- 1 week ago
Experience the intense battles and heroic struggles in Clash at New Britain, a gripping war story set during the pivotal campaign for control over New Britain. Follow soldiers’ courage, strategy, and the ultimate fight for survival in a conflict that changed the course of history. Action-packed, thrilling, and emotionally charged, this film brings you the frontlines like never before.
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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.
08:21These 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.
16:12Very old.
16:33And...
16:33And...
16:34And...
16:34And...
16:35And...
16:36And...
16:36Meantime, 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.
17:06The 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.
17:36This last-minute check on weapons goes on aboard every ship.
17:42Nobody has to be told to do it now.
17:44Ammunition to fight malaria is 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 one sheet.
18:32Look out for this high ground over here.
18:33You have to hit it from the flanks, I think.
18:35And, above all, keep moving in this direction.
18:40You've all got compasses.
18:46We're at the rendezvous point.
18:48The task force commander leads 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,
19:26to the radio commentators, and the casualty lists.
19:31But these few hours belong to each man to spend as he likes.
19:37D-Day.
19:53D-Day.
19:58D-Day.
19:59Under the protection of the naval barrage, the first assault waves keep circling, awaiting
20:13the order to start in.
20:19There they go.
20:20A jet plane.
20:50Rockets packed with high explosives, calling cars to clear the beaches of small arms fire.
21:20More planes coming.
21:24Ours, we hope.
21:26Yep.
21:27It's a sky full of angels, our own B-25s.
21:35Now it's the Air Force's turn, and they know their way around.
21:39They've been softening it up for days in advance.
21:50Propaganda 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, and that's where
22:10the planes work them over.
22:13Strafing may not wipe out a ground force, but it keeps them ducking.
22:20There's the landing place.
22:28The first casualty, the result 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.
22:50Remember, 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.
23:25assault 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.
25:08That'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.
25:25Switchboard and message center open for business.
25:29Supplies are needed faster than ships can bring them.
25:43Parachute-borne ammunition coming down.
25:46But they don't always select ideal landing places.
25:50A job for the pole line crew.
26:03That 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.
26:32Casualties from the front get attention in the surgical tent.
26:35The man on the table got a shell fragment in the lake.
26:43Enemy planes.
27:05And they could be respecto by the
27:29This is what's left of the surgical tent finans filled with wounded men after a direct hit.
27:33It's good.
28:03For these men, the road's the longest.
28:17Having 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
28:30the upper 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.
29:04And 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, the forces will capture the airstrip and converge, setting up an American
29:31stronghold on the supply line to Rabaul.
29:35In the marine staging areas, it is Christmas Day.
29:42The last mass before sailing for Gloucester.
29:54was the first mass before sailing for Gloucester, which is where?
30:00The last mass is shot.
30:01The air is of the sky.
30:03The air is on the air but the air is on the air.
30:07Prosecutor will not be the right to the air.
30:08In the air, there will be aζ.
30:09The air is of the north kind of water.
30:10The air is on the air.
30:12The air is on the air as it is, naturally, a water-like air, not strong.
30:13But it is a water-like air.
30:14The air is on the air.
30:15The air is on the air, so you want to be a little bit more.
30:18The air is on the air.
30:19The air is on the air.
30:20Masses of men to land
30:49upon three separate beaches
30:50in the vicinity of Cape Gloucester.
30:57This is to be the main effort.
30:59It is an army made up of two task forces
31:02in the teeth of known Jack power.
31:19These two landings are the first stage
31:23in the neutralization and envelopment
31:25of Rabaul.
31:26On Christmas night, a vast convoy sets out.
31:52Cape Gloucester, New Britain.
31:56Nearing the height of the naval bombardment,
32:15the first assault load into Higgins' boats.
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32:52And the umbrella of air protection arrives on time.
33:22Back 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.
34:08Here's where accuracy really counts.
34:11Just back of the beaches, but not too far in.
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34:43The Higgins boats keep moving in.
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38:47And here come the landing craft infantry, called LCI's.
39:10They're bringing the main fighting strength to back up the assault wave.
39:17And here come the landing craft.
39:47And here come the landing craft.
40:17And here come the landing craft.
40:19And here come the landing craft.
40:24And here come the landing craft.
40:31And here come the landing craft.
40:38And here come the landing craft.
40:40Up at the front.
40:41Up at the front.
40:47Up at the front.
40:48Up at the front.
40:53Here's a highly trained specialist.
40:55And here come the landing craft.
40:56And here come the landing craft.
40:57Up at the front.
40:58Up at the front.
40:59Up at the front.
41:00Up at the front.
41:02Up at the front.
41:05Wounded to the rear.
41:18You never know what's around the next bush.
41:44Dead Japs aren't always dead. Better be sure.
42:12The enemy's strong point.
42:22The enemy's strong point.
42:32The enemy's strong point.
42:42The enemy's strong point.
42:52The enemy's strong point.
43:02The enemy's strong point.
43:12Here's the bazooka.
43:14This is a hand-carried rocket gun.
43:16Firing it takes close teamwork.
43:20The enemy's strong point.
43:30The enemy's strong point.
43:34Hand grenades, mortars, bazookas, and flamethrowers did this.
43:56And flamethrowers did this.
44:08After the LCI's have been emptied of men, the towering LST's lands.
44:30Landing ship tanks move in.
44:40Bringing everything for the establishment of a beachhead.
44:42This succession of ships, all in their proper order.
44:52Thousands of men and tons of supplies have been one purpose.
44:56To keep a thin line of riflemen fighting their way forward into the jungle.
45:18Buffalos and alligators.
45:32Mechanized sledgehammers.
45:34Smashing holes in the jungle wall.
45:38Bucket lines to pass the ammunition.
45:56Bucket lines to pass the ammunition.
46:00The enemy's strong point.
46:02He started blowing gas.
46:04Let's go for a moment.
46:06The wind's shoulder.
46:08The wind's shoulder.
46:10It's gonna orient.
46:12The wind's shoulder.
46:14Надо retry.
46:16The wind's shoulder.
46:18The wind's shoulder.
46:20The wind's shoulder.
46:22The wind's shoulder.
46:24The wind's shoulder.
46:26It's gonna be pulled off.
46:28Jeeps do a lot of things, but they can't swim.
46:58Medium 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.
47:55For every finger squeezing a trigger, there are a hundred others pulling, hauling and
47:59carrying.
48:00It's all part of the same job.
48:05That's barbed wire there, Carrie.
48:19As soon as there's any place to phone to, there's a telephone line to do it.
48:34A final protective line against counterattack must be prepared.
48:50You may be hit from anywhere, anytime.
49:03From the flanks, or from the rear, or from the air.
49:08You may be heard as you, as you work with.
49:12Nothing with violence is happening.
49:12You may be here.
49:13I need to go everywhere.
49:14You may be killed.
49:15You may be killed, but I can't go anywhere.
49:19I can't go anywhere.
49:20Do you?
49:21No, no, no, no.
49:22You may be like, no.
49:24I am Gotti.
49:24I can't believe you.
49:26Bye-bye.
49:26You may be there.
49:27I can't believe you.
49:28I can't believe you.
49:29I can't believe you.
49:30I can't believe you.
49:31I can't believe you.
49:33At 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.
49:56The Japs concentrated on the destroyer Bronson.
50:01That's the Bronsons.
50:03Standing on end, sinking fast.
50:24But among the floating wreckage are survivors.
50:27Exhausted.
50:37Some dying.
50:38Exhausted, some dying, some dead, some with clothes blown off by the concussion of bombs.
51:08These are a part of 208 survivors who will remember the Bronx when they fight again.
51:25Back at Gloucester, it had begun to rain.
51:38The folks back home are eating Christmas dinner about now.
51:58Out here, it's the day after, and just another day.
52:08Just one more enemy.
52:38Mutt.
53:08Information gained from prisoners confirms what we know.
53:22The advance is nearing its main objective.
53:29But every step forward means some men coming back on stretchers.
53:36Sometimes it takes too long for the stretchers to arrive.
53:43Sometimes it takes too long for the stretchers to arrive.
53:50Medical officers scrubbing up for a long time.
53:52Medical officers scrubbing up for a long time.
53:53Sometimes it takes too long for the stretchers to arrive.
53:57Medical officers scrubbing up for emergency treatment before evacuation.
54:04Medical officers scrubbing up for a long time.
54:05Medical officers scrubbing up for a long time.
54:06Medical officers scrubbing up for emergency treatment before evacuation.
54:11Medical officers scrubbing up for a long time.
54:18Medical officers scrubbing up for a long time.
54:22The country doctor, city surgeon, working together 25 hours out of the 24.
54:52Part of the price of a beach landing.
55:22Yes, it's a wounded Jap, receiving decent treatment in a cigarette.
55:37And on the beach the next day, wreckage.
55:52Through the rain and darkness of enemy waters, they're going back to hospitals in rear area.
56:22Howl gave them tub to help them in different valleys.
56:33I can't.
56:40Howl gave them your Tele Solo.
56:44Howl gave them my keep.
57:17Fire!
57:24Fire!
57:25Fire!
57:26Fire!
57:27Fire!
57:28One day of American living, fought and paid for.
57:47Fire!
57:48Fire!
57:49Fire!
57:50Fire!
57:51Fire!
57:52Fire!
57:53Fire!
57:54Fire!
57:55Fire!
57:56Fire!
57:57Fire!
57:58Fire!
57:59Fire!
58:00Fire!
58:01Fire!
58:02Fire!
58:03Fire!
58:04Fire!
58:05Fire!
58:06Fire!
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