Original subtitles

In the Pacific, the mortal combat against the fanatic fall, the kamikaze corps

the Japanese pilot to rod their bind win to certain

suicide, and possible devastation of our ship.

"Grant us a common faith that man shall know bread and peace

that he shall know justice and righteousness, freedom and security

an equal opportunity and an equal chance to do his best

not only in our own lands, but throughout the world."

"The greatest generation would imply to my mind, people

who really were involved and knew what was the stake

and I think the majority of the greatest generation didn't have a notion of the stake.

When I had this young boy, a boy from Mississippi,

a farm boy, he was in a foxhole next to me.

And out of nowhere, through the mist, came a bullet to hit him in the head.

And that was a kid who didn't know anything, he'd

never been away from the farm in Mississippi,

he didn't know where he was, what he did, why he was there...

was he a part of the greatest generation? Yes.

There was nothing great about him, just a young boy who lost his life."

"I arrived in New York in May of 1939.

I was an American-lover from the war to goal.

The first thing I do is change my name from Hans Werner to Jack Werner.

Owl-eh-dee, I feel more like an American."

It is May, 1939, a 19-year-old immigrant, Jack Werner, is setting

out on a drive across the country to hollywood, California,

where he hopes to break into the movie business.

His home country of Austria is embrace Nazi extremism.

Now he's fled to America to begin a new life.

"It's a wonderful trip. Everyone here is so kind and generous.

No one even asks me about what is happening in Europe, even after they hear my accent.

I suppose they don't want to be impolite.

They don't understand how lucky they are, not having to look over their shoulder.

I suppose if it doesn't happen in your backyard, you don't know much about it.

I can't blame them. Europe seems so far away.

I remember when I was in Austria, it was just after Hitler took

over, all of his anti-Jewish laws were put into effect immediately.

We were no longer considered citizens. Within a week my father was fired from his job.

Our bank account was frozen. We have no one to turn to.

And then one morning I woke up early, and outside my window

this man was singing a few lines from the Horst-Wessel-Lied.

It was the Nazi party anthem. There's one like this: When

Jewish blood flows for my own eyes, everything will be well...

"There were people already walking on the street, nobody said anything.

That was the moment when I decided, that's enough, I'm out of here."

"In that very evening I left

I knew what could happen to Jewish people like myself. I knew what was already happening,

so I escaped to the Alps and I headed to America because I knew it wasn't going to stop."

Stunned by the sudden thrust of the Nazi drive into the north

countries, troops rally around loyal officers defend their own land.

The scene was repeated that hundreds of Norwegian

villagers even as the enemy moved in were then killed.

"We are shocked by the almost incredible eyewitness stories that come to us,

stories of what is happening at this moment to the civilian populations of Norway..."

"I speak to you for the first time as Prime Minister

in a solemn hour for the life of our country, of our empire,

of our allies, and, above all, of the cause of Freedom."

"Hundreds die as 1500 fires burn historical landmarks into black and shells of debris."

"we shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans,

we shall fight with growing confidence and growing

strength in the air, we shall defend our Island,

whatever the cost may be... we shall never surrender."

British skies was scarred by brutal combat

"If we can stand up to him, all Europe may be free...

but if we failed, then the whole world, including the United States,

including all that we have known and cared for, will sink into the abyss..."

With a third of Europe now under Nazi control, America still sits on the sidelines.

Many believe the war'd be Europe's problem.

Recalling the horrors of WWI, the majority of Americans

don't want to get involved in another european war.

President Franklin Roosevelt attempt to convince them otherwise.

"There are many among us who in the past closed their eyes to events abroad,

because they believed what was taking place in Europe was none of our business.

We could maintain our physical safety by retiring within out continental boundaries.

Obviously, a defense policy based on that is merely to invite future attack.

To those who would not admit the possibility of the approaching

storm, the past weeks have meant the shattering of many illusions."

On September 16, 1940, Roosevelt signed "The Selective Training and Service Act",

the first peace time draft in the American history.

All able-body men between 21 and 30 must register for military service.

Though Congress approves the bill, it is carefully called "national defense measure".

The draftees may only be sent to defend American held territories

"I told my brother I'm gonna get grabbed in by this draft,

and sure enough, I'm the first number in my town."

In upstate New York, a soft-spoken farm boy named Archie Sweeney has just been drafted.

"Things are already hard enough at home, especially since mama died.

She made a promise we should stick together and we told her we would."

Sweeney is on his way to Fort Bragg in North Carolina.

He's never been outside New York state before or on a train.

"Hopefully all this will blow over soon, and I can get back home."

After several failed attempts, Austrian immigrant Jack Werner

abandon his dream of breaking into the movie business.

Instead, he takes a job in a flower shop.

"One day, out of nowhere, I ran into Ralph

Lieben, a friend of mine I hadn't seen in years.

Ralph is an American I met in Paris after I escaped Austria.

He sheltered and took me under his wing, helped me with my English.

But that was long time ago.

Ralph tells me the latest news from Europe. It's hard to imagine.

Now those filthy Nazis are parading around like they own the place.

The more often I talk about the Germans the angrier I get.

Somebody needs to stop them before they take over the entire world.

That's when I realized it's time to stop talking and start doing something about it,

taking actions instead of words.

I maybe have been living with that for years and years.

You have to understand that my life and his life, they are really...

almost completely obsessed with Hitler and what

Hitler was going to do, and the fate of the world.

And we decided that it was about time to stop talking and doing something.

That's when we took the critical action of going down

to Fort Pigas and St. Petero and enlisted in the army."

The military Archie Sweeney and Jack Werner join

has only just begun to build up its arsenal.

2 years ago, United States had the 17th largest

army in the world, smaller than tiny Romanian's.

And almost two thirds of American recruits have never fired a rifle.

At Fort Ord in Monterey bay, California, Jack Werner

begins his basic training with the 7th Army Infantry.

It is a sobering, even frightening experience.

"It is shocking how unprepared we are, how naive everyone is,

parading around with Springfield rifles and WWI steel helmets.

How can they expect in 21th century to fight a war

against well-equipped enemy with this kind of gear?

Do they think we can fight Hitler's panthers on horse back? I have no idea."

By the spring of 1941, Hitler is the unchallenged master of most of continental Europe.

His fighting forces have brought 11 countries

and over 70 million people under the Nazi flag.

In nearly every conquered country, Hitler's troops from the Nazi party's Waffen SS,

and regular German army carry out a policy of oppression and mass murder.

In a small Yugoslavian town, German cameraman Gottfried Kessel,

he's filming when German soldiers select 36 serbians

from the population and lead them to a nearby cemetery.

The previous night, unknown gunmen had fired on some German officers from this very spot.

The Germans are sending a grim message to any Serbians thinking about resisting.

By the summer of 1941, Hitler is ready to launch his forces further east.

In June his armies invade the Soviet Union.

By September, They have captured over 1.4 million Soviet troops.

One month later, American government agents intercept a secret Nazi map.

It outlines Hitler's plan to re-organize South America after he conquers it.

In November, Germany, Japan and Italy renew their military alliance.

All agree to safeguard their common interests.

The excess powers are ready to carve out the world.

"We interrupt this broadcast to bring you this important bulletin from United Press.

Flash: Washington: the White House announces Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour."

...news of the Japanese attack reach the president

at 2:35pm, 7:35 this morning Hawaiian time.

... President Roosevelt has been in almost constant

session with the Secretaries of War and Navy.

White House also announced that an army transport carrying

lumber has been sunk between San Francisco and Hawaii.

Flash: a Japanese aircraft carrier has just been sunk.

San Francisco, with the entire west coast on the verge of war basis, Mayor Angelo J.

Rossi declare San Francisco on the state of emergency tonight...

... and the battleship Virginia was reported sunk.

Also the battleship Oklahoma has been set on fire...

Japan has made war on the United States without declaring it.

"December 7th, 1941, a date which will live in infamy."

"Coach Albert comes in and says: I got bad news,

the Japanese just bombed Pearl Harbour.

"I doubted if any other students knew where in the hell pearl harbour was"

On Dec 7th, 1941, Charles Scheffel is a 21-year-old

college senior playing basketball for oklahoma A&M.

He is on a full scholarship playing under the legendary coach Hank Eiber.

"And he said, how many of you enlisted military?

So, 6 others raised their hands.

And he said, well, I want you to know that we are at war.

We are so angry, all we can think is that the

Jap basterds will pay for this sneak attack."

21 U.S. ships are sunk or damaged. 188 aircrafts are destroyed. 2403 people are killed

This restored film of the immediate aftermath of the

attack on Pearl Harbour has never been shown in public.

"Last night Japanese forces attacked Hong Kong.

Last night Japanese forces attacked Guam.

Last night Japanese forces attacked the Philippine Islands.

Last night Japanese forces attacked Wake Island.

And this morning the Japanese attacked Midway Island.

The facts of yesterday and today speak for themselves.

The people of the United States have already formed their opinions

and well understand the implications to the very life and safety of our nation."

"I am shocked and surprised and I have to admit I'm relieved that it finally comes to it.

The next day we packed up and moved out to the northern part of California,

and stationed ourselves from the coast, awaiting

the invasion of the dreaded Japanese army.

This is crazy. We have just one machine gun in

placement to defend the entire beach with."

4 days after the attack on Pearl harbour, Germany

and Italy declare war on the United States.

It is the first and only time Hitler actually declares war on another nation.

The wars in Europe and Asia now merged into a single gigantic world war,

the largest war in History.

"...and citizens are urged to remain calm and avoid

all unnecessary confusion because of hysteria"

Across the US, panic spreads as American realize they have enemies off both coasts.

Surging above the fear is a wave of patriotism and outrage.

Within 30 days of the attack, over 134,000 young men enlist for service.

They want to fight back, but still must undergo months of training before deploying.

In the meantime, America's current military force

of just under 500,000 will do what it can.

After months of fighting to prevent the Japanese from taking the Philippines,

US military leaders realize the situation is hopeless.

Their navy is outmatched, powerless to deliver reinforcements.

Back in February, they ordered the commanding

general, Douglas MacArthur to evacuate by night

and leave his troops behind.

And now more than 74,000 of American and Filipino soldiers

are taken prisoner by the Japanese on the Bataan Peninsula.

In May, 2 American naval task forces,

including 2 of our precious aircraft carriers

engage Japanese task force in the Coral Sea,

one American carrier sunk, another damaged.

One month later, our remaining carriers ambush the Japanese fleet near Midway Island.

It is an arousing victory, 4 enemy carriers are sunk.

But the Navy loses the York Town.

It now has only 3 carriers left in the Pacific.

It's amazing and eerie to be here in the exact place where the whole war began for us.

24-year-old Richard Tregaskis is a cub reporter for the International News Service.

After months of lobbying his bosses for a combat assignment,

he's finally arrived in Pearl Harbour with orders

to cover the expanding American war in the Pacific.

The navy's been busy trying to repair what ships they can.

From the looks of it it's gonna take a long time before the fleet is fully restored.

7 months after the attack on the Pearl Harbour,

repairs are underway on 5 of the 8 battleships damaged in the assault.

The likelihood is high that they would return to service, but not right away.

For the time being at least, the navy will be fighting at nowhere near full strength.

"When I first got here I expected the mood to be bleak,

but more than anything, people seemed energized and angry."

In May of 1942, Charles Scheffel graduates from college

and immediately become a 2nd lieutenant in the US Army.

"With all that's happening, I'm ready to serve my country, I'm more than ready."

He knows it is only matter of time before he will deploy.

"So I pick up the phone, I call my girlfriend Ruth and I ask her to marry me,

me, next week if she'll hail me, and she says yes.

When orders come for me to report to Camp Kelmer for debarkation, Ruth travels with me.

She's gonna stay at a hotel in New York until I go.

Within 3 hours of my arrival, our group is

completely outfitted and sealed in holding area.

So much for goodbyes."

The New York port of embarkation has been helping to

keep England in the war by sending food and ammunitions.

Now hundreds of outgoing ships are packed with

American men ready to take the fight to the enemy.

But the enemy is already at America's door for months.

Hitler's U-boats have been terrorizing the Atlantic seaboard.

In 1942 alone, U-boats sink over 1000 ships bound for England and Soviet Union.

So when Charles scheffel and the troops ship out,

they must do so under the cover of darkness.

There's no fan fare, no throngs of waving love ones.

America is sneaking off to the war.

"Our life boats can only hold 250 men.

So if we're hit, the rest of us would just jump into the Atlantic."

Halfway around the world, combat reporter Richard Tregaskis has joined

a far larger military convoy cutting through the vast Pacific Ocean.

"All around this there are transports, cruise ships, destroyers.

The navy only has 4 aircraft carriers, and 3 of

them are perched right on the rim of the ocean."

The depleted American navy is using old cruise liners converted

into transports to carry more than 10,000 untested marines.

Their objective, a remote jungle island of the southern tip of the Solomon Islands,

it is called Guadalcanal.

There, the Japanese are building an air field that once finished,

will allow their bombers to threaten the vital

sea lanes that connect America to Australia.

If they succeed, our England in the Pacific will be isolated, ripe for Japanese invasion.

The fate of the entire Pacific War hangs in the balance.

What the young marines and sailors on their way to Guadalcanal don't realize

is that amphibious landing against defended beaches are the

most desperate and dangerous of all military operations.

America has not attempted one since 1898.

We've been told that we are to land in 5 days, making this the last Sunday for communion.

A lot of guys want to settle themselves and be

prepared for at least the possibility of death.

On deck, everyone's cleaning and oiling their rifles,

their machine guns and their mortars with motherly care.

It seems amazing that people can relax like this, when they are

heading for the unpleasant realities of danger and bloodshed.

Intelligence estimates that only 1 in 3 landing boats to reach shore safely,

and that 1 in 4 marines will not survive the initial assault.

But I came here to see some action, and I intend to go in with the first assault wave."

After 7 days at sea, the marines close in on Guadalcanal.

"A cool tropical air envelopes the ship as we penetrate the inner harbour.

Where's the Japs?

Their shore guns are eerily quiet.

Everyone is silent and nervous as we move close to shore.

It is as if we're unwelcome guest walking through

the front door of a waiting and armed host.

There didn't seem to be much to say, although a few lads come up with inevitable.

Well, this is it.

At 09:00 hours the order is given: land the landing force.

On shore it's absolute silence.

It's eerie. There isn't a single Japs to meet us.

One of the Lieutenants says: I wonder the Japs can be this dumb.

Either they're dumb, or it's a trick.

"May, they got us busy drilling, camping and marching,

what a farmer works hard is nothing compared to this."

Upstate New York farm boy Archie Sweeney is

farther from home than he has ever been before,

now assigned to the 39th Infantry Regiment, H company.

"They got us practicing something called 'amphibian operations'.

Lucky for me, there's no swimming. But you do get awfully wet.

We all then wait for word and wonder we gonna ship out,

when it finally comes, we're told to head up to Norfolk prepare for deployment.

But nobody says where to."

On October 23rd, 1942, now corporal Archie Sweeney and 39th

Infantry Regiment are on a ship sailing out of Norfolk naval base.

"When I've gone to the Army, I guess I never figured on going to sea.

It's a huge convoy, we have battleships and destroyers escorting us,

zigging and zagging to keep the U-boats from picking up our trail.

Now I wish I had learnt how to swim."

They are the first American ground troops dispatched to fight Hitler.

Out of gigantic amphibious force of 100,000 men and 1200 vessels of all

kinds departing simultaneously from ports in both America and Britain.

Sailing out of Liverpool, England is 2nd Lieutenant and

former college basketball player Charles scheffel.

After surviving his transit-landed journey, he's

spent 3 months training with British in the UK.

"Everyone is guessing about our destination.

You know, soldiers would gamble on anything.

So we form a pool and we start a bet. I'm thinking Norway.

But after 3 days of sailing, I went to see the British ...

I said, Sir? My meter down here in this hole, that been on deck for 3 days.

I've got to know what's happening.

He said we were going to make the invasion of North Africa."

For over 2 years, Hitler's troops have been battling the British

in North Africa, struggling for control of the Suez Canal.

If the Germans can take the canal,

they will have a secure passage way to the middle east

and its rich oil reserves to fill their mechanized army.

"The Brits taught the American boys in our unit

everything they could about combat against Germans,

now it's the time to see if I've learned enough."

8 months to the day after Pearl Harbour, combat reporter

Richard Tregaskis is with the First Marines on Guadalcanal.

There are still no sign of enemy.

The men move out cautiously to the untracked jungle towards their objective,

the unfinished air field less than a mile inland.

Tregaskis follows, armed only with a notebook and a pen.

"The jungle is a pestilential hell-hole, the air is sick, oppressively hot and humid.

Rainforest block out the sun and the undergrowth gives off a strange kind of vile smell.

...get down!

It soon becomes apparent that marines are not alone.

Japanese snipers expertly camouflage in the dense brush, take shots at the marines.

"Snipers are everywhere and nowhere.

A man falls after being shot in the leg and no one sees who shot.

One grump comes up to me and says: I wish those god-damned Japs

would come out and fight, all they do is running to the jungle.

But now we have another unavoidable hell: night time.

This is the Jap's island and they know it well.

Will they slip inside our perimeter and slit our throat in the middle of the night?

Attack on entire group? Or just pick us off one by one?

We dig foxholes in the ground. Everyone is jittery.

The sentries are firing at every noise.

Who knows what's out there."

Early on the second day, the marines push through

the jungle towards the crushed coral airstrip.

As they close in on the field, they are met once again with silence.

The Japanese, the masters of surprise warfare, have themselves been caught by surprise.

Panicked by the previous day's bombardment and aerial bombing,

their units have fled inland, abandoning the unfinished air field.

By 18:00 hours, the marines declare it secured.

But the enemy is not ready to surrender.

From their naval base at Rabaul 600 miles to the

north, the Japanese launch a massive counter-attack.

That night, the Japanese navy delivers a devastating blow to out fleet.

As an immense battle erupts off-shore, the marines on

Guadalcanal can do little but take cover and wait the outcome.

"We hear the booming of the guns, it occurs to me

that fate of all of us hangs on that sea battle.

If our navy loses, the Japs will be ashore before morning.

It's terrible to feel so dependant.

I get the awful feeling of being pitifully small, just a

tiny particle caught up in the gigantic whirlpool of war."

Come morning, the marines can see the smoke the twisted wreckage of 4 heavy cruisers

and burnt oil-soaked bodies of American sailors floating in the waters of Guadalcanal.

And when they search the horizon for the aircraft carriers that

have covered their landing, they see nothing but empty ocean.

The American naval commander has left one day earlier

than planned to protect its irreplaceable carriers.

Left without air cover, the transports in the bay has also withdrawn

taking with them the rest of the supplies and nearly

2,000 additional men that were supposed to be landed.

The marines on shore are alone, isolated and abandoned.

Without adequate food, ammunition or medicine, and without naval or air cover,

they are at the mercy of enemy attacks.

"The officers are jittering, they talk like magpies far into the night,

wondering when Jap counter-attack will come.

It's like Bataan all over again.