All language subtitles for World.War.II.In.HD.Colour.S01E13.1080p.BluRay.x264-iFH.en

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In the first months of 1945,

Japan was on the run.

The Americans had fought their
way across the Pacific.

US submarines and aircraft
had destroyed Japan's

merchant fleet and
naval airpower.

The main Japanese home
islands had been cut off

from vital supplies of
fuel and raw materials.

The Japanese were facing defeat.

Yet they refused to surrender,

convinced that if
they fought back

with sufficient
brutality, the Americans

wouldn't have the
stomach for the fight

and would give in.

Japan made clear that
every move towards

the home islands would be
paid for in Allied blood.

It presented the United
States with a huge problem.

How could Japan be defeated

without a terrible
loss of American life?

The country would
eventually turn to the most

powerful and dreadful
weapon ever seen.

A weapon that would change
the course of war forever.

In early 1945, as US
military planners

considered the next
move against Japan,

their gaze fell on the Japanese-
occupied island of Iwo Jima.

It lay a mere 800 miles
from the Japanese mainland

and would be a valuable base
for attacking the country.

The US commander in
the central Pacific,

Admiral Chester Nimitz,
assembled the largest

landing fleet ever
brought together

in the Pacific campaign,

and prepared to
invade the island.

Nimitz was taking no risks.

Wave after wave of
American aircraft

paved the way with a massive
aerial bombardment.

Then, on the morning of
February the 19th, 1945,

the guns of the naval task
force began one of the most

prolonged bombardments
of the war.

At the same time, landing
craft set off for the shore.

The marines hit the
beaches of Iwo Jima

along the south-western shore

just after 9 o'clock
in the morning.

For a few moments, there
was an eerie calm.

The massive naval and
aerial bombardment

appeared to have overwhelmed
the Japanese garrison.

Then a hurricane of Japanese
fire swept over them.

General Tadamichi Kuribayashi,

the Japanese commander
on the island,

had told his men
to hold their fire

until the Americans were
right under their guns.

Now, the Japanese opened
up from a network

of tunnels, caves and bunkers.

There was carnage.

But gradually, small
groups of US troops

inched their way forward.

Finally, by the evening, the
beachhead had been secured.

The task now was to
capture the 550 foot high

Mount Suribachi, the
heavily defended

volcano that dominates Iwo Jima.

For three days, marines
clawed their way

up the steep pitted slopes.

They were supported
by a constant air

and naval bombardment
from the invasion fleet.

Finally, on February
the 23rd, 1945,

a US platoon, led by First
Lieutenant Harold Schreier,

began the final assault,

carrying with them
a small US flag.

They reached the summit,
and raised their flag

using a piece of
piping as a pole.

Marine Corps photographer,
Staff Sergeant

Louis Lowery, captured the scene
with a few precious photographs.

The hard-pressed marines
on the beaches below

cheered and wept.

Ships sounded their whistles.

Three hours later, the
event was re-staged

with a larger US flag.

The moment was immortalised
by photographer

Joe Rosenthal, with
one of the most

iconic photographs of the war.

But the battle for Iwo
Jima was far from over.

The rest of the island was
still in Japanese hands.

The next day, the marines
captured the first

of the island's strategically
vital airfields.

But Kuribayashi had told
his men to take as many

of the enemy with
them as possible.

Their duty to the Emperor,
to die on the island.

It meant each assault became
a bloody frontal affair.

It took two weeks before
the remaining two

airfields on the island
were in US hands.

Even as the fighting
continued, the US air force

began to make use of
Iwo Jima's airfields.

During the late spring
and summer of 1945,

over 2,500 damaged US bombers

made emergency landings
on the island,

often saving the lives
of their crews.

Finally, at the end of March,

after some six weeks
of ferocious fighting,

the last Japanese
resistance was snuffed out.

But the capture of Iwo Jima
had come at a terrible price.

Only 200 of the 22,000-strong
Japanese garrison survived.

The Americans had
also suffered badly.

Nearly 7,000 marines
had been killed

and some 18,000 wounded.

The Americans finally had
the base they needed,

but it was now clear
that unless the US

could come up with
an alternative,

any invasion of Japan
would be paid for

in tens of thousands
of American lives.

In the United States, one
group of military planners

had long believed there was

an alternative to
invading Japan.

It was called strategic bombing.

This involved carefully
targeted bombing raids,

designed to destroy
Japan's infrastructure,

industry, and ability
to wage war.

But in the first years
of the Pacific war,

there was a problem.

Japan lay beyond the range
of America's bombers.

In April 1942, the US
had managed to launch

a one off bombing raid on Tokyo,

but it had pushed the
bombers to their limits,

and was never a practical
long-term option.

Then, in early 1944, the
Boeing Aircraft Corporation

produced a revolutionary
new heavy bomber,

the B-29 Superfortress.

It could carry 20,000
pounds of bombs

over a range of 3,250 miles.

Suddenly, Japan was
just about in reach

of America's forward
bases in the Pacific.

In summer 1944, nine
months before the assault

on Iwo Jima, US B-29s
stationed at Chengdu

in southwest China,
began a series

of strategic bombing
raids on Japan.

But range was still an issue.

It was too far for
a fighter escort,

so the Superfortresses
had to fly alone,

staying at high altitude
for their own safety.

Even then, the range was
only just within limits

and there was no room
for navigational error.

Many of the bombs
missed their targets.

Then, in July 1944,
there was a development

that gave strategic bombing
a new lease of life.

The US Navy captured
the Mariana Islands

in the central Pacific.

They were only 1,500 miles
from the Japanese homeland.

This was well within the
B-29s operating range.

The odds for a successful
bombing campaign

on Japan had
dramatically improved.

On November the 24th,
over 100 Superfortresses

took off from the Marianas.

Their target, the Nakajima
aircraft factory in Tokyo.

But only 48 bombs struck
anywhere near the target.

For three months,
more raids targeted

other industrial sites.

But the B-29s were still flying
without a fighter escort,

and still dropping their
bombs from high altitude.

The targets were often
obscured by cloud,

and jet stream winds
made accurate

bomb-aiming impossible.

To make matters worse,

the B-29s suffered
from engine problems.

There were also attacks
from Kamikaze pilots.

By the winter of
1944, it was clear

that strategic bombing
was just not working.

If Japan was to be
bombed into submission,

the US would have to come
up with something else.

So it was that on
December the 18th, 1944,

America tried a new tactic.

84 B-29s set off from Chengdu
for Japanese occupied

Hankow on the Yangtse River.

They flew much lower than usual

and carried mostly incendiary,

rather than
high-explosive bombs.

Hankow was devastated.

The raid was more
effective than almost

any of the previous
strategic bombing raids.

The US appeared to have
found a way forward.

Fire-bombing at low altitude.

The US bomber commander
in the Marianas,

General Curtis
LeMay, now ordered

the systematic
fire-bombing of Japan.

It was the same
tactic that Britain

had employed in Germany.

On the evening of
March the 9th, 1945,

Pathfinder aircraft
roared over Tokyo

dropping incendiary
target indicators.

The fires they started
marked the aiming points

for almost 300 B-29s.

Coming in at just 5,000 feet,

they dropped over 2,000
tons of incendiary bombs.

The flimsy wooden
houses stood no chance.

Air was sucked in, creating
towering firestorms,

which raced faster
than people could run.

The glow for the burning city

could be seen over
150 miles away.

When the all clear finally
sounded the following morning,

16 square miles of Tokyo
had been obliterated.

Over 100,000 of its
citizens were killed

and a million made homeless.

Tokyo was not the
only city to face

this devastating new tactic.

Nagoya was set ablaze
two nights later.

Then, Osaka and Kobe
during the following week.

Firestorms engulfed whole areas,

destroying houses and
industrial facilities.

But American success
was coming at a price.

Without escorts, the
low-flying US bombers

were dangerously vulnerable
to Japanese fighters.

American losses now mounted.

If the bombing campaign
was ever to succeed,

the US needed bases
even closer to Japan.

Within weeks, Iwo Jima fell.

Now, at last, the US air
force not only had a base

for its bombers within easy
striking distance of Japan,

it could finally use its Mustang
fighters to escort them.

During the late spring and
early summer of 1945,

strikes of up to 500 bombers
attacked Japan every other day.

Once the largest industrial
areas had been crippled,

LeMay moved on to
lesser targets.

Yet, in the face of
catastrophic damage

and an appalling death toll,

the Japanese showed
no sign of cracking.

It finally dawned
on the Americans

that strategic bombing alone was
never going to defeat Japan.

It looked like a
full scale invasion

of the country was
becoming inevitable.

For the US battle planners,
the next logical step

in the land campaign was the
Japanese island of Okinawa.

It lay a mere 350 miles from
the Japanese homeland islands.

The island was defended
by more than 120,000 men.

The Japanese commander,
General Mitsuru Ishijima,

was determined to turn it
into an American graveyard.

Once again, Admiral
Nimitz, the US commander

in the region, assembled
a huge fleet.

It included 40 aircraft
carriers and 18 battleships.

The opening bombardment
of Okinawa

began on March the 23rd, 1945.

It lasted for a whole week.

Finally, on the morning
of April the 1st,

the assault boats
headed for the shore.

To their surprise, they
met almost no opposition.

By nightfall, 60,000
men had landed

and the beachhead was
up to two miles deep.

For the next two days,
the US forces built up

their strength and pushed
across the island.

Again, opposition was
unexpectedly light.

By April the 4th, the
Japanese defenders

had been split in two.

Marine divisions
now headed north,

Army units pushed south.

The marines continued to meet
only sporadic resistance,

and within three
weeks had cleared

the northern part of the island.

But it was a different
story in the south.

There, the army units
ran into savage fire.

For ten days, the Japanese
held their defensive line.

Then, when they could
hold out no longer,

they simply withdrew to the
next defensive position,

and continued to
resist all over again.

Meanwhile, the
Japanese also prepared

to launch an air assault
on the invasion fleet.

Early on the morning
of April the 7th,

kamikaze pilots
gathered to drink

their ritual cups of sake

and climb into their
aircraft for the last time.

Over 700 aircraft, half
of them kamikazes,

took off and approached
the US landing fleet.

A line of radar-equipped
destroyers,

operating about 50 miles
out at sea, was hit first.

By the end of the first
day of the attack,

two US destroyers had been sunk.

24 other vessels
were also damaged.

But the Japanese had
lost over 300 planes.

Over the following days,

the Japanese introduced
a new weapon.

The Okha, or Cherry Blossom,
was a rocket-powered

suicide missile driven
by a kamikaze pilot.

It was launched from a bomber

and carried a massive
2,650 pound warhead.

On April the 12th, another US
destroyer was hit and sunk.

The Okha looked deadly,

but US fighters quickly
learned to intercept

and shoot down the bombers
that carried them.

In desperation, the
Japanese navy now sent

a suicide mission of its own.

The Yamato, Japan's
largest battleship,

was loaded with just enough
fuel to reach Okinawa,

and ordered to fight
to the death,

sinking as many US ships as
possible in the process.

But as the giant ship
approached Okinawa,

it was spotted.

Some 400 US aircraft
descended on it.

Within two hours, it blew up.

The fireball could be
seen for over 100 miles.

Back on Okinawa, torrential rain

now turned the battlefield
into a quagmire.

For over a month,
US troops struggled

to push their way south.

Every cave or dugout
entrance had to be blasted

by flamethrowers,
grenades, and explosives.

As before, as one defensive
line was overrun,

the Japanese slipped
back to another,

and the whole grim business
would start again.

US casualties rapidly mounted.

Finally, on June the 1st, the
town of Shuri was captured.

Then, on June the 4th, a
new contingent of marines

landed to the south of Naha,
the island's capital,

and linked up with troops
pushing down from the north.

Savage fighting continued,

but by June the 17th,

the Japanese resistance
was collapsing.

Five days later, the Americans
finally secured Okinawa.

The Japanese commander,
General Ishijima,

committed ritual
suicide, hara kiri.

Over 7,000 prisoners were taken,

the first time ever
that such large numbers

of Japanese troops
had surrendered.

It had been a bloody and
exhausting campaign.

100,000 Japanese soldiers,

and some 40,000 civilians,

had been killed.

The Americans, for their part,

had lost over 15,000 men.

It was a sobering reminder
of what would await

the American forces
if they invaded

the main Japanese home islands.

More than ever, they
needed a solution,

a way to obliterate
Japan's will to fight,

once and for all.

The victory at Okinawa
meant America's

military planners now had
to decide what to do next.

Despite shattering
defeats, the Japanese

still showed no sign
of surrendering.

Some US commanders argued
for a continuation

of the fire bombing campaign,

but by the summer of
1945, it was clear

that bombing alone would
never defeat Japan.

An invasion seemed unavoidable,

but the question
was, at what price?

The Japanese had
some one million men

defending the home islands.

They were supported by
about 5,000 aircraft,

and new kamikaze pilots were
being trained all the time.

Mass suicide attacks
by civilian volunteers

could also be expected.

A bloodbath seemed inevitable.

It was estimated that over
a quarter of a million

American lives might be lost.

Then, in July 1945,
the new US President,

Harry S. Truman, heard
about the results

of a top secret Allied
scientific research program.

It was called the
Manhattan Project.

For three years, Allied
scientists had been working

on an atom bomb, a
weapon that draws

on the vast quantities
of energy released

when an atom is split.

It would have an unimaginable
destructive force.

The project was led by US
General Leslie Groves,

an Army engineer.

The scientific director
was Robert Oppenheimer,

a 39-year-old physicist from
the University of California.

Over a three year period,
the program had recruited

many of the Allies'
best scientific brains.

Two radioactive materials
seemed to offer

most promise as fuels
for the new bombs.

One was a naturally
occurring form of uranium

called Uranium 235.

It was processed at a vast
factory at Oak Ridge, Tennessee.

The other was plutonium,
a man-made material

manufactured in primitive
nuclear reactors

at Hanford in Washington State.

The research was
coordinated and conducted

by a team of scientists
at Los Alamos,

a specially built
laboratory complex

in the New Mexico desert.

By early 1945, the
Los Alamo scientists

were pretty confident
that they had

a uranium bomb that worked,

but it required huge
quantities of Uranium 235,

and the scientists worried

that they didn't
have enough of it,

so they also designed
a second bomb

that used plutonium.

But this, unlike
the uranium bomb,

was much less well understood,

and they weren't
sure it would work.

Before it could be used,

they would need to test it.

By early July 1945,
after an expenditure

of more the $2 billion,

the plutonium bomb was
ready for trials.

The Gadget, as it was
called, was mounted

on a steel tower in the
New Mexico desert.

At 5:30 in the morning
of July the 16th,

the atomic age began.

News that Operation Trinity
had been successful

was swiftly passed
to President Truman.

He had recently arrived
at a conference

in the Berlin suburb of Potsdam,

meeting with Stalin
and Churchill,

discussing the future of Europe.

Truman didn't hesitate.

He ordered his commanders
to prepare to drop

the new bombs on Japan
as soon as possible.

Two bombs, a uranium device
code-named Little Boy

and a plutonium bomb
called Fat Man,

were now transported to
the Mariana Islands.

There, the immensely experienced
Colonel Paul Tibbets,

leader of the specially trained
509th Composite Group,

prepared his B-29.

At 2:45 in the morning
of August the 6th,

Tibbets lifted his plane,

named Enola Gay
after his mother,

off the runway.

On board he was
carrying Little Boy.

The flight to the target,

Japan's fourth largest
city, Hiroshima,

went without a hitch.

At 8am, on a bright,
sunny morning,

Enola Gay approached the
city at 33,000 feet.

Then, at just after 8:15,
Little Boy was released.

The uranium bomb had the power

of nearly 13,00 tons of TNT.

The temperature beneath
the mushroom cloud

reached 5,000
degrees centigrade.

Thousands of people were
instantly vaporised.

Shock waves levelled buildings
up to a five mile radius.

Estimates of the death
toll vary hugely.

Some put it at 40,000 people,

others at 100,000.

Many suffered from terrible
burns and blistering.

Over the course of
the following weeks,

thousands more people died
from radiation poisoning.

On August the 7th,
1945, President Truman

told the world about the bomb

and issued Japan with a warning.

Let there be no mistake.

We shall completely destroy
Japan's power to make war.

They may expect a rain
of ruin from the air,

the like of which has never
been seen on this earth.

But no Japanese
surrender was received.

Two days later, on
August the 9th,

Fat Man was dropped on the major
military port of Nagasaki.

The plutonium bomb was
even more powerful.

In fact, the bomb
fell way off target,

but it still caused
massive destruction.

Between 35,000 and 50,000
people are estimated

to have died in the explosion.

The Japanese government
could now have no doubt

that they faced a new
and horrific weapon,

but the question remained,

would even this force
them to surrender?

The Nagasaki bomb was
followed by a stark warning

from US Secretary of
State James Byrnes.

There is still time,
but little time,

for the Japanese
to save themselves

from the destruction
which threatens them.

The intention was clear.

The atom bomb would be
used again and again,

until Japan gave in.

That same day, Japan's position
became even more precarious.

Early in the morning
of August the 9th,

a million and a
half Soviet troops

stormed into Manchuria
and northern China.

The Soviet leader, Josef Stalin,

was not only after territory.
He wanted a say

in any final peace
settlement in the far east.

There were still over a million
Japanese troops in the area,

but the Red Army blitzkrieg
was unstoppable.

The Japanese position in the
war had become untenable.

That evening, Emperor
Hirohito met

with his six top military
and political leaders.

The war cabinet was divided.

Three, led by the
Prime Minister,

Baron Kantaro Suzuki,
argued for peace.

The other three wanted
to continue fighting.

It was deadlock.

Then the Japanese Prime
Minister broke with all

precedent, and asked the
Emperor for his opinion.

Emperor Hirohito
voted for peace,

on condition that his position
as head of state was maintained.

The next morning, a
proposal was sent

to the US Secretary of
State James Byrnes.

Byrnes rejected it.

Only unconditional
surrender would do.

As the Japanese war cabinet
argued amongst itself,

Soviet troops continued
to tear into Mongolia.

At the same time,
American fighters

now roamed freely over Japan,

shooting up military targets
and transport links at will.

Massive air raids continued
to devastate Japan.

Then, on August the 14th,

the Truman
administration sent word

that the Emperor's position
would be safeguarded,

provided he agreed
to accept the orders

of the Supreme Commander
of Allied Forces.

Hirohito used his huge prestige
to instruct the war cabinet

to endure the unendurable,
and accept the terms.

That day in Washington,
President Truman announced

that Japan had surrendered
unconditionally.

I deem this reply
a full acceptance

of the Potsdam Declaration,
which specifies

the unconditional
surrender of Japan.

Cheering, singing crowds erupted

onto the streets of
every American city.

In Britain, it was
midnight when the new

Prime Minister, Clement
Atlee, broadcast the news.

Japan has today surrendered.

The last of our
enemies is laid low.

Peace has once again
come to the world.

Let us thank God for
this great deliverance

and His mercies.

Long live the King.

Within minutes, crowds appeared

on the streets of London.

Many gathered outside
Buckingham Palace.

A giant street party lasted
well into the following day.

The next morning,
August the 15th,

an astounded Japanese people

listened to the voice
of their god Emperor

for the very first time.

He told them that
Japan's position

had become impossible,

and the country was
obliged to surrender.

All military forces must
lay down their arms.

Such was the Emperor's prestige

that almost every unit obeyed.

But in Manchuria, despite
the Japanese ceasefire,

the Soviet forces fought on.

For the first time,
large numbers

of Japanese troops
now surrendered.

Nevertheless, the Soviets,
determined to seize

as much territory as possible,

continued to advance.

Stalin wouldn't stop the
fighting for another week.

By then, the whole of
Manchuria, half of Korea,

and part of northern China
were under his control.

Elsewhere in Southeast
Asia, in the Philippines,

and on many of the
Pacific islands bypassed

by the Americans, it
took weeks for news

of the surrender to reach
isolated Japanese garrisons.

Some Japanese soldiers
would remain hidden

in the jungle for
more than 30 years.

Finally, on August the 28th,

two weeks after the surrender,

the first US troops
arrived in Japan.

A huge US fleet
gathered in Tokyo Bay,

sailing past the shattered hulks

of the once proud Japanese navy

that they had so
comprehensively defeated.

Several days later, on
September the 2nd, 1945,

a Japanese delegation
came aboard

the USS battleship Missouri.

On its quarterdeck, the new
Japanese Foreign Minister,

Mamoru Shigemitsu,
signed the document

of unconditional surrender.

It was countersigned by US
General Douglas MacArthur,

the man who would
effectively run Japan

for the next six years.

As Supreme Commander
for the Allied powers,

I announce it my firm purpose

in the tradition of the
countries I represent,

to proceed in the discharge
of my responsibilities

with justice and tolerance.

Then a force of more than 2,000

Allied aircraft roared overhead.

It was a fitting tribute
to the overwhelming power

which had finally brought
Germany and Japan

to utter defeat.

World War II was at an end.

Japan's ruthless
desire to wage war

had been crushed by a weapon
of awesome destructive power.

Now in the East as in the West,

the world would be divided
and shared along new lines.

New allegiances would be formed,

and new enemies would vie
for global influence

under the spectre
of nuclear war.

A new era in world
history had begun.