Victory at Sea - S1E07: Rings Around Raboul - video Dailymotion

Film Gorillas

Watch Victory at Sea - S1E07: Rings Around Raboul - Film Gorillas on Dailymotion

Transcript

00:00♪♪♪

00:10♪♪♪

00:20♪♪♪

00:30♪♪♪

00:40♪♪♪

00:50♪♪♪

00:55And now, rings around Rabaul.

01:00♪♪♪

01:05The Japanese dominate the Pacific,

01:07and their Supreme War Council continues to execute sweeping plans

01:11to bring 700 million Asiatics under imperial control.

01:15Proud and confident after her shattering naval victories at the outbreak of war,

01:19Japan spills over her legitimate boundaries,

01:22pouring supplies and manpower into overseas bases

01:25to protect her new empire and defy the Allies.

01:29♪♪♪

01:39♪♪♪

01:49♪♪♪

01:59♪♪♪

02:12All Japan is dedicated to Kodoha,

02:15the way of the emperor, Hirohito, son of heaven.

02:20♪♪♪

02:42She is in the fore of all conquest, on the bow of all her ships,

02:46the imperial crest, a chrysanthemum with 16 leaves.

02:51♪♪♪

03:01♪♪♪

03:21♪♪♪

03:39The emperor reviews his magnificent fleet,

03:42which for months after Pearl Harbor,

03:44wields undisputed rule over the greatest of oceans.

03:47This is the Navy which has ranged in triumph over the wide Pacific spaces.

03:51This is the Navy which has never known defeat.

03:54This is the Navy dedicated to a creed fanatic.

03:58With tenacious and tireless spirit,

04:01we strive to reach superhuman skill and perfect fighting efficiency.

04:06Now its mission is to build a mighty base in the Bismarck Archipelago,

04:10Brabal, on the island of New Britain.

04:13And from this base, soldiers, sailors, and airmen of Imperial Japan

04:17can attempt to break the fragile hold of Americans and Australians,

04:21southeast on Guadalcanal, southwest on New Guinea.

04:26♪♪♪

04:46♪♪♪

05:15♪♪♪

05:42The harbor of Brabal.

05:44Base, arsenal, fortress,

05:48from which Japan seeks to control the South Pacific

05:51and clench her hold on the Solomon Islands and New Guinea.

05:54Garrisoned with 80,000 troops,

05:57Brabal is a springboard for conquest,

06:00a bulwark for defense.

06:02Five new airfields are prepared to support the Imperial Japanese Navy.

06:07♪♪♪

06:36♪♪♪

06:59Brabal, immovable, secure,

07:03impregnable aircraft carrier

07:06that blocks the American climb up the ladder of the Solomon Islands.

07:10Carefree pilots, day after day,

07:13carry out their simple mission.

07:16Destroy all ships, supplies, and men

07:19who have the audacity to challenge an Imperial mandate.

07:23♪♪♪

07:52♪♪♪

07:55Brabal's air and naval power sweeps out to dominate surrounding islands and waters.

08:00To eliminate Brabal, the Japanese and the Allies

08:03know a foothold must be won and held on the islands that ring it,

08:06and bases established from which it can be reduced blow by blow

08:10until the knockout.

08:12But first, the Allies must forge rings around Brabal.

08:17♪♪♪

08:26Rendova, another rung up the ladder of the Solomon Islands toward Brabal.

08:32But Rendova is only a stepping stone across a narrow arm of water to Munda

08:36and its priceless airstrip.

08:39Munda was murder.

08:41Planned as a quick stroke of Allied strategy,

08:44it took five bitter weeks to capture.

08:46But it takes only five days for the United States Navy's fabulous construction battalions,

08:51the Seabees, to transform ruined Munda runways into an operational airfield.

08:58♪♪♪

09:09♪♪♪

09:19♪♪♪

09:29♪♪♪

09:39♪♪♪

09:49♪♪♪

09:59♪♪♪

10:09♪♪♪

10:19♪♪♪

10:29The first plane, Munda's first tooth,

10:33hacked out of the New Georgia rainforest where wild orchids flourish and cockatoos screech,

10:39where man struggles to exist and insects thrive.

10:44Another Allied airfield comes to life,

10:47and another bead is drawn on the target.

10:50Brabal.

10:52♪♪♪

11:02♪♪♪

11:12The triumph of Munda is the Allied way of observing the first anniversary of the landing on Guadalcanal.

11:18Two hundred miles south, Guadalcanal itself is burgeoned into a major base,

11:23justifying the agony, the blood of the Marines who won it.

11:28But there is a long way to go, and in the summer of 1943,

11:32a new name dominates intelligence sessions on Guadalcanal.

11:36The name?

11:38Bougainville.

11:40Biggest of the Solomon Islands.

11:42The central link in the ring being forged around Brabal.

11:46Volcanic prize, ripe for ripping from the Japanese spine.

11:51Week after week, from Guadalcanal's hard-won Henderson Field,

11:55Army, Navy, Marine, and New Zealand pilots take off to soften up Bougainville

12:00in preparation for another assault by the United States Marines.

12:05♪♪♪

12:15♪♪♪

12:25♪♪♪

12:35♪♪♪

12:45♪♪♪

12:55♪♪♪

13:05♪♪♪

13:15♪♪♪

13:25♪♪♪

13:31The invasion date is set.

13:33The landing beach is chosen.

13:35The command selected.

13:37Admiral Wilkinson and the 3rd Amphibious Force.

13:41Bougainville must be taken to provide a forward base

13:43from which fighter planes can escort the heavy bombers to Brabal.

13:47The whole complex movement of men, ships, supplies has only one purpose.

13:53To advance and support war's newest weapon, the airplane.

13:58But before planes fly from Bougainville,

14:00the way must first be cleared by war's oldest ingredient, the foot soldier.

14:06The 3rd Marines take on the job.

14:08♪♪♪

14:14There are many D-days in the Pacific.

14:17Many an H-hour.

14:19When met with each comes a new sense of foreboding.

14:22Of emptiness.

14:24Of fear.

14:26As the opening salvos sound the notes of war's eternal theme.

14:31Death.

14:33♪♪♪

14:49Across Empress Augusta Bay, toward the beaches of Cape Torokino,

14:53the Marines go in to meet the dank challenge of Bougainville.

14:57It is November 1st, 1943.

15:00Before the invaders lie the wildest jungle,

15:03the deepest swamps they have yet encountered in the South Pacific.

15:07And hidden in the tangle of jungle and swamp, the enemy.

15:12♪♪♪

15:27♪♪♪

15:37♪♪♪

15:49What the Marines have won, the Seabees take over.

15:52Hard on the heels of the rifle and come the engineers.

15:56It was a battlefield yesterday, will be an airfield tomorrow.

16:27Black cats come out at night.

16:30The lumbering Catalinas which scour the seas in search of enemy ships.

16:34The eyes of the cat see through the dark where the Imperial Japanese Navy

16:38has scheduled four last runs of the Tokyo Express.

16:41Down the slot of water separating the Solomon Islands.

16:45And these last runs have famous names.

16:48The Battle of Kula Gulf.

16:50The Battle of Kulambangara.

16:52The Battle of Empress Augusta Bay.

16:55The Battle of Cape St. George.

16:57The call of the black cat is the call to battle.

17:01♪♪♪

17:19Inside the groping ships, in combat intelligence centers,

17:23the intricate apparatus of search and detection picks up the scent.

17:27Out somewhere, in the ominous dark,

17:30are ships with names like Amagiri and Izuki,

17:33which must be found, destroyed.

17:38Inside ships with names like Honolulu and Mount Pelier,

17:41American sailors prepare to thwart the last stand

17:44of the Imperial Japanese Navy in the South Pacific.

17:48Invisible to one another,

17:50closing warships close on a darkening sea,

17:53swept with confused alarms of struggle and flight,

17:57where ignorant navies clash by night.

18:20♪♪♪

18:40♪♪♪

19:08Bougainville, with its new Piva and the Taurikina airstrips.

19:13Only 210 miles from Rabaul.

19:16The ring is closing.

19:18The Marines have gone,

19:20and the defense perimeter around the thriving airfields

19:22is guarded by the 14th Army Corps.

19:25Who cares what has happened to the 40,000 isolated Japanese

19:28elsewhere on the island?

19:30And off-duty life is not too bad.

19:33Just relax and take it easy.

19:36♪♪♪

19:46♪♪♪

20:06♪♪♪

20:15♪♪♪

20:21The greatest concentration of Japanese artillery

20:23in the South Pacific has been secretly brought up

20:25along hidden jungle trails.

20:28With sudden, furious assault on the American perimeter outpost,

20:31Hill 700, the enemy reopens the Battle of Bougainville.

20:35Four full months after the initial landings,

20:38back into the jungle that is everybody's enemy,

20:41back into the devil's furnace,

20:43goes the American infantry.

20:45Days of savage, bloody struggle lie ahead

20:49until the 37th Division breaks the enemy.

20:52This time for good.

20:54♪♪♪

21:04♪♪♪

21:24♪♪♪

21:44♪♪♪

22:04♪♪♪

22:24♪♪♪

22:44♪♪♪

23:11With final victory on Bougainville,

23:13other bases, other rings are forged around and around Rabaul.

23:18Up the New Guinea coast go the Allies.

23:20Into Cape Gloucester on New Britain go the Marines.

23:23Into the Admiralties goes the United States Army.

23:26Onto the islands of Green and Emerald go more Marines

23:29and veterans of Bella La Bella, soldiers of New Zealand.

23:33And the Navy that cruises unmolested through these waters

23:36is the United States Navy.

23:38Thousands of Japanese have been bypassed,

23:41left to wither on the vine.

23:44Rabaul is being strangled by runways

23:46branded on the encircling jungle islands.

23:50Rabaul and its harbor will be smashed, pulverized, neutralized.

23:56From around the ring they come,

23:58liberators from Guadalcanal,

24:00war hawks from Munda,

24:02forsayers from Emerald,

24:04Mitchells from New Guinea,

24:06avengers from Bougainville.

24:08The holocaust of Allied reprisals spells doom for Rabaul

24:13across the skies of the South Pacific.

24:16♪♪♪

24:26♪♪♪

24:36♪♪♪

24:46♪♪♪

24:56♪♪♪

25:06♪♪♪

25:16♪♪♪

25:26♪♪♪

25:36♪♪♪

25:46♪♪♪

25:56♪♪♪

26:06♪♪♪

Victory at Sea - S1E07: Rings Around Raboul

Category

Transcript

Recommended