Original subtitles

It starts with an horrific surprise

attack.

Then spreads like a tidal wave across

vast stretches of ocean.

Before it's over, the conflict in the

[music] Pacific launches an entirely new

form of naval warfare.

And sends brave men into battle over

crippling terrain.

This is the epic story of terrifying

fanaticism.

And personal heroism.

Told in compelling detail.

With specially enhanced [music]

color film.

And rarely seen footage, often shot by

the troops themselves.

For the first time put together to

answer the question.

Why did Japan's gamble to deliver a

quick decisive knockout blow?

Fail?

This is World War II in the Pacific.

November 26th, 1941.

North of Japan's Kuril Islands, a huge

Japanese fleet sets off on a secret

mission across the Pacific.

>> Thousands of miles away at the US Naval

base at Pearl Harbor on Hawaii, all is

peaceful.

Much of the US Pacific Fleet is in port.

Under total radio silence, six Japanese

aircraft carriers and over a dozen

smaller warships

are heading south on a collision course

with destiny.

11 days later, the fleet is within

striking distance of Hawaii.

At Pearl Harbor, American troops are

waking up to another beautiful day.

Aboard the Japanese carriers, there's a

last-minute briefing.

Then a wave of over 180 warplanes takes

off.

An hour later, they're over Pearl

Harbor.

Five US warships are hit almost

immediately.

Within an hour, two US battleships are

sinking.

Two capsize.

And two more are badly damaged.

US aircraft [music] lined up on the

island's airstrips are also hit.

As news of the attack spreads across

America, there's shock and horror.

But there is also a question.

Why has America been caught napping?

The answer? Until recently, Japan and

America have been friends.

But with the Great Depression, Japan

catches the same disease as Europe,

crazed nationalism.

In Germany, Hitler grabs world attention

as he seizes power.

In Italy, Mussolini sings to the same

nationalist tune.

Now in Japan, a new militaristic regime

vows to restore the country's greatness

through force.

In 1937, a ruthless Japanese war machine

tears through China.

>> Three years later, they expand their

brutal actions with the invasion of the

former French colonies of Cambodia,

Vietnam, and Laos.

It's a move that finally forces America

to react.

In the summer of 1941, the US freezes

Japan's overseas financial assets

and imposes an oil embargo.

It hits Japan hard.

The country receives 80% of its oil from

America.

Japanese diplomats travel to Washington

to negotiate.

Relations between the two countries are

tense.

But nobody in the US is expecting war.

Then a new Japanese leader takes

control.

Hideki Tojo is an ambitious general and

a fanatical nationalist.

In the spring of 1941,

2 and 1/2 months after the US oil

embargo,

Tojo is appointed prime minister.

His dream is a Japanese empire spanning

Asia.

Tojo isn't interested in negotiations

with the US.

He's secretly planning for war.

He calculates that if he can knock out

America's Pacific Fleet with a sudden,

swift blow,

US opposition will simply collapse.

In early December 1941, the US War

Department intercepts warnings of an

imminent Japanese attack.

But when it comes on the morning of

December the 7th,

American troops are caught completely by

surprise.

But if Japan believes she's delivered

the knockout blow to US naval power in

the region,

she's wrong.

On the morning of the bombing raid, the

three most important ships in the

Pacific [music] Fleet, its aircraft

carriers, are not in port.

Missing them turns out to be a major

Japanese mistake.

Yet in the immediate aftermath of Pearl

Harbor,

America will be caught napping again and

again.

10 hours after the attack on Pearl

Harbor,

Japanese bombers suddenly appear over

Clark Field in the Philippines.

It's America's main airbase in Southeast

Asia.

>> It's followed by a second attack by

Japanese Zero fighters.

45 minutes later, much of the US air

power in the region has been destroyed.

The Japanese have caught the US on the

hop for a second time.

In America, shock turns to outrage.

32 hours after the attack on Pearl

Harbor, US President Franklin Roosevelt

declares war on Japan.

>> Since the unprovoked

and dastardly attack

by Japan,

a state of war

has existed

between the United States

and the Japanese Empire.

>> But before America can organize its

forces, there's yet another paralyzing

Japanese strike.

Within days of the air attack on the

Philippines, Thousands of Japanese

ground forces swarm ashore.

With no air power, US defenses are

crippled.

In a series [music] of swift, ruthless

assaults, the Japanese fan out across

the country.

10 days later, the Philippine capital,

Manila, is captured.

>> [screaming]

>> For the US commander in the region, it's

a humiliation.

Douglas MacArthur is one of America's

most decorated generals.

But outnumbered and outgunned, there's

nothing he can do.

Finally, in early March, under orders

from the American president, MacArthur

flies [music] out to Australia.

The US regard him as too important to

run the risk that he might be taken

prisoner.

MacArthur

vows to return.

But the Japanese have just bombed the

northern Australian town of Darwin.

>> It's an important Allied base in the

Pacific.

Eight ships have been sunk in the city's

port.

And a further 10 are seriously damaged.

Two airfields have also been shot up,

destroying aircraft and oil storage

tanks, and killing several hundred

people.

The raid has caused chaos to Allied

supply lines.

There are fears it may be followed by a

Japanese invasion.

MacArthur is swept up in the defense of

the country.

The Philippines will have to wait.

An isolated and desperate group of

Americans are left on the rocky Bataan

Peninsula.

They dig in

and wait for help.

Nothing comes.

"We are the battling bastards of

Bataan," they proclaim bitterly.

"No papa, no mama,

no Uncle Sam."

Facing repeated Japanese assaults with

supplies running out, the US forces are

up against impossible odds.

>> After 4 months of savage fighting,

70,000 US troops and their Filipino

allies surrender.

Up to 10,000 of them will die on the

Bataan Death March before they even

reach Japanese prisoner-of-war camps.

Throughout early 1942, the US and her

allies suffer a series of massive

defeats across the Pacific.

>> [screaming]

>> Japanese troops occupy the British

colony of Malaya.

They spread out across the country.

A month later, they overrun the capital,

Kuala Lumpur.

Allied forces withdraw to Singapore, the

center of British rule in the Pacific.

The British believe they've turned the

island into an impregnable fortress.

But all their guns point south,

out to sea.

The Japanese are approaching from the

north.

Britain sends two warships to attack

Japanese troop convoys.

They're met by Japanese bombers.

Both ships are sunk in less than 2

hours.

Almost a thousand of their crew are

lost.

The British defenses in Singapore are

soon reduced to chaos.

A force of over 90,000 Allied troops

surrender.

Almost simultaneously, the British

garrison in Hong Kong is invaded.

It takes the Japanese just 2 weeks to

overrun it.

Hong Kong is followed by Burma.

The country's defenses have been

neglected.

Within 2 months, the Japanese have

seized the capital, Rangoon.

8 weeks later, Japan controls the whole

country.

Across the Pacific, the dominoes are

falling.

It's time for America and her allies to

fight back.

The big question,

how?

As US military planners study maps of

Japan and the Pacific Ocean,

one thing is crystal clear.

Japan is protected by an enormously

powerful navy.

A sea born assault so soon after the

crippling attack on the US Pacific Fleet

in Pearl Harbor would be suicidal.

But an airborne attack is equally

impossible.

The nearest US base had been in the

Philippines.

Now the closest bases are in sites like

the Hawaiian archipelago.

These are over 3,000 miles from Japan.

Hundreds of miles further than the range

of any US long-range bomber.

Japan seems untouchable.

Or is she?

For weeks, a handpicked group of pilots

and their aircraft have been undergoing

special training at the Eglin Air Force

Base in Florida.

The plan is to transport a small force

of B-25 Mitchell bombers by aircraft

carrier to within 400 miles of Japan.

From there,

they'll launch a bombing raid on Tokyo.

The Mitchell is a compromise.

It's neither the longest range nor most

powerful US bomber.

But it's big enough to carry a

significant payload, and crucially, it's

small enough to fit on a carrier.

Still,

it's an operation fraught with danger.

Aircraft carriers are not designed to be

used by bombers.

Their flight decks are too short, and

the bombers are too big and heavy.

At the Florida air base, the Mitchells

are stripped down to remove unnecessary

weight.

They're fitted with extra fuel tanks to

increase their range.

The pilots are put through an exhaustive

and costly training program.

Trials show the modified aircraft will

just about be able to take off from the

carrier deck, provided there are no

errors.

But there's a bigger problem.

The Mitchells may be able to take off

from a carrier,

but the flight deck is too short for

them to return and land.

The only hope of getting back safely is

to fly on to hastily improvised air

bases along the Chinese coast.

Even then, the Mitchells will be flying

at the very limit of their range,

possibly beyond it.

It's a potential suicide mission.

It needs someone special to command it.

The man put in charge is one of

America's most celebrated flyers.

His name,

Lieutenant Colonel James Doolittle,

a man famous for his skill and daring in

the air.

He's the first man to fly across the

United States in less than 24 hours.

He's won trophies for speed and

endurance flights.

He's the first man to take off, fly, and

land an aircraft using only instruments

to guide him.

But this will be Jimmy Doolittle's most

challenging and dangerous mission yet.

4 months after the devastating attack at

Pearl Harbor, America is finally ready

to strike back.

The USS Hornet sets sail from San

Francisco with 16 B-25 Mitchell bombers

strapped to her deck.

They're too big to be stored below.

12 days later, halfway across the

Pacific, they link up with a second US

carrier,

the Enterprise, and an escort of

cruisers and destroyers.

On April the 17th, there's a small

ceremony aboard Hornet.

Japanese medals, donated to US

servicemen during a state visit to Japan

in 1908,

are ceremonially strapped to one of the

huge 500-lb bombs.

The bombs are also daubed with slogans.

One says,

"You'll get a bang out of this."

And another,

"I don't want to set the world on fire,

just Tokyo."

16 days after leaving the US, the Hornet

is within striking distance of Japan.

But then,

there's an emergency.

Radar operators on Enterprise locate two

Japanese boats nearby.

A message is flashed to the Hornet. "Two

enemy surface craft reported."

The Enterprise sends up a reconnaissance

aircraft to check on them.

They find a small patrol boat,

then a couple more.

They appear to be part of a Japanese

early warning system.

The US warships open fire.

Hundreds of shells target the Japanese

[music] boats.

1 6

But Haswell got out of the approaching

US fleet.

The Americans face a dilemma.

Steam on and risk being trapped by the

Japanese Navy.

Or launch their aircraft immediately,

even though they're further from Japan

than planned.

The US commanders decide it's too risky

to delay the attack.

But it will mean Doolittle and his men,

already flying at the limit of their

range, will now have to fly even

further.

At 8:00 a.m., a message is flashed to

Hornet.

Launch planes.

To Colonel Doolittle and gallant

command, good luck

and God bless you.

At 8:20 a.m., the first B-25 takes off.

Huge waves turn the carrier deck into a

seesaw.

The other aircraft follow at brief

intervals.

A man at the end of the deck watches the

dips so the aircraft can take off on a

rising deck.

One of the most daring raids in aviation

history

is underway.

>> 4 hours later, the Doolittle Raiders are

over Tokyo.

The raid is over in a matter of minutes.

Though the physical damage is minimal,

the emotional damage to the Japanese

people is profound.

They've long believed their homeland to

be invulnerable.

Doolittle and his Raiders

prove it's not.

Several hours later, the Americans are

on course for the landing strips in

China.

None of them will make it.

Over the China Sea, they run into a

fuel-sapping headwind,

which forces all to ditch.

All but seven of the 80 Raiders will

eventually make it home to safety,

many helped by the local Chinese

population.

Back in America, they're given a hero's

welcome.

Doolittle is promoted to general and

becomes a national hero.

America, the sleeping giant, has shown

its teeth.

The Doolittle Raid is just the

beginning.

What the raid shows is that the Japanese

gamble at Pearl Harbor has failed.

America is finally ready to unleash a

whole new form of naval warfare.

One that will transform the war in the

Pacific entirely.

By late spring 1942, the US war machine

has geared up.

Civilian factories turn over to

armaments.

Aircraft production soars.

Typewriter factories are converted to

rifle production.

And there's a dash to build aircraft

carriers.

US Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox

speaks for many when he announces,

>> The Japs started this war.

We are going to finish it.

>> Tokyo's response to the April 1942

Doolittle Raid is typically swift and

thorough.

Hideki Tojo, the Japanese Prime

Minister, orders military planners to

build a defensive ring of land bases

around Japan's empire.

The idea

to secure Japan's vital supplies of

natural resources like oil.

Half the ring is already in place.

Japan controls most of the Chinese

coast, Southeast Asia, and the

Philippines.

In early May 1942, to fill the gaps, she

grabs the Solomon Islands.

Two days later, a powerful Japanese

fleet steams into the Coral Sea,

hoping to capture Papua New Guinea.

The naval commander in charge is perhaps

Japan's greatest strategist.

Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto was the

mastermind behind the attack on Pearl

Harbor.

He's Harvard educated.

He understands America.

At his disposal is perhaps the most

powerful navy in the world.

It includes three aircraft carriers,

nine cruisers, 15 destroyers, and dozens

of support vessels.

But Yamamoto is not the only top naval

commander in the region.

Facing him across the Coral Sea is one

of America's finest admirals.

Chester Nimitz is commander-in-chief of

the US Navy in the region.

Nimitz fought in World War I and is

recognized as a brilliant tactician.

He also leads a large fleet.

It includes two aircraft carriers

and an assortment of cruisers and

destroyers.

Some miraculously escaped the

devastation at Pearl Harbor.

Others have been rapidly patched up.

As the two huge fleets approach each

other,

naval warfare is about to change

forever.

Traditional naval warfare has been a gun

battle between warships.

A clash of artillery at sea.

It's almost always involved visual

contact.

But the centerpiece of the new fleets

are aircraft carriers.

They're armed with fighters and fighter

bombers.

It changes everything.

Guns are purely defensive.

Opposing carriers can be hundreds of

miles apart.

Fighting is done in the air.

The new emphasis is on intelligence and

logistics gathering.

Finding out where the enemy is and

getting your aircraft in the air before

he can.

For 2 days, the US and Japanese fleets

send up aircraft to scout the Coral Sea.

Neither knows what's out there or where

the enemy is.

Finally, US warplanes [music] locate the

Japanese carrier Shoho.

Nimitz sends up dive bombers.

13,000 lb bombs demolish the Shoho's

flight deck,

exploding inside her hangars.

Hours later, she will sink.

The Battle of the Coral Sea has begun.

The following day, Yamamoto strikes

back.

The Japanese locate the US carrier

Lexington.

Yamamoto sends up zero fighters.

The Lexington is soon damaged.

Her smaller sister carrier, the

Yorktown, is also hit.

A bomb penetrates four decks before

exploding.

37 men are killed.

Meanwhile, US dive bombers locate

Yamamoto's second carrier, the Shokaku.

Her deck is so badly damaged, she can no

longer be used by aircraft.

>> [music]

>> As darkness falls, the Lexington is

still afloat.

But there's been an undetected [music]

fuel leak.

Suddenly, she erupts.

Amazingly, all but 215 of the nearly

3,000 men on board are rescued.

Later that evening, she's scuttled by an

American torpedo.

The Battle of the Coral Sea is a

stalemate.

But for the first time, the US has taken

on the powerful [music] Japanese Navy

and equaled it.

The myth of Japanese invincibility

is broken.

It's time for America to drive home its

advantage.

And it's got just the weapon to do it.

In Washington,

Operation Magic is underway.

A top-secret team of US code breakers

has successfully cracked the Japanese

military codes.

America has gained the upper hand in the

crucial new front in modern warfare,

intelligence gathering.

In late May, Magic reports Japanese

plans for a surprise attack on target

AF.

AF is clearly somewhere in the

mid-Pacific.

But where?

Naval strategists scour maps of region.

One candidate is the coral atoll of

Midway.

An important US military base in the

Hawaiian archipelago.

It would be an ideal jumping-off point

for a second and more decisive Japanese

attack on Pearl Harbor.

To confirm their hunch, the US code

breakers set a trap.

The American base on Midway is

instructed to send an uncoded message

[music] reporting problems with its

water desalination system.

Almost immediately, naval intelligence

intercepts a Japanese signal that target

AF is experiencing water problems.

The news is flashed to Nimitz.

They now knows exactly where the

Japanese will strike next.

In early June 1942, the Japanese mount a

diversionary attack on the Aleutian

Islands off the coast of Alaska.

The idea to draw the US Pacific Fleet

thousands of miles north.

Leaving the way clear to seize Midway in

the south.

But thanks to the code breakers,

Nimitz ignores the attack.

>> The following day, Japanese [music]

carriers launch an attack on their real

target,

Midway.

But the US base is prepared and sends up

a strong force of fighters.

It's not what the Japanese commander,

Admiral [music] Chuichi Nagumo, is

expecting.

He needs to rethink his plans rapidly.

Nagumo has kept a number of aircraft in

reserve,

loaded with bombs and torpedoes designed

to attack ships.

It's a precaution in case the US Navy

shows up unexpectedly.

But now Nagumo needs all his aircraft to

drive home the attack on Midway.

Carrier crews are ordered to reload the

reserve aircraft with fragmentation

bombs to continue the assault on the US

base.

But then, as the reloading is underway,

Japanese spotter planes relay an urgent

message.

Three huge US aircraft carriers backed

by warships are bearing down on them.

Nagumo faces a tough choice.

Should he continue the attack on Midway

or should he rearm his bombers to attack

the US fleet?

He hesitates.

It's a fatal mistake.

The US carriers launch dive bombers.

With many aircraft still in the process

of loading, the Japanese are sitting

ducks.

Within five extraordinary minutes, the

American dive bombers reduce three of

Japan's largest aircraft carriers to

flaming wrecks.

All will later sink.

In reply, that afternoon the Japanese

damage beyond repair the US carrier

Yorktown.

She, too, will sink.

Meanwhile, America's bombers score a

direct hit on a fourth Japanese carrier.

She turns into a blazing pyre.

For the Japanese, the attack on Midway

[music]

is a disaster.

Her navy has lost four of its finest

carriers.

It's also lost well over 2,000 sailors.

A decisive moment.

Months earlier, Japan had gambled all to

push America out of the Pacific with a

swift, decisive blow against the US

Navy.

The gamble has failed.

The US

now rules the waves.

But the war in the Pacific is far from

over.

Japan is still undefeated on land and a

powerful, threatening force in the air.

The next few years of war will be

devastating and deadly for both sides.

Summer 1942.

Six months after Pearl Harbor, the tides

of war are shifting.

An American victory at Midway strips

Japan of its dominance of the waves.

But this epic war for supremacy in the

Pacific is far from over.

Hitting island after island, it's clear

the US is facing an enemy that is

willing to fight to the death.

This is the story of terrifying

fanaticism

and personal heroism

told in compelling detail

with specially enhanced color film

and rare footage shot by the troops

themselves. All put together for the

first time to answer the question,

does America have what it takes to

endure and win?

This is World War II in the Pacific.

By the summer of 1942,

it's clear Japan's attempt at knocking

America out at Pearl Harbor failed.

In fact, the US victory at the Battle of

Midway has enabled them to assert

dominance at sea.

It's a shift in power that has America

ready to strike back at Japan's empire.

The question is,

where to begin?

US military [music] planners, led by

Army Chief of Staff George C. Marshall,

identified Japan's Achilles' heel,

a complete lack of natural resources.

It's why Japan has seized all those

territories around the Pacific.

Japan created an empire to supply oil,

rubber, tin, and food, essential for

maintaining the war effort.

Cut off these resources,

and Japan will fall.

The problem is, Japanese Commander

General Hideki Tojo

knows it, too.

He has built a defensive ring of steel

around Japan's empire.

A string of island bases, complete with

troops,

ships,

and aircraft to protect Japan's supply

lines.

Taking them will demand more than

American naval superiority.

It will mean driving the Japanese from

their bases across the ocean, island by

island.

This will require an entirely new form

of warfare,

the amphibious landing.

America has never attempted anything

like this before.

But US chiefs believe there's no

alternative to the island-hopping

strategy.

They decide to attack along two fronts.

Admiral [music] Chester Nimitz, the

commander-in-chief of the US Fleet,

will seize key strategic Japanese bases

in the Central Pacific

along the Gilbert, Marshall, and Mariana

Islands.

General Douglas MacArthur, the supreme

commander of Allied Forces [music] in

the Southwest Pacific,

will take New Guinea

and the Solomon Islands

to the south of Japan's empire.

Fortunately for MacArthur, allies

stationed on New Guinea have prevented

Japan from seizing the entire island.

The Japanese invaded New Guinea in March

1942,

but came up against Australia's forces

stationed there.

With the help of the native Papuans, the

Australians have fought [music] back

against Japan's South Seas forces

and have retained an important base at

Port Moresby.

This will provide the US with a foothold

from which to launch their offensive.

>> MacArthur's first target,

a tiny island on the southern tip of the

Solomon Islands,

the very bottom of Japan's defensive

ring,

Guadalcanal.

The offensive opens with shelling by US

warships.

B-17s from 26th Squadron rain down

destruction for 7 days.

Only when Japan's defenses have been

softened up,

does MacArthur launch the first

land-based assault.

US Marines go into amphibious combat for

the very first time.

Low light and heavy cloud allow the

approaching landing craft to go

undetected.

Wave after wave of Marines pour onto the

beaches.

Everything is going like clockwork.

But as they press up the beach,

the Japanese are waiting.

Japan's garrison fight back with

shocking ferocity.

The 1st and 11th Marine Corps pounds the

enemy defenses with howitzers.

It's not enough.

They are forced to getting close.

The Japanese are driven by a code of

honor. It's better to die in battle or

commit suicide than surrender.

A code that Americans quickly discover

means they're in for a fight to the

death.

Within hours, [music] 10,000 US troops

reach land outnumbering the enemy 5 to

1.

As more US heavy artillery and tank

support arrives, MacArthur's optimism

[music] grows that he has the Japanese

outgunned and outnumbered.

Japan's 2,000 strong garrison is quickly

overwhelmed.

By 8:00 p.m., after just 14 hours of

fighting,

American troops secure their main

objective,

an airstrip

on the north of the island.

MacArthur now has an air base [music]

from which to support his advance on

Japan's island empire.

But his control over the island is far

from secure.

12 days later, Japan mounts a counter

attack.

A wave of a thousand soldiers from their

nearby island stronghold of Rabaul lands

on Guadalcanal.

American forces stand firm.

Almost all of the Japanese that attack

are killed.

But they keep on coming.

Wave after wave of Japanese

reinforcements pour onto the island.

Fighting continues for six months

until Japan is forced to concede.

>> All remaining Japanese forces are

evacuated from Guadalcanal by February

the 7th, 1943.

The battle for this one tiny island

costs America 7,100

lives.

Japan's losses are a staggering 24,000.

Guadalcanal is a taste of the war of

attrition

that is to come.

The American victory provides a key

foothold on the edge of the Japanese

Empire.

A secure airfield for MacArthur to start

island hopping his way towards the

ultimate goal,

mainland Japan.

February 1943.

With Guadalcanal under their control, US

Chiefs can now begin the process of

cutting Japan off from its supply of

natural resources.

Rabaul, on the island of New Britain, is

America's next target.

From here, Japan provides air and naval

support to its supply lines.

MacArthur's plan is not to capture

Rabaul,

but to isolate it.

Cut off, it will cease to [music] pose

any military threat.

Operation Cartwheel is launched.

General MacArthur intends to encircle

Rabaul with a pincer maneuver.

MacArthur himself will lead the western

pincer from Port Moresby up the Japanese

occupied northern coast of New Guinea.

The eastern pincer, commanded by Admiral

William Bull Halsey, will start from

Guadalcanal and move north through the

Japanese controlled Solomon Islands.

From these two points, the US Navy can

complete the encirclement.

As with Guadalcanal, Cartwheel begins

with intense aerial bombardment and

shelling.

Then marine and army units assault the

beaches.

This time the Japanese unleash heavy

mortar, sniper, and machine gun fire.

As the US presses inland, Japanese

resistance becomes even stronger.

The enemy are well dug in,

lurking in a network of pillboxes,

caves,

and underground bunkers.

American forces have to get in close,

a task for grenades and flamethrowers.

Still, the Japanese soldiers stay true

to the samurai code of honor.

Rather than surrender, they mount

suicide charges shouting "Banzai!"

As the combat continues,

US troops

face a new enemy.

The jungle terrain [music] on the island

is riddled with disease.

Soldiers fall prey to dysentery,

scrub typhus,

and worst of all,

malaria.

In fact, across the entire war in the

Pacific, malaria claims more American

casualties

than the Japanese.

But despite the appalling jungle

conditions,

the US weight in numbers tips the

balance.

Japanese fanatical bravery is no match

for America's military might.

It takes nine bloody months of conflict,

but eventually the two pincers of

Operation Cartwheel encircle Rabaul.

American casualties

run into the tens of thousands.

Staggeringly, more than 150,000

Japanese are killed.

Operation Cartwheel has done its job.

Rabaul, along with its garrison of over

100,000 men, is now isolated and will

play no further part in the war.

Vital resources, [music]

including oil from the Dutch East Indies

and rubber from New Guinea, are

successfully cut off from mainland

Japan.

Meanwhile, to the east, Admiral Chester

Nimitz [music] and the US Fleet are

preparing to attack Japan's empire on a

second front.

Operation Galvanic [music]

aims to drive the Japanese off the

Gilbert and Marshall Islands.

These outposts provide vital military

support to Japan's supply routes in the

central Pacific.

The campaign's first target,

the island of Tarawa.

It starts with by now tried and tested

tactics.

A naval and air bombardment from the

fifth fleet.

Then, the 2nd Marine Division heads for

the beaches.

This time, America's lack of experience

of amphibious warfare shows when the

troops land at low tide.

They are forced to leave their landing

crafts with water up to their waists and

razor-sharp coral reefs on the foot.

Exposed to enemy fire, hundreds of

Marines are cut down by machine guns.

Meanwhile, the bulk of Japan's

4,700-strong

garrison is waiting inland.

Outnumbered by the invading Americans 7

to 1.

Every one of them is ready to die for

[music] their emperor.

Their extreme dedication makes the next

[music] four days some of the fiercest

and bloodiest battles in Marine Corps

history.

By the time the island of Tarawa is

secure,

1,700 American lives are lost.

Out of the entire Japanese garrison,

only 17 allow themselves [music] to be

captured alive.

With the Japanese unable to halt their

charge, Nimitz's forces continue to

steam north.

By February the 22nd, he seizes all the

key targets in the Gilbert and Marshall

Islands.

US forces now have their sights set to

the north on the Japanese-controlled

Mariana Islands.

Admiral Chester Nimitz and his naval

task force launch Operation Forager.

The first target,

the Mariana Island of Saipan.

165,000

shells are fired to pound defenses.

Two days later, the amphibious landings

begin.

8,000 Marines of the 2nd and 4th

Divisions are ashore by early morning.

The fighting follows a by now familiar

pattern.

But this time, the Japanese have a

surprise. They don't just have ground

troops.

They call up their navy.

A huge carrier fleet, including five

fleet carriers and four light carriers,

advances into the Philippine Sea.

The aim is to cut the US troops on

Saipan off from their supporting ships.

But there is a flaw in the Japanese

plan.

Most of their experienced pilots were

lost at the Battle of Midway.

These pilots are rookies.

A first wave of just 61 Zero fighters

take off.

Nimitz scrambles 220 F6F Hellcat

fighters.

These are America's most advanced

fighter planes. Their pilots are

battle-hardened.

It's men against boys.

Outnumbered and outgunned, Japan's Zeros

are mercilessly blasted from the sky.

The Japanese launch another wave of 120

aircraft.

And then another 47.

>> [music]

>> By nightfall, the US losses stand at

just 29 planes.

Japan's

are almost 400 aircraft.

It goes down in history

as the Great Marianas Turkey Shoot.

At sea level, the battle is just as

one-sided.

US submarines [music] torpedo and sink

two Japanese aircraft carriers.

In less than 24 hours, the Imperial

Japanese fleet is routed.

They lose three carriers and almost 600

aircraft.

This crushing blow means that Japan can

no longer [music] compete in

carrier-based warfare.

The Battle of the Philippine Sea is an

important American victory.

Back on Saipan,

the conflict plummets to new depths of

horror.

It's not the banzai charges that shock

the US troops.

It's the suicidal fanaticism of the

8,000 Japanese civilians on the island.

>> American soldiers watch in horror as

men,

women,

and even children

jump from cliffs to their death.

The message to America is clear.

To beat Japan,

the US won't just have to overcome a

vast army,

but an entire nation that will never

surrender.

How can you defeat an enemy that just

won't back down?

Summer, 1944,

and America is [music] winning the war

in the Pacific.

Japan's empire

is being rolled back.

But the cost of human life

is horrifying.

US losses stand at around 46,000 men.

Japan's are massive at over 300,000.

[music]

Mainland Japan is deprived of natural

[music] resources,

and their war effort is taking a toll on

the Japanese people.

Food is in short supply.

Japan's agricultural and transport

infrastructures

are disintegrating.

But the war seems no nearer to ending.

>> In the US High Command, an argument is

underway. [music]

Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Ernest

J. King argues that the war could be

brought to a swift end

by moving the fleet west from the

Marianas to the island of Formosa,

modern-day Taiwan.

It would put Japan's home islands within

easy striking range of US heavy [music]

bombers.

King's plan would mean bypassing most of

the remaining Japanese bases across the

Pacific,

leaving them undefeated but isolated.

General MacArthur has other ideas.

The US Supreme Commander in Southeast

Asia tells President [music] Roosevelt

that America must continue with his

island-hopping strategy.

In particular, he must drive the

Japanese off the Philippines.

This approach, he argues, will provide

bigger bases than Formosa from which to

launch bombing raids

and consolidate America's stranglehold

on Japan.

There's something else.

MacArthur had promised the Filipino

people that he would return when he was

driven off the island in December 1941.

He means to keep that promise.

On July 26th, 1944,

President Roosevelt backs MacArthur's

plan.

It is a decision [music]

that will prove fateful for hundreds of

thousands of people.

As preparations for the campaign begin,

MacArthur deliberates where to make his

first assault.

He targets the island of Leyte in the

Southern Philippines.

The general launches amphibious

landings.

An expert in PR, he's filmed striding

ashore with his troops,

showing the folks back home that he has

indeed returned.

By now, America is accomplished at

amphibious landings, and within hours,

the Sixth Army establishes an 18-mi long

beachhead from which to begin their

[music] advance inland.

The Japanese High Command know they have

to try something different to break the

cycle of American success.

They gamble and mobilize all their

remaining major naval vessels.

They call it Operation Sho,

meaning victory.

The plan is to lure America's naval

support away from the ground troops on

Leyte.

The Imperial Fleet is split into three.

One convoy advances through the San

Bernardino Straits to the north

and another

through the Surigao Straits to the

south.

The third Japanese convoy, including the

Imperial Navy's last four carriers,

approaches the Philippines from the

northeast.

On October the 23rd, the northern convoy

of Operation Show is spotted.

Admiral Halsey, commander of the Third

Fleet,

intercepts.

The following morning, he scrambles

aircraft to attack the Japanese convoy.

The Japanese come under fire.

But then turn and retreat.

It's a trick designed to lead Halsey on.

He takes the bait, heading straight

towards the Japanese carriers to the

northeast and away from Leyte.

Meanwhile, to the south, Admiral Kinkaid

heads out to intercept the second

Japanese convoy approaching through the

Surigao Strait.

Japan's plan is working.

Just a few US vessels remain to support

the landing on Leyte.

Now, under the cover of darkness, the

Japanese fleet that had appeared to

retreat

turns back to attack the handful of

American ships still covering the

landing.

This could be the victory that Japan

[music] so desperately needs.

But at the last moment

they lose their nerve.

Fearing they are sailing into a trap,

the Japanese turn again

and retreat.

The opportunity is lost.

In the Surigao Strait, Admiral Kinkaid

and the US 7th Fleet unleash hell on

Japan's southern convoy.

Three Japanese destroyers and two

battleships are sunk.

To the northeast, Admiral Halsey and the

Third Fleet reach the four remaining

Japanese carriers.

Having lost most of their aircraft and

pilots in the Marianas,

Japan's carriers

are sitting ducks.

All four are sunk.

It should be the final knockout blow

against the Japanese Imperial Navy.

But Japan believes it can still strike

back against the US fleet

with a terrifying tactic that takes its

fanaticism to a whole new level.

The Imperial High Command calls for

volunteers to form a new aerial strike

force.

They are called Kamikaze, meaning divine

wind.

And they are required to make the

ultimate sacrifice in the name of their

emperor.

In the fall of 1944,

the first Kamikaze pilots drink sake

before climbing into their aircraft

laden with fuel and explosives.

Their targets are America's aircraft

carriers supporting the troops on the

Philippine island [music] of Leyte.

US fighters and anti-aircraft guns

respond to the threat.

Some Kamikazes are blown out of the sky.

Others miss their targets.

But a direct hit is devastating.

The carrier St. Lo is sunk killing a

hundred Americans.

As horrific as these attacks are,

they're not enough to turn the tide of

the war.

Out of some 2,600 Kamikaze sorties,

only 19% hit their targets sinking less

than 40 US ships.

>> [music]

>> Back on Leyte, ground forces face off

against Japanese defenses across the

island.

Attritional warfare continues for two

solid months.

But once again, Japan's [music]

determination is no match for America's

sheer weight in numbers.

They are outnumbered four to one.

On New Year's Eve 1944,

General MacArthur's men

finally capture Chalati.

Almost the entire Japanese force of

50,000

lies dead.

Now MacArthur can launch his attack on

the main Philippine island of Luzon.

Early in the new year, over 100,000

troops of the 6th Army Division land on

the south coast of the island.

The landings [music]

are relatively unopposed.

The Japanese garrison is poorly equipped

and is no longer receiving air and naval

support or reinforcements from Japan.

No match for America, they are forced to

fall back to mountain strongholds.

As US reinforcements pour onto Luzon,

MacArthur heads straight for the

capital,

Manila.

After just 2 weeks of close-quarter

combat, MacArthur's troops are just 60

km from the capital.

They retake the major US air base of

Clark Field that had fallen to Japan in

1941.

With Manila in his sights, it looks as

if General [music] Douglas MacArthur is

about to make good on his promise to

liberate the Philippines.

The First Cavalry Division take the

bridge over the Tullahan River.

And on February the 3rd, the US enter

the capital city, Manila.

The Japanese hold Manila's historic

architecture in high esteem.

To preserve it, General Yamashita gives

orders to withdraw completely.

But a garrison commander named Sanji

Iwabuchi

defies the order along with 20,000 men.

They swear to uphold the Japanese

Imperial code of honor and defend the

city to the death.

The Battle for Manila becomes the first

and fiercest example of urban warfare in

the Pacific theater.

American soldiers inch through the

capital.

They face snipers,

machine gun nests, and hidden artillery.

Historic Manila is reduced to rubble.

After a month of fighting, US forces

drive Iwabuchi and his remaining troops

to the historic center of the city known

as Intramuros.

There, they will make their last stand.

American soldiers unleash a 140-gun

artillery barrage.

US troops then [music] assault the

stronghold.

The battle is brutal, lasting three

days.

At dawn on the 26th,

Iwahuchi and his officers

commit seppuku,

the Japanese act of ceremonial suicide.

The battle for Manila

is finally over

by March the 3rd.

American losses

stand at a thousand.

Japan's

at 17,000.

But over a hundred thousand Filipino

civilians lie dead.

Many of them massacred

by the Japanese.

It is the highest death toll of any

battle in the Pacific theater so far.

MacArthur has kept his promise,

but at a devastating price.

The battle for the Philippines will

continue for five more months as the US

are made to weed out pockets of Japanese

defenders dotted around the islands.

>> When it's finally over, it has cost

America around 14,000 dead

and almost 50,000 wounded.

Japan has lost almost 350,000

[music] soldiers' lives.

Strategically, the campaign has been a

success.

Japan's navy has been crushed.

Its last supply lines to sources of oil

and food have been severed.

But everyone knows the war is far from

over.

The Japanese believe they can still win.

If they can make the fighting brutal

enough and just fight on whatever the

cost, they are convinced that America

will not have the stomach to continue.

US chiefs know this, too.

They need to find a way to force Japan

to surrender quickly and

unconditionally.

But how?

>> Victory in the Pacific is on the

horizon.

But not fast enough for the thousands of

American servicemen facing a suicidal

enemy.

To end the epic war in the Pacific, it

will take the most destructive form of

warfare ever invented.

This is the story of terrifying

fanaticism and personal heroism

told in compelling detail

with specially enhanced color film and

rare footage

shot by the troops themselves.

Put together for the first time to

answer the question,

why did Japan believe America would

never deliver the knockout blow?

This

is World War II

in the Pacific.

Two and a half years after Pearl Harbor,

it's finally payback time.

A campaign to rule the waves and island

hopping to seize back territory

has given the American forces the upper

hand in the Pacific.

>> But not for a second does anyone believe

Japan is ready to give in.

The way the Japanese soldier fights is

terrifying.

Surrender is unthinkable.

Forcing Japan to do that is going to be

bloody and bitter.

In Europe,

US soldiers know they can overcome their

enemy in conventional battle.

For them, by the summer of 1944,

the end is in sight.

In the Pacific,

bitter experience tells them otherwise.

The soldiers have had to develop violent

new weapons and tactics to match the

barbarity of their enemy.

They resort to flamethrowers, artillery,

and tanks.

For every inch of terrain, the Japanese

exact a cruel toll.

General George C. Marshall, Chief of

Staff of the US [music] Army, fears

defeating Japan can only come at a

horrific cost in American lives.

Desperate to avoid this,

he and his colleagues, the Joint Chiefs

of Staff, devise a plan.

A simple two-pronged strategy.

One,

blockade and starve the Japanese people.

Two, bomb their factories and obliterate

[music] their capacity to wage war.

Together,

the hope is they can destroy Japan's

will to fight on.

Phase one begins.

US submarines operating out of the

Philippines and aircraft from US

carriers blockade Japan, severing vital

supply lines.

Raw materials, food supplies, and troop

ships are dispatched to the bottom of

the ocean.

The result, throughout 1944, Japan loses

300,000 tons of shipping each month.

Food stocks plummet, millions go hungry,

and a famine looms.

But the Japanese people stand firm.

Time for phase two to kick in.

Destroy Japan's war machine from the

air.

It's a chance for one man to make his

mark.

Curtis LeMay is a cigar-chomping,

battle-seasoned major general in the US

Army Air Force's 20th Group in China.

He's a tough-talking champion of carpet

bombing Japan into submission.

He and his superiors propose a

terrifying assault from the sky. An

unprecedented air war that will flatten

Japan's factories.

The challenges LeMay faces are huge.

Distances in the region are massive.

Japan is over 1,500 mi away from the

nearest [music] airstrips, and heavy

bombers cannot fly from carriers.

But LeMay believes he has the right

machine to get the job done. [music]

The brand new Boeing B-29 Superfortress.

The result of a $3 billion development

program.

A state-of-the-art four-engine bomber.

It can fly all the way to Japan thanks

to its massive range of nearly 4,000 mi.

This means it can operate out of

airstrips in China

and on the Mariana Islands.

Chengdu, China.

62 US B-29s take off.

Their target, the Yawata Steel Works in

central Japan.

The distance is so great, the superforts

must fly unprotected without fighter

escort.

This forces the bombers to fly at high

altitude where the Japanese fighters

will have difficulty reaching them.

Each B-29 will drop its payload of eight

500-lb high explosive bombs from 30,000

ft.

The goal,

flatten the steel works.

But the attacks are from so high up,

they miss their target.

Japan's strong jet stream winds blow the

bombs off course.

A disappointing debut for the

multi-billion dollar airplane.

The B-29's accuracy does not improve

with additional raids in the weeks

ahead.

The grand plan to force Japan to

surrender is not working.

Curtis LeMay is promoted to take

personal charge of the campaign.

His answer

>> [music]

>> is to bomb more and bomb harder. So, he

devises a new tactic,

the firestorm.

LeMay decides to use a horrifying new

weapon, the M69 incendiary cluster bomb.

Accuracy is not essential.

The incendiaries use napalm to burn

whole swaths of a city.

Any weapons factories in the area will

be destroyed in the inferno.

Bombers based in the Mariana Islands set

their sights on Japan's sixth largest

city, Kobe.

In their bomb bays are tons of

incendiary bombs.

Kobe burns with a ferocity never before

seen.

The city is densely packed and made up

of wooden and paper houses that explode

into flames.

Whole neighborhoods are incinerated.

Thousands die.

The orange glow can be seen hundreds of

miles away.

LeMay does it again.

He hits 67 cities,

including the capital Tokyo, in the

weeks ahead.

Still, the Japanese won't buckle.

Worse,

they are beginning to hit back.

Fighters and anti-aircraft guns start

downing B-29s.

>> LeMay's air crews are suffering mounting

losses

with nearly 3,000 [music] airmen killed.

Morale is sinking.

LeMay remains convinced that carpet

bombing can work.

But to succeed he believes a change in

tactics is in order.

The B-29s must fly lower to improve

accuracy.

That means fighter escorts are

essential.

To achieve that, the fighters need bases

closer to mainland Japan on enemy-held

territory.

LeMay and the US battle planners have

one island in mind.

Iwo Jima.

Iwo Jima is the most outlying of Japan's

home islands.

Just a tiny lump of volcanic rock barely

5 mi long.

Located 660 mi from Japan's main

population centers, Iwo Jima has two

airstrips that are ideal for fighters

like the P-51 Mustang.

Controlling it would mean Curtis LeMay's

B-29s could fly with a fighter escort

all the way to their targets and back.

But since early 1944, the Japanese have

been firmly dug in on Iwo Jima.

The defenses masterminded by Japanese

General Tadamichi Kuribayashi.

He was military attache in Washington in

the 1920s.

He knows what to expect from the

Americans.

His 21,000 men are making the tiny

island into a fortress.

They have dug tunnels, bunkers, and

defensive lines away from the beaches.

They believe they are ready for anything

the Americans can throw at them.

In February 1945, the largest fleet so

far assembled in the Pacific arrives in

the waters off Iwo Jima.

It boasts over 400 ships.

Aboard the troop carriers, 60,000

Marines of the 3rd, 4th, and 5th

divisions are awaiting the green light.

In charge of the landings is Marine

Corps General and Commander of 5th

Amphibious Group, Harry Schmidt, known

to his men as the Dutchman.

To crush all resistance, for 75 days the

island is pummeled with a massive

bombardment.

Wave after wave of carrier-borne

aircraft and medium bombers hit the

Japanese positions.

>> Then the big guns of the fleet open up.

This is the climax of one of the most

prolonged and concerted bombardments of

the war.

Intelligence suggests the island should

fall in just a week.

The first wave of landing craft set off.

On board are 8,000 Marines.

As the Marines hit the beach, there's

nothing. No reply from the Japanese.

It seems the bombardment has worked.

Then

>> The Japanese defenders had been hiding

underground during the bombardment. Now

they burst out, inflicting heavy

casualties.

Over 500 Marines die on the beaches.

As the hours pass, the Marines recover

and gradually push inland.

By the end of the day, 30,000 Marines

are ashore.

Over the next 3 days, the fighting is

intense as the Marines battle their way

to the island's most visible landmark,

the 550-ft volcano,

Mount Suribachi.

The volcano dominates the island. From

there, the Japanese can fire on any

targets below, including the

all-important airfields.

It's just a quarter of a mile from the

beaches,

but the Marines must fight their way up

the steep mountainsides.

On February the 23rd, the most iconic

moment of any war is captured as Marines

raise the Stars and Stripes on Mount

Suribachi.

A different group of men are the first

to raise a flag,

but it is re-staged later for the

benefit of a photographer, Joe

Rosenthal.

He creates the image that will come to

immortalize the Pacific War.

It's an unforgettable scene,

but it's not the end of the battle.

Combat continues for another 21 days

because the Japanese refuse to

surrender.

Marines fan out across the island, fend

off any final suicidal banzai charges,

and burn out the last of the island's

defenders.

36 days after it all began,

Iwo Jima is secure.

>> The Americans [music] have the staging

post they so badly want for their air

war.

But the cost is terrible.

6,821

Marines are killed.

18,000 wounded. Capturing a tiny [music]

island just 5 miles long.

Total casualties are proportionally

worse

than for D-Day.

27 Medals of Honor are won.

Iwo Jima accounts for 28% of all the

Marine Corps awards granted in the whole

of the Pacific campaign.

If anyone doubts the Japanese resolve,

their losses prove the point.

Only 200 of the original 21,000

defenders survive.

The rest

prefer to die.

It shows exactly what the Americans are

up against.

The air war now enters a new terrifying

phase.

18 days after the first landings on Iwo

Jima,

Curtis LeMay switches to an all-out

aerial firebombing campaign.

In one of the most destructive night

raids in all history, Operation Meeting

House, over 300 B-29s hit Tokyo.

They lay waste to 16 square miles of the

city.

100,000 Japanese citizens are

incinerated. A million

made homeless.

The cities of Nagoya, Osaka, and Kobe

are all raised to the ground.

Every month, LeMay receives another 100

B-29s from Boeing's factories to join

the campaign.

In total, his airplanes will drop

170,000

tons of bombs

after 500 bombers take part in each

raid.

Now, they fly at night and at low

altitude, 6,000 to 9,000 [music] ft.

LeMay orders that guns and unnecessary

equipment be stripped from the B-29s so

they can carry yet more ordnance.

And it doesn't end there.

US aircraft can start roaming over

Japan, shooting and strafing targets at

will.

>> Despite all this, the Japanese people

show no signs of buckling.

The inescapable truth is that LeMay's

bombing is not working.

A ground invasion and the horrific

number of casualties that will come with

it is looking unavoidable.

By spring 1945,

American battle planners in the Pacific

are terrified by the prospect of

conducting more land invasions.

But to win the war,

it's a must.

Hundreds of so-called home islands make

up the Japanese nation.

At their center are Japan's main

population areas,

the four islands of Honshu,

Hokkaido,

Kyushu,

and Shikoku.

Before they can capture these, America

needs more staging areas close to the

mainland.

First in line, Okinawa,

340 miles to the south of the Japanese

mainland.

On Okinawa, 100,000 men are waiting for

the American ground troops.

Backing them are hundreds of pilots

schooled in the Bushido code of death

instead of defeat.

The US assembles a huge task force.

However, before American boots set foot

on the island, the Japanese strike

first.

Wave after wave of Kamikaze converted

fighters hit the invasion fleet backed

up by conventional bombers.

Several carriers are hit, others

seriously damaged.

Losses are even worse among the

destroyers manning the outer defense

lines.

Despite the damage, the US invasion goes

ahead.

It starts as usual.

First, the heavy bombardment.

Then, the land assault begins.

Army units attack the south and marine

units the north in an attempt to cut the

island in two.

Again, the landing is strangely quiet.

Japanese commander Lieutenant General

Mitsuru Ushijima

has withdrawn to a system of elaborately

fortified defenses called the Shuri

Line.

The army units in the south quickly

discover what that means.

Grunts have to inch forward through the

Shuri Line.

Each time a strong point is taken, the

Japanese defenders fall back to

pre-prepared positions where the bloody

process begins again.

The task force anchored at sea isn't

spared. The suicide campaign continues.

On the 7th of April, 700 kamikaze set

off on a one-way mission.

They hit the ships anchored off Okinawa.

One destroyer survives six kamikaze

attacks and four bomb hits.

Four other ships aren't so lucky

and are sunk.

24 are damaged at a cost of 335 Japanese

aircraft.

The Japanese high command is even

prepared to sacrifice the pride of its

fleet on a desperate last-ditch mission.

The Yamato is the world's biggest and

most powerful battleship at 72,000 tons.

It is sent on a final sortie to

devastate the US fleet at Okinawa.

It is spotted en route.

400 American fighters are scrambled.

The Yamato is blown to bits.

On Okinawa, fighting grinds on.

Marines and GIs become locked in deadly

hand-to-hand battles.

30 days in, momentous news [music]

reaches them amidst the mayhem.

Adolf Hitler

commits suicide.

A week later,

the war in Europe

is over.

But while the rest of the world

rejoices,

for the Leathernecks and GIs fighting on

Okinawa, it means little.

Some unit commanders can only give their

men a 5-minute break before grimly

ordering them on.

The battle for Okinawa rages on into a

second, then a third month, as the

Americans struggle to overcome the

Japanese defenses.

Every cave conceals an ambush.

Each tree line hides a new bunker.

American forces throw everything at the

Japanese.

With total air supremacy, US fighter

bombers take on a specialist ground

support role.

Troops work side by side with forward

air controllers.

Together, they identify targets and call

in fighters.

If the aircraft can't silence the most

stubborn resistance,

flame throwing tanks or demolition

charges are brought in.

Even so, it's only when the main city of

Shuri is captured and the Marines launch

a new offensive that the island finally

falls.

It has taken 82 days.

7,503

US troops pay for Okinawa with their

lives.

Nearly 37,000 are wounded.

5,000 sailors are killed.

A massive cost in American life.

For Japan,

the losses are even worse.

100,000 Japanese soldiers are dead.

Only 7,000 surrender.

These horrific losses make it crystal

clear to [music] the American generals

that taking mainland Japan

will mean the mother of all battles.

Meanwhile, Japan is preparing for the

final fight to the death.

Hundreds of new Kamikaze pilots are

awaiting their chance to die for the

emperor.

375,000

soldiers are gathered to repel the

Americans.

Militias and suicide volunteers are

ready and waiting.

In the air, a reserve of 5,000 aircraft

has been held back.

Their best tanks have been preserved for

the final battle.

Even after they've been hit by hundreds

of thousands of tons of bombs, Japan's

military leadership refuses to

contemplate surrender.

Despite their best efforts to avoid it,

the American strategists are faced with

one grim reality.

The need to invade Japan.

It is now clear what the Japanese tactic

is.

If they can make it bloody enough, they

believe that America will not have the

stomach for a fight.

When pushed to estimate eventual

casualty numbers, US battle planners say

it will cost a quarter of a million

American lives.

A figure that's unacceptable.

They have to find another way.

There is one other solution.

And it offers US President Harry S.

Truman an alternative to a ground

invasion.

>> At the Emperor's Palace in Potsdam to

pose for the international press, come

United States President Harry S. Truman,

Russian Generalissimo Joseph Stalin, and

Winston Churchill as Britain's Prime

Minister.

>> President Truman is in Europe.

At the Potsdam Conference, the Allied

leaders [music] meet.

News filters through to him of a

development in a top secret weapons

program.

>> One day earlier at the White Sands

Proving Ground in New Mexico,

the first successful atomic test in

history took place.

It is called Trinity.

>> 3

2

1

>> It's the dawn of the nuclear age.

The Manhattan Project is a 3-year-old

program to devise a weapon so

grotesquely powerful, it might just

force the Japanese to cave in.

Its mastermind

is Robert Oppenheimer.

The result,

the nuclear bomb.

It involves splitting atoms to release

huge amounts of explosive energy.

Oppenheimer and his team have developed

two types of bomb.

One uses naturally occurring uranium.

The other, even more powerful, man-made

plutonium.

President Truman hints to Soviet leader

Joseph Stalin

that a powerful new weapon is ready.

Stalin appears strangely unsurprised.

Truman is puzzled by his reaction,

but later learns Russian spies

penetrated the Trinity Project.

From Potsdam, an ultimatum is issued to

the Japanese.

Surrender or face destruction.

Japan does not respond.

The Prime Minister has been ordered to

maintain mokusatsu,

meaning in Japanese to kill by silent

contempt.

After agonizing over the decision,

President Truman gives the go-ahead.

A few days later, the crew of a B-29

named Enola [music] Gay after the

captain, Paul Tibbets' mother,

takes off from the airbase in Tinian in

the Northern Mariana Islands.

In the plane's belly is a 15-kiloton

uranium bomb nicknamed Little Boy.

Their target, Hiroshima

in western Japan.

It takes the Enola Gay and its deadly

cargo 6 hours to fly to Hiroshima,

500 miles from the capital, Tokyo.

The weather over Hiroshima is clear and

crisp.

The crew circle overhead.

Then at 8:15 a.m.

>> An explosion with the power of nearly

15,000 tons of TNT is detonated over the

city.

For the victims,

death

comes in stages.

First, the earth under ground zero is

heated to 5,000°.

Then, comes the shockwave.

Next, a deadly firestorm sucks oxygen

out from the atmosphere, killing more

people.

Finally,

others will succumb to radiation

poisoning, which arrives as black

radioactive rain.

The devastation for just one bomb is

astonishing.

Some 70,000 people are killed.

President Truman announces the weapon to

the world and promises more atom bombs

unless Japan surrenders.

>> If they do not now accept our terms,

they may expect a rain of ruin from the

air, the like of which has never been

seen on this earth.

>> The Japanese ignore him.

Again, they choose [music] to not even

respond to his ultimatum.

Three days later,

a plutonium-based bomb, even more

powerful than the last, and known as Fat

Man,

is loaded onto another B-29.

The target,

Nagasaki,

760 miles to the south of Tokyo.

The blast at Nagasaki is just as lethal.

Up to 50,000 people die.

Still, there is no response from the

Japanese leadership.

The Americans face a problem.

They have no more atomic bombs.

Making more will take time.

So, US battleships sail right up to

Japan's coast and pour fire onto targets

inland.

Marauding fighters continue to shoot up

anything and everything they can find.

>> [laughter]

>> Finally, the Japanese war council

gathers to contemplate the unthinkable.

The ultimatum for surrender offered at

Potsdam.

They agree to accept, but with

conditions.

Japan's offer is immediately rejected.

Truman is very clear. Only unconditional

surrender will [music] do.

Against all expectations,

the Japanese

give ground again.

Only one overriding condition remains.

Their emperor

must be allowed to stay in power.

The Americans signal that if the Supreme

Commander of Allied Forces, General

Douglas MacArthur, is placed in overall

command of Japan,

they will allow the emperor to stay.

The two sides finally agree terms

[music] of surrender in early August.

On the quarterdeck of the battleship USS

Missouri,

the Japanese delegation, including

Foreign Minister Mamoru Shigemitsu,

sign the formal document of surrender.

Finally,

it's over.

Peace has arrived.

>> [cheering]

>> Countless lives have been lost in one of

the most bloody campaigns of World War

II.

It's seen the arrival of new and

frightening weapons and tactics,

including the ultimate game changer in

the atom bomb.

In the end,

it is a catastrophe for the Japanese.

The cost for them [music] is 2 million

lives, of which 1.74 million are

military.

The American nation has fought for 4

years

and buried nearly half a million men.

In the Pacific,

55,145

men were lost from the army,

29,263

from the navy,

and 19,163

marines.

But out of all this, new adversaries

emerge in an epic struggle to master

such devastating power.

While the Japanese nation must rebuild

its shattered and scarred country and

learn to come to terms with a calamitous

war

that began in the waters [music] of

Hawaii and ended in rubble and ash.