All language subtitles for The.Pacific.War.in.Color.S01E02.Shockwaves.1080p.HDTV.x264.AAC.MVGroup.org

In 1942,

the shockwaves of war

flood into every corner
Of the Pacific...

from steamy island jungles...

to the bitter Alaskan cold.

it was the worst place.

I froze to death.

In these unfamiliar lands,

enemies that were
an ocean apart...

will soon come face to face.

Midway was our first
real encounter with the enemy.

With rare personal films...

and color combat footage...

Bullets and anti-aircraft fire

were coming at me
from every direction.

Hear the voices
and feel the fight.

You didn’t know
when you were going to sail.

Wives didn’t know any given day

if they would see
their husbands again.

We didn’t know
where we were going.

All they said was,

"you all aren’t gonna need
no winter clothes.

You’re going overseas."

Then, one morning,
we were underway.

We left out

underneath
the Golden Gate bridge.

Things looked pretty good.

It was a really smooth ride.

Then we got out,
and the ocean got rough,

and the waves got big,

and that little boat was
bouncing around like a cork.

We were all sick as hell.

Before I was out of the harbor,

I was feeding fish
over the side.

Freshly trained men
in brand-new uniforms

jam onto ships
heading to an unfamiliar world

6,000 miles away.

We were sleeping
on the hangar decks...

the flight decks.

anywhere we could find
a place to lay down.

Some are barely 18.

I was just a kid.

I had never spent a night away
from my mother or father.

I spent a lot of time in my bunk
just thinking about home,

and even crying once in a while.

They can only imagine
what war is like

and where they’re going
to fight it.

Serviceman Dan Rocklin

lands in a jungle
on the other side of the ocean.

He brings his own camera
to capture how exotic it is.

He’s near Port Moresby,
On the island of New Guinea.

Rivers are infested
with crocodiles.

Kids climb trees for coconuts.

Then trade them for cigarettes.

The tribe is welcoming,

but can’t help
staring at the strange men

pointing cameras at them.

They’ll be calling this home.

But they aren’t here for fun.

The Japanese
are quickly closing in.

The Japanese already hold
the Solomon islands

and most of New Guinea.

Now a fleet is on the way
to complete the conquest...

if they can kick the Allies
out of Port Moresby.

If New Guinea falls,

Australia fears

it could be next.

But Americans
see the Japanese coming.

Code breakers
sniff out the plan.

Admiral Chester Nimitz
decides to gamble.

He sends an armada,

including
four aircraft carriers,

to meet them head on.

The Battle of the Coral Sea

starts with a big blow.

Americans spot
a Japanese carrier.

They dive down through
piercing anti-aircraft fire

and sink it.

The Japanese respond
by swarming American ships.

It’s dogfight after dogfight,

but neither side’s navy
can see the other.

Planes do all the fighting,
long distance.

The planes flew right around us,

and the guns couldn’t keep up.

And the boys couldn’t
twist that gun fast enough.

Then, Americans hit
a second enemy carrier.

But Japan responds
with two mortal blows.

A bomb rips through the deck
Of the USS Yorktown,

killing 40 men.

And the USS Lexington
is blasted beyond repair.

Both sides suffer heavy losses.

But the Allies have halted
Japan’s momentum.

Those left behind

will never know
the historic impact

of the Battle of the Coral Sea.

Not once do opposing ships
spot each other.

Not once do they
exchange a salvo.

It’s a new kind of naval battle,
fought entirely with airplanes.

And it’s a sigh of relief
for Australia.

Australians feel safer.

Fears of a Japanese invasion
are waning.

But another invasion
is underway.

suddenly, the Yanks were here.

They all seemed to have
big mouths and square teeth

and came from places I’d never
heard of, like Nebraska.

Cities like Brisbane
are overrun by Americans.

A parade of U.S. troops

shows the scale
of this friendly invasion.

Up to a million men.

Their reputation precedes them.

The Americans,

they had a good record
for saving people.

I knew that
from watching westerns.

It’s a marriage
of convenience.

Australia gets extra protection.

America gets a new home base
for South Pacific operations.

The two allied forces
train together...

and play together.

Americans provide the baseball.

And Australians
provide the beer.

The men seem to get along
famously until...

we liked
Everything about the Yanks.

In fact, we just couldn’t
help stare at them.

The Americans
have sharper uniforms

and deeper pockets.

They earn up to twice as much
as the Aussie soldier

and splash their cash
when they hit the town.

We had the chocolates,
the ice cream,

the silk stockings,
and the dollars.

We were able to show the girls
a good time.

In Sydney,

you were competing
with Americans

for the attention of women.

And some of the Australian girls
really chased the Americans.

Australian men
start taking offense

and adopt a slogan
describing Americans

as "overpaid, oversexed,
and over here."

Their welcome is wearing thin.

Arguments among troops
turn into street fights.

Street fights turn into riots.

Melbourne and Brisbane
erupt into chaos.

General Douglas MacArthur
is well aware of the problem.

He’s in Australia commanding
both nations’ troops.

He’s about to send these
joint forces into battle,

if they can stop
fighting each other.

Spring 1942.

A new Allied experiment
is underway.

Americans and Australians deploy
as one army for the first time.

Their navies
repelled the Japanese

enough to hold Port Moresby,

the last Allied outpost
on New Guinea.

Now ground troops pour in.

The Allied camp is nestled
inside a coconut plantation.

From here, they want to
retake the entire island.

But New Guinea is nearly
impossible to penetrate.

Mountains rise to 16,000 feet,

surrounded by thick jungle.

So they try to enlist
some local expertise.

American pilot Ken Gerrish

takes his own footage
of curious tribesmen

in the remote highlands
outside Port Moresby.

An Australian captain
breaks the ice

by taking pictures of the chief.

It’s the first time he’s ever
seen a photo of himself.

The tribe agrees
on the common enemy,

and they’re ready to fight.

We were fortunate
to get these pictures,

as this was a real war party

who actually did kill
some Jap soldiers.

Now this uncommon
collection of Allies

has to fight the Japanese
that surround them.

Each side takes potshots
at the other

from close distance.

Black smoke rises

from Japanese raids
on the Port Moresby camp.

Allied pilots strike back
on Japanese bases nearby,

turning zeroes into scrap metal.

One squadron tallies 200 kills.

Their pilots seldom survive.

Those that do become POWs
under Australian guard.

A close-quarter air war
is a dangerous game.

The two sides
are on the same island.

If a pilot bails
into the jungle,

all bets are off
on who finds him first.

So every pilot carries
a life vest, a knife,

and a pistol.

Between the jungle itself
and the enemy within,

survival isn’t guaranteed.

But it helps to have
the locals on your side.

Ken Gerrish brings his camera

on a rescue mission
to the wild interior.

we landed on a river
to pick up a downed pilot,

an Aussie officer.

The pilot can thank

New Guinea’s
own search and rescue team.

He was rowed to the plane

by natives in their log canoe.

He was real happy to see us.

American and Australian flyboys

are forming a tighter bond...

now that their lives
depend on each other.

The pressure of combat punctures
their pre-war tensions.

Handshakes
are replacing fistfights.

I will say

that once the scene
of battle is reached,

the two bodies of troops
get along exceedingly well.

It helps
that there are no women

on Port Moresby beaches
to fight over.

But they are never far
from their minds.

All over the pacific theater,

sexual frustration leads
to creative expression.

Their beloved planes
become the canvas

for what they call "nose art."

The farther from the public eye,

the racier the art.

Some choose cartoon characters.

Others opt for intimidation.

This one goes for sheer size.

This is the largest
nose art painting

of World War II,

called
"the dragon and his tail."

The average airfield
becomes an art museum--

albeit, without a roof.

When rain soaks New Guinea,

nothing and no one
escapes the deluge.

The rain averaged
about two inches a day.

We didn’t fly one mission.

Most of the time
was spent in the tents,

except for chow
or latrine business.

It’s tough going
for the soldiers.

This endless rain

creates a problem
even bigger than mud.

Practically all our men

had malaria
at one time or another.

I had it twice, along with
a bout of dengue fever.

The South Pacific

is a hotbed
for tropical diseases.

Insect bites cause
more stretcher cases

than enemy bullets.

Even when the sun
comes back out,

fevers rage
inside the medical tents.

On New Guinea alone,

the average soldier
endures malaria four times.

Your bones
and everything would ache.

You would be weak.

You could hardly
hold up a rifle.

You could walk, you could crawl,
but you couldn’t do much else.

It’s a crippling
manpower problem.

Fighting malaria will take
a whole separate war.

The army’s medical department
rushes into action.

Malaria control units spray DDT
liberally across the island.

Training films urge troops
to take strict precautions.

Sleeves down,

shirt buttoned,

repellent smeared on,

and smeared on often enough
to keep the mosquitos away.

This equipment
is as important as bullets.

They speed up trials

of the antimalarial medicine
Atabrine.

The chemical
was very, very bitter,

very nasty tasting.

My men hated it like poison.

Even the nurses
experience wicked side effects.

We started taking

these little yellow pills.

They turned your skin
and eyeballs yellow.

Soon, rumors fly that

Atabrine causes infertility.

The pills are so unpopular

that medics are deployed
in chow lines

to monitor their intake.

The disease affects both sides.

Up to 90% of Japanese troops

suffer from malaria
and dysentery.

Americans who rushed to enlist

are now feeling every mile
of ocean between them and home.

What they need
is a home away from home.

This place looks like heaven...

especially for
disease-ridden troops.

They’re getting shipped
to New Zealand,

a green and spacious country

with fewer people
than Detroit, Michigan.

When I went to New Zealand,

I was reminded of a western town
in the late 1800s.

By the summer of 1942,

American troops are arriving
by the thousands.

New Zealand puts out
the welcome mat.

They set up 19 hospitals with
the latest medical equipment.

Local farm families
take in troops like second sons

and nurse them back to health,
New Zealand style.

Once they got out
into the countryside

and were able to do hard work,
eat good food,

and drink
copious amounts of milk,

they soon became very well.

There is little of the tension

that followed Americans
into Australia.

That was a forced marriage.

In New Zealand, it’s more like
a loving adoption.

Troops get healthy

and get ready
to rejoin the fight.

There’s a big one brewing ahead.

By June of 1942,

Allied teamwork
is holding Port Moresby

and protecting Australia.

Japan has hit a wall
in the South Pacific,

so the empire looks east,

to Midway.

It’s a critical halfway point
Between Asia and the U.S.

The American forces
protecting Midway are meager.

The approaching Japanese fleet
is four times bigger.

Like the Pearl Harbor attack,

they could annihilate another
huge chunk of the U.S. Navy

and leave them almost helpless.

But this time,

Americans have surprise
on their side.

Once again, they’ve cracked
the Japanese code

and know their plan.

Even though he’s outgunned,
Admiral Nimitz doesn’t run.

Instead,

he’ll wait for the Japanese
to attack the island,

then launch a surprise
of his own.

But it means the men on Midway
are sitting ducks.

At sunrise, Americans hear
the approaching buzz.

They steel themselves
for an onslaught.

The few planes they have

scramble to intercept
the attackers.

The Japanese bomb the runways
and obliterate the command post.

Smoke billows high into the sky

as they tear
into the American base.

They set the hangars ablaze.

American marines desperately
scramble for cover,

hoping the Navy can summon
a counterattack

and save the island.

The loudspeaker
came on and said,

"we’ve got enemy planes
approaching."

Judson Brodie
is aboard the USS Yorktown.

There were
so many Japanese planes

falling at one time

that it looked like a curtain
coming down across the sky.

American guns
fill the air with flak.

But the Japanese are relentless.

The second attack,
they got two torpedo hits on us.

You have never in your life
felt anything like it.

Japan thinks it has
America’s Navy on its knees.

Instead, it’s on its way.

Americans
saw the Japanese coming.

So before they arrived,

they launched whole squadrons of
torpedo planes and dive bombers.

150 airplanes
race to strike back,

leaving their home ships
under fire behind them.

Without air cover,

American ships
face an onslaught.

Japanese pilots
have a field day.

But when the American planes
reach the Japanese fleet,

they catch them off guard.

They, too, have no air cover.

American pilots make it count.

They destroy
all four Japanese carriers.

The battle of Midway
is a stunning turnabout.

America cuts deep
into Japanese naval power.

It’s their first
clear victory at sea.

It’s not without sacrifice.

America loses one carrier
and 307 servicemen.

More are injured and adrift,
awaiting rescue.

But they prove America
can fight back...

and win.

The Japanese high command
Is shaken.

The tide is turning.

When news from the front lines
reaches home,

Americans are jubilant.

Downtown Philadelphia
becomes a stage

to express support for the war.

Officially, this is a rally
to buy war bonds.

Unofficially, it’s a party.

Star power draws a crowd.

On stage is James Cagney,

Lucille Ball,

Mickey Rooney,

Dick Powell,

Paul Henreid,

and Harpo Marx.

Besides fanfare and parades,

there’s another reminder
that a war is going on.

Civil defense drills.

They become routine
for American school kids.

But for everyone
on the mainland,

war remains abstract.

For Hawaiians, it’s real.

Pearl Harbor still looks like
it was flipped upside down.

Paradise is now penned in.

The beach is off limits,

framed by barbed wire.

The entire territory
is under martial law.

Thousands of school kids
are registered, fingerprinted,

and made to wear I.D. badges.

Locals line up for ration cards
and gas masks.

Older kids practice how fast
they can get them on.

The youngest ones have to get
into a full body bag...

as if they aren’t scared enough.

More than a third of Hawaiians
are of Japanese descent.

They’re nervous
and trying to blend in

by removing any signs
of their ancestry.

But here, there’s no talk
of mass internment.

Such is not the case
on the mainland.

The Ishikawas
are a fishing family...

living in California.

These are their home movies
from before the war.

They are Japanese immigrants

building a life
on the American West Coast.

But in 1942,

that’s just where a suspicious
government doesn’t want them.

We had to get rid of everything.

We were given one month.

People who lived
closer to the ocean,

they only had 24 hours.

Takeo and Roberta
Shiroma are children

when the U.S. Government puts
their families on a train.

The night before we left,

my parents didn’t know
where we were going.

They are headed inland,

to one of the ten hastily built
internment camps

ordered by president Roosevelt
at the start of the war.

There would be
two families in one room.

When we got there,

my mother had to stuff
canvas bags with hay,

which were to be our mattresses.

I can’t remember the food.

I can remember
not wanting to eat it.

I would just look at it.

They study...

work...

even join the military.

But they are not free.

The government rounds up more
than 110,000 Japanese Americans,

claiming it’s for
their own safety.

But not everyone buys it.

If we were put there
for protection,

why were the guns
at the guard towers

pointed inward
instead of outward?

Midway is a colossal victory
for the Americans.

But during that four-day battle,

the Japanese puncture
through another front.

The empire races
into the North Pacific

and seizes two islands
in the Aleutians--

Kiska and Attu.

Both are part
of the Alaska territory.

The Japanese are now
on North American soil.

It’s way too close for comfort.

4,500 troops rush
to the nearby outpost of Adak.

From here, they’ll try
to build a runway

and launch counterstrikes
on the occupied islands...

if this island
doesn’t kill them first.

Adak is barren,
windswept, and merciless.

It was the worst place.

I froze to death.

They sent us up there
from Pearl Harbor,

and we didn’t have
any winter clothing.

Frigid air
rips in from the Arctic.

The tropical dangers
of insect bites

give way to frostbite.

Windswept waves envelop
everything in ice.

Men can only fight back
with picks.

Weather is one problem;

isolation is another.

Everything must come in by ship.

Every man...

every machine...

every meal.

It’s like camping
on another planet.

There were no trees up there.

Someone flew one in
from the States and planted it.

I don’t think it lived.

News appears
on bulletin boards

since newspapers might be
three months out of date.

Even though
they’re on American soil,

home seems a world away.

But mail call thaws their moods.

Baseball eases their minds.

And music lifts their morale.

After all, whining
won’t keep them warm.

Work will.

Building an airfield
on the frozen tundra

takes brute force.

Engines groan in the cold.

Hammers sting their hands.

But there’s a payoff--

an airstrip paved with steel.

Plates come together
like building blocks.

It’s done in only two weeks.

And it’s weatherproof.

Now they can stop
fighting the weather...

and fight the war.

American pilots gear up
for the first raids

against Japanese
camped on U.S. territory.

They fire up 9 bombers,
12 fighters, and 100 men.

Alaskan skies are unforgiving.

Challenges start at takeoff.

Fierce winds
pull formations apart.

For two hours, it’s a battle
just to stay on the flight path

and stay together.

As they near Kiska,

10,000 Japanese
reveal their defenses.

They hurl flak to try to
punch holes in the planes...

or at least
force them off course.

Any deviation in flight,

and they will miss the target.

American gunners
try to clear the way.

It’s an airborne game
of chicken.

Finally, the targets appear...

and the bombs drop.

Japanese hangars go up in smoke.

In just a few
white-knuckle minutes,

the damage is done.

This is just the beginning.

The raids are relentless--

dawn to dusk every day
for over a year.

It’s called the Kiska blitz.

The Japanese endure
six million pounds of bombs.

Americans want
their islands back...

at any price.

By now, Japan’s reach

extends from the frigid
Aleutian mountains...

to the edge
of the towering Himalayas.

Japan has tightened
its grip on Asia

by closing the Burma road,

the main Allied route supplying
China’s fight against Japan.

The only other route
is scraping the sky.

Allies attempt one of the most
ambitious aviation efforts

of World War II--

flying supplies
over the Himalayas,

nicknamed "the hump."

It would push the limits
of man and machine.

But these pilots
are willing to risk it...

in a Pan Am clipper.

These Pan American airmen

volunteered to risk everything

through the most treacherous
mountain passes and weather

known to man.

Flying tigers

escort these retrofitted
commercial planes.

But extreme winds
toss them around like kites.

Sudden storms take their toll.

Hundreds of planes
and pilots perish.

There must be a better way
to get supplies to China.

The care
of the Tibetan government

for our safety is touching.

Captain Brooke Dolan
is on the journey of his life.

If the planes
can’t get over "the hump,"

Dolan will try to go through it
by traversing Tibet.

Joining Dolan is Ilia Tolstoy,

Leo Tolstoy’s grandson.

They’re on a secret mission

for the U.S. Office
of Strategic Services, or OSS--

the precursor to the CIA.

The journey starts with
a traditional Tibetan ceremony.

Together, they arrive in Lhasa
with trepidation.

They can’t cross Tibet without
permission from a 7-year-old--

His Holiness, the Dalai Llama.

He meets
his very first Americans.

To say that
we are affected with joy

is to put it mildly.

We are permitted
to travel the road

in which we’re most interested.

It takes five months
of grueling travel by saddle...

through a thousand miles
of breathtaking beauty

and heart-stopping hazards.

Boulders were
continually breaking

and plunging into the canyon,

acted on by the fierce
weathering forces

of the Tibetan climate--

hot daytime sun
and freezing moonlight.

The journey is a success,

but the strategy is a failure.

Distance and difficulties
make it impossible

for a sustained supply push
through Tibet.

The only alternative lies deep
in the jungles of Burma.

A plane flies in low...

but it’s not dropping bombs.

They’re supplies for another
secret OSS operation--

a guerrilla war.

Local Kachin fighters

are already fighting
the Japanese occupation

and decide to join forces.

OSS operatives funnel in
a steady stream of weapons.

In return, the Kachin offer
on-the-ground intelligence

and invaluable skill.

We never moved

without Kachin guides.

They made us think

of a Robin Hood version
of the boy scouts.

Some could not have been
more than 12 years old.

The Kachin

jump right into
20th century warfare...

learning how to parachute
behind enemy lines.

In turn, Allies learn the tricks
of jungle transportation--

riding high to avoid the snakes.

The covert partnership pays off.

They carve secret pathways
through Japanese lines.

More than
4,000 Japanese will die

at the hands
of these operatives,

all in a secret war
fought in the shadows.

Elsewhere it will take
direct force.

In July 1942,

American intelligence

spots a large-scale
construction project

on an island
few have ever heard of--

Guadalcanal.

It’s the framework
of a new Japanese air base--

big enough to host
long-range bombers

that could once again threaten
New Guinea and Australia.

The Americans decide
to go on the offensive.

There is no color footage
of the invasion,

but this is the aftermath.

11,000 marines
pile up on the beaches.

A Japanese counterattack forces
their support ships to pull out,

leaving them stranded
with few reinforcements.

They set up a base
with what little supplies

they’ve scrambled
to bring ashore.

The Japanese retreat
into the interior.

Now an island
roughly the size of Delaware

is pockmarked with troops
from both sides...

each controlling
a mosaic of territory.

It turns into a bloody
six-month nightmare.

Without any clear front lines,
it’s ambush after ambush.

Guadalcanal becomes
a battle of attrition.

In 1943, the Americans
finally take control.

But the wounds are still raw.

America loses 15,000,
killed or wounded.

First lady Eleanor Roosevelt
arrives to comfort the fallen.

Admiral William Halsey
advised her not to come.

He feared
she’d be a distraction.

But she quickly
changes his mind.

She went into every ward

and spoke to every patient.

I marveled at her hardihood,
both physical and mental.

She alone did more than anyone
who came through my area.

She continues on
to other pacific war zones.

A month-long, 25,000-mile tour.

She braves the hazards of war to
meet more than 400,000 troops.

She affectionately calls them
"sons of the nation."

All the men are our men,

part of our United States,

which they have saved

so that we can still call it

the land of the free

and the home of the brave.

18 months into the war,

the shockwaves have spread
far beyond Pearl Harbor.

The war is growing bigger...

and moving slower.

Quick air and sea strikes

are giving way
to long, bloody land battles

that drain time,
resources, and lives.

Japan is not deterred.

Instead, it’s determined.

The Pacific War
is no longer a sideshow

to the fighting in Europe.

It will soon become
its own hell.