All language subtitles for World.War.II.in.Colour.S02E03.The.Island.War.1080p.AMZN.WEB-DL.DD+2.0.H.264-playWEB_track3_[eng]

By early 1943,
the Japanese empire
was at its height.

The country had occupied
Malaya and Burma,

the Philippines,

and the Dutch East Indies,

Indonesia today.

These territories had
become vital sources

of strategic supplies,
such as oil and rubber.

Now the United States
laid plans to roll back

the Japanese gains.

The aim was to cut
the country's supply lines

by seizing
the occupied territories.

Japan could then be gradually
strangled to death.

But to win in the vast
expanse of the Pacific,

the US would need to develop
new forms of mobile warfare.

They would be based
on amphibious landings

supported by aircraft
flying from carriers.

The Japanese, unable to
match American firepower,

resorted to increasingly
desperate measures.

The country fell back
on ancient notions

of "military honor"
to create suicide units.

The result would be
a terrible loss of life.

This would be a decisive phase
in the war in the Pacific

and would mark the end of
Japan's dreams of empire.

But this was to come.

Back in the spring of 1943,

the US military chiefs
faced a dilemma.

They had been presented with two
options for the defeat of Japan.

The flamboyant US Army General
Douglas MacArthur,

commander of the US
and Australian forces

in the south-west Pacific,

favored a primarily
land-based route.

His idea was to seize
the Solomon Islands,

Papua New Guinea
and the Philippines.

They could then be turned
into a strategic barrier

that would cut off Japan

from its newly conquered lands
in Burma,

Malaya and
the Dutch East Indies.

Japan would be starved
into surrender.

Equally importantly,
this plan would mean

Macarthur could repay a debt.

Earlier in the war,
he had been kicked out

of the Philippines
by the Japanese

and he had promised to return
to liberate the country.

But the US navy had
a different idea.

It would by-pass the heavily
defended Solomon Islands,

Papua New Guinea
and the Philippines.

Instead, it would seize a
string of much smaller islands

scattered across
the central Pacific

and close to
the Japanese homeland.

Rather than a barrier,
the US would have a series

of strategic bases from which
to attack Japan's supply lines.

They argued it would be swifter
and much more economic.

The American military command
put off the decision.

Both the army and navy
were told to go ahead.

In June 1943,
MacArthur's plan was launched.

It was called
Operation Cartwheel.

The first target was the major
Japanese military base

at Rabaul on New Britain
in the Solomon Islands.

It would be
a two-pronged attack.

The eastern prong
fought its way up

through New Georgia
and Bourgainville.

The western prong battled its
way through Papua New Guinea.

But the virtually
impenetrable jungle,

and unhealthy climate,
made progress slow.

It was nearly nine months
before the pincers met

and the Japanese base
at Rabaul was isolated.

Meanwhile, as the US army took
control of the Solomon Islands,

the US navy mustered
a mighty fleet.

It included the first
four of the brand new

Essex class aircraft carriers.

They were bigger and faster
than anything before.

The new carriers were equipped
with outstanding new planes,

like the Hellcat
and Corsair fighters.

Helldiver dive-bombers.

And Avenger torpedo bombers.

Together,
they both outperformed

and outnumbered
their Japanese opponents.

The navy's first targets
were the Japanese garrisons

on the coral atolls
of Tarawa and Makin

in the Gilbert Islands.

These were close to some
of the most important

supply routes
across the Pacific.

For a week the atolls were
bombed by carrier-based
aircraft.

Then, on November 20th, 1943,

there was an amphibious landing.

Makin was captured
with little difficulty.

But Tarawa
was a different story.

Reconnaissance had failed
to reveal that the water

was too shallow
for the landing craft.

As the Marines waded ashore,
they came under intense fire.

The island was honeycombed with
fortified machine-gun nests.

US troops who made it
to dry land

were pinned down on the beach.

By the end of the day, over
1,500 of the 5,000 US Marines

landed had been killed
or severely injured.

Over the next two days,
frontal assaults

pushed the Japanese
back inch-by-inch.

Very often, only flamethrowers

could eliminate
the Japanese strong points.

It took three days
before the last pocket

of Japanese resistance
was wiped out.

Of the 4,200 Japanese
troops on the island,

only 17 were captured alive.

Tarawa was a terrible forerunner
of what was to come.

The Japanese had shown
that there would be
no question of surrender.

They would fight to the death.

It was a grim prospect.

In January 1944,
America's naval offensive

in the Pacific moved on
to the Marshall Islands.

Admiral Chester Nimitz,

the US naval commander
in the central Pacific,

was anxious to avoid
another bloodbath.

So aircraft from
his carrier force

bombed Japanese airfields on the
islands for nearly two months.

Finally, on February 1st, 1944,
he sent in the assault forces.

The flat and open island
of Roi was quickly overrun.

But the islands of Kwajalein
and Namur were wooded

and the Japanese
resisted fanatically.

US forces used flamethrowers
and explosives.

The Japanese responded

by launching suicidal
"Banzai" charges.

But the US forces now
knew what to expect.

The Japanese were beaten back.

Over 8,000
Japanese soldiers died

for the loss of less
than 400 US lives.

Atoll after atoll in
the Marshall Islands

now fell to the US advance.

Kwajalein was
followed by Eniwetok.

The island of Truk was
bypassed and cut off,

though a small Japanese
garrison would remain

undefeated until
the end of the war.

The way was now clear
for the next push,

1,000 miles west towards
the Mariana Islands.

If captured, the islands
would put the Japanese mainland

within range
of US heavy bombers.

They would also enable America
to block Japan's supply lines

from South-East Asia.

On June 11th, 1944,
the US started to soften up

the three main islands
in the Marianas.

Four days later,
Marines stormed the beaches

of the northerly island
of Saipan.

This time the terrain was
mountainous with many caves,

and the preliminary
bombardment had not disrupted

the Japanese defenses
as much as had been hoped.

Nevertheless,
by the end of the day,

the American
bridgehead was secure.

In Tokyo, the news
caused mounting alarm.

The Japanese High Command
now sent a carrier fleet

to rescue the situation
and save the Marianas.

But the task force was
spotted by US submarines.

The Americans sent
their main carrier force

to intercept the Japanese.

On the morning
of June 19th, 1944,

the Japanese launched air
strikes against the US ships.

But US radar saw them coming.

450 fighters were scrambled to
intercept the Japanese planes.

It turned into the largest
aircraft carrier battle
ever fought.

The US Task Force had
15 aircraft carriers

and more than 900 aircraft.

Ranged against it,
the Japanese had nine carriers

and nearly 500 aircraft.

But Japan had lost many of
its experienced aircrews

during the Soloman and
Marshall Islands campaigns.

It's novice pilots faced
battle-hardened US fliers.

The Japanese were
out-gunned and out-fought.

It would go down in history
as "The Great Marianas
Turkey Shoot".

Half an hour into the battle
a torpedo from a US submarine

hit the newest and largest
Japanese carrier, the "Taiho",

while she was still
launching aircraft.

The battle of
the Philippine Sea

had claimed
its first major victim.

At around the same time
another US submarine

torpedoed the carrier "Shokaku".

She was completely destroyed.

Nevertheless
the Japanese commander decided

to continue with the operation,

hoping to stop further US
landings in the Marianas.

For much of the following day,

the US forces tried to
pin down the exact location

of the remaining
Japanese carriers.

Bearing zero-nine-six.

It took them until
the afternoon to find them.

It was late in the day
to launch an attack

and the aircraft would have to
fly at the limit of their range.

But the US Task Force commander,

Admiral Marc Mitscher,
decided to gamble and attack.

A third Japanese carrier,
the "Hiyo", was hit and sunk.

The Japanese had lost
over 300 aircraft.

But as the US planes
now returned,

dangerously short of fuel,
they ran into a problem.

In the gathering darkness,

they couldn't find
their own carriers.

Many ran out of fuel and
had to ditch in the sea.

Mitscher, in an act of
extraordinary courage,

ordered his carriers
to switch on their lights

to guide in
the returning aircraft.

Fortunately for the Americans,

there were no Japanese
submarines to see them.

Nevertheless over
80 US planes were lost,

either through having
to ditch in the sea

or through crashing
while they landed.

But Japanese losses
had been even greater.

Three carriers,
and most of the aircraft

needed to equip its remaining
carrier fleet, were gone.

From now on,
the United States Navy would

dominate the Pacific, striking
when and where it wanted.

The Japanese naval defeat
in the Philippine Sea

meant the United States
could now press on

with its assault on
the Marianas.

The Japanese forces on Saipan

held out for three weeks

before they were overcome
on July 9th, 1944.

The final horror came when
thousands of Japanese civilians

were persuaded to jump to
their deaths from the cliffs

rather than be
captured by the Americans.

The last Japanese
troops then launched

their now inevitable
suicide charge.

Virtually the entire
32,000-strong garrison
was killed.

Over 3,000 Americans also died.

Two weeks later, US Marines
landed on the islands

of Guam and Tinian,

also in the Marianas.

Once again, they faced suicidal
Japanese counterattacks.

But they failed to stop
the American advance.

The US Navy had seized
the Marianas.

Both the US army
and navy offensives

had now completed
the first phase

of their separate strategies
to isolate Japan.

The US military planners
now had to make a choice.

Should they continue to back
MacArthur's strategy

and move on to the capture
of the Philippines?

Or should they go with the naval
plan and send a fleet across

the Pacific to seize Taiwan
or the Ryukyu Islands?

The naval option would
isolate Japan without the need

for an almost certainly
lengthy and bloody operation

to take the Philippines.

But at a meeting in
Hawaii on July 26th, 1944,

MacArthur charmed
President Roosevelt

into backing his plan to
liberate the Philippines.

The navy was instructed
to support it

before returning to
its island-hopping strategy.

It was a decision that would
cost a horrendous number

of both military
and civilian lives.

The following month, US forces

landed on the Philippine
island of Leyte.

They took the Japanese
by surprise.

They had expected
the first US landing

to be on the main
island of Luzon.

Within hours, MacArthur
was striding ashore

with press photographers
in attendance.

He later made a broadcast
to the Philippine people.

I see that the old
flagstaff still stands.

Have your troops
hoist the colors

to its peak and let no enemy
ever haul them down.

But the Japanese soon recovered
and launched an ambitious plan

to use the remains of their
naval power to counterattack.

Operation Sho -

meaning Victory -
was typically complex.

The main strength of
the Japanese fleet

was divided into two groups
to form a pincer.

One pincer would approach

through
the San Bernardino Straits

and attack the US landing
from the north.

The second would come in
through the Surigao Straits

and attack from the south.

Meanwhile,
a decoy group of Japan's

last four carriers would
approach the Philippines

from the north-east,
hoping to lure away

the main US carrier force
covering the landing.

The northern arm of
the Japanese pincer

came under air attack
almost immediately.

After nearly two
days of bombardment,

the super-battleship
"Musashi" was sunk.

The northern pincer
then appeared to retreat.

It was now that the US
commanders got into a muddle.

The man in charge of
the main carrier force

covering the landings was
Admiral William "Bull" Halsey.

He now got word
of the Japanese carriers

approaching from the north-east.

Halsey, believing
the northern pincer
was no longer a threat,

set off to intercept them.

He had fallen for
the Japanese decoy.

The force protecting
the US landing

was now severely weakened.

But the commander
of this force

now inadvertently
compounded the problem.

Unaware that Halsey
had taken off,

he sent his battleships
to ambush

the southern arm of
the Japanese pincer.

It looked like
a spectacular success.

But then disaster struck.

The northern arm of
the Japanese pincer

had only pretended to retreat.

Under cover of darkness
it turned round and headed back.

It then attacked
the hugely depleted force

protecting the US landing.

Only a handful of small
escort carriers and destroyers

faced the Japanese
super-battleship "Yamato"

and three other battleships.

It was now the turn
of the Americans

to put up a desperate fight.

The Japanese tactic had caught
the US aircraft unprepared.

They were armed with high
explosives for land operations

rather than armor-piercing
bombs for ships.

Then, just as it seemed the
Japanese must break through,

they suddenly turned tail.

Their commander had worried
he was sailing into a trap.

Meanwhile, to the north,
Halsey's headlong rush

to intercept the Japanese
decoy force, finally paid off.

On October 25th, 1944, all four
Japanese carriers were sunk.

The battle of Leyte Gulf
had completely finished off

Japan's once proud navy.

There was now little hope
of holding back
the American advance.

For Japan, it was time
for desperate measures.

The stage was set
for a terrible climax

to Macarthur's plan.

By the autumn of 1944,
the Allies had isolated

the Japanese forces
in the Philippines.

Their naval support
had been destroyed.

Japan needed a new tactic

if it was to hold back
the American advance.

The Japanese commander
in the islands

called for volunteers
to join special units.

They were called the Kamikazes,
or Divine Wind,

and drew on the Japanese
military code of honor

that it was better to die
than live as a coward.

They were suicide units.

On October 25th, 1944,

the first Kamikaze unit took
a final ceremonial drink

before taking off.

Its target was the US fleet.

The escort carrier
"St Lo" was sunk

and two others badly damaged.

Further Kamikaze
attacks followed.

Not all were
restricted to the air.

The Japanese troops now
began strapping mines

to their bodies and deliberately
diving under US tanks.

The American advance through
the Philippine island
of Leyte slowed.

It would take two months before
the island was finally secured.

Over 70,000 Japanese troops
had lost their lives.

The Americans had lost
nearly 16,000 men.

But MacArthur was undaunted.

He now moved on to the main
Philippine island of Luzon.

The defenses were, as usual,
softened up by air attacks.

The US troops went ashore
virtually unopposed.

But as they advanced,
Japanese resistance stiffened.

Tanks, artillery, mortars
and flame throwers were used

to destroy a succession
of Japanese strongholds.

Painfully, the US forces
battled forward.

By January 23rd, 1945,

they had reached the major
airbase of Clark Field,

60 miles from
the capital, Manila.

A week later, they were
approaching the capital itself.

Manila was famous for
its architectural beauty.

The Japanese regional commander
had taken a decision

to preserve its buildings
by not defending it.

But the junior Japanese
garrison commander

disobeyed orders
and refused to withdraw.

His 20,000 troops pledged to
defend Manila to the death.

There now began a ferocious,
month long battle

to seize
the Philippine capital.

The US troops fought
their way into the city.

At first they too tried to
preserve the major buildings.

But as they ran into snipers,
machine-gun nests and
hidden artillery,

they were forced to reduce
much of the city to rubble.

By the end of February,
the Japanese defenders

had been driven back into
the 16th-century citadel
of Intramuros.

It would take another week
of fierce fighting
to flush them out.

Finally, on April 13th, 1945,

US forces mounted
an amphibious attack

on Manila Bay's last
fortification, Fort Drum,

the "Concrete Battleship"
in the harbor.

Its ventilation shafts
were packed with kerosene,

white phosphorous
and explosives.

None of the defenders survived.

The battle for Manila
had been an horrific affair.

Thousands of Japanese
and US soldiers had died.

But the real horror was
that some 100,000 civilians

also lost their lives,

many massacred indiscriminately

by the Japanese during
the final days of fighting.

Elsewhere in the Philippines
there were more than
50 US landings

on other smaller islands.

But it would take
until the end of the war

before the last pockets
of Japanese resistance

were finally flushed out.

MacArthur's conquest
of the Philippines

had proved as difficult
and costly in lives

as his critics had feared.

It may also have been
unnecessary.

By now, US submarines
had virtually cut off Japan

from its supply lines
and the navy was closing in

on the homeland itself.

The Japanese merchant fleet
was particularly vulnerable.

It was rarely
organized into convoys

and anyway there weren't enough
escort vessels to protect them.

By the end of 1944,

so many Japanese merchant
ships had been sunk,

the US navy was having problems
finding new targets.

US submarines now moved in

ever closer to the shores
of the Japanese home islands.

Japan was being starved of fuel,
food and raw materials.

The US navy's submarines
in the Pacific had succeeded

where German U-boats in
the Atlantic had failed,

in bringing an island
nation close to defeat.

But now the US forces
faced the daunting prospect

of invading its fanatical
enemy's homeland.

By spring 1945, US forces
were closing in on Japan

from the south and east.

But to the west -
in China, Burma and India -

a separate campaign
had been unfolding.

Japan had invaded China in 1937.

The United States had
regarded the Chinese leader,

Chiang Kai-Shek, as
a Western ally, and sent aid.

Much of it went in through
British-controlled Burma

along the so-called Burma Road

over the mountains
to southern China.

Then in 1942,
Japan invaded Burma

and kicked out the British.

The Burma Road was shut down.

Six months later,
Britain launched

the first of a series
of attacks to retake Burma

and re-open the road.

The first, in late 1942,

advanced down
the Burmese coast from India.

But the Japanese crushed it.

The second, nine months later,
tried a different approach.

Instead of sending in
a conventional force,

small groups of soldiers
were infiltrated

deep behind Japanese lines.

They were known as Chindits

and were the brainchild of
an unconventional officer

called Orde Wingate.

Their task was to
destroy railway lines

and disrupt Japanese
communications.

Chindits - that's the
name for the guardian statues

which stand up the steps
of Burma pagodas.

A name from legend
that becomes flesh and blood.

Living guardians of
Burma's liberty.

But the Japanese soon
began to hunt them down.

By mid-April 1943,

over one-third of the Chindit
forces had been killed.

The remainder were
forced back into India.

The struggle to re-take Burma
was becoming a serious problem.

So in late 1943,

the Allies turned to
US General Joseph Stilwell.

We got run out of Burma
and it's humiliating as hell.

I think we ought to find
out what caused it,

go back and re-take the place.

Stillwell had spent
years helping to overhaul

the forces of neighboring China.

The Allies now decided
to put them to the test.

Stilwell's Chinese soldiers,

reinforced by an elite US
group of jungle fighters

known as Merrill's Marauders,
would be sent into Burma.

On October 1943,

they crossed the border

and made their way down
the east side of the country.

Meanwhile,
the British India Army

launched a diversionary strike

along the Burmese coast.

Finally, Chindits moved
into northern Burma,

deep behind enemy lines,
to cut Japanese supply routes.

The Japanese fell for
the diversionary tactic

and sent forces to
counterattack along the coast.

Two divisions of troops
from British India

came under fierce fire.

But the Allied forces
stood their ground.

They were re-supplied
from the air.

They could now fight back,

and two weeks later
the Japanese withdrew.

But it was only
a temporary reprieve.

The Japanese launched a
counter-offensive of their own.

In March 1944,
they invaded India

in an attempt to disrupt
Allied preparations

for further attacks.

For two weeks there
was intense fighting.

The towns of Kohima
and Imphal were besieged.

But there was
stiff resistance

and the Japanese were
finally forced to withdraw.

Over 65,000 of them were killed.

It was a major blow to their
military strength in the region.

Meanwhile, in Burma,

Stillwell's Chinese forces
had fought their way

down the east side
of the country

and by May 1944 had reached

the important cross-roads
town of Myitkyina

on the old Burma Road.

For three months
the Japanese held them off.

But in early August 1944,

Myitkyina was over-run.

The way was now clear for
Stillwell's men to push further

on down the east side
of the country.

They were soon joined
by a fresh force

of Anglo-Indian troops under
British General William Slim.

This began advancing into
the center of the country.

In early March 1945,
Slim's forces took

the important communications
center of Meiktila.

Soon afterwards
they seized Mandalay.

With the monsoon
season now approaching,

Stillwell's forces
dug in on the east.

But Slim's forces pushed on

towards the Burmese capital
of Rangoon.

They were slowed down
by the rain.

But by early May 1945,

the Allied troops were
20 miles north of Rangoon.

Allied reinforcements
were now sent in

from the south to support them.

Gurkhas parachuted
into the Irrawaddy delta.

An Indian division
came in by sea.

On May 3rd, 1945, the Allied
forces finally entered Rangoon.

But the city was empty.

The Japanese had pulled out
rather than risk being cut off.

The monsoon
was now in full flow.

But the campaign to clear
the Japanese out of Burma

was effectively over.

The next stop in the war in
South-East Asia would be Malaya.

But for all the success,

Allied losses in the war
against the Japanese

had been terrible.

The Americans were desperate
to find a way to bring
the war to an end

without having to invade
the Japanese homeland.