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President Franklin Delano
Roosevelt is a transformative
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figure in American history.
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He steers the country
out of the Depression
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and away from isolationism.
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In the summer of 1944, Allied
forces are battling across France,
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and heavy bombers are striking
the Japanese home islands,
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but forcing the Axis powers
to submit to FDR's demand,
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unconditional surrender still
requires enormous effort
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from America and its Allies.
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All wars change the world,
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but none of them changed the world
like the Second World War did.
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Japan's on the march;
Germany's on the march.
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No one can imagine the nightmare
they're about to unleash.
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The most destructive
war in human history.
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Suddenly,
the world is turned upside down,
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and all hell is let loose.
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The West is stunned by
the speed of the advance.
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You get the Allies
led by the Big Three:
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Roosevelt, Churchill, Stalin.
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Men who are dealing with immensely
complicated questions.
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It's the biggest military
operation of human history.
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The Allies have to come together,
not just militarily,
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but industrial scale.
It's a global perspective.
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They have to fight
in every climate,
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from the Arctic
to the jungles of the Pacific,
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to the deserts of Africa,
and the depths of the ocean.
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But there was no
certainty of victory.
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It was going to be
a horrific bloodbath.
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We see humans
at their absolute worst,
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how they treat other human beings,
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and we see them
at their absolute best,
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willing to give their lives
that others might live.
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World War II was a struggle
in which there could be one victor
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and one vanquished.
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Summer, 1944.
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While American forces
combat Germany in Europe
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and Japan in the Asia Pacific,
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in the United States,
it's an election year.
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Even though his nation is at war,
the Commander In Chief,
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the most powerful man in the world,
must seek the approval of voters.
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Franklin Roosevelt is trying to do
something no American has ever done,
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which is be elected to
a fourth term as President,
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and the country is not ready
to turn Franklin Roosevelt out,
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but they're not thrilled
about rehiring him either.
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Roosevelt wasn't in robust health
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when he first ran
for president in 1932.
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He was a polio victim as a young
man; he's in a wheelchair.
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Those who've known him before
the war always come away a bit
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shocked at how dramatically
he seemed to age.
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The stress of the war
has ground him down,
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so he's got to demonstrate to
the American people that he is still
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firmly in command in this war and
can bring it to a successful close.
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Roosevelt decides
to sail over to Hawaii
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to hold a wartime conference
with his top leaders.
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By being on a warship
at the site where the war started,
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for the Americans,
he has the ability to project
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an image of continued vitality
and strength.
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The primary purpose
of the Pearl Harbor Conference
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is to determine American strategy
against Japan in the Pacific.
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Roosevelt looks at Japan
and sees a country infected
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with a kind of militarism...
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...A desire to conquer
its neighbours,
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a notion of racial superiority
over all the other peoples in Asia.
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To prevent
another Pearl Harbor,
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he's going to have to stick to
the policy he declared in 1943:
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unconditional surrender.
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The United States
controls most of the Pacific,
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including New Guinea and the
recently captured Mariana Islands.
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The Navy wants to push on and
take Formosa, modern-day Taiwan,
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as a prelude to invading Japan.
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General Douglas MacArthur
has other ideas.
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Douglas MacArthur is one of the
most famous American generals
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in history,
also one of the most controversial.
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He's got an ego
that is unbelievable.
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In Hawaii, he shows up late.
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He keeps the President
waiting on purpose.
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And then rolls in,
in this leather jacket,
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decidedly casual,
in complete contrast to the Navy,
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which is all turned out
in their dress whites.
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MacArthur believes
he's more important to the country
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than the President.
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In fact, he believes
he is the country,
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that his will and his desires
in some way embody the will
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and desire of the American people.
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MacArthur insists American forces
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must return to the Philippines for
reasons both strategic and personal.
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Douglas MacArthur
had a long-standing affiliation
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with the Philippines.
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He had a real affinity
for the Filipino people.
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He had lived there before the war,
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and then in 1941 and 1942,
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he was the commander in chief
of that garrison
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when it was attacked by the Japanese
at the very beginning of the war.
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When Japanese forces
overran the Philippines in 1942,
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Roosevelt ordered General MacArthur
to evacuate to Australia.
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He understood MacArthur's
personal value to the morale
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of the American public.
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After months of bitter fighting,
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American and Filipino troops
surrendered to the Japanese.
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In the cruellest conditions,
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they were marched
off the Bataan Peninsula
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and into captivity:
the Bataan Death March.
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During the Japanese occupation,
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hundreds of thousands of Filipinos
are killed.
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Women are forced into sex slavery;
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entire villages are destroyed
in mass executions.
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As he is about to leave, MacArthur
makes this famous pronouncement:
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I shall return.
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It's not "we shall return";
it's "I shall return."
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This is a vow that becomes
really a rallying cry for Americans,
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not only in the Philippines
who are captured,
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but also for Americans back home.
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At Pearl Harbor,
MacArthur presses the President
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to strike Japan through the
Philippines instead of Formosa.
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The problem with the Philippines
is it's not just an island;
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it's an archipelago.
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And there's a very large Japanese
army on these islands,
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hundreds of thousands of troops.
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That could lead to protracted
fighting with the Japanese.
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But MacArthur has some
arguments on his side as well.
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The Philippines are
an American possession.
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They're a commonwealth.
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To simply bypass the Philippines
and go to Taiwan
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will make America look
like a very inconstant partner,
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not to mention abandoning the
survivors of the Bataan Death March.
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Roosevelt leaves the conference
without making a decision.
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A week later, though, he sends
a letter to General MacArthur
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agreeing to his plan.
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On October 20th,
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over a hundred thousand US troops
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backed by the Seventh
and Third US Fleets
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land on Leyte, a central island
in the Philippines
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with a protected gulf.
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MacArthur's campaign
to retake the country has begun.
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He had the Army
Signal Corps of Engineers
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go ahead on the beach ahead of him,
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so by the time he got there,
he gives his radio address.
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People of the Philippines,
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I have returned.
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The fact that MacArthur
is able to return
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to fulfil that promise
is a morale boost.
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But the theatre of MacArthur saying,
"I have returned,"
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does not translate into
straightforward Allied victory.
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The Japanese know
that General MacArthur
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has promised to return,
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and so they anticipated the next
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decisive battle may
be over the Philippines.
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The Philippines sit between
Japan and the Dutch East Indies,
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Japan's primary source of oil.
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So if the Philippines get captured,
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it will cut off the supply lines,
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and the military runs out of oil.
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The Japanese already have
a plan to defend the Philippines:
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Operation Sho-Go, or victory.
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They will send all their warships to
destroy the US fleets in Leyte Gulf,
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then trap General MacArthur's
troops on the island.
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The Japanese position is
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it's absolutely imperative to
carry out this operation now.
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We've got oil, we've got warships.
We better use them or lose them.
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This is almost like one
last banzai charge at sea
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that can have a material effect
on the outcome of the war.
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That's the kind of spirit
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in which the Japanese
are heading into this battle.
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The Allies have promised the
Japanese that the war's gonna go on
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until unconditional surrender
of the Japanese empire.
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But deep down inside, I'm not
sure the Japanese believe that.
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They still think they can
inflict enough casualties
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on the United States
that eventually,
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despite all the talk of
unconditional surrender,
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the Americans
will be willing to talk.
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As MacArthur and his troops
land on Leyte,
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the Japanese fleets move
towards the Philippines.
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At this point in the war,
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the Japanese have suffered
terrible losses in the Pacific,
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from Midway to Guadalcanal,
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but they still have a tremendously
powerful fleet.
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They have these super battleships,
the Musashi and the Yamato.
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These are the biggest battleships
ever built,
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and this has always been
the US Navy's fear.
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If these massive Yamato-class
battleships get loose in amongst
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MacArthur's troop ships,
the invasion support vessels,
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the devastation could be immense.
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Two Japanese fleets,
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a central fleet
and a southern fleet,
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will converge on Leyte Gulf,
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where US naval forces are
protecting MacArthur's landing.
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Success depends on a third fleet
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moving towards the gulf
from the north:
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a decoy fleet.
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There's another aspect.
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There's essentially a carrier task
force that sails towards Leyte Gulf
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from the north.
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It has four aircraft carriers in it.
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It's designed to try to
lure American ships away
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from protecting MacArthur.
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And this is the brilliance
of the Japanese move.
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They decide to use
the carriers as bait.
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The entire Japanese strategy
is to trap MacArthur,
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trap this famous general himself, potentially.
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They're gonna bring these two
heavily armed and armoured pincers
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against the American landing force
while it is still unloading cargo
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and supplies and troops
at Leyte and annihilate it.
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General MacArthur has
landed 130,000 troops on Leyte,
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the first step in the American
liberation of the Philippines.
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But as US troops establish
a secure beachhead,
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the Japanese Navy enacts
Operation Sho-Go.
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The Japanese have to
figure out how to sneak their forces
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close to the landing beaches
without being discovered,
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because if they come under heavy
air attack, they're in real trouble.
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So they plan to lure most of the
American forces out of the fight.
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There are two American fleets
supporting MacArthur's forces:
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the US Third Fleet led
by Admiral Bull Halsey,
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and the Seventh led by
Admiral Thomas Kinkaid.
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As the Japanese cross
the Sibuyan Sea,
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they're spotted by one
of Halsey's scout planes.
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The Americans
attack from the air,
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and their better focus was
on the largest ships they see,
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which was the super battleships
Yamato and Musashi.
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Musashi is an absolute giant.
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She has 18.1-inch naval guns,
the largest naval guns ever mounted.
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The Japanese have even developed
a special anti-aircraft shell
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for them as well,
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which explodes in
this enormous cloud,
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and it's supposed to destroy
any American planes
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that are flying through it.
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But the attacks that are launched
by these American planes
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gradually start whittling away
at her defensive capabilities.
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Torpedo after torpedo
streaks towards the Musashi,
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hitting and exploding
below the waterline.
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17 to 19 torpedoes,
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more than a dozen bombs...
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...finally get her to go down.
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The Musashi sinks
along with a thousand of her crew.
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The Japanese central fleet retreats.
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That night, Kinkaid's fleet,
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including battleships that had
been damaged at Pearl Harbor,
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decimates the Japanese
southern fleet.
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But Halsey again spots Japanese
warships north of Leyte Gulf,
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including four aircraft carriers:
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the Japanese decoy fleet.
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In Halsey's mind,
as a carrier commander himself,
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any enemy carrier fleet represents
the most dire threat to his mission,
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which is protecting
the invasion forces.
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So Halsey takes his entire fleet
and goes charging off after it.
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And so Halsey's
played into the Japanese hands
246
00:15:15,160 --> 00:15:17,080
exactly as they had hoped.
247
00:15:18,960 --> 00:15:22,800
Halsey's taken all
the major firepower north with him,
248
00:15:22,960 --> 00:15:26,640
and that puts MacArthur's invasion
at risk.
249
00:15:31,600 --> 00:15:34,960
Halsey moves north,
but the Japanese central fleet
250
00:15:35,120 --> 00:15:39,400
under Admiral Takeo Kurita
returns to Leyte Gulf.
251
00:15:41,120 --> 00:15:45,160
From the battleship Yamato,
Kurita sees that only a portion
252
00:15:45,320 --> 00:15:48,640
of the Seventh Fleet is left
to protect MacArthur's invasion.
253
00:15:48,800 --> 00:15:53,000
For Kurita,
this is a heaven-sent opportunity.
254
00:15:53,160 --> 00:15:54,760
The dawn breaks,
255
00:15:56,880 --> 00:16:02,320
and now there is an American fleet
sitting directly under his guns.
256
00:16:02,480 --> 00:16:04,240
All he has to do is sink them.
257
00:16:05,440 --> 00:16:08,280
The American vessels
that are still around Leyte
258
00:16:08,440 --> 00:16:12,800
primarily provide support
for the landing forces going ashore.
259
00:16:12,960 --> 00:16:16,160
So there's only a token force
of light escort carriers
260
00:16:16,320 --> 00:16:17,560
and destroyers.
261
00:16:19,040 --> 00:16:23,000
Escort carriers are small,
extremely vulnerable.
262
00:16:23,160 --> 00:16:26,240
They can carry
25 to 30 aircraft max.
263
00:16:26,400 --> 00:16:30,280
They're designed for ground
support for the troops ashore.
264
00:16:30,440 --> 00:16:31,560
That's their role.
265
00:16:31,720 --> 00:16:34,560
It is not to get themselves
into stand-up fights
266
00:16:34,720 --> 00:16:37,080
against large enemy warships.
267
00:16:38,720 --> 00:16:40,640
The escort carriers
launch their planes
268
00:16:40,800 --> 00:16:42,600
against Kurita's much larger fleet.
269
00:16:44,040 --> 00:16:46,720
These escort carriers, mostly what
they do is turn around and run,
270
00:16:46,880 --> 00:16:49,960
because they are not designed
to fight a threat like this.
271
00:16:51,960 --> 00:16:54,760
The only force that
can match the Japanese,
272
00:16:54,920 --> 00:16:56,920
Admiral Halsey's Third Fleet,
273
00:16:57,080 --> 00:16:59,480
remains a hundred miles
to the north.
274
00:16:59,640 --> 00:17:02,720
His commander in chief,
Admiral Chester Nimitz,
275
00:17:02,880 --> 00:17:04,800
requests his location.
276
00:17:04,960 --> 00:17:07,920
Halsey receives
a message from Nimitz:
277
00:17:08,080 --> 00:17:13,440
"Where, repeat, where, is Task
Force 34? The world wonders."
278
00:17:13,600 --> 00:17:16,040
Traditionally, naval messages
begin and end
279
00:17:16,200 --> 00:17:19,880
with sort of a nonsense phrase
to confuse code breakers.
280
00:17:20,040 --> 00:17:22,560
The nonsense phrase they used
in this message, though, is
281
00:17:22,720 --> 00:17:24,440
"The world wonders."
282
00:17:24,600 --> 00:17:27,560
And "The world wonders"
line should have been removed
283
00:17:27,720 --> 00:17:30,200
by his cipher officer, but wasn't.
284
00:17:30,360 --> 00:17:33,520
I've always wondered
if Admiral Nimitz was also sticking
285
00:17:33,680 --> 00:17:36,560
a little barb in Halsey as to,
"What are you doing up there?"
286
00:17:37,560 --> 00:17:41,440
And the result is that
Halsey just goes into conniptions,
287
00:17:41,600 --> 00:17:45,240
throws his cap on the floor,
swearing up and down.
288
00:17:45,400 --> 00:17:50,160
His chief of staff has to tell him
to get a grip on this situation.
289
00:17:51,760 --> 00:17:53,840
Halsey realises the danger.
290
00:17:54,000 --> 00:17:58,840
He sends his fastest battleships
back to Leyte Gulf, then continues
291
00:17:59,000 --> 00:18:01,080
after the Japanese carriers.
292
00:18:01,240 --> 00:18:03,240
Now,
what the Americans don't know
293
00:18:03,400 --> 00:18:05,480
is that the Japanese carriers
lying to Halsey's north
294
00:18:05,640 --> 00:18:07,080
don't have many planes on them.
295
00:18:07,240 --> 00:18:09,440
In fact, most of the planes
have been offloaded already
296
00:18:09,600 --> 00:18:13,200
and flown to the island of Luzon
for what is about to come,
297
00:18:13,360 --> 00:18:15,880
because a new and terrifying weapon
emerges from this battle...
298
00:18:19,400 --> 00:18:20,720
...the kamikaze.
299
00:18:36,840 --> 00:18:39,360
At an airfield on Luzon,
300
00:18:39,520 --> 00:18:42,800
Japanese pilots are assembled
for a unique mission.
301
00:18:44,640 --> 00:18:46,720
Japanese pilots,
at the beginning of the war,
302
00:18:46,880 --> 00:18:50,680
were the cream of the crop,
elite, hand-selected,
303
00:18:50,840 --> 00:18:52,560
and carefully trained.
304
00:18:52,720 --> 00:18:54,120
But by this point in the war,
305
00:18:54,280 --> 00:18:59,080
Japan just doesn't have the time or
the resources to train its pilots.
306
00:19:00,800 --> 00:19:03,440
The Japanese
military leadership
307
00:19:03,600 --> 00:19:08,320
has to make a tough decision
to make a cost-efficient way
308
00:19:08,480 --> 00:19:11,760
of destroying American enemy ships.
309
00:19:13,160 --> 00:19:18,160
And one way to do it is to
undertake one-way flight
310
00:19:19,560 --> 00:19:23,680
that will end with crashing a plane.
311
00:19:25,560 --> 00:19:28,160
This new unit of 24 pilots,
312
00:19:28,320 --> 00:19:31,800
led by 23-year-old
Lieutenant Yukio Seki,
313
00:19:31,960 --> 00:19:36,440
is Japan's first organised
special attack unit.
314
00:19:36,600 --> 00:19:39,240
They will soon become
known as kamikaze:
315
00:19:40,320 --> 00:19:41,920
the divine wind.
316
00:19:44,000 --> 00:19:46,120
So the kamikaze
in some ways represents
317
00:19:46,280 --> 00:19:50,640
a perversion of traditional Japanese
bushido doctrine, the samurai code,
318
00:19:50,800 --> 00:19:55,720
this idea of sacrificing one's life
for Japan and for the emperor.
319
00:19:56,720 --> 00:19:59,120
It's hard to generalise
about their motivations.
320
00:19:59,280 --> 00:20:02,560
You find some of them saying,
"I'm doing this for the emperor."
321
00:20:03,520 --> 00:20:05,680
Other pilots talk
about their village,
322
00:20:05,840 --> 00:20:09,080
they talk about families, and
they say, "I'm doing this for you."
323
00:20:10,800 --> 00:20:14,040
For the Japanese, what they're doing
was not regarded as suicide.
324
00:20:14,200 --> 00:20:15,840
It's a death in combat.
325
00:20:16,960 --> 00:20:19,040
So it's this sense
that these young men
326
00:20:19,200 --> 00:20:20,800
are becoming something
really special,
327
00:20:20,960 --> 00:20:24,600
that almost to give this level of
self-sacrifice makes you a samurai.
328
00:20:30,520 --> 00:20:31,920
In Leyte Gulf,
329
00:20:32,080 --> 00:20:34,760
the American escort carriers
of the US Seventh Fleet
330
00:20:34,920 --> 00:20:38,080
confront a new and lethal threat
from the air.
331
00:20:48,840 --> 00:20:52,600
Stopping a kamikaze plane
is almost impossible.
332
00:20:55,400 --> 00:20:57,800
The American carriers
can only do two things.
333
00:20:57,960 --> 00:21:00,840
One is manoeuvre away,
334
00:21:01,960 --> 00:21:05,440
and the second is put up
a huge curtain of flak.
335
00:21:07,160 --> 00:21:11,000
But often-times the kamikazes
can break through that flak curtain.
336
00:21:12,520 --> 00:21:15,240
You could fire every
anti-aircraft gun in the world,
337
00:21:15,400 --> 00:21:19,640
but unless you get something like
a direct hit that kills the pilot,
338
00:21:20,960 --> 00:21:22,600
that plane's gonna hit your ship.
339
00:21:26,240 --> 00:21:29,200
There's a psychological
effect as well.
340
00:21:29,360 --> 00:21:32,400
Japanese kamikaze are giving up
their lives in the most violent ways
341
00:21:32,560 --> 00:21:34,560
possible simply to kill Americans.
342
00:21:34,720 --> 00:21:38,160
This is something that is difficult
for Americans to understand,
343
00:21:38,320 --> 00:21:42,200
that this is a human being
who has chosen to do this to you.
344
00:21:42,360 --> 00:21:44,320
How do you fight
against an enemy like this?
345
00:21:45,520 --> 00:21:48,400
Lieutenant Seki crashes
his plane into the flight deck
346
00:21:48,560 --> 00:21:52,840
of an American escort carrier,
the USS St. Lo.
347
00:21:53,000 --> 00:21:56,320
It's the first ship to be sunk
by kamikaze attack.
348
00:21:58,040 --> 00:22:01,240
Six other vessels are struck
and barely stay afloat.
349
00:22:04,520 --> 00:22:08,880
But Admiral Kurita's central fleet
also faces an aerial attack.
350
00:22:09,040 --> 00:22:11,800
Despite the pounding
the Americans have taken,
351
00:22:11,960 --> 00:22:15,320
it is actually Kurita who is under
a major disadvantage here.
352
00:22:15,480 --> 00:22:18,120
He's up against 350 American planes,
353
00:22:19,840 --> 00:22:22,440
and because Kurita
is being constantly attacked
354
00:22:22,600 --> 00:22:27,240
by American aircraft,
he becomes increasingly paranoid
355
00:22:27,400 --> 00:22:30,080
that he is now surrounded
by American carriers.
356
00:22:31,360 --> 00:22:33,680
So after these
moments of tension where Kurita
357
00:22:33,840 --> 00:22:36,880
could have potentially wreaked havoc
on the American fleet in Leyte Gulf,
358
00:22:37,040 --> 00:22:39,000
he actually withdraws.
359
00:22:39,160 --> 00:22:43,880
Kurita retreats ahead of
Admiral Halsey's returning warships,
360
00:22:44,040 --> 00:22:47,360
but the Japanese have lost
a third of their navy.
361
00:22:48,360 --> 00:22:50,760
It's the largest naval
battle in human history.
362
00:22:50,920 --> 00:22:53,600
More than 200,000
combatants involved,
363
00:22:53,760 --> 00:22:56,760
and the American victory really
knocks the Japanese Imperial Navy
364
00:22:56,920 --> 00:22:58,680
out of the war in the Pacific.
365
00:22:58,840 --> 00:22:59,960
But without a doubt,
366
00:23:00,120 --> 00:23:01,840
the Japanese are
not gonna surrender.
367
00:23:02,000 --> 00:23:04,040
This perversion of the bushido code,
368
00:23:04,200 --> 00:23:06,800
it has manifested itself on islands
throughout this war,
369
00:23:06,960 --> 00:23:09,640
and now it's manifesting
itself in the sea and in the air.
370
00:23:09,800 --> 00:23:13,520
So it's starting to get in the mind
of the Allies about how costly
371
00:23:13,680 --> 00:23:17,120
it will be to achieve that
unconditional surrender of Japan.
372
00:23:19,280 --> 00:23:22,560
Over two months of fighting
in dense jungle terrain
373
00:23:22,720 --> 00:23:24,600
against fierce Japanese resistance,
374
00:23:24,760 --> 00:23:28,360
General MacArthur's troops
retake Leyte.
375
00:23:29,560 --> 00:23:31,680
Luzon is next.
376
00:23:31,840 --> 00:23:35,000
Luzon in particular is
gonna be a very tough nut to crack,
377
00:23:35,160 --> 00:23:38,720
because not only is it a large
island with mountain chains
378
00:23:38,880 --> 00:23:40,800
the Japanese can fortify,
379
00:23:40,960 --> 00:23:43,240
but there's also this enormous
capital of Manila
380
00:23:43,400 --> 00:23:46,240
with about a million people
sitting in the middle of the island.
381
00:23:46,400 --> 00:23:49,760
And if the American forces get
involved in urban combat there,
382
00:23:49,920 --> 00:23:52,880
the casualties are likely
to be very, very heavy.
383
00:23:56,480 --> 00:23:59,040
12 days after
the victory at Leyte Gulf,
384
00:23:59,200 --> 00:24:01,520
it's election night
in the United States.
385
00:24:01,680 --> 00:24:04,160
At Hyde Park,
a victorious President greets
386
00:24:04,320 --> 00:24:06,000
townspeople on election night.
387
00:24:06,160 --> 00:24:09,800
Franklin D Roosevelt
wins an unprecedented fourth term.
388
00:24:10,840 --> 00:24:14,280
The unconditional surrender
of Japan and Germany
389
00:24:14,440 --> 00:24:16,000
remains his highest priority.
390
00:24:24,520 --> 00:24:26,840
On January 9th, 1945,
391
00:24:27,000 --> 00:24:30,000
MacArthur's troops land
on Luzon in the Philippines.
392
00:24:30,160 --> 00:24:33,160
Quickly, special operation forces
trek inland
393
00:24:33,320 --> 00:24:35,640
to liberate Japanese POW camps.
394
00:24:41,240 --> 00:24:44,160
At the end of two years
of captivity in Japanese hands,
395
00:24:44,320 --> 00:24:46,120
these men are in terrible condition.
396
00:24:47,040 --> 00:24:48,440
A third of them have already died.
397
00:24:49,480 --> 00:24:54,840
There are also a number of American
civilian detainees that are in camps
398
00:24:55,000 --> 00:24:56,640
that are near Manila,
399
00:24:57,640 --> 00:25:01,280
so there's a ticking clock here
as far as MacArthur is concerned.
400
00:25:01,440 --> 00:25:05,520
He needs to liberate these
camps as rapidly as possible.
401
00:25:08,360 --> 00:25:09,720
In early February,
402
00:25:09,880 --> 00:25:12,200
American forces surround
the capital of Manila.
403
00:25:12,360 --> 00:25:14,600
Most Japanese troops
have retreated north
404
00:25:14,760 --> 00:25:17,200
to create an extensive
defensive line,
405
00:25:17,360 --> 00:25:21,400
but one group stays with orders
to fight to the last man.
406
00:25:24,720 --> 00:25:27,880
The real problem of urban
warfare in the modern era
407
00:25:28,040 --> 00:25:31,400
is that the city
is a gigantic sponge.
408
00:25:31,560 --> 00:25:33,800
You can have a million-man army,
409
00:25:35,080 --> 00:25:37,560
and suddenly it's split up
all over the place.
410
00:25:38,600 --> 00:25:40,840
So the Americans
find themselves having to fight
411
00:25:41,000 --> 00:25:43,000
street by street,
building by building,
412
00:25:43,960 --> 00:25:48,080
and it really turns Manila
into Stalingrad of the Pacific.
413
00:25:55,440 --> 00:25:59,160
MacArthur's men are supported
by Filipino resistance fighters
414
00:25:59,320 --> 00:26:02,320
who provide intel,
disrupt Japanese supply lines,
415
00:26:02,480 --> 00:26:05,400
and help secure key routes
into the city.
416
00:26:05,560 --> 00:26:09,680
There have been
active groups of Filipino guerrillas
417
00:26:09,840 --> 00:26:12,120
in existence since 1942,
418
00:26:14,120 --> 00:26:17,200
and those guerrillas have been
carrying on a very successful
419
00:26:17,360 --> 00:26:20,400
campaign of resistance
against the Japanese occupiers.
420
00:26:24,920 --> 00:26:28,400
The Japanese response,
like the Nazis in Europe,
421
00:26:28,560 --> 00:26:33,400
was to use guerrilla activity
as an excuse to murder civilians.
422
00:26:36,320 --> 00:26:38,680
So whether
it's a school, a hospital, homes,
423
00:26:38,840 --> 00:26:41,400
Filipino people are being bayoneted,
424
00:26:41,560 --> 00:26:45,440
they're being shot, beheaded,
sometimes burned alive,
425
00:26:45,600 --> 00:26:47,080
corpses left to rot.
426
00:26:48,160 --> 00:26:50,640
There's a sense of scorched earth,
427
00:26:50,800 --> 00:26:53,920
a sense that we will leave
nothing for the Americans.
428
00:26:54,880 --> 00:26:56,920
The Japanese
will ultimately take the lives
429
00:26:57,080 --> 00:26:59,400
of a hundred thousand
Filipino civilians.
430
00:27:00,320 --> 00:27:01,680
The Battle of Manila,
in a lot of ways,
431
00:27:01,840 --> 00:27:03,320
is a harbinger of what's to come.
432
00:27:05,880 --> 00:27:09,240
Roosevelt
and his top military advisors
433
00:27:09,400 --> 00:27:13,080
are aware of the increasingly
dire implications
434
00:27:13,240 --> 00:27:15,760
of a longer war with Japan,
435
00:27:15,920 --> 00:27:20,000
but the American people are focused
on what's going on in Europe,
436
00:27:20,160 --> 00:27:23,560
and they think the war
is now winding down.
437
00:27:24,600 --> 00:27:27,200
President Roosevelt's
just been re-elected.
438
00:27:27,360 --> 00:27:28,960
He's looking at the horrors,
439
00:27:29,120 --> 00:27:31,360
the brutality of the fighting
in the Philippines,
440
00:27:31,520 --> 00:27:33,400
and he's been peppered
with letters from the mums
441
00:27:33,560 --> 00:27:36,040
of America saying, "Where is my boy?
What is he doing?
442
00:27:36,200 --> 00:27:38,440
What God-forsaken island
is he fighting on this time?"
443
00:27:38,600 --> 00:27:42,080
He needs to find a way
to strengthen the will and resolve
444
00:27:42,240 --> 00:27:43,600
of the American people,
445
00:27:43,760 --> 00:27:45,880
because he knows things
are going to get a lot worse
446
00:27:46,040 --> 00:27:47,120
before they get better.
447
00:27:54,000 --> 00:27:56,960
Roosevelt meets with British
Prime Minister Winston Churchill
448
00:27:57,120 --> 00:28:00,720
in Malta to discuss the strategy
for ending the war in Europe
449
00:28:00,880 --> 00:28:02,400
and in the Pacific.
450
00:28:03,360 --> 00:28:05,560
The question is,
if we have an enemy willing
451
00:28:05,720 --> 00:28:08,600
to sacrifice young men
in kamikaze attacks,
452
00:28:08,760 --> 00:28:12,160
an enemy that seems willing
to fight on beyond reason,
453
00:28:12,320 --> 00:28:14,480
how are we going to
bring this to an end?
454
00:28:14,640 --> 00:28:18,800
Roosevelt's advisors are arguing
that the Japanese will not give up.
455
00:28:18,960 --> 00:28:20,440
This war will not end
456
00:28:20,600 --> 00:28:24,720
until there is actually an invasion
of the home islands.
457
00:28:26,640 --> 00:28:30,080
Churchill and Roosevelt
are in Malta on the way to Yalta
458
00:28:30,240 --> 00:28:31,800
early in 1945,
459
00:28:31,960 --> 00:28:35,480
and this is where Operation Downfall
first crystallises:
460
00:28:35,640 --> 00:28:37,240
the invasion of Japan.
461
00:28:39,600 --> 00:28:42,200
The sense is that after the war
in Europe would be over,
462
00:28:42,360 --> 00:28:44,120
and all of the resources,
all the men,
463
00:28:44,280 --> 00:28:47,480
all the equipment that they could
muster would be transferred into
464
00:28:47,640 --> 00:28:50,920
the Far East theatre
for a massive, massive operation,
465
00:28:51,080 --> 00:28:53,720
the kind of which
history has never seen before.
466
00:28:53,880 --> 00:28:55,080
This would occur
467
00:28:55,240 --> 00:28:57,480
after a protracted strategic
bombing campaign,
468
00:28:57,640 --> 00:29:02,480
which as of early 1945 is beginning
to take more and more effect.
469
00:29:03,680 --> 00:29:06,760
At first, the Marines
are ordered to take Iwo Jima.
470
00:29:10,520 --> 00:29:13,080
Japan has
an airfield on Iwo Jima,
471
00:29:13,240 --> 00:29:17,560
and as the B-29s start operating
out of Saipan and the Marianas,
472
00:29:17,720 --> 00:29:22,320
they're using it to spot the B-29
formations on their radar scopes.
473
00:29:24,200 --> 00:29:26,760
Iwo Jima becomes
a logical place to, first of all,
474
00:29:26,920 --> 00:29:29,320
remove something
from the Japanese control.
475
00:29:29,480 --> 00:29:32,440
Second, don't allow them
to have any Japanese fighter
476
00:29:32,600 --> 00:29:34,760
on there or early warning systems.
477
00:29:34,920 --> 00:29:38,680
And third, for all those B-29s
that are making those long flights
478
00:29:38,840 --> 00:29:42,680
over 1,200 miles, it creates a place
to land if they have engine trouble,
479
00:29:42,840 --> 00:29:44,800
if they run into any difficulties.
480
00:29:44,960 --> 00:29:46,280
So Iwo Jima has gotta go.
481
00:29:48,000 --> 00:29:50,320
That needs to become
an American airfield.
482
00:29:51,640 --> 00:29:54,560
American intelligence tells
the Marines that there are about
483
00:29:54,720 --> 00:29:56,240
13,000 Japanese defenders,
484
00:29:58,080 --> 00:30:00,560
but there are actually 23,000,
485
00:30:01,720 --> 00:30:04,840
nearly double what the intelligence
estimates listed.
486
00:30:06,600 --> 00:30:08,920
As a result,
you have an American invasion force
487
00:30:09,080 --> 00:30:13,200
that's going to be meeting a much
tougher defence than it expected.
488
00:30:31,200 --> 00:30:33,640
Japanese troops on Iwo Jima
489
00:30:33,800 --> 00:30:37,960
have been preparing for an American
attack for over three months.
490
00:30:39,000 --> 00:30:42,000
The Japanese strategy
is to make the battle
491
00:30:42,160 --> 00:30:44,160
last as long as possible.
492
00:30:44,320 --> 00:30:46,600
Each day that that battle lasts
493
00:30:46,760 --> 00:30:48,560
is a day where the people
at the home islands
494
00:30:48,720 --> 00:30:51,120
are spared of an American
invasion.
495
00:30:52,120 --> 00:30:55,440
So the commander of the Japanese
on Iwo Jima, Kuribayashi,
496
00:30:55,600 --> 00:30:59,320
says we're going to prepare these
defensive fortifications and wait,
497
00:30:59,480 --> 00:31:02,440
draw the Americans in,
and then attack them.
498
00:31:04,600 --> 00:31:08,400
The Japanese aren't on Iwo
Jima; they're actually in Iwo Jima.
499
00:31:10,680 --> 00:31:13,160
They have miles and miles
of tunnels that they have dug
500
00:31:13,320 --> 00:31:17,000
out of this soft volcanic terrain
on the island.
501
00:31:18,120 --> 00:31:21,920
And they've also fortified the most
prominent landmark on Iwo Jima,
502
00:31:22,080 --> 00:31:23,920
which is Mount Suribachi.
503
00:31:24,760 --> 00:31:27,520
Looming over the
Marines' landing beaches,
504
00:31:27,680 --> 00:31:30,200
Mount Suribachi provides
the Japanese
505
00:31:30,360 --> 00:31:32,760
with a perfect defensive position.
506
00:31:32,920 --> 00:31:36,200
It's gonna be this
defensive hive that the Americans
507
00:31:36,360 --> 00:31:39,200
will have to reduce cave by cave,
508
00:31:39,360 --> 00:31:41,920
bunker by bunker,
one thing at a time.
509
00:31:43,240 --> 00:31:47,000
On Iwo Jima, Japanese
soldiers are issued orders to kill
510
00:31:47,160 --> 00:31:48,720
10 Americans before they die.
511
00:31:51,400 --> 00:31:54,360
We see very few Japanese
who attempt to surrender.
512
00:31:54,520 --> 00:31:57,720
There's a view that this is a great
dishonour, not only to oneself
513
00:31:57,880 --> 00:32:00,560
and one's family,
but to the emperor as well.
514
00:32:02,840 --> 00:32:05,360
{\an8}If you look at
the letters that Kuribayashi writes
515
00:32:05,520 --> 00:32:07,760
{\an8}home to his family,
he's clear right from the beginning
516
00:32:07,920 --> 00:32:09,480
that no one on the Japanese side
517
00:32:09,640 --> 00:32:11,840
is coming home
from the Iwo Jima campaign.
518
00:32:12,000 --> 00:32:15,240
He starts to issue these orders
very clearly to his men saying,
519
00:32:15,400 --> 00:32:17,720
"Fight to the death,"
but he doesn't want a banzai charge.
520
00:32:17,880 --> 00:32:20,960
He doesn't want pointless
suicidal acts.
521
00:32:21,120 --> 00:32:24,440
He wants to show the Americans
the cost to them
522
00:32:24,600 --> 00:32:26,760
of going as far as the Japanese
home islands.
523
00:32:35,760 --> 00:32:38,800
The Navy bombarded
Japanese positions for three days.
524
00:32:42,160 --> 00:32:46,520
Now the Marines plan to land
60,000 men across Iwo Jima's
525
00:32:46,680 --> 00:32:50,640
southern beaches, push north,
and take the island.
526
00:32:52,760 --> 00:32:55,360
So at 8:59
on the 19th of February,
527
00:32:55,520 --> 00:32:57,720
the first 10,000 men land,
528
00:32:57,880 --> 00:32:59,840
and it's quiet.
529
00:33:02,560 --> 00:33:04,400
But then at 10 o'clock
in the morning...
530
00:33:07,560 --> 00:33:09,840
...every Japanese soldier
with a mortar, machine gun,
531
00:33:10,000 --> 00:33:12,960
or a piece of artillery will now
start to shell the landing beach.
532
00:33:23,080 --> 00:33:25,400
In the face of withering fire,
533
00:33:25,560 --> 00:33:28,720
the Marines struggle up dunes
of 15 feet or more.
534
00:33:31,120 --> 00:33:35,720
Iwo Jima is not sand;
it's volcanic ash.
535
00:33:35,880 --> 00:33:38,280
Your feet just sink
up to your knees.
536
00:33:38,440 --> 00:33:40,520
It's like walking in coffee grounds.
537
00:33:43,920 --> 00:33:46,640
It's incredibly deadly
to try and move forward.
538
00:33:49,080 --> 00:33:52,160
Bulldozers are called in
to clear a path through the dunes,
539
00:33:52,320 --> 00:33:54,920
allowing the Marines
to continue their advance.
540
00:33:57,400 --> 00:33:59,760
As the Marines finally
make their way off the beaches,
541
00:33:59,920 --> 00:34:01,640
they're getting attacked
from everywhere,
542
00:34:01,800 --> 00:34:03,160
people coming out of tunnels,
543
00:34:03,320 --> 00:34:04,960
of mortars coming off
of Mount Suribachi,
544
00:34:05,120 --> 00:34:06,960
of hidden artillery emplacements
all over the place
545
00:34:07,120 --> 00:34:09,880
with snipers' firing positions
they can't even see.
546
00:34:10,040 --> 00:34:14,640
Individual soldier has to
somehow get up close with a grenade
547
00:34:14,800 --> 00:34:17,360
that he can put through
the firing slit
548
00:34:17,520 --> 00:34:18,920
and kill the crew that's in there.
549
00:34:21,480 --> 00:34:24,440
Ultimately, one of the
greatest weapons that the Marines
550
00:34:24,600 --> 00:34:26,920
have is what they'd call
Zippo tanks,
551
00:34:27,080 --> 00:34:30,120
which are tank-sized flamethrowers
552
00:34:31,120 --> 00:34:33,200
that can shoot long distances,
553
00:34:35,080 --> 00:34:38,200
and that becomes the weapon
of choice for Marines on Iwo Jima.
554
00:34:46,360 --> 00:34:50,120
By the end of the first day,
the Marines have secured an airfield
555
00:34:50,280 --> 00:34:53,040
and prepared to attack
Mount Suribachi.
556
00:34:54,680 --> 00:34:58,440
On Iwo Jima,
two strategies come into conflict.
557
00:34:58,600 --> 00:35:00,800
One says, no surrender,
that's the Japanese,
558
00:35:00,960 --> 00:35:04,440
and then unconditional surrender,
and that's the American position.
559
00:35:04,600 --> 00:35:09,160
And on Suribachi, the Americans
make a determined statement
560
00:35:09,320 --> 00:35:11,800
that it's going to be
unconditional surrender.
561
00:35:11,960 --> 00:35:15,440
There is no position on planet Earth
held by the Japanese army
562
00:35:15,600 --> 00:35:18,200
that American troops cannot take.
563
00:35:25,640 --> 00:35:28,240
After securing the beaches,
564
00:35:28,400 --> 00:35:32,040
US Marines on Iwo Jima
attack Mount Suribachi.
565
00:35:33,680 --> 00:35:36,800
The force that goes up the
hill fights off Japanese resistance,
566
00:35:39,480 --> 00:35:41,680
and upon reaching the summit,
567
00:35:41,840 --> 00:35:45,680
they find a water pipe that had been
associated with a Japanese cistern.
568
00:35:45,840 --> 00:35:49,280
They attach a small American
flag to that water pipe,
569
00:35:49,440 --> 00:35:51,200
and then they raise that flag.
570
00:35:55,120 --> 00:35:57,040
But they
realise the flag's too small.
571
00:35:57,200 --> 00:35:58,240
We need a bigger flag.
572
00:36:00,520 --> 00:36:02,800
So what they're gonna do is
they're gonna take a ship's flag
573
00:36:02,960 --> 00:36:06,000
and they're gonna send it up there.
And about noon, it gets up there.
574
00:36:06,160 --> 00:36:09,600
Six Marines plant
the second American flag.
575
00:36:09,760 --> 00:36:14,440
Joe Rosenthal, an Associated Press
photographer, captures the moment.
576
00:36:16,560 --> 00:36:19,600
All the ships offshore
begin blowing their horns.
577
00:36:22,560 --> 00:36:24,520
Everyone on the island can see it.
578
00:36:31,680 --> 00:36:33,760
It's a snapshot in time.
579
00:36:33,920 --> 00:36:35,840
The composition's nearly perfect,
580
00:36:36,000 --> 00:36:38,240
although he basically shoots it
off his hip without even using
581
00:36:38,400 --> 00:36:40,280
his rangefinder as he did it.
582
00:36:40,440 --> 00:36:42,200
You can't see anybody's face.
583
00:36:42,360 --> 00:36:45,280
And so really it becomes
everybody's picture.
584
00:36:47,240 --> 00:36:51,080
Two days later, Rosenthal's
photograph is on the front page
585
00:36:51,240 --> 00:36:53,720
of newspapers across America.
586
00:36:53,880 --> 00:36:57,400
President Roosevelt immediately
understands how inspirational
587
00:36:57,560 --> 00:36:59,240
this single image is.
588
00:37:00,280 --> 00:37:02,640
FDR was always
a frustrated journalist.
589
00:37:02,800 --> 00:37:05,120
He had been the editor
of the Harvard newspaper.
590
00:37:05,280 --> 00:37:08,280
He understood visual imagery.
591
00:37:09,880 --> 00:37:14,040
It's American determination
embodied in a single photograph.
592
00:37:15,120 --> 00:37:17,160
They're all working together,
593
00:37:17,320 --> 00:37:19,720
and so it tells a national story.
594
00:37:19,880 --> 00:37:23,040
It's not just those guys on top
of the hill that raised the flag.
595
00:37:23,200 --> 00:37:25,680
It's a nation that put that flag
on top of the hill.
596
00:37:27,600 --> 00:37:31,960
But it's striking that
the flag isn't fully planted.
597
00:37:32,120 --> 00:37:35,480
It's as if the struggle
is still unfolding,
598
00:37:35,640 --> 00:37:39,400
and that fit FDR's mood
at that point.
599
00:37:39,560 --> 00:37:40,960
This isn't over.
600
00:37:41,120 --> 00:37:44,040
We're getting closer,
but we haven't gotten there yet.
601
00:37:44,200 --> 00:37:48,280
To FDR, these six Marines
are the perfect symbol
602
00:37:48,440 --> 00:37:50,640
of America's wartime effort.
603
00:37:50,800 --> 00:37:52,800
He calls the Marines and says,
"Find me these guys.
604
00:37:52,960 --> 00:37:54,640
I want to bring them
to the Oval Office.
605
00:37:54,800 --> 00:37:56,720
I want to send them
on a war bond drive."
606
00:37:56,880 --> 00:37:59,920
So the Marine Corps
sends somebody to the island,
607
00:38:00,080 --> 00:38:03,280
but they find that three men who
were in the photo were dead already.
608
00:38:03,440 --> 00:38:05,720
They died within days
of the photograph being taken.
609
00:38:08,400 --> 00:38:12,720
US Marines suffered
26,000 dead, wounded, and missing.
610
00:38:14,200 --> 00:38:18,520
Almost every Japanese
soldier on Iwo Jima is killed.
611
00:38:20,960 --> 00:38:22,560
Kuribayashi himself,
who never believed
612
00:38:22,720 --> 00:38:24,520
he was getting off Iwo Jima alive,
613
00:38:24,680 --> 00:38:26,920
he retreats,
and he takes his own life.
614
00:38:29,120 --> 00:38:32,080
It's the only battle in the
Pacific where the Americans actually
615
00:38:32,240 --> 00:38:34,560
take more casualties
than the Japanese take.
616
00:38:34,720 --> 00:38:36,160
So for American military planners,
617
00:38:36,320 --> 00:38:37,880
the lesson of Iwo Jima
seems pretty clear,
618
00:38:38,040 --> 00:38:40,000
that if you're going to launch
Operation Downfall,
619
00:38:40,160 --> 00:38:42,520
if you're actually going to invade
the Japanese home islands,
620
00:38:42,680 --> 00:38:46,040
the cost is going to be immense,
because at this point in the war,
621
00:38:46,200 --> 00:38:49,960
most Americans have concluded that
Japan is never going to surrender.
622
00:38:52,520 --> 00:38:57,160
After victory on Iwo Jima, the
Marine Corps sends three surviving
623
00:38:57,320 --> 00:38:59,120
flag raisers back to Washington,
624
00:38:59,280 --> 00:39:01,760
but they will not meet
their president.
625
00:39:06,040 --> 00:39:07,680
Ladies and gentlemen,
626
00:39:07,840 --> 00:39:10,320
the tragic news of the President's
death came to Washington today
627
00:39:10,480 --> 00:39:12,840
as a complete shock,
except to a very few people
628
00:39:13,000 --> 00:39:14,600
who knew of his condition.
629
00:39:17,880 --> 00:39:22,800
Franklin Roosevelt
had loomed so large for so long.
630
00:39:22,960 --> 00:39:25,160
An entire generation of Americans
631
00:39:25,320 --> 00:39:27,880
really only knew him
as their president.
632
00:39:28,760 --> 00:39:31,000
Supposedly during
the funeral procession,
633
00:39:31,160 --> 00:39:34,480
a man is so overcome by his emotions
634
00:39:34,640 --> 00:39:37,760
and another man says,
"Did you know the President?"
635
00:39:38,640 --> 00:39:42,320
And he says, "No, but he knew me,"
636
00:39:42,480 --> 00:39:45,120
and that's how people felt
about Franklin Roosevelt.
637
00:39:46,240 --> 00:39:49,360
Roosevelt had been
a very, very active President,
638
00:39:49,520 --> 00:39:54,360
a very, very powerful personality,
the kind of caretaker to the people,
639
00:39:54,520 --> 00:39:58,160
and he knew you can't fight
an endless war if you want
640
00:39:58,320 --> 00:40:00,160
to maintain your democratic ideals.
641
00:40:01,400 --> 00:40:04,880
He also knew how difficult
unconditional surrender
642
00:40:05,040 --> 00:40:07,600
can be to put into actual practice.
643
00:40:09,400 --> 00:40:11,720
During years
of fear and uncertainty,
644
00:40:11,880 --> 00:40:13,960
Roosevelt was uniquely able to lead
645
00:40:14,120 --> 00:40:16,720
America's colossal
fight against fascism.
646
00:40:16,880 --> 00:40:20,600
Now, this job will fall to his
vice president, Harry Truman.
647
00:40:24,520 --> 00:40:28,080
Mrs Roosevelt summons
Truman to the White House.
648
00:40:28,240 --> 00:40:31,760
He says, "Is there anything
we can do for you?"
649
00:40:31,920 --> 00:40:36,080
And Mrs Roosevelt says, "No, Harry,
is there anything we can do for you?
650
00:40:36,240 --> 00:40:39,160
For you are the one in trouble now."
651
00:40:41,720 --> 00:40:45,880
On assuming the presidency,
Truman told reporters,
652
00:40:46,040 --> 00:40:47,600
"I felt like the moon, the stars,
653
00:40:47,760 --> 00:40:50,600
and all the planets
had fallen on me."
654
00:40:50,760 --> 00:40:53,840
Harry Truman of Missouri
is now responsible
655
00:40:54,000 --> 00:40:58,600
for the successful conclusion of the
largest conflict in human history,
656
00:40:58,760 --> 00:41:02,120
including the final destruction
of Adolf Hitler's Third Reich.
657
00:41:02,280 --> 00:41:03,960
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