:13Let's go.
00:37:14Let's go.
00:37:15Let's go.
00:37:17Let's go.
00:37:18Let's go.
00:37:19Let's go.
00:37:20Let's go.
00:37:21Let's go.
00:37:22Let's go.
00:37:23Let's go.
00:37:24Let's go.
00:37:25Let's go.
00:37:26Let's go.
00:37:29Let's go.
00:37:30Let's go.
00:37:31Let's go.
00:37:33Let's go.
00:37:34Oh, my God.
00:38:04These four days' bitter work cut off large numbers of rumble infantry, some of whom, for the time being, fought on isolated.
00:38:34The casualties suffered were heavy on both sides, and large groups of prisoners were in our hands.
00:38:40Oh, my God.
00:39:10Oh, my God.
00:39:40Oh, my God.
00:39:42While the battle in the north was raging, rumble had been forced to end.
00:39:46We had imposed our will on him.
00:39:48He moved two panther 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.
00:40:04Oh, my God.
00:40:12Oh, my God.
00:40:18Oh, my God.
00:40:20Oh, my God.
00:40:22Oh, my God.
00:40:30Oh, my God.
00:40:32Oh, my God.
00:40:44THE END
00:41:14THE END
00:41:44THE END
00:42:14General Montgomery now gathered his entire armour, including his division from the south, ready for the crowbar's final thrust.
00:42:23The first phase was finished.
00:42:32On 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
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00:44:30THE END
00:44:31THE END
00:44:32The 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, it sailed through the gap.
00:44:48Its purpose was simple, to destroy Rommel's armor.
00:45:02The moment that Alexander and Montgomery had come,
00:45:09the armor was in the air.
00:45:12The armor was in the air.
00:45:17The armor was in the air.
00:45:22The armor was in the air.
00:45:25The armor was in the air.
00:45:31The armor was in the air.
00:45:37The armor was in the air.
00:45:47The armor was in the air for the next to the second.
00:45:54The End
00:46:24The End
00:46:54The End
00:47:24The End
00:47:54Throughout this day, November 3rd, the heaviest armoured battle of the Champagne had been waved.
00:48:18Fighting went on along the whole front, but it was centered on El Akatir, where a tank
00:48:23battle of the bitterest kind reached, hour by hour, a deeper and more bloody intensity.
00:48:30Three quarters of the active tanks were burning or otherwise wrecked.
00:48:34As the day faded, the battle still continues.
00:48:40At El Akatir, we captured the dominating ridge.
00:48:44Our air force had almost annihilated the hook rubber.
00:48:47And now our entire strength, pounded an enemy beginning to crest.
00:48:52The End
00:49:02This is the BBC Herman Fossesberger.
00:49:27This is Bruce Belbridge.
00:49:29Here's some excellent news which has come during the past hour in the form of a communique to
00:49:35GHQ Cardo.
00:49:37It says, the Axis forces in the Western Desert, after 12 days and nights of ceaseless attacks
00:49:44by our land and air forces, are now in full retreat.
00:49:51That'll show them.
00:49:53There's plenty more where that's coming from.
00:49:55The Afrika Korps, utterly broken and possessed with no thought but flight, was hotly pursued.
00:50:08But the Eighth Army was not only the thunder behind, but the lightning ahead.
00:50:13From hull-down positions on the road of escape, our guns and tanks knocked out on the first
00:50:18day of retreat, over 50 of Rumwood's remaining panzers without loss.
00:50:21He had already left 500 tanks behind him, on the battlefield.
00:50:27We captured over 1,000 pieces of artillery.
00:50:31Up to 1,000 aircraft, from troop carriers to fighters, were wreckage on the ground.
00:50:48The Italians in the south, abandoned by Rummle with neither food nor water, were swept up
00:51:02by us to the tune of five divisions.
00:51:04In the north, we took thousands of Germans.
00:51:11Among them were Fontoma, commander of the Afrika Korps, Burkhart, leader of the German parachutists,
00:51:19and eight Italian generals.
00:51:26We buried 20,000 enemy dead.
00:51:30But in rendering our own dead the same final duty, great care had to be used.
00:51:36For the Germans, on several occasions, had attached booby traps to our men's bodies.
00:51:42Pursuit was remorseless.
00:51:54Every enemy column, on the coast road or in the desert, sometimes jammed head to tail,
00:52:00was bombed, blasted, and machine-gunned.
00:52:03They tasted what they'd administered in France and Poland.
00:52:10Have a message.
00:52:12Come on, I'll show you.
00:52:17Nice.
00:52:19читa, you ready to go!
00:52:29Now, you got to fight!
00:52:32We 최 and T Minnesota!
00:52:36Our armoured forces on the ground had crushed Rommel's flimsy rearguard and were sweeping
00:52:56on.
00:52:58After two days' pursuit, rain fell, and the chase was much impeded.
00:53:07Stretched a road turned to shallow streams, aircraft landing grounds were waterlogged.
00:53:15Despite the rain, however, on the fourth day we had taken, after a brief fight, Merzah
00:53:19Matrouw, the first of the newly captured ports the Navy used to bring up supplies.
00:53:25The first heavily mined roads were encountered at Hal Fire Pass, where the twisting road
00:53:50rises 700 feet.
00:53:53From then onwards to Benghazi, 450 miles further west, every path had been blown by the enemy,
00:54:00and every mile of road had to be examined and cleared of mines and obstructions.
00:54:04The engineers worked night and day.
00:54:11To Saloon, the Navy brought a million and a half gallons of water and other vital supplies.
00:54:19By the eighth day, the enemy had been cleared out of Egypt.
00:54:26Tobruk, whose name is written deep in our Middle East campaigns, Tobruk, which we held as a fortress
00:54:34behind the enemy lines for nine months and which had already changed hands twice, was ours
00:54:39once more.
00:54:40The date was November the 13th.
00:54:46In Cyrene, the Eighth Army passed from desert to a green countryside, which its Italian colonists
00:55:00had abandoned, and it was no more than a week between our taking Tobruk and entering Benghazi.
00:55:09At Benghazi, we paused to replenish our supplies.
00:55:12The harbor, bombed by us for over two years, so regularly that the pilots called it during
00:55:17the 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 unloading.
00:55:34By seeing the land, we were soon bringing up three billion gallons of petrol a week and eight
00:55:39thousand tons of ammunition.
00:55:52While we had been building up our strength, Rommel had been digging in at El Agella.
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.
00:56:04His indecision achieved nothing except to intensify our new onslaught.
00:56:10From El Agella to Tripoli is 530 miles.
00:56:15It 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
00:56:24one occasion a barrage rivaling that of El Alamein.
00:56:27But though we were delayed, our onward suite was never in doubt.
00:56:32Just 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.
00:56:43And nothing did.
00:56:45Eight days later, we were fighting on the outskirts of Tripoli itself.
00:56:50The End
00:56:52The End
00:56:55The End
00:56:57The End
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00:57:01The End
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00:57:26and the mayor of the city extinguished the Italian overseas empire country by
00:57:32country the British army had conquered it. Abyssinia, Eritrea, Italian Somaliland,
00:57:38Libya, Tripolitania. Not a single town now remained to them.
00:57:56In 80 days, the 8th 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
00:58:39most remarkable way. What this must have meant in care and organization of the whole movement
00:58:46and 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 army,
00:59:11has played throughout the world.
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01:01:02First pictures of the United States offensive
01:01:08against Japanese bases in the Aleutians.
01:01:11September 1942.
01:01:13A large U.S. convoy slips through Aleutian fog
01:01:16to a secret destination called Fireplace in Cove.
01:01:19A harbor close to Kiska, an easy bomber range.
01:01:23The blinker gives the signal.
01:01:24And under cover of fog,
01:01:26well-armed scouts scramble down the landing nets
01:01:28into ready assault boats.
01:01:30First step in America's advance in the Aleutians.
01:01:34Not many bomber miles away,
01:01:35Jap-occupied positions as yet are wholly unaware
01:01:38of this new American threat.
01:01:44Quickly soldiers pour ashore with small arms and ammunition,
01:01:48swarming inward for reconnaissance
01:01:49to make sure the island is uninhabited.
01:01:52And right behind, the first waves of equipment and supplies.
01:01:55Vehicles and heavier guns.
01:01:56The growing stream unloading quickly from Higgins' boats
01:02:00which shuttle back and forth
01:02:01from bulging transports in the harbor.
01:02:04Wave after wave in careful pre-planned schedules.
01:02:08Never stopping, the military cargo ferries
01:02:10bring ashore an endless stream of food and water,
01:02:13clothing, ammunition,
01:02:14and some of the vast quantities of fuel
01:02:16necessary to maintain a major landing force.
01:02:18Along the beach, protectors stay alert.
01:02:30Long recognized as important to both offensive
01:02:33and defensive North Pacific strategy,
01:02:35the 1,100-mile Aleutian string
01:02:37of largely uninhabited volcanic islands
01:02:39lies just above the shortest actual route
01:02:43from Seattle to Tokyo.
01:02:44The Great Circle Route.
01:02:47The way a plane would fly.
01:02:50About halfway along the 4,600-mile route
01:02:53is Dutch Harbor,
01:02:54and since 1938,
01:02:56defense outpost for the island chain
01:02:57and for Alaska.
01:02:591,800 sea miles from Seattle,
01:03:01but from Kiska snatched by the Jap in June,
01:03:04only 625 miles
01:03:07for enemy bombers to fly and drain destruction.
01:03:10Once 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,
01:03:21ready to avenge Dutch Harbor.
01:03:24Under its commander, General Landrum,
01:03:26the advanced striking base
01:03:27rapidly digs into its new quarters.
01:03:29A permanent camp is laid out quickly
01:03:36on the treeless, inhospitable slopes
01:03:38above the barren island beaches,
01:03:40protected by anti-aircraft gunners
01:03:42on constant alert.
01:03:45Meantime, communications around the island
01:03:47are 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
01:04:03the bleak and empty island offers.
01:04:05But not too much time out now.
01:04:28Hour after hour, supplies roll ashore.
01:04:30A small fleet of sea barges
01:04:32carrying 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,
01:04:40pile upon pile,
01:04:41jams up the beachhead
01:04:42waiting to be carted off by trucks.
01:04:45More and more ammunition
01:04:46and rows of U.S. bombs ashore
01:04:48and ready for the air offensive.
01:04:50The big cranes are put ashore.
01:04:57Their unloading job finished.
01:04:59While tractors, bulldozers and graders
01:05:02land to build the airport.
01:05:11And here it is.
01:05:13A long, flat area ideal for planes,
01:05:16except for a mountain stream
01:05:17overrunning its surface
01:05:18and forming many shallow lakes.
01:05:21Right away, the dozers go to work,
01:05:23scraping the volcanic earth
01:05:24into a dike at one side of the field,
01:05:26diverting the stream's course,
01:05:28making the field safe.
01:05:36The moment that engineers
01:05:38declare 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.
01:05:47Almost midway between
01:05:51Dutch Harbor and Kiska,
01:05:53new base at fireplace
01:05:54in the Adrianoffs
01:05:55puts the U.S. Army Air Force
01:05:57within fighter range of Kiska
01:05:58and easy bomber range
01:06:00of Attu farther west.
01:06:03And here they are,
01:06:04already poised in battle line
01:06:06on the new airfield,
01:06:07hard to dry.
01:06:08The air arm of the United States
01:06:10forces in the illusions.
01:06:12Giant B-24s and B-17s,
01:06:15the liberators and flying fortresses
01:06:17feared the world over,
01:06:18ready for attack
01:06:19when motors and guns
01:06:20have been carefully checked.
01:06:22Bombs fill up the bomb bays
01:06:23of one big plane after another.
01:06:25A message for the Japanese
01:06:26in a language he understands.
01:06:28It's the beginning
01:06:29of America's round now.
01:06:31They've got a base
01:06:31within range of the Japs.
01:06:33They've got equipment,
01:06:34planes, and ammunition.
01:06:35They've got men here,
01:06:37skilled veteran flyers,
01:06:38who in an hour
01:06:39will be winging their
01:06:40four-motored sky fortresses
01:06:42over Jap-held territory.
01:06:43Welcome target
01:06:44for their bomb sites.
01:06:50In the dim illusion dawn,
01:06:52one plane after another
01:06:53fills with crew,
01:06:55eager and ready for attack.
01:07:07All set.
01:07:08Let's go.
01:07:09Let's go.
01:07:13Let's go.
01:07:43Above the clouds of the foggiest area in the world.
01:07:47Below, island after island of the Aleutian chain.
01:07:50Where for years, innocent-looking Jap fisher boats lurked in disguise.
01:07:54Plotting shoals and reefs for future reference and use.
01:08:00Approaching the island of Kiska, machine gunners poised for action.
01:08:05In the harbor, a Nipponese warship.
01:08:07Without deviating from their course, the gunners break the next.
01:08:13And 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.
01:08:26Japan'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.
01:08:36Another load, recorded by slow-motion camera, shoots toward the surprised enemy below.
01:08:47A first sample of treatment you can expect daily from now on.
01:08:51The signs of their thorough handiwork blazing behind them.
01:09:03The American air fleet wings over and heads home.
01:09:06Communicate from the Aleutians.
01:09:12At dawn, a fleet of United States B-17 and B-24 bombers took off from an advanced Aleutian base
01:09:18with Japanese installations that tipped in its objective.
01:09:22Captain, enemy fire was encountered.
01:09:24One Japanese warship strained.
01:09:27High explosive and demolition bombs were dropped with successful 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, despite grim reminders of the enemy's marksmanship.
01:10:04But they'll be going out again tomorrow, and the next day, and the next.
01:10:11America's Aleutian offensive against Japan.
01:10:13An end of the beginning, and beginning of the end.
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