Victory at Sea S1E12 The Conquest of Micronesia

Film Gorillas

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00:00♪♪♪

00:10♪♪♪

00:20♪♪♪

00:30♪♪♪

00:40♪♪♪

00:50♪♪♪

00:55And now, conquest of Micronesia.

00:59♪♪♪

01:03Ranging far, sweeping wide,

01:06American warships venture deep into the central Pacific.

01:10Bigger, faster, mightier carriers are the core of the task force

01:14destined to destroy the Japanese Empire.

01:17Around the carriers, the battleships are ringed.

01:20Around the battleships, the cruisers.

01:22Around the cruisers, destroyers.

01:25It is on, 1943.

01:28Radically new tactics are the United States Navy's answer

01:31to the challenge of World War II.

01:34♪♪♪

01:47The immediate targets are the Gilbert and Marshall Islands,

01:50scattered for 1,000 miles aboard the equator.

01:53Mandated to the Japanese in 1920,

01:56the islands are studded with enemy fortifications.

01:59Land-based planes cannot reach them.

02:02The Navy's floating airfields audaciously sail into striking range

02:05and deliver the blows that lead to invasion, to conquest.

02:09♪♪♪

02:24Like homing pigeons, the Hellcats and Corsairs return.

02:28Mission accomplished.

02:30Marcus Island has been worked over,

02:32but the flying sailors will be back.

02:35The carriers are nibbling at their prey, preparing for the kill.

02:40♪♪♪

02:49Pilots make their combat intelligence reports.

02:52This information is the blueprint for future assaults.

02:56After hard-hitting months at sea, the task force returns to base,

03:00to Pearl Harbor.

03:02♪♪♪

03:07Eighteen months ago, the scene of the most humiliating military catastrophe

03:11in the history of the United States.

03:14Today, Pearl Harbor is the mightiest of bases,

03:17sheltering an ever-expanding fleet, ever-increasing assault forces.

03:21And only minutes away is Honolulu,

03:24a secret haven in the midst of war,

03:26an interlude for sailors between battles.

03:29♪♪♪

03:58♪♪♪

04:08♪♪♪

04:33Assault troops.

04:35They come from places like Kansas, Alabama, and Oregon.

04:39They are destined for places like Tarawa, Kwajalein, and Inuitok.

04:44The names are worlds apart,

04:46but global strategy demands they be brought together.

04:49Tokyo lies 4,000 miles westward by sea.

04:53It cannot be reached unless these men first suffer,

04:56and bleed, and die,

04:58on intervening coral atolls that block the way.

05:01♪♪♪

05:22The victor of the Battle of Midway, Admiral Spruance,

05:25is named commander, Central Pacific Forces,

05:28by his chief, Admiral Nimitz.

05:30Under Spruance, powerful fast carrier forces sail from Pearl Harbor

05:35to test the possibilities of sustaining seaborne air power

05:38far from base, far from land support.

05:41The fleet is out to strike, to strike and stay.

05:46♪♪♪

06:01The fast, new Essex-class carriers bring air power where air power is needed,

06:05anywhere, anytime.

06:08Each of the 27,000-ton ships can be driven through the water

06:11at a speed that keeps pace with the fastest units in the fleet.

06:15♪♪♪

06:38The hours are long from battle to battle,

06:41and between their bouts with death,

06:43the ship's company and the pilots live and play as best they can.

06:47For the 2,500 sailors, the ship is a seagoing city,

06:52organized for the routine of day-to-day existence,

06:55as well as the requirements of war.

06:57♪♪♪

07:17♪♪♪

07:37♪♪♪

07:55But the business of warships is war,

07:58and the task force speeds steadily toward the target, into battle.

08:03♪♪♪

08:13The islands to be seized are part of Micronesia, the tiny islands.

08:17Strategy for the coming conquest is explained to the men who must execute the plans.

08:22While Marines claw up the Solomon Islands in the South Pacific,

08:26while soldiers push northwestward on New Guinea in the Southwest Pacific,

08:30the carrier group smash at enemy defenses in the Central Pacific,

08:34compelling him to split his forces, confusing him as to the main line of attack.

08:39The hour for action approaches.

08:41♪♪♪

08:56In the middle of the Pacific, in the middle of nowhere,

09:00every sailor in every part of the ship prepares for the coming attack.

09:05♪♪♪

09:16In the general mess, ships' cooks break out special chow

09:19they have stowed away for moments like this.

09:22Intense, long moments before battle.

09:25♪♪♪

09:47None says, but all know, some shipmates, at ease today,

09:53will be dead or wounded tomorrow.

09:56Dawn and action come all too soon.

10:00It is later than they dare think.

10:04♪♪♪

10:30♪♪♪

10:48The carrier planes go in to bomb and strafe the target,

10:51and the ships unleash arsenals of shell fire.

10:54At Taro and Makin, at Kwajalein and Inuitak,

10:58at Majuro, at Roy, and at Namur,

11:01sailors prepare the way for soldiers and marines.

11:04♪♪♪

11:31♪♪♪

11:58♪♪♪

12:22♪♪♪

12:29But no preparation can purge the landings of their terror.

12:33Japanese resistance makes an inferno of every beachhead,

12:36a hell of every shoreline.

12:39American troops are pushed to the limit of endurance,

12:42but they endure.

12:44♪♪♪

12:54♪♪♪

13:15Supply ships keep fighting ships at sea in combat.

13:19Though hundreds of miles from Pearl Harbor,

13:22though thousands of miles from California,

13:25there is no lack of essential ammunition, food, materiel, fuel,

13:30to keep the enemy on the run,

13:32to give those in battle more than they need to fight their fight.

13:52♪♪♪

14:20Carrier aircraft not only spearhead invasion,

14:23but they lend close support to ground troops when and where needed.

14:27Other carriers roam far afield to pound down such enemy bastions as Truk,

14:32a formidable fleet anchorage in the central Pacific,

14:35an island the Japanese have encrusted with armament,

14:38aircraft, pilots, and soldiers in their attempt to dominate Micronesia.

14:43♪♪♪

14:58♪♪♪

15:13♪♪♪

15:33♪♪♪

15:53♪♪♪

16:22Plane after plane, squadron after squadron, group after group,

16:27the carriers hurl skyward young pilots who will help break the Japanese hold on the central Pacific.

16:33Twelve fast carriers, 100 planes to every ship,

16:38fighting Hellcats, dive-bombing Dauntless,

16:41Avengers armed with torpedoes,

16:44winged warcraft fill the sky.

16:47♪♪♪

17:16♪♪♪

17:25♪♪♪

17:29Into combat information centers come the first warnings of counterattack,

17:33and all hands know the carriers will be the major targets.

17:37Radar data is swiftly translated into symbols and precisely plotted.

17:42The meaning of plot and symbol is all too clear,

17:45all too simple.

17:47Enemy planes approaching.

17:49♪♪♪♪

18:09♪♪♪

18:29Fighter direction officers order out the carriers' combat air patrol to intercept the attackers,

18:34beat them off, shoot them down.

18:37♪♪♪♪

19:06♪♪♪♪

19:35♪♪♪♪

20:02♪♪♪♪

20:08Over the crucial, burning islands,

20:11other carrier planes bomb and strafe in close support of the guy on the ground

20:15who is slugging it out with a rifle, a carbine,

20:18or perhaps a hand grenade, flamethrower, or bayonet.

20:22But it works.

20:23American soldiers, sailors, Marines, airmen,

20:27as a team, crack and then pulverize the Japanese and their defenses.

20:57♪♪♪♪

21:24♪♪♪♪

21:29Island after island falls, and the Japanese never give up until they die.

21:35But there are always a few survivors, too stunned to fight on, too broken to resist.

21:41♪♪♪♪♪

22:05Back from the battle come the wounded and maimed.

22:10♪♪♪♪♪

22:16Back to the carriers come the shattered and crippled.

22:21♪♪♪♪♪

22:45♪♪♪♪♪

23:15♪♪♪♪♪

23:28The planes and their pilots, the ships and their sailors,

23:32the landing troops have destroyed the Japanese in the Central Pacific.

23:38They have profoundly altered the course of World War II.

23:42They have torn over 800,000 square miles of Pacific Ocean area from the enemy.

23:48Tarawa. Kwajalein.

23:51Enewetak. War.

23:55Tarawa. Kwajalein. Enewetak. Sacrifice.

24:03Tarawa. Kwajalein. Enewetak. Victory.

24:11♪♪♪♪♪♪

24:39The conquest of Micronesia.

24:42♪♪♪♪♪♪

24:50Oh God, we pray Thee that the memory of our comrades fallen in battle

24:58be ever sacred in our hearts

25:01and that the sacrifice which they have offered for our country's cause

25:06may be acceptable in Thy sight.

25:09♪♪♪♪♪♪

25:24And may this sailor find repose with the plane in which he gave his life

25:31that we might live.

25:34Into Thy hands, O Lord, we commend the soul of Thy servant departed,

25:41now called unto eternal rest,

25:45and we commit his body to the deep.

25:50♪♪♪♪♪♪

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