1 00:00:05,840 --> 00:00:08,480 As in the struggle against Nazi Germany, 2 00:00:08,640 --> 00:00:10,640 American strategy in the war against Japan 3 00:00:10,800 --> 00:00:14,320 includes launching mass bombing attacks against factories, 4 00:00:14,480 --> 00:00:18,200 military installations, and cities. 5 00:00:18,360 --> 00:00:20,160 But the map of the Asia-Pacific War 6 00:00:20,320 --> 00:00:22,160 covers enormous distances. 7 00:00:22,320 --> 00:00:25,640 A new, more powerful bomber is needed, 8 00:00:25,800 --> 00:00:28,200 the B-29 Superfortress. 9 00:00:28,360 --> 00:00:31,040 Securing air bases for these super-forts 10 00:00:31,200 --> 00:00:34,680 becomes a primary objective for President Roosevelt 11 00:00:34,840 --> 00:00:36,880 and American military leaders. 12 00:00:38,600 --> 00:00:40,120 All Wars changed the world, 13 00:00:40,280 --> 00:00:42,040 but none of them changed the world 14 00:00:42,200 --> 00:00:43,920 like the second World War did. 15 00:00:44,080 --> 00:00:48,320 Japan's on the march, Germany's on the march. 16 00:00:48,480 --> 00:00:51,560 No-one can imagine the nightmare they're about to unleash, 17 00:00:51,720 --> 00:00:53,800 the most destructive war in human history. 18 00:00:54,600 --> 00:00:57,000 Suddenly the world is turned upside down 19 00:00:57,160 --> 00:01:00,360 and all hell is let loose. 20 00:01:00,520 --> 00:01:04,160 The West is stunned by the speed of the advance. 21 00:01:04,880 --> 00:01:08,240 You get the Allies led by the big three: 22 00:01:08,400 --> 00:01:10,280 Roosevelt, Churchill, Stalin. 23 00:01:10,440 --> 00:01:14,920 Men who are dealing with immensely complicated questions. 24 00:01:15,080 --> 00:01:19,320 It's the biggest military operation of human history. 25 00:01:19,480 --> 00:01:21,200 The Allies have to come together 26 00:01:21,360 --> 00:01:23,600 not just militarily but industrial scale. 27 00:01:23,760 --> 00:01:25,720 It's a global perspective. 28 00:01:25,880 --> 00:01:27,480 They have to fight in every climate 29 00:01:27,640 --> 00:01:30,480 from the Arctic to the jungles of the Pacific 30 00:01:30,640 --> 00:01:35,280 to the deserts of Africa and the depths of the ocean. 31 00:01:37,080 --> 00:01:39,600 But there was no certainty of victory. 32 00:01:39,760 --> 00:01:42,920 It was going to be a horrific bloodbath. 33 00:01:43,080 --> 00:01:44,840 We see humans at their absolute worst, 34 00:01:45,000 --> 00:01:46,960 how they treat other human beings. 35 00:01:47,120 --> 00:01:48,600 And we see them at their absolute best, 36 00:01:48,760 --> 00:01:50,880 willing to give their lives that others might live. 37 00:01:51,040 --> 00:01:54,400 World War II was a struggle in which there could be 38 00:01:54,560 --> 00:01:58,320 one victor and one vanquished. 39 00:02:20,040 --> 00:02:21,360 For over two years, 40 00:02:21,520 --> 00:02:25,400 the United States has been building the B-29 bomber, 41 00:02:25,560 --> 00:02:27,000 the Superfortress. 42 00:02:27,160 --> 00:02:29,480 When it's ready to roll off the assembly line, 43 00:02:29,640 --> 00:02:32,800 the B-29 will be one of the most potent weapons 44 00:02:32,960 --> 00:02:34,720 in the American arsenal. 45 00:02:34,880 --> 00:02:36,320 The B-29 Superfortress 46 00:02:36,480 --> 00:02:40,600 is the most expensive programme in World War II, 47 00:02:40,760 --> 00:02:43,600 $3 billion to go ahead and build an aircraft. 48 00:02:43,760 --> 00:02:47,680 The B-29 is a stunning leap in aircraft technology. 49 00:02:49,400 --> 00:02:53,000 The B-29 will incorporate a pressurised cabin, 50 00:02:53,160 --> 00:02:55,120 airborne radar. 51 00:02:55,280 --> 00:02:58,320 It has 10 miles of wiring. 52 00:02:58,480 --> 00:02:59,960 It had remote-controlled turrets. 53 00:03:00,120 --> 00:03:02,520 It had the most powerful engines in the history of the world. 54 00:03:02,680 --> 00:03:06,200 But the critical thing about the B-29 was range. 55 00:03:06,360 --> 00:03:09,520 It could carry bombs farther, higher, faster 56 00:03:09,680 --> 00:03:12,200 than anything else that had, not just been built, 57 00:03:12,360 --> 00:03:13,960 but ever imagined. 58 00:03:14,120 --> 00:03:16,720 The complexity of its design, however, 59 00:03:16,880 --> 00:03:19,480 delays its manufacture. 60 00:03:19,640 --> 00:03:21,520 It's been riddled with problems. 61 00:03:21,680 --> 00:03:23,720 It ends up behind schedule. 62 00:03:26,320 --> 00:03:28,080 Bombing the Japanese home islands 63 00:03:28,240 --> 00:03:30,760 is a crucial part of the American strategy 64 00:03:30,920 --> 00:03:32,640 in the Asia-Pacific War. 65 00:03:32,800 --> 00:03:34,160 Allied air commanders wanna launch 66 00:03:34,320 --> 00:03:36,800 the same kind of air offensive against Japan 67 00:03:36,960 --> 00:03:39,520 that they've been carrying out against Germany. 68 00:03:39,680 --> 00:03:43,840 They wanna destroy factories, shipyards, infrastructure, 69 00:03:44,000 --> 00:03:47,720 bring the Japanese war economy to its knees. 70 00:03:47,880 --> 00:03:51,360 In addition to strategic considerations, 71 00:03:51,520 --> 00:03:54,560 President Roosevelt understands that the American people 72 00:03:54,720 --> 00:03:59,000 expect retribution against the Japanese. 73 00:04:00,160 --> 00:04:03,840 If you'd have done a public opinion survey of Americans, 74 00:04:04,000 --> 00:04:05,200 there was a palpable sense 75 00:04:05,360 --> 00:04:07,920 of wanting to get these people back for Pearl Harbor. 76 00:04:08,080 --> 00:04:10,480 By 1943, it's payback time. 77 00:04:10,640 --> 00:04:12,960 And so the B-29 is going to become 78 00:04:13,120 --> 00:04:14,840 the first weapon system 79 00:04:15,000 --> 00:04:18,040 that can really attack the Japanese homeland 80 00:04:18,200 --> 00:04:19,760 and military targets. 81 00:04:19,920 --> 00:04:22,640 The problem is, where are your airfields going to be? 82 00:04:22,800 --> 00:04:26,880 They have to be within range of the Japanese home islands. 83 00:04:27,040 --> 00:04:28,800 US Marines have been fighting their way 84 00:04:28,960 --> 00:04:31,560 across the Pacific, but it will take months 85 00:04:31,720 --> 00:04:34,280 before they can secure an area suitable 86 00:04:34,440 --> 00:04:36,720 for launching B-29s. 87 00:04:36,880 --> 00:04:39,680 The B-29's got a 1,600 mile combat range. 88 00:04:39,840 --> 00:04:41,920 So Roosevelt's looking at several options 89 00:04:42,080 --> 00:04:43,480 as to where to base these things. 90 00:04:43,640 --> 00:04:46,160 They don't have an island close enough, 91 00:04:46,320 --> 00:04:47,800 but they do have an ally 92 00:04:47,960 --> 00:04:50,680 within range of the Japanese home islands. 93 00:04:50,840 --> 00:04:53,800 And that ally is Chiang Kai-shek and China. 94 00:04:54,720 --> 00:04:56,960 Chiang Kai-shek emerged as the leader 95 00:04:57,120 --> 00:05:00,560 of the Chinese Nationalist Party in 1928. 96 00:05:00,720 --> 00:05:02,600 He's ruled China ever since. 97 00:05:02,760 --> 00:05:05,680 He is the Generalissimo of China. 98 00:05:05,840 --> 00:05:08,680 He's a general, but he's also a dictator. 99 00:05:08,840 --> 00:05:11,400 The problem he's got is since the early 1930s, 100 00:05:11,560 --> 00:05:15,040 there is rising communism under Mao Zedong. 101 00:05:15,200 --> 00:05:16,640 He's effectively got a civil war. 102 00:05:16,800 --> 00:05:19,280 In addition to internal conflict, 103 00:05:19,440 --> 00:05:22,160 China faces an external threat. 104 00:05:27,080 --> 00:05:30,360 Japan invaded China in 1937 105 00:05:30,520 --> 00:05:33,640 and seized Chiang's capital, Nanking, 106 00:05:33,800 --> 00:05:37,120 as well as all major Chinese coastal cities. 107 00:05:37,280 --> 00:05:41,440 The Japanese control 95% of China's industry, 108 00:05:41,600 --> 00:05:45,560 90% of China's railways, half of China's population. 109 00:05:45,720 --> 00:05:48,240 They control a quarter to a third of China's landmass. 110 00:05:48,400 --> 00:05:50,800 And they closed off all the Chinese ports. 111 00:05:52,280 --> 00:05:54,520 Severed from Chinese port cities, 112 00:05:54,680 --> 00:05:58,040 Chiang established a new capital, Chungking, 113 00:05:58,200 --> 00:06:00,240 and constructed a route that connected China 114 00:06:00,400 --> 00:06:05,480 to the port of Rangoon in the British colony of Burma. 115 00:06:05,640 --> 00:06:08,800 Cut through more than 700 miles of mountainous jungle terrain, 116 00:06:08,960 --> 00:06:10,960 the Burma Road was China's 117 00:06:11,120 --> 00:06:13,000 main route for receiving supplies, 118 00:06:13,160 --> 00:06:16,320 primarily from the United States. 119 00:06:17,400 --> 00:06:21,120 Until Japan seized Burma too. 120 00:06:25,480 --> 00:06:28,080 The final piece of this Japanese imperial puzzle 121 00:06:28,240 --> 00:06:31,000 was the conquest of Burma in 1942. 122 00:06:31,160 --> 00:06:33,200 The Japanese seized the Burma Road 123 00:06:33,360 --> 00:06:35,920 and make it impossible for the Allies 124 00:06:36,080 --> 00:06:38,760 to supply China's armies. 125 00:06:38,920 --> 00:06:41,240 The Chinese have lost their umbilical, 126 00:06:41,400 --> 00:06:43,720 they've lost their artery, all their supplies flowing in. 127 00:06:43,880 --> 00:06:46,720 Chiang Kai-shek has maybe four million men 128 00:06:46,880 --> 00:06:50,880 available for military service, but only a million rifles. 129 00:06:51,040 --> 00:06:54,840 So he's desperate for Western material to flesh out his army 130 00:06:55,000 --> 00:06:58,640 and pose some kind of serious obstacle to the Japanese. 131 00:07:05,080 --> 00:07:06,400 In November of 1943, 132 00:07:06,560 --> 00:07:08,840 President Roosevelt confers with Chiang 133 00:07:09,000 --> 00:07:12,720 and British prime minister Winston Churchill in Cairo. 134 00:07:14,440 --> 00:07:15,680 At the top of the agenda, 135 00:07:15,840 --> 00:07:19,000 how to keep the Chinese in the fight. 136 00:07:19,160 --> 00:07:22,120 Franklin Roosevelt is worried that if China is without resources, 137 00:07:22,280 --> 00:07:24,320 Chiang Kai-shek could make a separate peace with Japan, 138 00:07:24,480 --> 00:07:26,800 which would be hugely problematic for the Americans. 139 00:07:26,960 --> 00:07:29,880 China is where the vast majority of the Japanese army 140 00:07:30,040 --> 00:07:32,160 is currently being tied up. 141 00:07:32,320 --> 00:07:33,760 And let's not forget that Roosevelt 142 00:07:33,920 --> 00:07:36,760 has this big new weapon, the B-29s. 143 00:07:36,920 --> 00:07:39,400 He wants to base them in Southern China. 144 00:07:39,560 --> 00:07:43,560 So keeping China in the war is absolutely essential to FDR. 145 00:07:43,720 --> 00:07:46,960 Chiang goes to Cairo with a big shopping list. 146 00:07:47,120 --> 00:07:50,760 He needs aircraft, fuel, shells, guns. 147 00:07:50,920 --> 00:07:53,600 He'll take anything that the Allies will give him. 148 00:07:53,760 --> 00:07:55,840 He's pretty desperate. 149 00:07:56,000 --> 00:07:58,520 Winston Churchill... This is all a bit alarming to him. 150 00:07:58,680 --> 00:08:01,880 He just doesn't trust Chiang Kai-shek in his bones. 151 00:08:02,040 --> 00:08:05,600 Chiang Kai-shek has a reputation for being corrupt, 152 00:08:05,760 --> 00:08:07,160 not particularly reliable. 153 00:08:07,320 --> 00:08:11,120 There are valid concerns that instead of using the supplies 154 00:08:11,280 --> 00:08:14,080 that FDR is promising Chiang Kai-shek 155 00:08:14,240 --> 00:08:16,560 for the purposes of fighting Japan, 156 00:08:16,720 --> 00:08:18,360 he might instead hoard those supplies 157 00:08:18,520 --> 00:08:20,560 and then use them to fight the communists. 158 00:08:20,720 --> 00:08:24,200 FDR knew he wasn't running a boy scout troop, 159 00:08:24,360 --> 00:08:26,400 so he didn't examine too closely 160 00:08:26,560 --> 00:08:29,800 the morals of those who shared his interests. 161 00:08:29,960 --> 00:08:33,320 That wasn't how you could fight a global war. 162 00:08:33,480 --> 00:08:37,200 At Cairo, FDR and Chiang agree that the Chinese 163 00:08:37,360 --> 00:08:39,440 will build runways for the B-29s 164 00:08:39,600 --> 00:08:44,280 and that the US will send even more supplies to China. 165 00:08:45,160 --> 00:08:47,840 That requires mind-boggling scales of logistics. 166 00:08:48,000 --> 00:08:50,880 For a single bullet to get to a single Chinese rifle, 167 00:08:51,040 --> 00:08:54,160 it's gotta come from a factory, let's say in the Midwest. 168 00:08:54,320 --> 00:08:57,080 So you send it all the way across the Pacific. 169 00:08:57,240 --> 00:08:58,680 The British still hold India, 170 00:08:59,800 --> 00:09:03,760 so it would then get into Calcutta, 171 00:09:03,920 --> 00:09:05,400 then be put onto a train, 172 00:09:05,560 --> 00:09:07,920 then sent up to Northeast India, 173 00:09:08,080 --> 00:09:11,720 and then fly them over the Himalayas 174 00:09:11,880 --> 00:09:14,320 to the nationalists in China. 175 00:09:17,200 --> 00:09:19,000 Flying the India-China ferry 176 00:09:19,160 --> 00:09:21,520 over the highest mountain range in the world 177 00:09:21,680 --> 00:09:24,240 is extremely hazardous. 178 00:09:24,400 --> 00:09:27,960 The men ordered to do it call it the Hump. 179 00:09:28,120 --> 00:09:30,360 Flying supplies into China 180 00:09:30,520 --> 00:09:33,560 is something that's never been attempted on this scale. 181 00:09:33,720 --> 00:09:36,200 These were just transport aircraft, 182 00:09:36,360 --> 00:09:40,520 but the missions were as challenging as bomber raids over Germany. 183 00:09:42,960 --> 00:09:45,920 These aircraft are taking off with incredibly high weights 184 00:09:46,080 --> 00:09:49,120 because we are trying to get as many supplies in as we can. 185 00:09:50,640 --> 00:09:52,680 The route is only about 500 miles, 186 00:09:52,840 --> 00:09:57,760 but the difficulty is the altitude. 187 00:09:57,920 --> 00:10:01,040 These pilots are flying in unpressurised aircraft 188 00:10:01,200 --> 00:10:04,040 over peaks that are 16,000 feet high, 189 00:10:04,200 --> 00:10:07,520 and then back down again to their Chinese bases. 190 00:10:09,560 --> 00:10:11,160 Got this hot, moist air 191 00:10:11,320 --> 00:10:14,200 bubbling out of the Indian Ocean, 192 00:10:14,360 --> 00:10:18,560 meeting with this Siberian air blowing down from Tibet, 193 00:10:20,360 --> 00:10:23,280 causing some of the most difficult weather conditions 194 00:10:23,440 --> 00:10:24,920 on the planet. 195 00:10:26,880 --> 00:10:30,000 You get these incredible changes in air pressure. 196 00:10:31,760 --> 00:10:33,280 Pilots who flew the Hump say 197 00:10:33,440 --> 00:10:34,840 the plane'd lurch 100 feet in the air, 198 00:10:35,000 --> 00:10:37,320 and then drop 200 feet, and lurch back up a 100 feet. 199 00:10:40,640 --> 00:10:43,280 It's hard to imagine for the pilots who do it. 200 00:10:43,440 --> 00:10:45,720 The aircraft is proven but not in these conditions. 201 00:10:45,880 --> 00:10:48,400 So every time they go up, they're learning. 202 00:10:48,560 --> 00:10:52,200 But there's a cost to learning this real time. 203 00:10:52,360 --> 00:10:55,480 594 aircraft are lost and 1,500 aircrew. 204 00:11:06,320 --> 00:11:09,120 The problem is you have to deliver 18 tons of fuel, 205 00:11:09,280 --> 00:11:12,480 and other supplies, to get one ton of stuff to the Chinese army. 206 00:11:12,640 --> 00:11:14,600 It was a trickle of what was needed. 207 00:11:14,760 --> 00:11:18,800 But China remains a priority for President Roosevelt. 208 00:11:18,960 --> 00:11:20,240 There is another option. 209 00:11:20,400 --> 00:11:22,760 The Allies need to reopen the Burma Road. 210 00:11:37,080 --> 00:11:40,280 By late 1943, China has been at war with Japan 211 00:11:40,440 --> 00:11:44,720 for six years, engaging the majority of the Japanese Army. 212 00:11:47,240 --> 00:11:50,160 President Roosevelt and his military leaders 213 00:11:50,320 --> 00:11:51,960 are determined to defend China, 214 00:11:52,120 --> 00:11:57,440 including using B-29s to strike the Japanese home islands. 215 00:11:57,600 --> 00:12:01,160 The US plans to build four air bases around Chengdu 216 00:12:01,320 --> 00:12:04,040 that will accommodate the B-29. 217 00:12:04,200 --> 00:12:08,640 The B-29 Superfortress is a heavy bomber. 218 00:12:08,800 --> 00:12:11,200 And that means it needs a runway 219 00:12:11,360 --> 00:12:13,880 that's strong enough to land on. 220 00:12:14,040 --> 00:12:17,840 But the problem is there's no way to bring in a bulldozer, 221 00:12:18,000 --> 00:12:21,000 or a truck, or heavy equipment into China. 222 00:12:21,160 --> 00:12:23,760 They simply won't fit in the aircraft 223 00:12:23,920 --> 00:12:25,320 that are flying over the Hump. 224 00:12:25,480 --> 00:12:28,480 But the upside for running a bomber campaign out of China 225 00:12:28,640 --> 00:12:31,120 is that the Americans know that they will have access 226 00:12:31,280 --> 00:12:34,680 to all the Chinese labour they could ask for. 227 00:12:40,720 --> 00:12:42,880 Hundreds of thousands of people 228 00:12:43,040 --> 00:12:46,160 grinding out a runway by hand. 229 00:12:46,320 --> 00:12:48,960 No bulldozers or complicated machinery available. 230 00:12:49,120 --> 00:12:51,080 Only manpower and hard work. 231 00:12:51,240 --> 00:12:55,040 Just the sheer scale of human labour, 232 00:12:55,200 --> 00:12:58,280 it looks like ancient history. 233 00:12:58,440 --> 00:13:01,920 Men, women, children, pulling the rollers, 234 00:13:02,080 --> 00:13:06,040 working side by side. Their country in jeopardy, 235 00:13:06,200 --> 00:13:08,800 Chinese civilians defend against the Japanese 236 00:13:08,960 --> 00:13:11,320 any way they can, building roads, 237 00:13:11,480 --> 00:13:15,280 constructing airfields, loading supplies. 238 00:13:15,440 --> 00:13:17,840 China's an agrarian economy 239 00:13:18,000 --> 00:13:21,280 in a time period where industrial warfare has taken over. 240 00:13:21,440 --> 00:13:24,320 So how do they produce all these weapons that you need? 241 00:13:24,480 --> 00:13:26,040 For example, how do you produce tanks? 242 00:13:26,200 --> 00:13:29,720 So part of the problem here for Chiang is that he needs everything. 243 00:13:29,880 --> 00:13:33,760 The only way to bring the tanks and the artillery 244 00:13:33,920 --> 00:13:35,680 that Chiang needs into China 245 00:13:35,840 --> 00:13:38,760 is to reopen the Burma Road. 246 00:13:38,920 --> 00:13:41,720 The Allies have more than a quarter of a million troops 247 00:13:41,880 --> 00:13:46,240 based in Eastern India, from Calcutta to Ledo in Assam. 248 00:13:46,400 --> 00:13:48,360 They plan a two-pronged offensive. 249 00:13:48,520 --> 00:13:51,960 The British 14th Army will push into Central Burma 250 00:13:52,120 --> 00:13:53,640 to expel the Japanese. 251 00:13:53,800 --> 00:13:56,800 An American-led force will cross into Northern Burma 252 00:13:56,960 --> 00:14:02,440 and fight their way through to re-establish the Burma Road. 253 00:14:02,600 --> 00:14:06,720 General Joseph Stilwell commands the American forces. 254 00:14:06,880 --> 00:14:10,280 His personal and professional connection to China 255 00:14:10,440 --> 00:14:12,160 spans three decades. 256 00:14:12,320 --> 00:14:15,400 Joseph Stilwell, well known as Vinegar Joe, 257 00:14:15,560 --> 00:14:18,840 he's cranky, and acerbic, and sarcastic. 258 00:14:19,000 --> 00:14:21,160 But Stilwell speaks and reads Mandarin. 259 00:14:21,320 --> 00:14:22,680 He's a great lover of China 260 00:14:22,840 --> 00:14:26,080 and he has nothing but good things to say about the Chinese. 261 00:14:30,000 --> 00:14:31,320 A respected Commander, 262 00:14:31,480 --> 00:14:35,240 Stilwell has trained thousands of soldiers in his long career. 263 00:14:35,400 --> 00:14:38,960 Stilwell's task is to take a handful of Chinese divisions, 264 00:14:39,120 --> 00:14:42,280 30,000 of Chiang Kai-shek's troops, 265 00:14:42,440 --> 00:14:45,080 and train them up to Western standards. 266 00:14:48,040 --> 00:14:51,200 He takes over an old British POW camp in India 267 00:14:51,360 --> 00:14:55,440 and he's able to give them the training, the weaponry, 268 00:14:57,320 --> 00:15:02,240 so that they turn themselves into relatively solid units. 269 00:15:03,880 --> 00:15:08,000 General William Slim, Uncle Bill to his troops, 270 00:15:08,160 --> 00:15:11,560 leads the British 14th Army, a multinational force 271 00:15:11,720 --> 00:15:15,680 comprised of units from Britain, India, and Africa. 272 00:15:15,840 --> 00:15:18,040 Many have been battling the Japanese 273 00:15:18,200 --> 00:15:20,920 since the invasion of Burma. 274 00:15:21,640 --> 00:15:24,560 Slim says, look, we got beaten in Burma 275 00:15:24,720 --> 00:15:27,960 because we couldn't fight in the jungle like the Japanese can. 276 00:15:28,120 --> 00:15:30,120 They're not superhuman. We have to learn how to do it. 277 00:15:30,280 --> 00:15:33,400 The Japanese were considered to be these amazing jungle fighters. 278 00:15:33,560 --> 00:15:36,680 But we should remember, Japan's not a jungle country. 279 00:15:36,840 --> 00:15:39,400 They're not great jungle fighters cos they grew up in it. 280 00:15:39,560 --> 00:15:41,320 This is about training. 281 00:15:41,480 --> 00:15:43,640 A complete rethink is needed. 282 00:15:43,800 --> 00:15:47,880 Slim starts training everybody, not just frontline infantrymen. 283 00:15:48,040 --> 00:15:50,960 Everyone needs to be able to handle themselves with their weapons, 284 00:15:51,120 --> 00:15:54,400 the bottle washers and the cooks and the truck drivers. 285 00:15:54,560 --> 00:15:56,360 And everyone needs to know that the Japanese 286 00:15:56,520 --> 00:15:58,240 are not these supermen. They're not bogey men. 287 00:15:58,400 --> 00:16:01,360 Actually, they are completely defeatable. 288 00:16:07,560 --> 00:16:10,280 So I think by this point, the war's going very badly for Japan. 289 00:16:10,440 --> 00:16:14,080 You've had the Battle of Midway in 1942, 290 00:16:15,160 --> 00:16:18,320 which Japan lost. 291 00:16:18,480 --> 00:16:19,800 Now, as a result, Japanese shipping 292 00:16:19,960 --> 00:16:21,320 is struggling to get through. 293 00:16:21,480 --> 00:16:25,080 So you've got rationing tightening in Japan. 294 00:16:25,240 --> 00:16:29,320 And then back in Europe, you've had the German loss at Stalingrad. 295 00:16:29,480 --> 00:16:32,080 You've had the toppling of Mussolini. 296 00:16:32,240 --> 00:16:34,680 So I think at this point, Japan doesn't expect 297 00:16:34,840 --> 00:16:37,400 it's gonna get any help, really, from the Axis powers. 298 00:16:38,520 --> 00:16:42,960 Hideki Tojo, who has been Prime Minister since 1941, 299 00:16:43,120 --> 00:16:47,560 is the dominant force in the Japanese government and military. 300 00:16:47,720 --> 00:16:51,160 By early 1944, there's a feeling for Tojo 301 00:16:51,320 --> 00:16:52,840 and for others at the high command 302 00:16:53,000 --> 00:16:54,760 something can be done elsewhere in the war 303 00:16:54,920 --> 00:16:56,640 to try and offer Japan a little bit of progress. 304 00:16:56,800 --> 00:16:59,440 And some kind of dramatic success for the Japanese 305 00:16:59,600 --> 00:17:02,840 might force the Americans to come to the negotiating table. 306 00:17:03,000 --> 00:17:05,200 One idea is to put some pressure on the Allies 307 00:17:05,360 --> 00:17:09,960 in Northeast India and on Chiang Kai-shek in China. 308 00:17:10,880 --> 00:17:15,120 Prime Minister Tojo approves Operation U-Go, 309 00:17:15,280 --> 00:17:17,200 an invasion into India. 310 00:17:17,360 --> 00:17:19,440 His generals prepare to attack 311 00:17:19,600 --> 00:17:21,800 the British bases of the 14th Army 312 00:17:21,960 --> 00:17:26,040 and to capture the American Hump airfields. 313 00:17:26,200 --> 00:17:29,040 Tojo understands that at this point, 314 00:17:29,200 --> 00:17:30,680 these flights across the Hump 315 00:17:30,840 --> 00:17:33,840 are the last remaining connection point with the West 316 00:17:34,000 --> 00:17:36,000 that the Chinese national government has. 317 00:17:36,160 --> 00:17:39,120 And if you can cut those air bases off, 318 00:17:39,280 --> 00:17:42,280 that will then be the straw that breaks the nationalist back. 319 00:17:44,040 --> 00:17:48,240 For the Allies, this is rife with portents of disaster. 320 00:18:05,160 --> 00:18:09,880 March 1944, Operation U-Go begins. 321 00:18:10,040 --> 00:18:14,160 Japanese troops move across the Burmese jungle into India, 322 00:18:14,320 --> 00:18:19,000 toward British bases and the American airfields. 323 00:18:19,160 --> 00:18:22,840 The Japanese commander is General Renya Mutaguchi. 324 00:18:23,000 --> 00:18:25,920 Mutaguchi thinks he is a creature of destiny. 325 00:18:26,080 --> 00:18:29,280 And he's got a plan. He believes that right there, 326 00:18:29,440 --> 00:18:33,120 on the very, very western frontier of the Japanese Empire, 327 00:18:33,280 --> 00:18:37,320 he could strike a blow that could save the war for Japan. 328 00:18:37,480 --> 00:18:38,920 Mutaguchi hopes his invasion 329 00:18:39,080 --> 00:18:43,160 will inspire the Indians to overthrow the British 330 00:18:43,320 --> 00:18:44,920 and join Japan in the war. 331 00:18:45,080 --> 00:18:48,040 The Japanese are banking on speed and surprise, 332 00:18:48,200 --> 00:18:49,640 that they're gonna move three divisions 333 00:18:49,800 --> 00:18:52,560 across these 8,000 foot high mountains 334 00:18:52,720 --> 00:18:54,080 in the space of just a few days. 335 00:18:54,240 --> 00:18:59,360 As such, he cuts the rations for all of his attack soldiers 336 00:18:59,520 --> 00:19:03,600 to just 20 days' worth of food. - The Japanese soldiers 337 00:19:03,760 --> 00:19:08,760 carry a very small amount of food supply, like dried rice. 338 00:19:08,920 --> 00:19:13,000 And they do not carry many heavy weapons. 339 00:19:13,160 --> 00:19:15,640 So the Japanese cannot get locked in 340 00:19:15,800 --> 00:19:18,280 to an attritional battle. Cos they're travelling light, 341 00:19:18,440 --> 00:19:21,200 they're gonna have to rely on capturing British supply dumps 342 00:19:21,360 --> 00:19:23,400 as they go along. It's a gamble. 343 00:19:25,800 --> 00:19:27,560 To get to the air bases in India, 344 00:19:27,720 --> 00:19:31,280 Mutaguchi will need to cross the Imphal Plain, 345 00:19:31,440 --> 00:19:34,560 site of a large British forward base. 346 00:19:34,720 --> 00:19:38,600 The Imphal Plain, it's got like a big river valley, 347 00:19:38,760 --> 00:19:41,160 surrounded by mountainous jungley terrain. 348 00:19:41,320 --> 00:19:43,680 The Brits have used this like a bread basket. 349 00:19:43,840 --> 00:19:46,840 They've got airfields there, they've got supply dumps, food, 350 00:19:47,000 --> 00:19:49,920 everything the Japanese need. 351 00:19:50,080 --> 00:19:53,600 Based in Imphal are three British-Indian divisions 352 00:19:53,760 --> 00:19:56,640 from General Slim's 14th Army. 353 00:19:56,800 --> 00:19:58,760 They're about to push into enemy territory 354 00:19:58,920 --> 00:20:03,040 when they receive reports that Mutaguchi's Japanese troops 355 00:20:03,200 --> 00:20:05,040 are moving towards them. 356 00:20:07,760 --> 00:20:11,120 Bill Slim's new plan is to withdraw slightly, 357 00:20:11,280 --> 00:20:12,960 create a killing zone, 358 00:20:13,120 --> 00:20:16,800 let the Japanese attack through this difficult terrain, 359 00:20:16,960 --> 00:20:20,440 and pound them with artillery and aircraft. 360 00:20:20,600 --> 00:20:23,000 He's going to relinquish ground, 361 00:20:23,160 --> 00:20:25,240 but all the time he's going to attrit, 362 00:20:25,400 --> 00:20:27,840 grind down the Japanese. 363 00:20:28,000 --> 00:20:30,280 This is a high risk strategy 364 00:20:30,440 --> 00:20:33,680 and you can only do that if you're extremely confident 365 00:20:33,840 --> 00:20:35,720 that your men are sufficiently trained. 366 00:20:37,360 --> 00:20:40,720 But Mutaguchi's force arrives quickly 367 00:20:40,880 --> 00:20:44,480 and is far larger than Slim was expecting. 368 00:20:45,360 --> 00:20:47,400 So when these Japanese divisions 369 00:20:47,560 --> 00:20:50,680 start sort of materialising out of the jungle, 370 00:20:50,840 --> 00:20:52,920 it's a real pucker moment for the British. 371 00:21:04,880 --> 00:21:10,720 The Japanese encircle Imphal and cut off its supply roads. 372 00:21:10,880 --> 00:21:13,000 There is this just brutal battle. 373 00:21:13,160 --> 00:21:16,040 The fighting is incredibly close quarter. 374 00:21:19,800 --> 00:21:22,880 And it is absolutely touch and go. 375 00:21:27,960 --> 00:21:32,120 But Mutaguchi is mired in mental models 376 00:21:32,280 --> 00:21:33,640 that were applicable in 1942 377 00:21:33,800 --> 00:21:36,720 but are no longer applicable in '44. 378 00:21:36,880 --> 00:21:39,800 Back then, if you hit an Indian division 379 00:21:39,960 --> 00:21:41,600 in the face with a frontal attack, 380 00:21:41,760 --> 00:21:43,600 a lot of the time it fell apart. 381 00:21:43,760 --> 00:21:47,280 But Slim's army is better trained, it is more resilient, 382 00:21:47,440 --> 00:21:51,560 and from a morale standpoint, they believe in themselves. 383 00:21:51,720 --> 00:21:54,680 They think that they can fight the Japanese toe to toe. 384 00:21:56,240 --> 00:21:59,160 Fighting is relentless around Imphal, 385 00:21:59,320 --> 00:22:00,680 but General Slim has a plan 386 00:22:00,840 --> 00:22:02,960 to bring in reinforcements and supplies. 387 00:22:05,200 --> 00:22:09,360 All this time, Imphal itself is completely cut off. 388 00:22:09,520 --> 00:22:11,000 And if you're gonna make a stand, 389 00:22:11,160 --> 00:22:12,920 you're gonna need supplies. 390 00:22:13,080 --> 00:22:16,200 What Slim recognises with his American colleagues 391 00:22:16,360 --> 00:22:18,200 is that air power is key to the whole thing. 392 00:22:20,280 --> 00:22:23,120 There's only one way to supply this Allied pocket, 393 00:22:23,280 --> 00:22:25,120 and that is by air. 394 00:22:25,280 --> 00:22:26,960 The Americans have already got 395 00:22:27,120 --> 00:22:30,960 a very efficient, well-trained transport air force 396 00:22:31,120 --> 00:22:33,640 in the north of India, the Hump. 397 00:22:33,800 --> 00:22:36,960 And they turn that airlift 90 degrees aside 398 00:22:37,120 --> 00:22:43,040 and aim it towards Imphal and the British troops there. 399 00:22:44,520 --> 00:22:47,240 When you're flying low and slow, 400 00:22:47,400 --> 00:22:50,000 you are one big fat target. 401 00:22:50,160 --> 00:22:53,240 These cargo planes have no defensive armament, 402 00:22:53,400 --> 00:22:55,280 they don't have any guns. 403 00:22:55,440 --> 00:22:58,200 And if you push the cargo out four seconds late, 404 00:22:58,360 --> 00:23:00,120 it's gonna end up in Japanese hands. 405 00:23:01,520 --> 00:23:04,000 But astonishingly it works. 406 00:23:06,360 --> 00:23:08,440 These transports airdrop and land 407 00:23:08,600 --> 00:23:12,280 about 14 million pounds of food, ammunition, 408 00:23:12,440 --> 00:23:15,480 heavy equipment, and thousands of fresh troops. 409 00:23:15,640 --> 00:23:19,760 And that means that Slim can keep his forces fighting. 410 00:23:22,040 --> 00:23:25,800 Mutaguchi had hoped to take Imphal within days, 411 00:23:25,960 --> 00:23:28,680 right off the march. Instead, what he gets is a meat grinder. 412 00:23:34,760 --> 00:23:38,080 For weeks, divisions of General Slim's 14th Army 413 00:23:38,240 --> 00:23:41,840 have been receiving supplies by air. 414 00:23:42,000 --> 00:23:47,080 They're the frontline resisting Japan's invasion of India. 415 00:23:53,760 --> 00:23:56,560 But Mutaguchi's men are running out of time. 416 00:23:56,720 --> 00:23:58,880 The Japanese have gone into the offensive 417 00:23:59,040 --> 00:24:00,360 without much equipment. 418 00:24:00,520 --> 00:24:02,280 They don't have an established supply line. 419 00:24:02,440 --> 00:24:05,520 So every day that they don't achieve success, 420 00:24:05,680 --> 00:24:07,360 it becomes more and more desperate. 421 00:24:07,520 --> 00:24:10,040 Of course, the big problem they face is rations. 422 00:24:10,200 --> 00:24:13,280 They start to run out, hunger starts to become a big issue. 423 00:24:13,440 --> 00:24:16,720 They're picking up snakes, they're trying to eat monkeys. 424 00:24:16,880 --> 00:24:18,840 They are literally starving. 425 00:24:20,400 --> 00:24:25,560 General Tojo famously issued instructions 426 00:24:25,720 --> 00:24:28,560 for the soldiers in the battlefield 427 00:24:28,720 --> 00:24:33,360 that to be taken by enemy as a prisoner of war 428 00:24:33,520 --> 00:24:35,760 is unacceptable. 429 00:24:35,920 --> 00:24:41,760 Facing defeat, they should make a final suicidal charge 430 00:24:41,920 --> 00:24:45,600 and die, or commit suicide. 431 00:24:47,680 --> 00:24:51,480 The survivors are forced to retreat. 432 00:24:51,640 --> 00:24:55,080 Japanese soldiers are dropping dead along the route. 433 00:24:55,240 --> 00:24:57,840 The retreat becomes hellish. 434 00:24:58,000 --> 00:25:01,560 The Japanese words were translated as the road of bones. 435 00:25:01,720 --> 00:25:04,920 The survivors' accounts are of mass suicides 436 00:25:05,080 --> 00:25:06,880 all along the way. 437 00:25:07,040 --> 00:25:10,160 There are stories of Japanese buddies getting together 438 00:25:10,320 --> 00:25:11,800 and hugging each other 439 00:25:11,960 --> 00:25:15,240 and then detonating a grenade between the two of them. 440 00:25:17,240 --> 00:25:19,440 Up to this point in the war, 441 00:25:19,600 --> 00:25:22,200 this is the largest defeat the Japanese Army 442 00:25:22,360 --> 00:25:26,280 has ever suffered on the ground, around 60,000 casualties. 443 00:25:26,440 --> 00:25:28,840 Mutaguchi had a vision of this operation 444 00:25:29,000 --> 00:25:32,160 to destroy the Allied efforts in Northeastern India 445 00:25:32,320 --> 00:25:34,400 and foment an insurrection. 446 00:25:34,560 --> 00:25:38,640 All of those dreams are shattered at the end of this. 447 00:25:43,520 --> 00:25:44,920 In the spring of 1944, 448 00:25:45,080 --> 00:25:48,200 President Roosevelt is focused on Operation Overlord, 449 00:25:48,360 --> 00:25:50,600 the upcoming invasion of Normandy. 450 00:25:50,760 --> 00:25:54,760 But he's frustrated by the delays in East Asia 451 00:25:54,920 --> 00:25:58,960 and the fact that the B-29s are still not in action. 452 00:25:59,120 --> 00:26:02,480 America is in Burma and in this theatre 453 00:26:02,640 --> 00:26:04,360 to supply China with weapons 454 00:26:04,520 --> 00:26:07,560 and to supply their B-29 bases in Southern China. 455 00:26:07,720 --> 00:26:12,080 Roosevelt has been told time and again by his military men 456 00:26:12,240 --> 00:26:13,920 that they're devoting precious resources 457 00:26:14,080 --> 00:26:17,520 on an effort that looks increasingly futile. 458 00:26:19,240 --> 00:26:23,480 And yet Roosevelt simply doesn't see another horse to back. 459 00:26:23,640 --> 00:26:27,400 In May of 1944, there is no alternate place 460 00:26:27,560 --> 00:26:30,600 from which B-29 bombers can operate. 461 00:26:32,840 --> 00:26:36,480 In Northern Burma, General Vinegar Joe Stilwell 462 00:26:36,640 --> 00:26:40,560 is preparing troops to push to the Burma Road. 463 00:26:41,360 --> 00:26:44,000 If the Americans can reopen that road, 464 00:26:44,160 --> 00:26:45,640 it's gonna completely transform 465 00:26:45,800 --> 00:26:48,520 not only the ground campaign in China for Chiang 466 00:26:48,680 --> 00:26:52,480 but also the aerial campaign for the American B-29s 467 00:26:52,640 --> 00:26:54,200 that are gonna be based in China, 468 00:26:54,360 --> 00:26:57,160 because they will be able to drive over the heavy equipment 469 00:26:57,320 --> 00:26:59,120 that they can't fly across the Hump, 470 00:26:59,280 --> 00:27:00,920 like steam shovels and steam rollers. 471 00:27:01,080 --> 00:27:03,760 And so it'll transform these bases into the sort of bases 472 00:27:03,920 --> 00:27:05,600 that Americans like to build, 473 00:27:05,760 --> 00:27:09,240 big, sprawling, and full of warehouses. 474 00:27:11,560 --> 00:27:15,600 Stilwell's plan is to move across Northern Burma, 475 00:27:15,760 --> 00:27:18,960 attack the Japanese military base at Myitkyina, 476 00:27:19,120 --> 00:27:24,600 then push forward to create a new route to the Burma Road. 477 00:27:27,400 --> 00:27:30,800 He sent 7,000 men, including Chinese troops, 478 00:27:30,960 --> 00:27:34,040 and a veteran American deep penetration force 479 00:27:34,200 --> 00:27:35,720 nicknamed Merrill's Marauders, 480 00:27:35,880 --> 00:27:40,080 on a three-week march through the jungle towards Myitkyina. 481 00:27:40,920 --> 00:27:43,000 Certain fighting environments kill you 482 00:27:43,160 --> 00:27:46,440 all by themselves. You don't need bullets, you don't need shells. 483 00:27:46,600 --> 00:27:48,240 The jungle kills you. 484 00:27:48,400 --> 00:27:50,880 It destroys armies day by day. 485 00:27:51,040 --> 00:27:53,800 The American and Chinese troops inserted there, 486 00:27:53,960 --> 00:27:56,160 they're just absolutely devastated by illness. 487 00:27:56,320 --> 00:28:00,160 They've all got amoebic dysentery, severe diarrhoea. 488 00:28:00,320 --> 00:28:04,120 They've all got, you know, dengue and other tropical fevers. 489 00:28:04,280 --> 00:28:06,840 There was nowhere to rest, there was nowhere to recuperate, 490 00:28:07,000 --> 00:28:09,680 and nowhere to get the resources for war. 491 00:28:16,560 --> 00:28:18,520 On May 17th, Stilwell's troops 492 00:28:18,680 --> 00:28:20,400 launched the attack on Myitkyina. 493 00:28:26,520 --> 00:28:27,760 It's a hard-fought battle. 494 00:28:27,920 --> 00:28:29,400 There's more Japanese than expected. 495 00:28:29,560 --> 00:28:31,680 And the Japanese fight doggedly for it. 496 00:28:32,800 --> 00:28:34,880 The Americans call in air support 497 00:28:35,040 --> 00:28:37,280 from their bases in India. 498 00:28:45,280 --> 00:28:47,920 And take Myitkyina Airfield. 499 00:28:51,160 --> 00:28:53,200 US gliders land, 500 00:28:55,640 --> 00:28:57,680 bringing reinforcements... 501 00:29:03,200 --> 00:29:06,160 ...and General Stilwell. 502 00:29:07,640 --> 00:29:09,640 So with the fall of Myitkyina, 503 00:29:09,800 --> 00:29:13,400 that now enables the Americans to play their strong suit, 504 00:29:13,560 --> 00:29:15,040 which is construction. 505 00:29:18,560 --> 00:29:21,160 Army engineers and local labourers 506 00:29:21,320 --> 00:29:25,400 start to build a new route from India to the Burma Road. 507 00:29:25,560 --> 00:29:27,760 It's hundreds of miles long, 508 00:29:27,920 --> 00:29:29,280 scraped out of the jungle, 509 00:29:29,440 --> 00:29:32,680 and it's a major construction programme. 510 00:29:32,840 --> 00:29:34,600 It's gonna take months. 511 00:29:38,920 --> 00:29:41,000 From the British and American standpoint, 512 00:29:41,160 --> 00:29:43,320 it's all looking good. 513 00:29:43,480 --> 00:29:46,040 It's gonna take a while to rebuild that road, 514 00:29:46,200 --> 00:29:48,200 but we can rebuild it now. 515 00:29:48,360 --> 00:29:52,160 And it seems that the tea leaves are now propitious 516 00:29:52,320 --> 00:29:55,920 for a B-29 offensive out of China. 517 00:29:56,080 --> 00:29:58,400 The problem is that the Allies don't know 518 00:29:58,560 --> 00:29:59,920 that the Japanese have 519 00:30:00,080 --> 00:30:02,560 an even bigger land operation up their sleeve. 520 00:30:16,040 --> 00:30:18,160 General Stilwell's victory at Myitkyina 521 00:30:18,320 --> 00:30:22,600 will enable the Americans to reconnect to the Burma Road. 522 00:30:22,760 --> 00:30:25,240 But it's a slow and arduous process 523 00:30:25,400 --> 00:30:27,600 and the road won't be operational for months. 524 00:30:35,040 --> 00:30:36,760 In June, 1944, 525 00:30:36,920 --> 00:30:41,800 B-29s begin to arrive at the airfields in China. 526 00:30:44,800 --> 00:30:46,880 The Army Air Forces have been waiting 527 00:30:47,040 --> 00:30:49,520 for the B-29 for years. 528 00:30:49,680 --> 00:30:51,400 Finally, here they are, 529 00:30:51,560 --> 00:30:54,960 ready to fly their first missions out of China. 530 00:30:58,280 --> 00:30:59,920 The idea is to put up 531 00:31:00,080 --> 00:31:03,480 a sustained bombing campaign over Japan. 532 00:31:03,640 --> 00:31:06,600 And the key is being able to fly missions 533 00:31:06,760 --> 00:31:09,400 over and over and over again. 534 00:31:09,560 --> 00:31:12,480 The problem is logistics. 535 00:31:12,640 --> 00:31:15,880 The B-29 is an enormous fuel hog. 536 00:31:16,040 --> 00:31:20,880 It runs on about 9,000 gallons of gasoline per sortie. 537 00:31:21,040 --> 00:31:23,720 They also need a lot of bombs. 538 00:31:23,880 --> 00:31:25,160 The only way you're gonna get bombs 539 00:31:25,320 --> 00:31:27,680 and fuel to those airfields is they gotta fly over the Hump, 540 00:31:27,840 --> 00:31:30,800 until they open up a new Burma Road. 541 00:31:32,360 --> 00:31:34,440 It takes eight airlift missions 542 00:31:34,600 --> 00:31:37,560 flying over the Hump for every B-29 combat mission 543 00:31:37,720 --> 00:31:40,960 just to bring in the bombs and the fuel. 544 00:31:49,880 --> 00:31:54,000 In mid-June, the first B-29 combat mission to Japan 545 00:31:54,160 --> 00:31:56,840 sets off from Chengdu. 546 00:31:57,000 --> 00:31:58,400 68 Superfortresses 547 00:31:58,560 --> 00:32:01,600 attack the Imperial iron and steelworks 548 00:32:01,760 --> 00:32:03,840 at Yawata in Southern Japan. 549 00:32:09,280 --> 00:32:12,080 But because they don't have enough supplies 550 00:32:12,240 --> 00:32:17,080 coming into China, they're only flying a few missions at a time. 551 00:32:18,240 --> 00:32:20,520 It's just not going to add up 552 00:32:20,680 --> 00:32:26,120 to the sustained pounding campaign that Roosevelt wants. 553 00:32:28,920 --> 00:32:30,680 Meanwhile, Prime Minister Tojo 554 00:32:30,840 --> 00:32:34,080 has launched an offensive in China. 555 00:32:34,960 --> 00:32:36,680 It's called Operation Ichi-Go, 556 00:32:36,840 --> 00:32:39,360 which means Operation Number One. 557 00:32:39,520 --> 00:32:40,880 And this is the largest operation 558 00:32:41,040 --> 00:32:43,000 that the Japanese undertake during the war. 559 00:32:44,600 --> 00:32:47,120 The offensive has two goals, 560 00:32:47,280 --> 00:32:49,880 secure land access to Japan's occupied possessions 561 00:32:50,040 --> 00:32:52,720 in Southeast Asia 562 00:32:52,880 --> 00:32:56,280 and capture US air bases in China. 563 00:32:59,920 --> 00:33:02,080 The Japanese attack 564 00:33:02,240 --> 00:33:04,040 with about a half a million troops, 565 00:33:04,200 --> 00:33:05,880 several thousand artillery pieces, 566 00:33:06,040 --> 00:33:09,640 hundreds of tanks, a lot of aircraft as well. 567 00:33:12,520 --> 00:33:13,800 The big surprise of this campaign 568 00:33:13,960 --> 00:33:16,880 is how poor Chiang Kai-shek's forces are. 569 00:33:17,040 --> 00:33:19,240 At this point, some of them are starving. 570 00:33:19,400 --> 00:33:21,440 There've been lots of deserters from their army. 571 00:33:21,600 --> 00:33:23,040 And with that level of morale, 572 00:33:23,200 --> 00:33:25,760 some of these forces, under Japanese pressure, 573 00:33:25,920 --> 00:33:28,920 simply melt away. 574 00:33:29,080 --> 00:33:30,920 The Japanese push south, 575 00:33:31,080 --> 00:33:33,440 overpowering Chinese forces. 576 00:33:33,600 --> 00:33:36,560 Millions of Chinese attempt to flee, 577 00:33:36,720 --> 00:33:39,080 caught between a foreign invader 578 00:33:39,240 --> 00:33:41,960 and their own corrupt leaders. 579 00:33:43,080 --> 00:33:47,440 The US is forced to abandon bases and airfields. 580 00:33:47,600 --> 00:33:49,360 It's a huge embarrassment for Chiang Kai-shek, 581 00:33:49,520 --> 00:33:52,000 particularly in the face of his allies. 582 00:33:52,160 --> 00:33:55,480 All this time, he's been trying to talk up what he's capable of 583 00:33:55,640 --> 00:33:58,240 if only the Americans give him what he needs. 584 00:33:58,400 --> 00:34:00,480 And yet in the face of Operation Ichi-Go, 585 00:34:00,640 --> 00:34:03,560 his forces just seem to crumble. 586 00:34:03,720 --> 00:34:06,680 For the Americans looking at the wreckage 587 00:34:06,840 --> 00:34:08,880 of the aftermath of Ichi-Go, 588 00:34:09,040 --> 00:34:13,000 they recognise that the Chinese can't defend American bases 589 00:34:13,160 --> 00:34:14,480 no matter where they are. 590 00:34:14,640 --> 00:34:18,160 On top of that, the increasing logistical headaches 591 00:34:18,320 --> 00:34:19,920 of trying to get supplies over the Hump 592 00:34:20,080 --> 00:34:25,120 means that they decide to just cut their losses. 593 00:34:25,280 --> 00:34:27,280 And they pack up those B-29s. 594 00:34:28,320 --> 00:34:30,440 The Army Air Forces have put everything 595 00:34:30,600 --> 00:34:33,160 into making these Chinese bases work, 596 00:34:33,320 --> 00:34:35,360 but they're done with China. 597 00:34:35,520 --> 00:34:38,480 And the Americans may now have a new option 598 00:34:38,640 --> 00:34:42,560 for basing B-29s, which is a better option. 599 00:34:44,920 --> 00:34:46,880 Since 1943, 600 00:34:47,040 --> 00:34:48,960 American forces have been fighting their way 601 00:34:49,120 --> 00:34:51,440 across the Central Pacific. 602 00:34:51,600 --> 00:34:53,680 Now a combined Marine and Army force 603 00:34:53,840 --> 00:34:58,120 is on the verge of invading the Mariana Islands, 604 00:34:58,280 --> 00:35:03,720 Tinian, Guam, and Saipan, only 1,600 miles from Japan. 605 00:35:05,320 --> 00:35:07,560 So if the Americans can capture the Marianas, 606 00:35:07,720 --> 00:35:10,800 the B-29 bomber will now be within range 607 00:35:10,960 --> 00:35:12,480 of almost all of Japan. 608 00:35:12,640 --> 00:35:16,160 The expectation for the Americans is that this should be 609 00:35:16,320 --> 00:35:19,840 a relatively easy operation, 610 00:35:20,000 --> 00:35:22,680 but the reality is gonna be utterly different. 611 00:35:28,760 --> 00:35:32,560 Just after D-Day, the Allied invasion of Europe, 612 00:35:32,720 --> 00:35:38,080 American forces attack Saipan in the middle of the Pacific. 613 00:35:45,520 --> 00:35:48,280 This is really an unprecedented display 614 00:35:48,440 --> 00:35:49,960 of American power projection, 615 00:35:51,040 --> 00:35:52,720 that the Americans are able to launch 616 00:35:52,880 --> 00:35:55,120 these two massive operations, 617 00:35:55,280 --> 00:35:59,400 Overlord first in Europe and then Saipan. 618 00:35:59,560 --> 00:36:01,320 They're separated by half a planet. 619 00:36:01,480 --> 00:36:03,400 They're thousands of miles apart. 620 00:36:07,840 --> 00:36:10,280 The expectation is that this is gonna take three days 621 00:36:10,440 --> 00:36:13,520 for two Marine divisions and an Army division 622 00:36:13,680 --> 00:36:15,880 to be able to conquer Saipan. 623 00:36:19,200 --> 00:36:21,200 But the Japanese had fortified it 624 00:36:21,360 --> 00:36:23,200 and built D-Day style fortifications, 625 00:36:23,360 --> 00:36:25,000 not only bunkers and pillboxes, 626 00:36:25,160 --> 00:36:27,280 but they had dummy bunkers and pillboxes 627 00:36:27,440 --> 00:36:29,480 so that they could waste some of the naval bombardment 628 00:36:29,640 --> 00:36:31,960 on fake targets. 629 00:36:33,240 --> 00:36:36,560 In fact, there's actually 32,000 Japanese there. 630 00:36:38,760 --> 00:36:40,600 Saipan is part of the Japanese defences 631 00:36:40,760 --> 00:36:42,880 that they would consider to be the inner ring 632 00:36:43,040 --> 00:36:44,400 that must be defended, 633 00:36:44,560 --> 00:36:47,760 that they will sacrifice the most for. 634 00:36:50,160 --> 00:36:53,640 Because if they lose Saipan, then Tokyo is in danger, 635 00:36:53,800 --> 00:36:55,760 and that's where the Emperor is. 636 00:36:55,920 --> 00:37:00,400 The resistance is ferocious. 637 00:37:00,560 --> 00:37:02,400 The Americans successfully get 638 00:37:02,560 --> 00:37:04,360 a full division's worth of troops on there 639 00:37:04,520 --> 00:37:07,000 within the space of just a few hours. 640 00:37:07,160 --> 00:37:11,360 In the initial assault, 8,000 Marines land. 641 00:37:11,520 --> 00:37:14,480 Over 2,000 of them become casualties. 642 00:37:14,640 --> 00:37:19,040 This is a bloodletting beyond what anybody had expected. 643 00:37:19,200 --> 00:37:21,640 Any time a Japanese formation 644 00:37:21,800 --> 00:37:23,960 attempts to put in a counter-attack, 645 00:37:24,120 --> 00:37:25,520 they are immediately met 646 00:37:25,680 --> 00:37:28,120 with inordinate amounts of naval gunfire 647 00:37:28,280 --> 00:37:30,000 that just crushed them. 648 00:37:33,280 --> 00:37:36,280 The Japanese retreat into the hills in the interior, 649 00:37:36,440 --> 00:37:39,040 along with several thousand Japanese settlers 650 00:37:39,200 --> 00:37:41,920 living in Saipan. And they forced the Marines and the Army troops 651 00:37:42,080 --> 00:37:44,320 to root them out of caves in these hills. 652 00:37:54,360 --> 00:37:58,640 The battle for Saipan lasts almost a month. 653 00:37:58,800 --> 00:38:04,600 Thousands of civilians die, caught in the crossfire. 654 00:38:08,560 --> 00:38:13,160 The final climax of this battle happens at a set of cliffs 655 00:38:13,320 --> 00:38:15,920 on the northern part of the island. 656 00:38:16,720 --> 00:38:19,520 At Marpi Point, advancing US troops 657 00:38:19,680 --> 00:38:21,560 trap civilians and Japanese soldiers 658 00:38:21,720 --> 00:38:25,800 between the frontline and the sea. 659 00:38:25,960 --> 00:38:27,480 The Japanese propaganda 660 00:38:27,640 --> 00:38:29,480 that's been fed to these people 661 00:38:29,640 --> 00:38:32,960 tells them that the Americans are going to kill all the men, 662 00:38:33,120 --> 00:38:36,160 rape all the women, and it's effective. They don't surrender. 663 00:38:40,440 --> 00:38:43,680 And then as the Marines close in, 664 00:38:43,840 --> 00:38:45,080 some of them leap to their deaths, 665 00:38:45,240 --> 00:38:46,840 some of them clutching their children. 666 00:38:51,760 --> 00:38:56,600 Marines and soldiers confront the inconceivable. 667 00:38:57,600 --> 00:39:02,280 For Japan, the loss of Saipan is a disaster. 668 00:39:03,840 --> 00:39:05,040 They've had the heart 669 00:39:05,200 --> 00:39:08,280 ripped out of their defensive line. 670 00:39:08,440 --> 00:39:11,520 And they know that the Americans now 671 00:39:11,680 --> 00:39:14,120 are gonna have perfect operating conditions 672 00:39:14,280 --> 00:39:18,160 to launch this bomber offensive against Japan itself. 673 00:39:23,040 --> 00:39:26,560 The casualties are high, for both sides. 674 00:39:26,720 --> 00:39:29,120 But the terrible loss of life 675 00:39:29,280 --> 00:39:30,600 finally gives the B-29s 676 00:39:30,760 --> 00:39:34,040 the air bases they need to bomb Japan. 677 00:39:34,200 --> 00:39:37,400 Instead of having hand-built runways in China 678 00:39:37,560 --> 00:39:40,240 that require airlift just to bring in the gas, 679 00:39:40,400 --> 00:39:44,640 now in the Mariana's islands, you have huge runways 680 00:39:44,800 --> 00:39:49,080 built by the Seabees using brilliant white coral, 681 00:39:49,240 --> 00:39:51,840 as hard and durable as you can want. 682 00:39:52,000 --> 00:39:53,600 On these three islands, 683 00:39:53,760 --> 00:39:55,440 Saipan, Tinian, and Guam, 684 00:39:55,600 --> 00:39:58,680 the Americans build five long runway complexes, 685 00:39:58,840 --> 00:40:03,640 each to be supported by a bomber group of 180 B-29s. 686 00:40:03,800 --> 00:40:05,560 And suddenly the Marianas 687 00:40:05,720 --> 00:40:07,840 are the world's biggest air base. 688 00:40:15,000 --> 00:40:17,040 FDR's objective, the B-29, 689 00:40:17,200 --> 00:40:20,440 finally gets its optimum opportunity to achieve the mission 690 00:40:20,600 --> 00:40:23,960 for which it was developed in the first place. 691 00:40:24,840 --> 00:40:27,680 November, 1944, 692 00:40:27,840 --> 00:40:31,200 B-29 Superfortresses 693 00:40:31,360 --> 00:40:34,080 take off for the first of many missions 694 00:40:34,240 --> 00:40:36,960 to bomb the home islands of Japan. 695 00:40:43,560 --> 00:40:45,760 With the capture of the Mariana island chain, 696 00:40:45,920 --> 00:40:50,120 the United States is capable of regularly striking Japan, 697 00:40:50,280 --> 00:40:52,560 just as it's been able to hit Germany 698 00:40:52,720 --> 00:40:54,360 for the past two years. 699 00:40:54,520 --> 00:40:57,920 As the tide turns for these Axis partners, 700 00:40:58,080 --> 00:41:00,320 each country tightens its grip on its people. 701 00:41:00,480 --> 00:41:02,080 Subtitles by Sky Access Services