All language subtitles for World.War.II.In.HD.Colour.S01E05.1080p.BluRay.x264-iFH.en

♪

At 7:56 on the morning
of December 7th, 1941,

Japanese aircraft swooped
down over Hawaii.

Their target: The US
Pacific Fleet at anchor

in its base at Pearl Harbour

Five U.S. ships were
hit immediately.

A few minutes later, more
Japanese aircraft joined in.

By 8:35, two U.S.
battleships were sinking,

two had capsized, and
two were badly damaged.

A seventh battleship,
the Nevada,

slipped her moorings and
was heading out to sea

when she too was caught
and forced to beach.

Simultaneously, Japanese Zero
fighters strafed U.S. aircraft

lined up on the
island's airstrips.

They also shot up
nearby army barracks.

By the end of the attack

dozens of U.S. warships
had been sunk or damaged.

One hundred and eighty eight
aircraft were also destroyed.

The next day, U.S. President
Franklin Roosevelt

declared war on Japan.

Since the unprovoked

and dastardly attack by Japan

on Sunday, December 7, 1941,

a state of war

has existed between
the United States

and the Japanese empire.

The stage was set.

Could Japan knock out the
United States with a swift blow

before the huge might of
America ground it down?

It would become one of the great
conflicts of World War II.

Japan's first steps towards
war had come in August 1940.

Capitalizing on France's
defeat in Europe,

it seized control of
air bases in the north

of the French colony
of Indo-China.

It was looking for a quick and
easy expansion of its Empire.

A year later it issued an
ultimatum demanding the use

of all French air bases
throughout Indo-China.

When the French hesitated,
the Japanese invaded

and seized control of
the entire colony.

Japan felt the consequences
almost immediately.

The United States froze its
overseas financial assets

effectively robbing the country
of its ability to buy oil.

Japan faced a choice.

Climb down and lose face,

or seize more territory
and up the stakes.

For a new Japanese government,

under the aggressive
General Hideki Tojo,

there was no question about
which course to take.

Japanese Army and Navy
commanders were told to prepare

for a swift war to occupy all
the Far Eastern territories

controlled by Britain,
France, the Netherlands

and the United States.

The country was expecting
a swift victory.

♪

Japan saw the Americans,
in particular,

as a nation of pleasure
lovers with no stomach

for a lengthy war and
heavy casualties.

The Japanese military calculated
that if they could destroy

the U.S. Pacific fleet,

the U.S. would quickly
sue for peace.

It was now that they decided
to attack Pearl Harbour

Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto,

commander of the
Japanese combined fleet,

was put in charge.

He had ten battleships,
ten aircraft carriers,

and the world's most
advanced naval aircraft.

Against him, the U.S.
Pacific Fleet

had eight World War I vintage
battleships and two carriers.

Yamamoto planned the
attack with great care.

He would hit the U.S. fleet
in Pearl Harbour on a Sunday,

since, according to
intelligence reports,

it usually spent the
weekends in port.

In total radio silence,

the Japanese strike force
gathered in Tankan Bay

in the northerly Kurile Islands.

The fleet set sail on
November 26, 1941.

Meanwhile, as a decoy,

Japanese negotiators
arrived in Washington

to discuss a possible Japanese
withdrawal from China.

The Japanese fleet refuelled
after several days at sea.

Three days later
it was off Hawaii.

The Americans were still
blissfully unaware

that anything was wrong.

At 6 AM on December 7th,
after a final briefing,

the first wave of Japanese
aircraft took off.

As the Japanese aircraft
dived into the attack,

U.S. personnel were
still just stirring

on a fine Sunday morning.

It was all over in less than
two and a quarter hours.

Yamamoto's plan had
worked like a dream.

Or had it?

There was only one problem.

The U.S. fleets' two aircraft
carriers had not been

in Pearl Harbour at the time
and had escaped the attack.

Yamamoto's main aim of crippling the U.S.
Pacific fleet

had only partially succeeded.

U.S. naval air power in the
region was still intact.

But in the United States there
was shock and disbelief.

It quickly turned into a mood
of fury and determination.

Angry mobs attacked
the Japanese embassy.

Japan had disturbed
the sleeping giant.

The U.S. Secretary of the Navy,
Frank Knox, spoke for many.

The Japs started this war.
We are going to finish it.

Yet, before the U.S.

could mobilize its
full strength,

the Japanese were
to inflict more

humiliating defeats on
the Western Allies.

In December of 1941,

as America was licking its
wounds after Pearl Harbour,

Japan launched a
series of attacks on

western colonies in
South East Asia.

It thought it had
knocked out America.

Now it moved against
Britain and its colonies.

The first to be hit was Malaya,

where a Japanese
force came ashore

in the north-east
of the country.

The plan was that it
should make its way south,

down the east coast.

The invasion force was
met by a contingent

of British Indian troops.

But after a day of fighting
they were brushed aside.

Meanwhile, further
north in Thailand,

a second Japanese
landing was unopposed.

Thirty thousand Japanese troops
were soon making their way

down the western
coast of Malaya.

The target of the two
groups: Singapore.

The centre of British military

and political rule
in the Far East.

Britain had turned the
island into what it believed

was an impregnable fortress.

But all the guns pointed
south, out to sea.

The Japanese were approaching
by land from the north.

Yet, British military commanders
remained remarkably untroubled.

They didn't rate the
Japanese as fighting men,

and believed the
Malay jungle was,

anyway, virtually impassable.

But the Japanese
had other ideas.

To soften up Singapore they
attacked the city from the air.

Britain sent the new
battleship, Prince of Wales,

and a battle cruiser, Repulse,

to attack Japanese
troop convoys.

They were met by
Japanese bombers.

Both warships were sunk
in less than two hours.

Almost 1,000 of their
crew were lost.

It was the greatest British
naval disaster of World War II.

In an era of aircraft
and aircraft carriers

it was now clear the battleship,

for years the mainstay
of the British navy,

had had its day.

Back on land the Japanese
continued to head south

towards Singapore.

On January 11th, 1942,
Kuala Lumpur was captured.

The British forces fell back
and withdrew to Singapore.

There were now about 100,000
British soldiers to defend it.

They faced a force of
only 30,000 Japanese.

Even without their big guns,

the British should have
been able to hold out.

The Japanese launched an
assault in early February.

It was supported by
more air strikes.

The British defence was
soon reduced to chaos.

Civilian casualties
began to escalate.

Four days later the
Japanese had pushed

through the last of the
British defensive lines.

The commander, General
Arthur Percival,

surrendered with
over 90,000 men.

Never in the history
of the British Army

had a commander in charge
of such a large force

had to surrender, and
to an enemy general

whose force was outnumbered
more than three to one.

Britain's 200-year-old power
and prestige in the Far East

had been wiped out
in just 10 weeks.

But it wasn't the only disaster.

Elsewhere in Southeast Asia

the Japanese forces were
equally triumphant.

The British garrison in Hong
Kong fought for two weeks

before succumbing to
a Japanese invasion.

In the Philippines,
America fared no better.

Here, a preemptive bombing raid

caught large numbers of U.S.
aircraft

neatly lined up at Clark Field.

Most were destroyed.

Two days later, with U.S. air
power virtually non-existent,

Japanese troops began to land.

The local Philippine
troops melted away.

The Japanese advanced rapidly.

Ten days later
Manila was captured.

The U.S. soldiers were
forced to withdraw

to the Bataan Peninsula.

Here they hoped to hold out

until a relief force
could be sent.

It never came.

On April 3rd, 1942,

Japanese troops launched a major
assault on U.S. positions.

After four days of heavy
fighting they broke through.

The Americans surrendered
two days later.

That left just one British
colony in the region: Burma.

In early 1942,
Japanese forces pushed

into the south of the country.

The British defences had
been utterly neglected.

There were only some 15,000
men defending the country.

They were no match
for the Japanese.

The Allied troops mounted a
brief but doomed resistance.

Less than two months
after invading Burma,

the Japanese had seized
the capital, Rangoon.

Eight weeks later the
British had been pushed

entirely out of the country.

In just under six months the
Japanese had seized control

of the whole eastern
rim of the Pacific.

Their Oriental Blitzkrieg had
been swift and crushing.

Yet, already, there
were warning signs

that they were not as
powerful as they appeared.

On April 18th, 1942, four
months after Pearl Harbour,

America struck back
at the Japanese.

U.S. bombers, flying
low over Tokyo,

dropped bombs on the city close
to the Emperor's Palace.

Others struck Yokohama,
Kobe and Nagoya.

The raid, authorized by
President Roosevelt himself,

was daring in the extreme.

The B-25 Mitchell bombers
had not been designed

to be launched from
aircraft carriers.

They barely managed to
lumber off the deck

of the U.S.S. Hornet,
which had brought them

to within 700 miles of
the Japanese capital.

But that didn't diminish their
effectiveness in the air.

In Japan the raids
caused profound shock.

After their runaway successes
of the past four months,

they had never expected an
attack on their homeland.

Japan's military
planners now decided to

extend the country's defences

If they could seize
additional strategic outposts

in the Pacific, they
could attack and destroy

Allied Forces before they even
come close to the homeland.

Japan already controlled
much of the Chinese coast,

Southeast Asia and
the Philippines.

They had also seized
the Dutch East Indies.

Now they decided to strike south

and attack Papua New Guinea
and the Solomon Islands.

And east to take the
Island of Midway

in the middle of the Pacific.

It would mean the homeland
was surrounded by

a string of fortified positions.

Yet, even as Japan was
planning its move,

its operations were
severely compromised,

though it only realized
this after the war.

The United States had
broken its military

and diplomatic codes.

By spring 1942,

the U.S. Navy's code-breaking
team in Hawaii

was reading enough messages

to give it a remarkably
accurate insight

into Japan's intentions.

So it was

that the U.S. commander-in-chief
in the region,

Admiral Chester Nimitz,
learnt the details and timing

of Japan's planned invasions
of the Solomon Islands

and Papua New Guinea.

If successful they would cut
off Australia from her allies.

A Japanese bombing
raid on Darwin

had already caused widespread
fear of an invasion.

In early May, 1942,
the Japanese plan

to widen its defensive
perimeter was launched.

They seized the Solomon Islands.

Two days later, the
Japanese carrier force

entered the Coral
Sea in preparation

for the main assault
on Papua New Guinea.

But this time the Americans
had anticipated them.

Admiral Nimitz had ordered two U.S.
aircraft carriers

and a number of smaller
warships into the area.

For two days the rival fleets
searched for each other.

Then on May the 7th U.S.
aircraft

located and sank the
Japanese carrier Shoho.

The battle of the Coral
Sea was underway.

Early the following day,
the Japanese responded,

unleashing a hail of
torpedoes and bombs.

To begin with the U.S.
aircraft carrier Yorktown

managed to avoid the
Japanese torpedoes.

But then she took a bomb

which penetrated four
decks before exploding.

Thirty seven men were killed.

The larger and less manoeuvrable
carrier, Lexington,

was also hit by several bombs
as well as two torpedoes.

She developed a
heavy list to port.

The Americans returned fire,

attacking the Japanese
carrier Shokaku.

The first U.S. raid was blunted
by Japanese Zero fighters

which forced the U.S.
Douglas Devastator bombers

to drop their torpedoes
too far out.

All the torpedoes missed.

But a second wave of U.S.
dive bombers struck home.

The Shokaku's deck
was so badly damaged

she could no longer
be used by aircraft.

After two days of fighting

the two forces
finally disengaged.

That evening, the
Lexington, still afloat,

suddenly erupted in
a huge explosion.

There had been an undetected
leak of aviation fuel

that had caught fire.

Amazingly all but 215
of the nearly 3,000 men

on board were rescued.

Later that evening
an American torpedo

scuttled the burning hulk.

The Battle of the Coral Sea
was, on paper, a draw.

Each side had lost one carrier

and had another
severely damaged.

Strategically, however, it
was a major U.S. success.

It had prevented the Japanese
from seizing more territory,

and it had stopped them
from isolating Australia.

The Battle of the Coral Sea

marked a new era
in naval tactics.

It was the first major
sea battle in which

the opposing ships

were completely out
of visual contact.

It was fought, instead, by
aircraft flying from carriers.

It would soon become clear
which side had adapted

to the new form of naval
conflict more successfully.

By the late spring of 1942

Japan and America
were deadlocked.

Japan needed a quick victory if
it was not to be ground down

by the huge resources
of the United States.

In mid-May it began
its next move.

U.S. code breakers reported
Japanese plans for a new attack.

It would be on "Target AF",
somewhere in the mid-Pacific.

The problem, for the Americans,

was that they had no idea
where "Target AF" was.

Could it be a reference to
Midway Island near Hawaii?

An ideal jumping off
point for another attack

on the American fleet
in Pearl Harbour

The code breaking team
suggested a way to find out.

The U.S. air base on Midway

was instructed to send
an un-coded message

reporting problems with the
island's water system.

Almost immediately the
code breakers intercepted

a Japanese signal
that "Target AF"

was having water
supply problems.

Admiral Chester Nimitz now knew

exactly where the
enemy would strike.

The Japanese plan was
typically complex.

A diversionary attack
on the Aleutian islands

in the North Pacific would draw
away part of the U.S. fleet,

while Midway was seized
by an occupation force.

The Americans would be
obliged to hurriedly

commit their carrier force
to retaking the island.

There they would be annihilated

by a huge Japanese
naval presence

including four large
aircraft carriers.

It was the second
Japanese attempt

to wipe out the U.S. Navy in
the Pacific within a year.

Forewarned, the American
carriers left port

and moved to a position

where they could
ambush the Japanese.

On June 3, 1942,

Japanese forces launched
the expected attack

on the Aleutian Islands.

Nimitz didn't respond.

Then, early the next morning,

the main Japanese carrier force

launched a first air
strike on Midway Island

to soften up its defences

U.S. war planes from the
island intercepted them.

Most were outdated
Brewster Buffaloes

and were easily shot
down by the more agile

Japanese Zero fighters.

But the Japanese attack
had been blunted.

Midway's defences had
not been broken.

The Japanese commander,
Admiral Chuichi Nagumo,

faced a difficult decision.

He'd kept some of his
aircraft in reserve,

loaded with munitions
designed specifically

for attacking ships,

just in case the U.S.
fleet was spotted.

Should he now order this
reserve to be stripped

of its torpedoes and
armour-piercing bombs,

and reloaded with high explosive
and fragmentation bombs

for a second strike on Midway?

It would leave him ill-equipped
to take on the U.S. Navy,

but he calculated it was
a risk worth taking.

Then, just as the
reloading was under way,

he received unwelcome news.

A U.S. Naval force
had been spotted.

Was this the U.S. carrier force,

or a smaller, less
significant, fleet of ships?

Nagumo was in a dilemma.

Should he continue with the
second strike on Midway,

or should he, once again,
re-equip his bombers

to take on the U.S. vessels?

Nagumo decided to gamble.

He would push ahead with the
second strike on Midway.

His hope was that when
the bombers returned

there would still be
time to rearm them

to take on the U.S. ships.

Even as he weighed the odds,

the Japanese carriers were
attacked by U.S. bombers.

Every available Japanese
Zero fighter was scrambled

before the U.S. bombers
were repelled.

Then came another report
from reconnaissance planes.

The U.S. force did indeed
contain aircraft carriers.

Nagumo was, once
again, on the spot.

His aircraft were half
way through reloading,

but the U.S. carriers were a
much more important target.

He took a second gamble.

He decided to change
their weapons yet again

to attack the U.S. force.

But while he did so, his ships
would be sitting ducks.

Almost immediately
they came under attack

from low-flying U.S.
torpedo bombers.

But they were old and slow

and attacked without
fighter support.

As they approached
the Japanese fleet

they were rapidly shot down.

For a brief period
it looked as though

Nagumo's gamble had paid off.

Then, just as his bombers
had been reloaded

and were ready to take on the U.S.
carriers,

disaster struck.

U.S. dive bombers, approaching
unseen at high altitude,

hurtled down on his ships.

The Japanese were caught
completely by surprise.

Nagumo had gambled
once too often

and was now at the mercy
of American air power.

Within five minutes

the U.S. dive bombers
had reduced three

of Japan's largest aircraft
carriers to flaming wrecks.

All would later sink.

A fourth carrier, the Hiryu,

had been masked by a rain storm,

and that afternoon mounted
a desperate counterattack.

The U.S. carrier Yorktown
was severely damaged.

It was torpedoed by a Japanese
submarine several days later.

But the Japanese fight
back was short-lived.

Late in the afternoon that day

the Hiryu was also hit and
turned into a blazing pyre.

In a matter of hours

Japan's mastery of the
sea had been destroyed.

The attack on Midway Island
had achieved nothing.

But it had cost Japan its finest
carriers and 332 aircraft.

Well over 2,000 sailors
had also died.

America now ruled the
waves in the Pacific.

Yet, Japan was still
undefeated on land

and a powerful, threatening
force in the air.

In the coming months
it would try to

maximize these advantages.

By summer 1942,

Japanese plans to build
a defensive ring

of occupied territories
around their homeland

had still not been completed.

Heavy losses at sea had
frustrated their attempts

to grab Papua New Guinea and
islands in the central Pacific.

Japanese planners now
came up with a new plan.

If they couldn't do it by
sea, they'd do it by land.

On July 21st, a
division-sized force

of experienced jungle troops

landed on the northern
coast of Papua New Guinea.

They immediately struck west

to capture Port
Moresby, the capital.

Progress was swift at first.

The small Australian
defence force

was completely outnumbered.

Within weeks the Japanese
had captured the main pass

over the Owen Stanley Mountains.

They then halted to
await reinforcements

before the final push
on Port Moresby.

The Australians also
mustered new forces.

When the Japanese
moved off again

they now met much
stiffer resistance.

For the first time, Japanese
troops were up against men

who matched them for training,
experience and morale.

The Australians
stood their ground,

and the Japanese
were temporarily

brought to a standstill.

But conditions in the
jungle were appalling.

There was constant
tropical rain.

Malaria was rife.

The Australians were eventually,
again, forced to retreat.

After two months
of grim fighting,

the Japanese were within
30 miles of Port Moresby.

Then, finally, U.S.
reinforcements arrived.

Through September and
October, the Japanese were,

in their turn, forced back.

The Japanese made an
heroic but suicidal stand.

Many chose to die fighting
rather than surrender.

It took the Allies
another two months

before the Japanese were
finally overwhelmed.

It had been a bloodbath.

Fifteen thousand Japanese troops
had embarked on the operation.

Only 3,000 got away.

The Japanese were in trouble.

They'd lost at sea.

They were now rapidly losing
the initiative on land.

American military might
was asserting itself.

There was only one
alternative left: air power.

Through the summer of 1942,

Japanese engineers began
building a string

of airstrips across the Pacific.

One was on the island
of Guadalcanal

in the southern Solomon Islands.

It was particularly
well situated

to threaten U.S. convoys
heading for Australia.

It would become the focus
of an epic battle.

In July, 1942,

an amphibious force of U.S.
marines invaded the island.

They landed without resistance.

The plan was to capture
the half-built airstrip,

complete it and then turn
it into a U.S. base.

But the Japanese were
not ready to give up.

That night they sent in a naval
force to land reinforcements

and to attack the fleet of U.S.
ships

supporting the marines.

In a dazzling display
of night fighting

the Japanese cruisers
sank four Allied warships

and drove the rest out to sea.

The marines were now
marooned without supplies

and without much of
their equipment.

They dug in around the airstrip.

Despite constant bombardment,

using construction machinery
left behind by the Japanese,

they pushed ahead with the
completion of the airfield.

Two weeks later a group of U.S.
Wildcat fighters

and Dauntless dive
bombers flew in.

They were not a moment too soon.

The next day, newly
arrived Japanese troops

launched a series of suicidal
attacks on the airstrip.

Over the following
months, wave after wave

of fanatical troops were
thrown into the battle.

By the winter of 1942,

the two sides had fought
themselves to a standstill.

Both now dug in to
defensive positions.

Then, in December, the exhausted U.S.
marines

were replaced by fresh troops.

U.S. soldiers now
began a new push

on the increasingly isolated
pockets of Japanese resistance.

By early February, 1943,

the Americans had finally
won control of Guadalcanal.

They had now beaten the
Japanese at sea and on land.

They had even denied
them access to the air.

The Oriental
Blitzkrieg had failed.

The Japanese Empire
now faced a foe

that was still
growing in strength,

at a rate it could
never hope to match.

It was the beginning
of a fundamental shift

in the course of the war.