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The Battle for Tarawa and Guam (Classic WWII Documentary) is a powerful World War II film that captures the intensity of the Pacific Theater during one of the most crucial island campaigns of the war. Featuring authentic wartime footage, this documentary follows U.S. Marines as they fight through the heavily defended beaches of Tarawa and later advance toward the strategic island of Guam.
This classic war documentary offers a rare historical look at the courage, sacrifice, and determination of American forces during the Pacific campaign. With real battlefield scenes and period narration, the film stands as an important record of World War II history.
Perfect for fans of vintage war films, military history enthusiasts, and classic black and white documentaries.
This classic war documentary offers a rare historical look at the courage, sacrifice, and determination of American forces during the Pacific campaign. With real battlefield scenes and period narration, the film stands as an important record of World War II history.
Perfect for fans of vintage war films, military history enthusiasts, and classic black and white documentaries.
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Short filmTranscript
00:19These are the men of the 2nd Marine Division.
00:22We're now embarking on a full-scale amphibious operation
00:26after many months of intensive training.
00:37The transports are combat loaded.
00:39The ships of the Navy and Coast Guard form our convoy.
00:43Squadrons of carrier planes cover us in the sky.
00:47Several days from our destination,
00:49the destroyer brings us sealed orders.
01:08It won't be long now before we know where we're bound.
01:13The relief map of our objective is broken out.
01:17Fortified out on the Betio and the Tarawa Atoll,
01:20a very important Jap air base on the outer fringe of their Pacific defenses.
01:26Our platoon leaders started explaining the terrain to us.
01:29By the time they were finished,
01:30we knew that island and its reefs as well as we knew our own backyards.
01:36We built more machine gun ammunition.
01:47Check and test fire all weapons.
01:55Exercise helped to relieve the tension.
02:01Navy and Coast Guard coxswains receive last-minute instructions
02:05on formations, rendezvous areas, and departure times.
02:10Services are held on the last evening before D-Day.
02:20We liked listening to Father Kelly,
02:23even with us at Guadalcanal.
02:26He had a way of seeing what we wanted to hear.
02:36Many of these men were killed the following morning.
02:45We are ready.
02:50D-Day.
02:51This is the day we attacked.
02:53Long before daylight,
02:54we were over the side into amphibian tractors and landing boats.
03:06At daylight, our naval vessels opened fire,
03:08and for four solid hours,
03:10they found Tarawa with high explosives.
03:27Everything went like clockwork.
03:29When the ships stopped firing,
03:31the Navy planes would take over.
03:33Bombing.
03:36Straping.
03:37We were a team, working together.
03:42Then, again, according to plan,
03:44the planes withdraw,
03:45and the ship's batteries open up again.
03:56H-hour, the hour we attack,
03:57is getting close.
03:59For three days before we moved in,
04:01over four million pounds of explosives
04:03have been dropped on the island.
04:05It didn't seem possible that anyone
04:07could live through that bombardment.
04:35From this Jap hulk,
04:36machine guns constantly strafed our assault waves.
04:50We bombed them out twice,
04:52but each time a new crew took over,
04:55one of our planes scores a direct hit.
05:02As we approach the island,
05:03we have the feeling that the show is just about over.
05:06There doesn't seem to be any organized resistance.
05:09However, we're taking no chances.
05:12Suddenly, we're met by heavy machine gun and mortar fire.
05:14Takes a heavy toll of our boats and men.
05:17It doesn't stop us.
05:32We fight our way out to the beach.
05:58Our men wait ashore from wrecked amphibians.
06:08A long pier extending across the fringing reef
06:10gives protection to a lot of our boys on the way in.
06:16We have a pretty good toehold on the beach,
06:18but Jap fire pins us down for hours.
06:37Casualties are pretty high.
06:39But as we found out later,
06:41blood plasma saves a lot of lives.
06:49When reinforcements arrive,
06:50we start moving up.
07:10It isn't easy knocking those Japs out of their positions.
07:13They're hidden in trees behind revetments,
07:16buried pillboxes,
07:17bomb proofs,
07:18bunkers.
07:19disappointed,
07:29Oh, man.
07:29Oh, man.
07:37Hang on,
07:39if you don't see any�s.
07:39Pretty fine.
07:40Oh, man.
07:41Oh, man.
07:42Oh, man.
07:44Oh, man.
07:45Oh, man.
07:46Oh.
07:46Oh, man.
07:48Oh, man.
07:48Oh, man.
07:54Oh, my God.
08:18We use hand grenades.
08:23We use all the firepower we have to blast them out.
08:27Our rifle fire is dead.
08:30So are the flamethrowers and the mortars.
08:37The enemy breaks from cover.
08:49It's tough getting them out of places like this.
08:51We can never be sure where their snipers are placed.
08:54We take it slow, easy.
09:25This bunker is giving us plenty of trouble.
09:28We have orders to clean it up.
09:29We have orders to clean it up.
09:30Let's go.
10:21This is what we found on the other side.
10:39This is what we found on the other side.
11:00We wrecked amphibians and set up machine guns.
11:06They got a few of us before we got them.
11:13The commanding officer of the assault troops confers with his staff.
11:18One of our medium tanks remains in operation.
11:28Although at the end of the second day, D plus one, we breathe a little easier,
11:33mortar squads continue to hammer enemy points of resistance.
11:55And by this time, we know the Japs are licked.
11:58They must know it, too.
12:00There's still strong resistance.
12:02Nip suicide snipers tie themselves up in the trees and take pot shots at us.
12:07We hit them, but they don't fall.
12:09Just die and hang there.
12:11Come on.
12:13Come on.
12:26Come on.
12:28Come on.
12:31Come on.
12:38Come on.
13:07A light tank moves up the airstrip.
13:16One of our boys is wounded during the attack on the airfield.
13:19Another Marine goes out after him in a jeep under heavy machine gun fire.
13:31Back at the beach, there's constant activity.
13:34Amphibians tow in fresh supplies, food, ammunition, guns.
13:42As the battle moves across the island, the chaplains' assistants tend the dead,
13:47removing the lower identification taken,
13:49leaving the duplicate on each Marine so there'll be no mistake later on.
13:55Generals Holland Smith and Julian Smith commanding the force and division.
14:01Admiral Harry Hill commanding the task force.
14:05Sometimes we actually have to dig the japs out of their holes.
14:09The island is infested with buried pillboxes, many of them still crawling with japs.
14:15These bunkers were so constructed that heavy shelling and demolition charges failed to crumble them.
14:20Many of them were over 20 feet deep.
14:30Our first prisoners.
14:42The wounded are given first aid in the field and then carried by stretchers to the boats.
14:47With them always are the Navy hospital corpsmen and Navy doctors and surgeons.
14:54At the transport, the steel litters are lifted from the barges and lowered into the hold.
14:59They're taken to the ship's hospital.
15:02Not a second is lost.
15:10These are Marine dead.
15:15This is the price we have to pay for a war we didn't want.
15:19And before it's over, there'll be more dead on other battlefields.
15:37Burial aboard ship for Marines killed in action.
16:01just to make sure they're not concealing weapons the prisoners are lined up in their clothes cut
16:06away we gave them new ones later from their own dumps the rest of the island's defending force
16:21is dead none escaped Tokyo once boasted that it would cost a hundred thousand of our men to take
16:29terrible we lost less than a thousand the Japs over 4,000 a wounded Jap soldier we took very few
16:41of
16:41these most of our prisoners were Korean laborers one of our officers captured these Japs from a
16:50disabled landing boat prisoners carry their own wounded to the pier for evacuation
16:59captured Jap water this is the first chance the boys have had to war since they got on the island
17:07gunfire from our warships knocked these big guns out early in the bombardment
17:15these were English Vickers guns captured by the Japs in Singapore
17:26one of their many light tanks this was the Jap command post built of reinforced concrete several
17:34feet thick that building was built to withstand plenty and did he finally took it with TNT and
17:41flamethrowers the fighting was still going on at one end of the island when the sea bees landed with
17:49their heavy equipment they set to work clearing the airstrip even while we were fighting for it
18:13the first plane landed just 24 hours after the sea bees had started to work
18:24the second one lands one minute later he welcomed the pilot to our new home it was our first chance
18:31to
18:31thank those guys for the swell job they did for us before and during the attack on D plus four
18:39our relief
18:40came in maybe you would think we weren't glad to see them I guess all of us knew from the
19:00first no
19:01matter how tough the going was that we take the island just the same the day the colors were run
19:07up on this
19:08palm tree and flew for the first time over tarot we got a lump in our throats we were mighty
19:14proud
19:36these are the marines who took tarot
19:45yeah
19:46all right
19:52yeah
19:53yeah
20:00THE END
20:33We're off the island of Guam, shelling Jap installations late one afternoon, about two weeks before the landings.
20:43Suddenly, we notice strange light flashes from the peak of a nearby hill.
20:48The message in Navy code was baffling.
20:52I have information.
20:54What could this mean?
20:57We signaled the unknown party to advance to the beach.
21:01We suspected Jap trickery.
21:04Keeping our gun trained point blank on that strip of beach,
21:08the captain dispatched a boat, which proceeded slowly to meet the person who had sent the signal.
21:14The end of the sea...
21:22The end of the sea...
21:44It was a white man, a strange, unkempt figure, crying and laughing in his joy and excitement.
21:56When he was able to talk, he identified himself as radio man George Tweed, United States Navy,
22:03the only survivor of the original garrison of Guam.
22:14Slowly, a strange story came out.
22:17How he took to the hills during the original Jap attack.
22:21How he lived alone in the jungle, changing his hiding place daily, sometimes hourly, for 31 months.
22:29While endless Jap patrols hunted him like an animal.
22:34How courageous natives smuggled him food and news and warnings of danger.
22:39Here was a Robinson Crusoe who had stood up alone against the whole Japanese empire.
22:50When the destroyer with Tweed aboard rejoined the main task force, he was amazed by the size of the fleet.
22:56Larger even than he'd hoped for during his 31 months of hiding.
23:00Battleships, cruisers, destroyers, carriers, so many of them.
23:04And assault troop ships and assault cargo ships of a kind that didn't even exist when Tweed became a fugitive.
23:11The fleet has come to this staging base, itself so recently in Japan, loaded and powered for the attack on
23:18Guam.
23:19Now, while a band swings out, heavy shells are taken aboard.
23:24The finishing touch, the seal that will sting.
23:29The big claws, these 14-inch shells, will rip out shore installations.
23:34Make the landing less costly in American lives.
23:37Cans of 40-millimeter ammunition pile up in great mounds on deck.
23:41A curtain of fire waiting to be raised if needed.
23:46There, across the water, lies Guam.
23:50It means much to all Americans.
23:53But most to these sailors.
23:55They're Guamanians.
23:57Americans, too.
23:59Americans known as Chamorros, whose families have been captives of the Japs for 31 bitter months.
24:06Soon, we will find out what those Japs have done to our island.
24:11Beautiful it was then.
24:13And living there made us happy.
24:15There were 21,000 of us.
24:18And we knew each other as friends.
24:21Although we were far out in the Pacific,
24:24we were proud to be under the American flag.
24:27We were content.
24:28It was a good life.
24:39The Navy ran the island like a great ship.
24:43Gave us doctors and hospitals.
24:45And there was care for everyone and free schooling.
24:48With many of us younger boys,
24:51our big ambition was to go up and join the Navy.
25:02Our older men learned about self-government
25:05from the captain who was in charge of the island.
25:09We organized our own militias.
25:17And our heroes were the Marines.
25:21But there were not many of them.
25:24The Marines of Guam.
25:37Few they were indeed, the Marines of Guam.
25:41Japan would consider any move to strengthen Guam
25:45an unfriendly act.
25:47It would be for us pointing a gun at a neighbor's door.
25:51But behind this neighbor's door,
25:53the masters of Japan were pointing guns of their own.
25:57And they saw in Guam a key to their dream of empire.
26:04Their agents among us were busy.
26:06Guam was not to be an obstacle to the plans of Tokyo.
26:10Then on a certain day in December 1941,
26:13the masters of Japan were ready.
26:15The war was on.
26:31The garrison on Guam,
26:32it was over almost before it began.
26:46The Navy Department announces
26:49that it is unable to communicate with Guam,
26:52either by radio or cable.
26:55The island has been bombed repeatedly,
26:58and Japanese troops have landed at several points.
27:03A small force of less than 400 naval personnel
27:07and 155 Marines were stationed in Guam.
27:13The capture of the island is probable.
27:18Guam now be around to Japan forever.
27:22Never again will America touch its door.
27:27The return to Guam, we knew, would take many ships.
27:31In the months that followed,
27:32we built such fleet that we were able to start the march back
27:36at Guadalcanal.
27:38At this ridiculous rate of advance,
27:41America might recover its lost territory
27:44in perhaps 200 years.
27:46Then we made enough planes
27:48to begin whittling down the Jap fleet.
27:50We grew strong enough to attack New Guinea.
27:52Our axes arise are pinning America down in Europe.
27:57We shall be very much stronger
27:58before America is ready to move in the Pacific.
28:02We built our way out of the sea.
28:04With amphibious operations,
28:06we blasted Chirawa and the Marshals.
28:08We are willing to sell you land
28:11and 1,000 lives per acre.
28:14At such a price,
28:16we will sell you a million square miles
28:19if you wait.
28:21Then we were ready for the great adventure,
28:23an attack on Japanese territory.
28:26We conquered Saipan.
28:29But not Guam.
28:30Guam is secure.
28:32Guam is Japan.
28:34Guam is Japanese forever.
28:39Today, our guns thunder their answer.
28:43Our guns are on target.
28:46The target is Guam.
28:50New planes come up to meet ours.
28:53The island has been plastered
28:54for weeks in the air.
28:55the air.
29:05The HELP
30:12Oh, I see that gun over here.
30:17Oh, get up ahead.
30:19Oh, I see that gun over here.
30:25Oh, I see that gun over here.
30:40Hey, Joe, Joe, wire direction center, FTC, urgent.
30:53Come on.
30:56Come up a little.
31:09Come on.
31:10Come on.
31:10Let's go.
31:11Let's go, you guys.
31:12Come on.
31:13Come on.
31:18Come on.
31:19Come on.
31:20Don't pray.
31:20Get with me.
31:21You're back.
31:22Come on.
31:26Mopping up.
31:27The phrase sounds tame and unexciting.
31:32Actually, mopping up is one of the most gruesome and dangerous jobs of the war.
31:37The last hysterical fanatics must be captured or destroyed before victory is complete.
31:47We've returned to Guam.
31:50It's ours again.
31:52But the cost has been high.
32:00Let's go.
32:06Sure, sure.
32:07The next thing.
32:07Okay.
32:10The perf is stinking and engineering.
32:11Yes, sir.
32:24Look, I'm confused.
32:371,226 Americans have died.
32:42In dying, each man disposed of 10 Japs.
32:46But 1,226 fellow Americans have died.
32:58Here are the sons of heaven.
33:04These are the members of the divine race.
33:07These are the men who set out to conquer the earth.
33:11Where now is the imperial arrogance
33:13which went forth to destroy the world.
33:24The loudspeaker calls,
33:26Geneva Convention, we will not hurt you.
33:30Out of the hills where they've hidden
33:32come a throng of Japanese civilians.
33:35They're bewildered,
33:36not so much by the bombardment,
33:39but that was severe enough.
33:41Their emperor has failed them.
33:43Not so long ago,
33:45they turned their backs on their sacred mountain
33:47and sailed to Guam.
33:49This was to be their colony,
33:51their promised land,
33:53and the tomorrows would be their slaves.
33:55They came to stay forever.
33:58Now the plans of empire lie in ruin.
34:02Guam's destiny as a fortress of Japan
34:04has been smashed.
34:13Now a new marine garrison takes up the watch on Guam.
34:18Today, an American task force
34:20controls the waters off Guam.
34:27Two months after his rescue,
34:29George Tweed,
34:30now warrant officer and holder of the Legion of Merit
34:32for his aid in the recovery of Guam,
34:35returned to the island
34:36to prepare a final report
34:37on his strange adventure.
34:40I came close to dying a hundred times
34:42during the last two and a half years,
34:44but when those American planes and ships came over,
34:47I almost died of joy.
34:50All that power,
34:52that was a sight for sore eyes.
34:54The Navy sure had the stuff.
34:56I didn't have to wonder anymore
34:58what the folks back home had been doing
35:00while I was playing hide-and-seek with the Japs.
35:03But the Japs did a few other things
35:05besides chase me around.
35:07When they started fortifying,
35:09they built up their defenses like mad.
35:12They were racing against time.
35:14A lot of Chamorro blood
35:16was mixed up in that concrete.
35:18The Japs forced them
35:20to work for practically nothing.
35:23And the ones
35:24who couldn't stand the gaff
35:26were beaten and tortured.
35:29I'll bet they were a little too busy
35:31to mistreat the natives
35:32when we started coming over.
35:34Not the Japs, sir.
35:35They always find time for that.
35:38When they got worried
35:39about the Americans coming back,
35:40they treated the Chamorros even worse.
35:43When the natives could get together in groups,
35:45it wasn't for celebration.
35:47Not at first.
35:50They prayed for their dead.
35:52Some of these were victims
35:54of terrible butchery.
35:56This one had his head cut off
35:58for turning it up
36:00to a sky filled with American bombers.
36:04This one couldn't hide his joy
36:06when a zero crashed into the sea.
36:10This one tried to help
36:12one of our pilots.
36:16This is Jap justice
36:18as I saw it.
36:21The Japs brought slavery
36:23and misery and death
36:25to the natives of Guam.
36:27These people are my friends.
36:30They saved my life.
36:31When I returned,
36:32the Chamorros were getting
36:33their first good meals
36:35in a long time
36:37and their first decent medical care,
36:40some of it
36:41for babies born
36:42during the occupation.
36:45I would like to visit them again
36:47when the war is over.
36:48Until then,
36:49I want to do everything I can
36:51to knock the hell out of those Japs.
36:53I was there in the beginning
36:54and I want to be there
36:55to finish.
37:01People of Guam,
37:02the government
37:03of the United States,
37:04your government
37:05promises your homes
37:07will rise again.
37:09Your losses
37:10will be restored.
37:12What is done for Guam
37:13is only part
37:14of what Guam
37:15will do
37:15for the people of America
37:16and the peace of the world.
37:18Guam will now
37:18become everything
37:19that a powerful
37:20American base should be.
37:23Great installations
37:24will rise
37:25as sentinels
37:26of our security
37:27and the peace of the world.
37:29From Guam,
37:30the attack goes forward.
37:32From here,
37:33the winning blow
37:33may be struck
37:34against Japan.
37:35On to Guam,
37:37on to every other place
37:38we win,
37:39we must pour the power
37:41that will clear
37:41the path to Tokyo.
37:43This base,
37:45which was lost
37:46and is now redeemed,
37:48may now fulfill
37:49its destiny
37:50and launch
37:51the action
37:52that will help
37:53win the war.
37:55The war
37:56The war
37:57The war
38:02The war
38:05The war
38:12THE END
38:50THE END
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