Attack in the Central Pacific: Makin and Tarawa

Another in the Crusade in the Pacific series.

The episode starts out by talking about islands and atolls in the Pacific.

Japan's invasion of Manchuria and China, again with footage I have not seen elsewhere.

“The Japanese were husky and well-geared towards the demands of jungle fighting.”

Then it talks about Bushido.

The Japanese soldiers had “vowed to kill as many of the hated American soldiers as possible and to die rather than surrender.”

10 Then it talks about the “fanatical will to die” of the Japanese soldier, and how that made the Pacific theater battles “bloody engagements.” It says there were 9 million Japanese fighting men “willing to die for their Emperor and in honor of their ancestors.”

Suddenly we're in Quebec. At a meeting of Allied leaders it was decided to step up the war against Japan.

The Gilbert islands were to be the first objective.

Up-to-date air photographs of the islands were needed. Tarawa had been turned into a fortress.

October and November of 1943, U.S. planes bomb Japanese positions on the target islands.

Airfields were the principal targets.

Now we're in Cairo. Another conference of Allied leaders.

Now on to China. The Japanese forces are still on the attack.

Now it's Russia.

The Red Army was rolling back the Nazi offense.

American task forces converge on the Gilbert Islands.

The video shows how ships were refueled at sea.

On board ship, the Marines are briefed about Tarawa.

November 21, 1943, the assault on the atolls begins.

Makin is bombed for five hours. The U.S. troops had a 6 or 7 to 1 advantage in numbers. That island was taken after three days of “sporadic fighting.”

The island was only shelled for three hours before the landing. The video talks about various problems that were encountered, including a low tide that stranded boats five hundred yards from the shore. The fighting was tough, and casualties were heavy.

Then a Time-Life correspondent who was with the troops narrates part of the video.

The wounded are evacuated from the island.

4,500 Japanese were killed. Only 17 surrendered. Around 1,000 Americans were killed.

The airstrip was seized and then worked on to make it usable again, this time for U.S. planes.

American planes next went after the Marshall islands.

The video then talks about the U.S. use of carriers and submarines.

---

Main Index
Japan main page
Japanese-American Internment Camps index page
Japan and World War II index page