- 2 days ago
Voices from the Frozen Front is a powerful classic war documentary that captures the harsh realities of military life in one of the coldest and most unforgiving battle zones. Set during a critical moment in wartime history, this film presents real footage and insights from soldiers stationed in the remote northern front.
Through authentic storytelling and rare visuals, the documentary reveals the challenges, resilience, and courage of those who served under extreme conditions. From icy landscapes to intense wartime operations, every moment reflects the reality of survival and duty.
This vintage documentary is perfect for viewers interested in World War II history, military stories, and classic wartime cinema.
Through authentic storytelling and rare visuals, the documentary reveals the challenges, resilience, and courage of those who served under extreme conditions. From icy landscapes to intense wartime operations, every moment reflects the reality of survival and duty.
This vintage documentary is perfect for viewers interested in World War II history, military stories, and classic wartime cinema.
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Short filmTranscript
00:00THE END
00:30The Aleutian Islands are situated in the North Pacific Ocean,
00:34forming a chain which extends about 1,200 miles west-southwest from Alaska Peninsula towards Siberia
00:40to form the southern boundary of the Bering Sea.
00:45The Aleutians comprise four groups, the Fox, Andrianoff, Rat, and Near Island,
00:51and constitute part of the territory of Alaska, USA.
00:57Of volcanic origin, there are numerous combs on the chain, many of them still active.
01:08The coasts are rocky and surf-worn, rising immediately from the water in steep, bold mountains.
01:19The Aleutians are the storm part of the western world.
01:23A permanent low-pressure area prevails there.
01:33Cold air masses from the polar regions flow with a shearing effect
01:37against the warm, moisture-laden air masses over the Japanese current
01:41to form cyclonic disturbances.
01:48Because of the Earth's rotation, these disturbances move from west to east,
01:53and this meteorological phenomenon constitutes one of the most dangerous weapons
01:58in the arsenal of our enemies,
02:00for it enables the Japanese to operate behind the moving curtain of a storm.
02:07In the early days of June 1942, they employed this advantage
02:12in an all-out attempt to secure absolute domination of the entire Pacific Ocean.
02:18Behind eastward-moving storms, they dispatched two invasion fleets
02:22against two widely separated objectives, Midway Island and Dutch Harbor,
02:26an operation designed to break the American line of sea defense
02:30upon which the security of the Pacific coast depends.
02:33Both attempts failed.
02:35American Air Forces engaged the enemy task force at Midway,
02:39achieving an historic victory.
02:41And at Dutch Harbor, American land-based planes from secret American airfields
02:46swarmed down, seemingly out of nowhere,
02:49to knock out one, two, troop-filled transports,
02:52three heavy cruisers, two destroyers, and one aircraft carrier.
02:56In pursuit of the enemy, our Army and Navy airmen
02:59flew through storm and fog and hurricane,
03:02one-fifth on instruments, four-fifths on luck,
03:05twenty hours out of twenty-four sometimes,
03:08through blind passes, by uncharted peaks,
03:11down through zero ceilings,
03:13not knowing whether the enemy fleet or a mountain lay below,
03:17sweating it out for hour after blind hour of continuous flight,
03:22at home without benefit of directional beam,
03:25to land an unlighted runway,
03:27refueled, and take off into gray, blind hell.
03:32There is no monument to the many who went out and did not return.
03:35They fought and patrolled in many instances until their fuel was gone,
03:40knowing they would be forced down at sea,
03:43but unwilling to break off contacts they had made with enemy forces.
03:47Few were alive of those that flew against the Japs in the Battle of Dutch Harbor.
03:52If you wish to see their monument, you Americans here at home,
03:57look around you.
03:59In retiring, the remnant of the defeated Japanese task force
04:04landed troops on the undefended islands of Atiu, Agatiu, and Kiska.
04:08We immediately undertook the offensive.
04:10So commenced our march out along the bridge toward Asia.
04:14In late August of 1942,
04:17a large detachment of our troops landed
04:19on an island several hundred miles out along the chain,
04:23and under two hours by bomber from Kiska.
04:27The name of this island is Adak,
04:30and it is closer to Japan than any other American outpost.
04:33Typical of the Aleutian chain,
04:35it is windswept, treeless, rain soap,
04:38carpeted with sphagnum of flat, spongy vegetation like undersea growth,
04:42which oozes water at every step.
04:45The only bird life on the island is scavenger ravens,
04:49big, black wind ruffles.
04:55Remote as the moon and hardly more fertile,
04:58Adak is next to worthless in terms of human existence.
05:01Its sole value is that of a pin on a staff officer's map,
05:05but that value is measurable.
05:08Strategically, Adak is one of the most important locations in the world.
05:14Eleven days after the occupation,
05:17an airfield was completed,
05:18and the first U.S. bomber sat down.
05:22Three days later,
05:23flights took off on a bombing mission to Kiska,
05:26with complete fighter protection.
05:28Since that time,
05:29missions over Kiska have become a daily affair.
05:32The airfield is the heart of the island,
05:35beating with a half million horsepower of heavy and medium bombers,
05:40Navy amphibians, pursuit ships, transports.
05:45The sound of the engines warming up starts before dawn,
05:49echoing back from the mountains that flank the field.
05:57Every day, weather per million,
05:59the bombers take off on at least one mission.
06:12Often on good days,
06:14a first flight takes off in the sunrise,
06:16others following at regular intervals,
06:19so that Kiska's under bombardment
06:20every hour until nightfall.
06:35Equal in importance to the airfield,
06:37and without which the airfield could not exist,
06:40is Adak's excellent harbor.
06:43Landlocked on three sides,
06:45with a natural island breakwater,
06:47it enables heavy draft vessels
06:48to come inshore and unload by lighter
06:51under almost any weather condition.
06:53If the airfield is the heart of Adak,
06:56the harbor is its hungry mouth.
06:58Its demands are ever on the increase.
07:01By day and by night,
07:03freighters, tankers, transports,
07:05deposit munitions, supplies,
07:07men upon the beach.
07:12Standing guard over all the defense installations,
07:15coastal batteries,
07:17anti-aircraft emplacement,
07:19machine gun posts.
07:22There is nothing vulnerable
07:24about Adak any longer.
07:39The skies are constantly circled
07:42by aerial patrols
07:43and never-ending relays.
07:50T.T. boats,
07:52those seagoing in-fighters,
07:53stand by in readiness
07:54for a surprise landing attempt.
07:59Offshore, destroyers keep endless vigil,
08:02slipping like ghosts through the fogs,
08:05challenging each hull-down speck
08:07of an approaching vessel on the horizon,
08:09listening with their undersea ears
08:11for the beat of an engine,
08:12scanning the seas
08:14for the plume of a periscope,
08:16standing rugged duty
08:17in the bearing patrols,
08:19or slipping into port
08:20on the flank of a convoy.
08:25Although the sea lanes to Adak
08:27are constantly traveled by convoy,
08:29and contact with enemy submarines
08:32is a daily occurrence,
08:34sinkings in these waters
08:35have been few and far between.
08:40Contact with an enemy submarine
08:42may continue on and off for hours,
08:45during which the undersea craft
08:47maneuvers for position to attack,
08:49venturing within the radius
08:50of the convoy's undersea detectors,
08:53only to crash dive,
08:54then kill engines
08:55and lie silent on the bottom
08:57as our destroyers bear down
08:59and release depth charges.
09:06Our destroyers and Navy reconnaissance
09:08have held the undersea enemy
09:10well in check.
09:11The flow of men, munitions,
09:13and supplies
09:13flows ceaselessly on.
09:18The gigantic task of furnishing
09:21every American expeditionary force
09:23with the materials
09:25needed in carrying the fight
09:27to the enemy
09:27falls to the Army service forces.
09:30ASF is the bloodstream
09:32of our whole military body,
09:34maintaining its every organ and muscle.
09:38Adak presents a special problem.
09:40As the barren island
09:41furnishes nothing
09:42toward human needs
09:44save drinking water,
09:46everything else must be brought here.
09:49Food, fuel,
09:52for men and motors,
09:53machinery, munitions,
09:56shelter materials.
09:57Raise these basic requirements
09:59to the nth power.
10:01Add parts and replacements
10:03for everything
10:04from caterpillar tractors
10:06to can openers,
10:07plus the operations
10:08of estimating,
10:09purchasing,
10:10assembling,
10:11transporting,
10:12delivering,
10:13and becomes apparent
10:15why the job
10:16of supplying a military force
10:18is now dignified
10:19by a $12 word
10:21like logistics.
10:28Since the original landing,
10:30the manpower of Adak
10:32has been constantly augmented.
10:34Where before it was hundreds,
10:36now it is thousands.
10:38Troops arrive after a voyage
10:40that may take anywhere
10:41from a week to a month,
10:43depending on the sea route.
10:45But it took more than a single month
10:47to land them here.
10:48The months of training
10:50that toughened them
10:51to rigors of wind and weather,
10:53that taught them
10:54to handle their weapons,
10:55that made them
10:56into soldiers.
10:58Add those months
10:59to the period
11:00of the voyage
11:01from the state.
11:28On Adak,
11:30down-eastern accents
11:31mixed with Texas drawls
11:33and Middle Western twangs
11:35and Brooklynese.
11:37Bookkeepers,
11:38grocery clerks,
11:39college men,
11:40and dirt farmers.
11:41That is, of course,
11:42ex-dirt farmers,
11:43ex-bookkeepers,
11:45ex-college men.
11:46Soldiers now,
11:48as though all their lives
11:49they've been nothing but.
12:10orders for the day,
12:11special orders and news
12:12appear on the bulletin board.
12:14Since newspapers and magazines
12:16are usually from a month
12:17to three months out of date,
12:18these radioed news flashes
12:19are the only means
12:20by which the soldier
12:21knows what's going on
12:22outside.
12:26No fresh meat,
12:27no green vegetables,
12:29powdered eggs,
12:30tin bully beans,
12:31potatoes,
12:32canned tomatoes,
12:33peanut butter,
12:34canned fruit,
12:34and coffee
12:35make up the basic diet.
12:41And biscuits,
12:43barrels full of biscuits.
12:48Appetites are huge.
12:53Officers and men
12:54attend the same mess.
12:56As often as not,
12:56an officer doesn't display
12:58the insignia of his rank.
12:59The salute is reserved
13:00for rare occasions,
13:02but discipline does not suffer.
13:04Customary military formality
13:05is relaxed,
13:06plain,
13:07simple necessity
13:08taking its place.
13:14After months
13:15at an outpost like Adak,
13:17there is a tendency
13:17on the part of the soldier
13:19to think and live
13:20only in terms of the present.
13:22That far away world
13:23from which he came
13:24begins to seem
13:25like a dream to him.
13:26A letter in his hand
13:28is proof of the reality
13:29of that world,
13:30of Saturday night dances,
13:32jalapes,
13:33and ice cream sodas,
13:34and sport pages,
13:35and shaving in the same mirror
13:37with the old man.
13:40A letter means more
13:42than his paycheck
13:42to the soldier.
13:44If he happens to be
13:45in the Air Corps,
13:46he'd gladly make
13:46an extra flight over Kiska
13:48for one more letter.
13:56No girls,
13:57pretty or otherwise.
13:59Nothing to drink,
14:00not even a Coke.
14:01Candy bars,
14:02cigarettes,
14:03and chewing gum
14:04are rationed,
14:05but you never hear
14:06any belly aching.
14:07The extraordinary fact is
14:09that morale
14:09actually gets strong
14:11when the closer troops
14:12come to the enemy.
14:14On Adak proper,
14:16morale is first rate.
14:30On Adak proper,
14:32on Adak proper,
14:32on Adak proper,
14:33on Adak proper,
14:35on Adak proper,
14:36on Adak proper,
14:36on Adak proper,
14:37on Adak proper,
14:37on Adak proper,
14:39on Adak proper,
14:42on Adak proper,
14:49The site of the airfield was originally a shallow tidal lagoon.
14:54Army engineers diked up its inlet and drained off its waters by means of a channel to the sea.
15:00It was their resourcefulness in exploiting a natural formation
15:04which made possible the completion of the field in ten days and eleven nights,
15:08for the work never ceased.
15:11Bulldozers shifted thousands of tons of the lava ash which composed the bed of the lagoon.
15:16Not a new gain to the core that built the Panama Canal.
15:37As the waters receded, grading crews followed,
15:41leveling and impacting the area in preparation for the final service.
15:45This surface was not to be the usual concrete runway of an airport,
15:50but a steel one whose sections had been prefabricated in American mills.
15:56It was put down by the infantry, of course, in 36 hours.
16:10A million and a half square feet of it.
16:23From then on, only the severest weather kept our planes grounded.
16:27Local storms materialize, deluge the island, and pass on or dissipate,
16:32all within a few short minutes.
16:35It's a land of cloudbursts and rainbows.
16:38If you don't like the weather, wait a minute, the soldier says.
16:41Everything the weatherman has to offer may be had in a single day.
16:46Downpours, hurricane winds, hail, snow, fog, fleet, and sunshine.
16:55It is not so much bad weather as changing weather
16:58that makes flying hazardous to the uninitiated there.
17:00A new pilot must learn to side-slip through local squalls
17:04and sit her down in a field rimmed by mountains
17:07and under a half foot of water.
17:13Got the high tide, sir.
17:18Take it away us!utz,
17:20loot, ΡΠ΅Π±Π΅. You know,
17:23I saw. Whatever going on
17:30now, father isizar. Youara,
17:32naar λ° plateau, harbor, harbor, harbor, harbor harbor. Come, sir!
17:37He is going?
17:37Hey, sir,
17:37were you. After a very short
17:37what am I? That
17:38you. Have a
17:39have a deep distance.
17:48The End
18:17The End
18:42The greater percentage of casualties, however, occur in the anti-aircraft fire over Kiska.
18:48As a rule, our bombers make it back, but often they are sorely crippled and wounded or dead aboard.
19:08In my father's house had many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you.
19:14I go to prepare a place for you, and if I go and prepare a place for you, I will
19:20come again and receive you unto myself.
19:23And where I am, there ye may be also. And whither I go ye know, and away ye know.
19:50The return of the day's mission is the highlight of each 24 hours.
19:54Eyes turn skyward and ears strain to the faint beat of approaching engines.
20:00At the first sound, an alert is flashed to the ground defenses.
20:05Units clear for action. Anti-aircraft and machine guns are stripped.
20:09Ammunition broken out.
20:11And everything is put in readiness for an enemy who may be tailing our flight's home.
20:24Six bombers went out, and six are coming back.
20:54A first ship lands.
20:56The remainder circle the field, another coming to Earth each time around.
21:01Those damaged who had wounded aboard, taking priority.
21:07It's a revelation how much punishment one of these big bombers can take and still navigate.
21:13Unless both sets of controls are shot away, or an explosive shell finds the gas tank,
21:19the odds are all in her making it safely halt.
21:27Anyone who's been over will tell you that the most wonderful ride in the world is the ride back from
21:32Kitzker.
21:33No matter if two engines have calmed down, and daylight is pouring through the wings,
21:38there's just something about the scenery on the way home.
21:55Crews proceed to the field operations tent of the bomber commandment,
21:58where there will be questionless results and observations.
22:13Their jigsaw reports, taken singly, are compared and cross-checked
22:18until a complete and accurate record of the operation has been assembled.
22:23Thereafter, they're dismissed with nothing to do till tomorrow, but eat, drink, and be merry.
22:30I've got sixpence to last me all my life
22:33I've got toughence to spend, and toughence to lend
22:37And toughence to send home to my wife
22:40No cares have I to greet me
22:43No pretty little girls to deceive me
22:47I'm as happy as a king, believe me
22:50As we go rolling home
22:53Rolling home
22:54Rolling home
22:55Rolling home
22:56Rolling home
22:56By the light of the silvery moon
23:00Happy is the day when the heaven gets to face
23:03As we go rolling home
23:06But ADAC's tomorrow begins today
23:09with a directive from Kodiak Island
23:11A photographic ship accompanies missions to Kiska
23:14It's tasked to follow the bombers over their target
23:17recording the immediate results of the bombardment
23:19Also enemy defense activities, new installations, camouflage
23:23These photographs are studied by specialist interpreters
23:27And submitted with comments to the general and his staff officers
23:30Colonel William Prince and Colonel C.M. McCorkle
23:39Here is Kiska, her camp area with its steel huts
23:43Her hangers, her underground railway, her gun installation
23:46Kiska, one of the hottest spots on the earth or above
23:54The main objectives in any mission from ADAC are the destruction of enemy shipping en route to Kiska
23:59Destruction of installations on the island
24:02Harassing of enemy personnel
24:05When the broader aspects of the operation have been decided upon
24:08The senior officers of the bomber and fighter units work out its details
24:13Among considerations in planning a mission are the type of aircraft to be employed
24:17The weight and type of bomb
24:19The time, altitude and direction of the attack
24:21All of these are interrelated
24:23A change of one influencing all the others
24:25The overall determining factor is weather
24:28For this reason, the Navy meteorologist plots his charts
24:32Up to the very time of takeoff
24:34A change of weather at the last moment
24:37May mean a complete revision of tomorrow's plans
24:40Tomorrow is Sunday
24:53At their outposts on the island
24:55Catholic, Protestant and Jewish chaplains
24:58Not priests, ministers or rabbis
25:01But chaplains all
25:02Are leading fighting men in their devotion
25:04Under the snows of an Aleutian mountain
25:07These defenders of the faith
25:09Exercise the first of their four freedoms
25:31But so far as the business of war is concerned
25:33Sunday on ADAC is like any other day
25:36There's a mission going out at 13 o'clock
25:39Bombs must be brought down to the field
25:41From their camouflage dumps
25:49A heavy bomber carries either 16 250-pounders
25:5312 500-pounders
25:54Or 8 1,000-pounders
25:57The size of the bomb to be employed
25:59Depends upon the nature of the target
26:01Since if the target is small
26:02There's a better chance of hitting it
26:04With a salvo of 250-pounders
26:06Than with a single large bomb
26:08On the other hand
26:10And congested areas
26:11Such as the campsite of Kiska
26:12A blockbuster comes into its own
26:14Tail fins and fuses are put on
26:17Directly before the assembled bomb
26:19Is hoisted into the bomb bay
26:22When the time comes
26:24Bombs can be released
26:25Either individually
26:26In sticks or in salvo
26:32Belts of ammunition
26:33Belts of ammunition are brought to machine guns
26:35And threaded into receivers
26:36Ready for firing
26:37The rounds are put onto the belts
26:39In successions of three
26:40Red tip tracers
26:42Yellow incendiaries
26:43And black regulation
26:44Each moving part of each gun
26:46Has been tended with watchmakers care
26:48And every belt of ammunition
26:49Is cleaned, oiled, and checked
26:51Before the takeoff
26:57It is 1240 o'clock
27:00And the pilots
27:01Who are going to fly the mission
27:02Receive final instruction
27:06Three flights
27:07Two of B-24s and one of B-17s
27:09Are to go over the target
27:10The first flight
27:11At 1,100 feet
27:12To drop 500 pounders
27:14On anti-aircraft installations
27:15At North Head
27:16Then to proceed along the coastline
27:18Straffing to the western limits
27:20Of the camp area
27:21The second flight
27:22At 7,500 feet
27:23To drop 1,000 pound bombs
27:25On the camp area
27:26The third flight
27:27At 4,500 feet
27:28To destroy hangars
27:30With 500 pound bombs
27:32Second and third flights
27:33To follow at intervals
27:34Of 45 seconds
27:35Three fighters
27:36To proceed each bomber flight
27:37At 600 feet
27:38And three fighters
27:40To afford overhead protection
27:41From enemy aircraft
28:08To afford overhead protection
28:17Crews begin to assemble
28:19Around the ships
28:20Awaiting the appearance
28:21Of their officers
28:21A bomber crew is a team
28:24And the longer it's together
28:26The better the teamwork
28:27Theirs is a mutual responsibility
28:29The safety of the ship
28:31And the lives of all the others
28:33May depend on any single member
28:36Trust
28:37Trust, respect
28:38Are implicit
28:39In such a relationship
28:40If it is to endure
28:43Maybe in the beginning
28:44You don't like the color
28:45Of a guy's hair
28:46But if he's all there
28:47At his job
28:48You'll get to like it fine
28:51Enlisted men
28:52Eat, sleep, fly together
28:54Their voices on the intercom
28:56Become familiar
28:57Easy to understand
28:58When understanding is vital
29:00Every gunner knows
29:01The quality of every other's
29:03Marksmanship and courage
29:04The navigator can plot
29:06A thousand mile course
29:07Over open sea
29:08And make a landfall
29:09Eight men can testify
29:12Trust and respect
29:13For the bombardier
29:15The radio operator
29:16The engineer
29:17Co-pilot
29:18And trust and respect
29:19For the ship
29:20They fly
29:25A monument ought to be put up
29:27To that pre-war fraternity
29:28Of high school speed maniacs
29:30For out of their ranks
29:32Our fighter pilots
29:33Our fighter pilots
29:33Are largely drawn
29:35They bring to their
29:36Hazardous undertaking
29:37Split second judgment
29:39Inspiration
29:40Daring
29:43Lieutenant George I. Riddell
29:45Twelve straffing missions
29:47Over Kiska
29:49Lieutenant Hawley P. Mills
29:51Fourteen missions
29:55Lieutenant Lyle A. Bean
29:57Thirteen missions
29:58Major Milton Ashkin
30:00Fifteen missions
30:04Fifteen missions
30:05Lieutenant Henry J. Stronkowski
30:07Eleven missions
30:10Colonel Jack Chenault
30:11Son of General Chenault
30:12Of the Flying Tigers
30:13Colonel Jack has a zero
30:15On a submarine to his credit
30:21A last minute weather observation is made
30:24The word is given to go
30:30It's good luck
30:31And over the hill
30:38The aerial camera goes aboard
30:49The bomber pilot informs his crew
30:53The exact part their ship is to play in the mission
30:56Your bomber pilot is of a different breed to your fighter
30:59Where the fighter is reckless and inspired
31:01The bomber pilot is responsible
31:04Determined
31:05Because of the size and imponderability of his ship
31:08There are no last moment decisions for him
31:11And besides the big intricate costly piece of machinery
31:15That a heavy bomber is
31:16He has the lives of six or eight others to think about
31:22One hundred men
31:24Nine bombers
31:25Twelve fighters
31:27Are setting out to attack and immobilize
31:30Ten thousand men
31:32Behind naval and military defenses
31:35This is the significance of aerial supremacy
31:38But behind this supremacy
31:42Lies the enormous system
31:44Which makes it possible for the ships to take off
31:48ASF
31:49Naval Convoy
31:51Army Air Transport
31:53The Corps of Engineers
31:55Army and Navy Intelligence
31:57Signal Corps
31:59Ordnance
32:00And ground forces
32:03These have done their part for today
32:06The stage is set
32:09Rehearsals are over
32:10The actors are ready
32:13The curtain is going up
32:15But this is no make-believe drama
32:18They will be playing for keeps
32:23multicult..
32:30Haylie
32:31Avang
32:31Hay tures
32:36Hay...
32:37Hay...
32:39Hay Starin
32:43Hay...
32:44Hay...
32:44Hay...
33:17Colonel William O. Erickson, who stopped the first bomber
33:20down on ADAC and led the original mission over Kiska.
34:03The best-in-chief of national safety is a
34:05small part.
34:05The line is facing around the
34:05battlefield for the island.
34:05The Confucius Revolution
34:05is the son's father and his daughter.
36:20The thunder of engines makes the earth tremble and the ravens rise.
36:39The echelon proceeds toward Kiska.
36:42It's about an hour and three quarters from Adak to Kiska.
36:46One of the most hotly defended of enemy-held areas.
36:50Kiska is also one of the most strongly fortified.
36:53The Japs have dug in like so many moles.
36:56An estimated force of 10,000 goes underground at the sound of our approaching engine.
37:02We cannot, by air attack, hope to annihilate.
37:05We can only harass the force on Kiska.
37:09Cripple the island's defense.
37:10Keep the enemy from adding to its resources.
37:13While we build our own fighting strength to the day and the hour when we shall undertake a landing operation.
37:31Radio contact is maintained between the bombers and Adak throughout the flight, which proceeds at military speed to 165 miles
37:40per hour.
38:02During the first part of the journey, the waste guns are swung into position.
38:07Turret mechanisms tested and trial rounds fired.
38:18Time moves slowly going out to the target.
38:22Crew members have even been known to play stud poker.
38:25The route is quite familiar by now.
38:28Many pilots and crews have made the flight 25, 30 times.
38:40Long about the time Ann Chitka is sighted, they begin to look out for enemy planes.
38:46The men whose regular job it is say, no matter how often a fellow's gone over, he always feels funny
38:52up there over Kiska.
38:55At a signal from the squadron leader, the pilots will open throttle and the planes will go into the bombing
39:00run.
39:01For a minute and a half to two minutes, they will proceed at level flight in an absolutely straight line
39:07toward the target, thereby enabling the bombardier to make his computations.
39:12Wind velocity, speed, temperature, altitude, drift.
39:16There can be no deviation whatever in the flight if the bombs are to find the target.
39:23Ten miles and three minutes from the objective.
39:26Before Kiska volcano, the mission deploys, each flight going to its designated altitude in preparation for the run.
39:34The enemy will endeavor to throw the flights off their run, and to this he will bring all his firepower
39:41to bear.
39:42The earth below will blaze with hatred.
39:45Our ships will heave and rock in the yak-ak.
39:48Machine gun bullets may make a filigree of their wings.
39:52How do you see they open up holes big enough for a man to crawl through?
40:07Little Kiska, outer defense of Kiska Harbor.
40:11Bombay door's open. Bombay door's open. Six degrees, right on course.
40:17The object is to hit the target, not to avoid anti-aircraft.
40:20Remember this, you're just as liable to run into it as away from it.
40:23The best way is to forget what's happening outside and make the run by instrument.
40:27That way, if it comes, well, you just look over your shoulder and see a man with a long beard,
40:31and you say,
40:31Good morning, Father Abraham.
40:34I want every man to stick by his gun until I say he can leave.
40:37Use every round of ammunition on this ship.
40:40Fire straight at the gun flashes until they stop.
40:43If we're ahead and have to bail out, there'll be plenty of Navy around to pick us up.
40:47Okay, shall we give it to him?
40:54Kiska.
41:06Oh, wait.
41:09Oh, wait.
41:10Oh, wait.
41:39What result?
41:41A band hit.
41:45Enemy aircraft is re-blocked.
41:47Oh, wait.
41:50Oh, wait.
41:51Oh, wait.
41:52Oh, wait.
41:54Oh, wait.
41:56Second flight.
41:57Roll attitude.
42:09Once again, all the lightning.
42:45On target.
42:47Lightning.
42:50Oh, wait.
42:52Hey, ow!
43:37Third flight at 4,500 feet.
43:47On the way.
44:08Third flight at 4,500 feet.
44:46Third flight at 4,500 feet.
45:19Third flight at 4,500 feet.
45:23Third flight at 4,500 feet.
45:24Nine bombers came out and nine are going home.
45:27Third flight at 4,500 feet.
45:32Third flight at 4,500 feet.
45:34Third flight at 4,500 feet.
45:51Third flight at 4,500 feet.
46:03Third flight at 4,500 feet.
46:05Third flight at 4,500 feet.
46:08Third flight at 4,500 feet.
46:36Third flight at 4,500 feet.
46:37Third flight at 4,500 feet.
46:44Third flight at 4,500 feet.
46:45Third flight at 4,500 feet.
46:48Third flight at 4,500 feet.
46:50Third flight at 4,500 feet.
46:51You
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