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00:05it's hard to comprehend the scale of the Pacific Asian theater war it stretches
00:10from Hawaii to Burma from the Aleutian Islands to Indochina in 1942 the United
00:17States sends fighting men to far-off places most Americans have never heard
00:21of they are soldiers sailors airmen and Marines from every town in America they
00:27will confront an enemy whose moral code does not permit surrender all wars change
00:35the world but none of them change the world like the Second World War did Japan's on the
00:41March Germany's on the March no one can imagine a nightmare they're about to
00:47unleash the most destructive war in human history suddenly the world is turned
00:53upside down and all hell is let loose the West is stunned by the speed of the events
01:02you get the Allies led by the big three Roosevelt Churchill Stalin men who are
01:09dealing with immensely complicated questions it's the biggest military
01:15operation of human history the Allies have to come together not just militarily but
01:21industrial scale it's a global perspective they have to fight in every climate from
01:26the Arctic to the jungles of the Pacific to the deserts of Africa and the depths of
01:32the ocean but there was no certainty of victory it was going to be a horrific
01:40bloodbath we see humans at their absolute worst how they treat other human
01:45beings and we see them at their absolute best willing to give their lives that
01:49others might live World War two was a struggle in which there could be one
01:54one victor and one vanquish
02:20hours after the attack on Pearl Harbor Japan invades the Philippines
02:29they begin with a devastating strike against the US airbase at Clark Field then land 35,000 troops
02:38and advance on the capital Manila American and Filipino forces are overwhelmed
02:55within weeks Manila is captured
03:02there was a Philippine war plan that in the event of a Japanese major invasion the forces would withdraw to
03:09Bataan
03:13Bataan is strategically located next to Manila Bay it's this rocky peninsula it's got two dormant volcanoes that are sitting
03:21in the middle of it and so it's really good defensive terrain
03:25on December 23rd 1941 U.S. and Filipino troops begin their retreat to the peninsula of Bataan
03:37you have this chaotic retreat
03:42about a hundred thousand U.S. and Filipino troops and we should add the 25,000 civilians
03:48Filipino but also Americans now desperate to escape the attacking Japanese
03:57as the troops retreat the Japanese continue following a well-planned well coordinated offensive aimed at British and Dutch colonies
04:12they have already invaded Burma Borneo and Malaya
04:17they take Hong Kong on Christmas Day
04:20then move further into Malaya
04:24Malaya is considered difficult jungle terrain
04:29but the Japanese using bicycle infantry and some tanks
04:34managed to push south to the island of Singapore
04:40known as the Gibraltar of the East
04:46Singapore was our military base with its massive naval facilities
04:53guns facing into the sea so that it could protect that position
04:57and really a military HQ for the Empire in the Far East
05:03they begin their assault on February 8th
05:16Winston Churchill back in London is looking on in horror
05:19he's an empire man he said many times he didn't come to power to oversee the liquidation of his majesty's
05:26empire
05:26but it's crumbling before his eyes
05:31Churchill cannot abandon the defense of Britain and the Battle of the Atlantic
05:37he cannot risk losing the whole of the Mediterranean North Africa and the Middle East to Axis forces
05:44so what's got to go?
05:46unfortunately for Churchill
05:47he's got to scrimp and save when it comes to defense in the Far East
05:52it's just too much for Britain to handle
06:01the Japanese take advantage of British military mistakes and capture the island in only seven days
06:09tens of thousands of Commonwealth troops are trapped and imprisoned
06:17Singapore was the granite foundation of the British Empire in Asia
06:23and boom in the space of days it falls
06:34the idea that Japanese forces could go into this historic place
06:38a real symbol of British power and prestige in Asia
06:42and take it within such a short time
06:44is absolutely tremendous as far as Japanese are concerned
06:48this is Britain's fall of Rome moment in its Asian Empire
06:54Japan has plunged into the war
06:56and is ravaging the beautiful, fertile, prosperous and densely populated lands of the Far East
07:04the British Empire now for centuries had been the most powerful empire the world had ever seen
07:10the Japanese had cracked it like an egg
07:15by the time the Shaka Pearl Harbor, you know, wears off
07:18the Japanese have taken their empire and expanded it seemingly overnight
07:28Japan's Asian offensive has two primary war aims
07:32first, the seizure of raw materials like oil and rubber
07:38second, to replace the Western colonial powers who have long dominated the region
07:44and establish an empire of their own
07:49this is one of the most audacious offensives in military history
07:57in late 1941, early 1942
08:00it's good news every week, almost every day coming in
08:05they are liberating Asia
08:07they are pushing back white Western colonial power
08:14the speed and scope of the Japanese offensive
08:17stuns the world
08:20a year earlier
08:22General Tomoyuki Namishita
08:24the commander of the assault on the Philippines
08:26consults with Japan's access ally
08:29Nazi Germany
08:31Japan is eager to adapt the Wehrmacht's blitzkrieg tactics
08:35to a very different theatre of war
08:41he was really admiring the German blitzkrieg
08:43the German lightning war
08:45and he took the German blitzkrieg
08:48as the role model for a future Japanese war in Southeast Asia
08:52so we must surprise the enemy
08:55we must be fast
09:00it's always movement, movement, movement
09:02for the enemy, for their enemy, for the allies
09:05it looks like the Japanese aren't even thinking about what they're doing
09:07because they're moving so fast
09:09and they're moving constantly
09:12but this has a kind of shock effect
09:14on the troops there that are trying to defend the peninsula
09:21the Japanese have learned to move quickly
09:26move stealthily
09:27they fight well at night
09:28which is what most armies are not good at
09:31they are pretty good at operational art
09:34don't attack strong points
09:36envelop the enemy
09:37put them in untenable positions
09:39either in time or space
09:40and hence
09:41it defines a lot of their victories early in the war
09:46the British underestimated the Japanese
09:49I think part of that was racism
09:51I think they were astonished
09:52that a non-European race could defeat Europeans in battle
09:59they didn't consider the Asian people capable of what the Japanese are doing
10:03after the Japanese land in Malaya
10:07Singapore's governor Sir Shenton Thomas allegedly says
10:10well I suppose you'll have to shove the little men off
10:17but British hubris is no match for Japanese military prowess
10:24there had always been this faction in the Imperial Japanese army
10:28called the Kodoha the Imperial Way faction
10:30whose belief was because of Japan's extraordinary fighting spirit
10:35and the blood of their soldiers
10:36we can overcome the odds
10:39and that really is drummed into the soldiers
10:43so there is this esprit de corps within the Japanese army
10:47it's guided by this belief in Bushido
10:49the way of the warrior
10:53Japanese military discipline is instilled by physically harsh measures
10:59officers
10:59officers abuse non-commissioned officers
11:01who in turn abuse the men
11:05you can see in diaries and in letters home
11:08people saying I got beaten up today
11:11I got slapped
11:12I got punched
11:13I had a rifle butt get me in the stomach
11:16there is a fair amount of ritualistic abuse that takes place
11:21as they go through
11:22what they would refer to as lessons
11:26it's all about self-sacrifice
11:28they are all about
11:29suppressing individual needs and desires
11:31for the sense of
11:33whatever the nation needs
11:34for whatever the emperor might need
11:40in just two months of fighting
11:42Japan has achieved most of its objectives
11:45and appears to be winning the war
11:49except in the Philippines
11:51where US and Filipino troops
11:53are fighting back
12:03after more than a month of fighting
12:04US and Filipino forces
12:06continue to resist the Japanese on the Bataan Peninsula
12:12but supplies food and ammunition
12:15are running perilously short
12:18supplies provisions ammunition
12:20they're strewn about the Philippine Islands
12:22and they're not where the defenders need them
12:26the American forces are now completely isolated and surrounded
12:35they don't have what they need to survive
12:39the men spend a lot of their time just foraging for food
12:42every snake monkey anything within the Bataan Peninsula is fair game
12:50the commanding officer of both American and Filipino troops in the Philippines
12:54is the charismatic and controversial General Douglas MacArthur
13:00MacArthur's the son of a civil war hero
13:03he's confident
13:04courageous
13:05a proven battlefield leader
13:09MacArthur's begging for more troops
13:11for more supplies
13:12for more ships
13:13but none of those things are coming
13:15the US doesn't have them
13:18the Japanese of course
13:20they're coming after MacArthur's force
13:22they know they can't leave an army like this with MacArthur
13:25and consider the Philippines have been occupied
13:33in Washington
13:35President Roosevelt faces a very difficult situation
13:38the American people expect the troops to be supported
13:42but he knows resupplying and reinforcing Bataan is impossible
13:47also for both political and symbolic reasons
13:50he must retrieve General MacArthur from the Philippines
13:55you couldn't afford to let MacArthur be captured
13:58you couldn't do it because it was bad for the American spirit
14:02you can't let a man like this go down
14:05he's a figure of history
14:12MacArthur does everything he can to inspire his troops in Bataan
14:15and he's prepared to go down with the ship
14:19but FDR orders MacArthur to leave the Philippines
14:27three weeks later
14:29he sends a rescue operation
14:31and MacArthur with his wife and young son
14:34leaves the Philippines on a small torpedo boat
14:39he promises
14:40he says
14:40I will return
14:42and this is his commitment
14:45to the American people
14:46but more importantly to himself
14:51Knowing that America must make a stand
14:54General MacArthur issues a final order to his men
14:59MacArthur orders the garrison to fight to the last
15:03which is completely unrealistic
15:11Soldiers are dying in medical tents merely because there's not enough medicine to save them
15:15so everybody's in a weakened condition but the defense is quite heroic
15:23But the soldiers on Bataan realize that they're being sacrificed
15:30So the battling bastards of Bataan is written by a journalist named Hewitt
15:34The battling bastards of Bataan
15:37No mamas, no papas, no uncle Sam
15:40No aunts, no uncles, no cousins, no nieces, no pills, no planes, no artillery pieces
15:45And no one gives a damn
15:47For all the people left in Bataan, I'm sure that's exactly what they thought
15:59After four months of fatigue, hunger and disease
16:04The Bataan garrison surrenders
16:10But their ordeal is just beginning
16:14The Japanese didn't expect that so many allied defenders of the Philippines would actually surrender and become prisoners of war
16:27One of the things you're taught in the Japanese military is you don't surrender
16:33You're disgracing your family, you're disgracing your home, your village, your country, the emperor
16:40Surrender is dishonorable, not only to yourself but to your family, anybody who surrenders is inherently dishonorable
16:48The idea that you would surrender and that you would expect to be treated with respect having done so
16:55Really is disgusting to a lot of the Japanese soldiers
17:01The Japanese marched the 75,000 American and Filipino troops to a POW camp 65 miles north of Bataan
17:12These men are exhausted, they're malnourished
17:15The Japanese, they line them up and they march them out
17:20In 110 degree heat with no food, no water
17:25And Japanese guards just beating you and kicking you and stabbing you the whole way
17:33And so if you're a recruit out there and you've received umpteen beatings from your own senior officers on the
17:39way to where you are now
17:40Then it's a very short hop to having a Westerner in front of you asking for food, asking for water
17:45And slapping them, punching them, perhaps even shooting them
17:51The Japanese will drink their canteens and then dump the contents out on the roadside
17:59Wounded troops will fall to the ground, they will be instantly banded or shot
18:05They have been taught to regard Western soldiers, and I think white Western civilians generally, with really no respect at
18:14all
18:14These people are lesser, almost to the point of being a slightly lesser species
18:23Thousands die on what will become known as the Bataan Death March
18:30The loss of the Philippines will cripple America's military capability in the Pacific for months
18:38It's also a serious blow to morale at home
18:41In a matter of just a few months, the Japanese have conquered an empire of 500 million people
18:49The Japanese have the upper hand in the Pacific
18:53It's not clear what or who can stop them
19:03Spring in Tokyo
19:05Japan controls vast areas of the Pacific and Southeast Asia
19:10To protect this growing empire, Japan will consolidate its new territory
19:15And push into various island chains to create an even stronger barrier against the United States
19:25The Japanese saying we've got to consolidate our position quickly
19:29We have to create a defensive bastion between the United States and Japan
19:33So all these island chains, threaded like pearls, they have got to be strengthened
19:40They've got to be fortified into some kind of defensive perimeter
19:44Japan deploys thousands of troops to outposts stretching far into the South Pacific
19:51The Japanese are making absolutely sure that what they've got, they will hold
20:05In the US, war production accelerates
20:10FDR calls for 60,000 planes and 125,000 tanks
20:15To be produced in 1942
20:19And in June, the US Navy defeats the Japanese at the Battle of Midway
20:26It's Japan's first decisive defeat
20:30The victory at Midway has taken place in June 1942
20:33But this is a naval victory
20:35It's only directed against Japanese warships
20:38Eventually, the Americans know they're going to have to retake real estate
20:42They're going to actually have to capture islands
20:46The Japanese plan in the South Pacific is to build a lot of airstrips
20:50Which are going to allow them to use air power to defend these stronghold positions
20:57To counter, America sends in the old breed
21:01The 1st Marine Division
21:05Marine Corps was always soldiers from the sea
21:08Back in the Revolution when we invade Nassau, right?
21:11We are meant to come from the sea
21:13That's the mission
21:14In support of the Navy, that's their purpose
21:17After World War I, what they really start to do is turn their attention to what does the next war
21:21look like
21:22And what they start to realize is, Japan is becoming a power in the Pacific
21:26If we're going to fight in the Pacific, then we need to figure out how to conduct amphibious landings
21:32Amphibious landings on this scale are unprecedented
21:37Well, there's no sneaking up on an island
21:39They can see ships coming
21:40So everything across the beach is a frontal assault
21:44Machine guns, rapid fire artillery
21:45It's suicide
21:47Terrible idea
21:48And the Marine Corps goes, got it, we'll take that one
21:52And that's how they get into amphibious operations
21:54Because that would be what was necessary to operate in the Pacific
21:59The training for the US Marines Corps is probably the toughest in the US Armed Forces at this point
22:04They are designed for amphibious warfare
22:07But to travel relatively lightly
22:10Because of course if you attack a coast from the sea, you can't take much heavy equipment with you
22:15Their job is as an elite assault force
22:18But don't leave them in a campaign for too long
22:20Because they don't have all the heavy weapons to be able to do the job over a considerable period of
22:26time
22:29The Navy has ships and the Army has tanks and artillery
22:32What does the Marine Corps have? It has culture
22:36So if you join the Marine Corps, it's because maybe you can be one of those elite
22:40You know you get to go fight the Japanese
22:46The majority are new recruits
22:49The majority are new recruits
22:50They're relatively inexperienced
22:51They've had some pretty hurried training
22:53And now all of a sudden in 1942 they're going to go into action against what they know and fear
23:00is a very formidable opponent
23:02They've read a lot of the stories about how the Japanese are almost supermen
23:08Until we actually face them in close combat, we'll never know if we're good enough to take on these guys
23:16In the summer of 1942, an American B-17 on routine patrol reports that the Japanese are building an airstrip
23:25on the largest of the Solomon Islands
23:29Guadalcanal
23:34If the Japanese are successful, they will build an airbase on Guadalcanal and potentially sever the lines of communication with
23:41Australia
23:41Which is meant to be a jumping off point for any campaign that's going to come from the Southern Pacific
23:46We cannot let that happen
23:50The Americans know that Australia is crucial to their hold over the Pacific
23:59What's at stake certainly for the United States Marine Corps is they've hitched their horse to this idea of amphibious
24:03operations
24:04Now they actually have to go execute it
24:10If the Americans are going to roll back Japanese power in the Pacific
24:14It's going to have to be boots on the ground
24:16And boots on the ground it will be in Guadalcanal
24:31Early on August 7th, 1942
24:36The 1st Marine Division approaches Guadalcanal
24:43They are the first U.S. troops to take the offensive in World War II
24:49What's interesting about all amphibious landings is that if they're opposed and you don't really understand the terrain you're getting
24:56into
24:56There's always the possibility of disaster and that was absolutely the case of Guadalcanal
25:12After the naval bombardment the Marines will land and attempt to capture the airfield and secure the island
25:20The intelligence for the landings at Guadalcanal is so thin that they don't know what the interior looks like
25:25And they certainly don't know how many defending troops are there
25:5210,000 Marines reach the shore
25:5510,000 Marines reach the shore
26:0014,000 Marines reach the shore
26:01To their relief the landing is unopposed
26:03To their relief the landing is unopposed
26:05There are no Japanese defending the beachhead
26:10The Japanese have only 2,500 men on the island
26:13Most of them conscripted labor to build the airfield
26:18the marines are astonished at how easy it is they move inland and then very quickly capture the
26:25airfield the marines build a defensive perimeter around the airstrip which they name Henderson
26:35Field after a marine dive bomber killed at the Battle of Midway supplies for the marines on
26:45the Battle Canal are being held just offshore by a U.S. Navy task force anchored in Savo Sound
26:57but two days after the landing the calm of Savo Sound is shattered
27:12it's the middle of the night
27:14these American cruisers are asleep they don't come to battle stations quickly
27:26in the space of 25 to 30 minutes the Japanese have sunk four allied cruisers killed more than a
27:34thousand allied sailors so it's a disastrous defeat for the Americans the worst naval defeat since
27:44Pearl Harbor you've got bodies washing up on the shore it's grizzly so many American ships are sunk
28:04vulnerable to air attack the task force pulls out before they've unloaded all the marines food and ammunition
28:15general van der grift is the commander of the first marine division he's understandably upset that the
28:20navy have skedaddled but he's absolutely vital also that he gives a sense of confidence to his men we're
28:28gonna get through this we are U.S. Marines after all the first wave of Japanese troops land east of
28:36the
28:36Marines defensive perimeter on August 18 their objective Henderson airfield the airfield is in a key
28:48position to maintain the shipping lanes from America to Australia that supply line is like the allied sciatic
28:57nerve so this is a very serious development it must be very spooky for the marines they are abandoned on
29:06the
29:06island they can hear the Japanese ships coming in they know there must be trouble ahead what options do
29:14ground forces have you can attack you can defend and you can retreat well guess what the marines can
29:21no longer retreat so no matter what we're gonna have to fight it out the untested marines are about to
29:31face
29:31Japanese soldiers for the first time
29:55on Guadalcanal the first marine division is dug in around Henderson airfield bracing for a Japanese assault
30:08commanding the Japanese troops is the veteran colonel Kianao Ichiki
30:15the marines know that all the Japanese have done up to this point is win they start to almost have
30:23these superpowers they're quiet at night they're all snipers they don't require any arrests they're
30:29fanatical all of these things start to build almost a super samurai adversary on August 21st
30:38he cheeky's troops attack the marine lines the marines respond with rifle mortar and machine gun fire
30:59the Japanese have got about 200 guys trying to get across this sand spit and then moan down
31:07he cheeky just sluffs that off he'll launch two more attacks don't range will beat them back the
31:18fighting is brutal often hand-to-hand some Japanese soldiers even use ancestral samurai swords
31:39the battle doesn't end until five o'clock that evening 44 marines are dead but nearly 900 Japanese
31:50soldiers are killed the marines are stunned how could a battalion commander throw 900 men away who would do that
32:06after the battle colonel Ichiki commit suicide just a single Japanese soldier surrenders
32:17they may look dead but if they've got a weapon they're gonna shoot you when you go past if they
32:22got a grenade they may blow themselves up with a grenade to kill you this is a different kind of
32:27enemy
32:30the U.S. Marines on Guadalcanal realized that to combat that and to protect themselves they are
32:37gonna have to be equally ruthless and this produced incredibly brutal form of warfare that I think was
32:43unequaled in the Second World War the Marines now understand what will be required to defend Guadalcanal
32:53the island has become a proving ground for a generation of young Americans the Japanese conduct regular
33:05airstrikes on Henderson field and continue to move men and supplies into attacking positions
33:17every night the Japanese are using fast transport and depositing troops and supplies on Guadalcanal
33:23via what's going to be known as the Tokyo Express they are absolutely determined to retake this island their
33:32whole strategy for moving forward in the southern Pacific is based on recapturing Guadalcanal and
33:40they're going to pretty much send as many troops as they can to make sure that they do the job
33:44van de
33:47grift and his staff start taking preventative action in case they're overwhelmed so they start burning
33:54vital intelligence papers by October the Japanese force has more than doubled its size but the U.S. Navy is
34:03able to resupply the Marines from newly constructed supply bases Guadalcanal is now a battle of attrition who will give
34:14in first
34:16The Japanese are very good at night attacks and so nights are horrific
34:24Imagine being a 19 or 20 year old American kid and you're in a foxhole maybe with one other person
34:30right one guy sleeps the other is on watch and you can hear the other foxhole
34:33with your compatriots but they're not visible in the dark remember these islands are really black as
34:38night and you hear screaming from another foxhole
34:45This is life or death you go to sleep you may not wake up this man was with you 24
34:56hours ago now his
34:57throat's cut in this foxhole next to you
35:03This is a war of man against man this is personal
35:11and as darkness comes down every night the fear grows deeper and deeper
35:20Even though they're deprived of sleep
35:24lack sufficient food and battle tropical diseases
35:28the Marines maintain their morale
35:32But their casualty rate is climbing and they begin to suspect they're being abandoned
35:42A lot of people are catching malaria dysentery they don't have enough food
35:47They're just becoming increasingly incapable of functioning
35:55General van de griff estimates that less than half his force is fit enough to fight
36:01The japanese are still coming guadalcanal is going to be where the japanese teach the americans the cost
36:07of punching a hole in that defense perimeter
36:09They'll say look at the effort it took look at the number of men you lost on guadalcanal
36:15How long do you think it'll take you to batter your way across the pacific
36:24One night two months into the battle
36:27The japanese deliver a bombardment designed to crush the marine spirits
36:34But the marines just dig their foxholes deeper
36:40A thousand shells are sent over in 80 minutes we're talking about 14 inch shells described by some of the
36:46guys like the weight of small cars
36:51Most of the marines planes at henderson field are destroyed in the bombardment
37:02The u.s reinforces the marines
37:07But the japanese reinforce their troops as well
37:11Control of the island and the entire u.s campaign in the pacific is at stake
37:19All eyes are on guadalcanal
37:36In america guadalcanal is front page news
37:41It's on everyone's minds
37:43It was observed guadalcanal is not a name
37:47But an emotion
37:50You young americans today are conducting yourselves in a manner that is worthy of the highest proudest traditions of our
37:59nation
38:01All the attention of the american public is focused on this island
38:05Roosevelt knows this is the first big american ground offensive of the war is going horribly wrong
38:12They have to hold on to guadalcanal
38:16Roosevelt sends a note to the joint chiefs and says i want to be sure of something
38:21That every available man ship and plane is being devoted to the struggle on guadalcanal
38:27We here at home are supremely conscious of our obligations to you
38:35We will not let you down
38:40The campaign gets a new commander
38:44admiral william bull halsey
38:48Halsey's coming into this campaign is like a defibrillator on the heart
38:52Halsey looks the part halsey's this leathery old commander who's been successful he's a can-do combative guy
38:59He can't wait to get to the japanese his line was you hit him hard you hit him faster you
39:03hit him often
39:05This is entirely in keeping with the mentality of your average marine
39:11Admiral halsey promises the marines all the support they need on guadalcanal
39:17In just a few weeks he gets the chance to demonstrate it
39:22A large japanese fleet carrying 14 000 troops is approaching guadalcanal
39:31This body of water is the size of a bathtub so risking your battleships to send them up to iron
39:37bottom sound
39:38I mean it honestly makes the hair stand up on the back of my neck even now
39:42But halsey is determined that he is going to fight with everything that he's got and so he pushes all
39:48his chips into the middle of the table
39:56Halsey instructs the u.s navy task force to attack the japanese fleet in the sound
40:10For two days american and japanese warships battle in savo sound
40:24The fighting is fierce
40:28It's ship-to-ship combat at its most intense
40:41Nearly 2 000 americans are killed
40:45But the japanese are only able to land a quarter of their force
40:53Bull halsey and the u.s navy have turned the tide
40:58And the japanese begin to withdraw from guadalcanal
41:06Most of the marines on guadalcanal are relieved by the u.s army
41:12A generation of americans have proven to the world that they're capable of fighting this war
41:20But guadalcanal has also revealed how long and difficult this conflict is going to be
41:27And how steep the price of victory
41:29It was the first clash of arms between the japanese army and american marines and soldiers
41:44And in that victory the americans came out ahead
41:51How's he put it best when he said prior to the battle the japanese advance at their will
41:58after the battle they retreated at oz
42:03It's a long road to tokyo but guadalcanal is the first step
42:13The marines who hold the line for months on guadalcanal are sure their country has forgotten them
42:19But when the first marine division is relieved by army units and sent to australia to recuperate
42:25They learn that they're actually heroes
42:29That year in 1942
42:31Hitler escalates his campaign against the jews of europe
42:38to an unimaginable level
42:40you
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