- 5/26/2025
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00:30Nowhere was the air war more closely tied to surface combat than in the South Pacific.
00:38There savagely fought land and sea battles, both determined air superiority and were determined
00:44by it.
00:47The destruction of the U.S. battleships at Pearl Harbor forced the abandonment of all
00:52preconceived U.S. notions of conducting a war with Japan.
00:58The Carrier Task Force came into being by default.
01:01The United States was determined to strike at Japan.
01:05The untried aircraft carrier was the only tool available.
01:13Large American carriers, such as the Yorktown and the Enterprise, could carry 80 aircraft
01:19deep within enemy waters.
01:21There they could fence with their Japanese counterparts, like the Shokaku and the Zikaku.
01:27Each of them could carry 72 planes.
01:32Carrier task forces could do effective work.
01:35They could peck at the periphery of an enemy's defenses, as the U.S. Navy had pounded Japanese
01:40outposts in the Marshall Islands.
01:47But all naval authorities were sobered by the fate of the British ships, Prince of Wales
01:52and Repulse.
01:53The battleship Prince of Wales and the battlecruiser Repulse were sunk by Japanese bombers and
01:58torpedo planes in the attack on Malaya and Singapore.
02:01This is a Japanese reconstruction of that battle.
02:22Carriers were no longer safe from air attack.
02:36As a result, the use of carriers within the range of long-distance land-based air power
02:41was considered too dangerous.
02:44Carriers were at their best when engaged in battle with each other.
02:50Unlike the U.S. Navy, the Japanese had built up a well-equipped land-based naval air force.
02:56Its aircraft were suitable for operating over long distances.
03:00They included the G4M Betty and the A6M Zero.
03:11In 1941, the Zero had a range that was not achieved by the North American Mustang until
03:161944.
03:20Japanese strategy in 1942 was not concerned with defense.
03:25It depended on obtaining great results from small numbers of aircraft that could fly long
03:30distances and inflict crucial damage.
03:37The Pacific War was characterized by sharply divided opinions on how it was to be conducted.
03:43There were even greater rivalries among its fighting forces.
03:46The rivalries existed at the very top, between Roosevelt and Churchill.
03:52We expect to eliminate the danger from Japan, but it would serve us ill if we accomplished
03:59that.
04:01Roosevelt's inclination, and that of his commanders, was to meet the pledge to relieve Russia by
04:06establishing a second front.
04:08This would be achieved by an invasion of France, followed by a thrust to the German heartland.
04:15Churchill and his commanders feared a land war against the Germans.
04:19They preferred other options that ranged from Norway to North Africa to Italy.
04:24The British wanted to fight anywhere on the periphery that would weaken Germany, not kill
04:29too many British soldiers, and perhaps fulfill the pledge to Stalin of a second front.
04:38There were disagreements within Roosevelt's staff.
04:41Admiral Ernest Joseph King, commander-in-chief of the U.S. Navy, didn't like the British.
04:46He wanted to throw the Japanese out of Alaska and then out of the Pacific.
04:52On this, he was backed by General Douglas MacArthur.
04:55MacArthur had survived the defeat in the Philippines to become an American hero.
05:06King and MacArthur were overruled by General George Marshall, General Hap Arnold, and others.
05:12Europe was to come before the Pacific.
05:16The majority of Allied men and materiel were to be devoted to the defeat of Hitler.
05:22A much smaller amount was given to the containment of the Japanese.
05:28King and MacArthur had their orders, but they also knew how to play the system.
05:33One man could be forced to serve under the other, so neither could be given command of
05:37the entire Pacific theater.
05:40In July 1942, MacArthur was made commander-in-chief of the Southwest Pacific.
05:47King's representative, Admiral Chester Nimitz, would command the rest of the Pacific.
05:52It was an awkward split, ill-defined geographically and in terms of forces.
05:58There was confusion about the control of amphibious operations, air power, and supplies.
06:03Admiral Nimitz was assigned Operation Watchtower to capture the Santa Cruz Islands in preparation
06:08for an attack on Tulagi and the Solomons.
06:11At the same time, MacArthur was to drive the Japanese out of New Guinea.
06:17Then MacArthur was to invade New Britain and seize the main Japanese base at Rabaul.
06:28The Japanese armed forces were split along traditional army-navy lines.
06:34Each service wanted a different strategy.
06:37Neither was willing to cooperate with the other at command levels.
06:43Japan was having problems with its conquered territory in East Asia.
06:48It now had direct access to supplies of iron ore and petroleum.
06:52But a growing shortage of shipping was making it difficult to transport these raw materials
06:57to Japan.
07:00Army and navy agreed that the conquered territory should be maintained and the shipping protected.
07:06But they disagreed on how to do it.
07:09The army wanted to bring all of New Guinea under its control and threaten Australia.
07:15The navy wanted to defend the Solomon and Bismarck Islands.
07:20The army prevailed.
07:23The Japanese began a determined drive over the Owen Stanley Ranges to take Port Moresby.
07:31At the same time, the U.S. Navy discovered that the Japanese were building an airfield
07:36on Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands.
07:41On maps, the island chains running from Malaya to the Fijis seem strung together by stepping
07:46stones but, in fact, they stretch out over enormous distances of water.
07:54Japan's opening thrust had reached the Solomon Islands.
07:58The Solomons has thousands of harbors that could serve as havens for small ships, flying
08:03boats, barges and submarines.
08:08Japan had adopted colonial military tactics.
08:12It had established strong points all along the chain of islands.
08:16In doing so, it spread its army, navy and land-based naval air forces to the point of
08:21indefensibility.
08:30MacArthur's headquarters were in Australia.
08:32He was determined to return to the Philippines by driving the Japanese out of New Guinea
08:37and New Britain.
08:39The pirates wanted to take the Central Pacific route through Micronesia, capturing the Gilberts,
08:45the Marshals and the Carolines.
08:51MacArthur's and Nimitz's offensives would support each other.
08:54They would keep the Japanese from concentrating on just one.
08:58The carrier forces could be rapidly switched from one to another.
09:04The battle on Guadalcanal began on an even basis.
09:07The island had never figured in either Japanese or American preliminary planning.
09:11The fight began accidentally, but then took on a life of its own.
09:17The island of Guadalcanal was considered uninhabitable by the white plantation owners of the area.
09:26It is about 100 miles long and 30 miles across.
09:30Guadalcanal was owned by the British for more than 100 years.
09:34On May 5th, 1942, it was seized by the Japanese.
09:44On August 7th, the Allies totally surprised the Japanese.
09:48They brought a 76-ship invading force to take Tulagi, Tanambago, Gavutu and Guadalcanal
09:55Islands with overwhelming force.
09:58Nimitz had dispatched three of the Navy's four remaining aircraft carriers, the Saratoga,
10:03the Enterprise and the Wasp, to provide air cover for the landings.
10:12But Guadalcanal was not secure.
10:15Possession of the airfield would hang in the balance for months.
10:19Marines established a perimeter around the airfield and began searching out the remaining
10:24Japanese.
10:25Their efforts would be frustrated by continual Japanese reinforcements.
10:30Guadalcanal was slowly transforming itself into a meat grinder for men, planes and ships.
10:41The Japanese Naval Air Force reacted swiftly.
10:45The first of many attacks was launched from Rabaul.
10:4827 Bettys and 18 Zeros took off.
10:53So did nine Aichi D3A Vals.
10:57But their mission was to be one way.
10:59They did not have the range for the round trip.
11:05The attack was typical of the Japanese air war methods.
11:08A relatively small number of aircraft flown by highly skilled crews.
11:14Their mission, to make a precision strike against what they hoped was an ill-prepared
11:19enemy defense.
11:24In fact, the defense on Guadalcanal was relatively well prepared.
11:28This was partly thanks to the still primitive radar sets, but mostly it was thanks to one
11:33of the most unusual intelligence gathering groups in history, the Coast Watchers.
11:38The Australian Navy had recruited planters, natives, retired servicemen and others to
11:44hide out on the small islands and broadcast Japanese naval and air activity as they observed
11:49it.
11:53The Coast Watchers were small in number, highly intelligent and subject to certain death if
11:57captured.
12:01On August 7th, the Coast Watchers warned the U.S. carriers of the inbound bombing raid.
12:07Tough Grumman F4F Wildcats repulsed the onslaught.
12:11The dogfight signaled just how ferocious the air war over Guadalcanal was going to be.
12:16The Japanese lost 13 out of 54 aircraft.
12:20The Americans lost 9 out of 44.
12:39These losses diminished the Japanese naval air force's appetite for battle.
12:44They gave the Americans time to dig in.
12:48A second attack the following day was also beaten off.
12:52Eighteen Japanese aircraft were shot down.
12:56But in response to the threat of land-based air supremacy, the U.S. carrier force pulled
13:01out.
13:02The Marines were left without air cover.
13:05Some historians have called Admiral Fletcher's decision to withdraw his carriers desertion.
13:10But he was aware that his were the only carriers available.
13:13To lose them would have been catastrophic.
13:18The Marines used primitive Japanese construction equipment to turn the Japanese airstrip into
13:23Henderson Field.
13:25On August 20th, the first aircraft of what came to be known as the Cactus Air Force arrived
13:30on Guadalcanal.
13:3119 Grumman F4Fs and 12 Douglas SPDs from the Marines were followed by the 1st Army Air
13:38Forces Unit, five clapped-out Bell P400s, the export version of the P39 Air Cobra.
13:46The P400 was a very modern-looking aircraft with a tricycle landing gear, a 20-millimeter
13:52cannon in the nose, and the engine mounted behind the pilot.
13:56It was unable to handle the zero in air-to-air combat, but it excelled in bombing and strafing
14:01duties.
14:06This small force would be whittled down almost to extinction.
14:10The pilots flew continuously.
14:13It was soon evident that 30 days was about the maximum time that could be endured, given
14:18the stress of combat and the unhealthy living conditions.
14:25Pilot proficiency and confidence was growing.
14:30Major John Smith and Captain Marion Carl vied to become the top ace over Guadalcanal.
14:37Carl was the first to five victories.
14:39Then the two men ran neck and neck for weeks.
14:43Then when they were tied with 12 each, Carl was shot down.
14:47After five days in the jungle, he got back to find that Smith had 16 victories.
14:52Carl suggested that Smith be grounded for five days to give him a chance to catch up.
15:05The Japanese Army misinterpreted the departure of the carriers from Guadalcanal.
15:10They assumed that the troops on the island had been abandoned and were disorganized and
15:15demoralized.
15:17They sent a 1,000-man invasion force.
15:21It was led by the arrogant Colonel Kiyano Ichiki.
15:24He proudly radioed notice of his success as he marched to a comprehensive defeat.
15:33His force was trapped by the 1st Marine Regiment.
15:36His men were slaughtered, and he committed harakiri.
15:44It was a significant win, the first clear-cut victory by American troops over the Japanese
15:50Army.
15:51It dispelled the idea that the Japanese were invincible jungle fighters.
15:57The Japanese would consistently underestimate the number and fighting power of the Americans.
16:03They used ancient maps and devised complex battle plans requiring split-second coordination
16:08between Army, Navy, and Air Forces.
16:11Belatedly, Admiral Yamamoto began to realize that it would take a full-blown combined operation
16:17to retrieve Guadalcanal.
16:21He mobilized his combined fleet and 11th Air Fleet.
16:25He ordered the Navy to ferry in troops on destroyers, known as the Tokyo Express.
16:32Japan-based air power ruled the seas around Guadalcanal during the day.
16:38Admiral Tanaka, commanding officer of the destroyers, demonstrated how a single leader
16:44can make a difference.
16:46His cruisers would leave Bougainville in the early afternoon.
16:50They would steam at 30 knots and arrive off Guadalcanal about midnight.
16:56They would drop troops and supplies overboard, fire on Henderson Field and other targets,
17:01and speed away.
17:07Yamamoto once again showed his liking for the complex approach.
17:11He divided his force into many small commands.
17:15The fleet, under Admiral Nagumo, consisted of two large carriers, a light carrier, three
17:22battleships, nine cruisers, 13 destroyers, and 36 submarines.
17:29A fleet carrier force sailed the waters north of the Solomon Islands.
17:34It consisted of two carriers, the Shōkaku and the Zuikaku, two battleships and two cruisers.
17:43A smaller force under Admiral Hara Chūichi included the light carrier Ryūjō.
17:50It was seen east of Bougainville by a U.S. Navy Catalina patrol plane.
18:02Fletcher took the bait.
18:04He sent 30 Dauntlesses and eight Avengers against the Ryūjō.
18:09It was caught by torpedoes from the Avengers.
18:12After seven hours of drifting, it sank.
18:17Admiral Nagumo ordered the counterattack from his two carriers.
18:21Two waves totaling about 60 aircraft were sent into the towering cumulus clouds covering
18:26the American fleet, straight into the guns of 50 Grumman F4Fs on combat air patrol.
18:33But the Japanese aircraft broke through and damaged the Enterprise.
18:41The battle was inconclusive, but it served notice on the Japanese that the resupply of
18:46Guadalcanal was going to be bitterly contested.
18:49Henderson Field was now a 3,800-foot strip, 1,000 feet were covered by pierced steel planking
18:56known as marston mat.
19:00The 1st Marine Division was dug in around the field perimeter.
19:04From the field center, it was only two and a half miles to the enemy in any direction.
19:10The pilots fought and slept in the same clothes.
19:13They lived on potatoes, canned hash, and Japanese rice.
19:20The pilots flew mission after mission.
19:24American offensive flights began soon after dawn.
19:27Marine SBDs and Army Bell P-400s bombed and strafed.
19:33Early combat action for most of the fighters began about 1130 and lasted until dark.
19:56Coast watchers would report the approach of Japanese Betty bombers.
20:00would pick them up about 125 miles out.
20:05This gave the Grummans ample time to get to altitude.
20:08They would cruise about 5,000 feet above the Bettys.
20:12They looked for opportunities for a direct overhead pass or a high side attack, avoiding
20:16defensive fire from the Betty's 20-millimeter tail cannon.
20:23The almost awesome respect for Japanese fighters like the Zero and the Oscar began to fade.
20:30After months of close encounters, it was apparent that one F4F could not dogfight with a Zero,
20:36but two F4Fs working together using the thatch weave could handle four or five.
20:42The move was named after Jimmy Thatch, a seven-victory ace.
20:46It called for a pair of Wildcats to fly in a widespread formation.
20:50When a Zero attacked, the Wildcats banked toward each other.
20:54If the Zero followed his target, it led him into the guns of the other Wildcat.
21:02The Zeros were lightly built, skinned with thin duralumin.
21:07The pilot's seat was not armored.
21:09The three fuel tanks were not self-sealing.
21:12The Zero could only absorb a few seconds fire from the F4Fs before exploding.
21:18But the tank-like grummets could take an endless hammering from the Zeros.
21:22The Zero was faster, but could not follow the Wildcat into a turning dive.
21:31The Japanese Army and Navy remained at odds.
21:35The Army had not yet realized that there were now 17,000 Americans on Gadal Canal.
21:41It sent a force of only 5,000 men to retake the island.
21:51In an attack called the Battle of Bloody Ridge, 600 Japanese were killed, 40 Marines died
21:57defending the position.
21:59Three of the USAAF's much-maligned Bell P-400s did a magnificent job strafing the enemy.
22:08The Japanese were so confident of success that they left their food supplies behind.
22:14Half of the force died of starvation during a week-long trek back through the jungle.
22:20But Japanese submarines avenged this defeat on September 15th.
22:24They sank the Wasp and hauled the battleship North Carolina and the destroyer O'Brien.
22:34The Americans were more vulnerable than they had been since Pearl Harbor.
22:38There was only one carrier in the area, the Hornet.
22:54Aircraft from the damaged Saratoga had been ferried to Henderson Field.
23:02As September ended, the battle balanced on the razor edge of minimum air power.
23:08Air power, in turn, depended upon the strength of the Marine perimeter.
23:17The Japanese high command now decided that Gadal Canal must be taken at whatever cost.
23:23Henderson Field had to be captured and the defending air forces destroyed.
23:28The Japanese began to strip units from the forces fighting MacArthur's troops in New
23:32Guinea.
23:33They even set the date for the American surrender ceremony, October 21st.
23:44General Hyakutake Harukichi planned to use two infantry divisions to defeat the 7,500
23:50Americans he estimated to be on the island.
23:53Japanese intelligence was wrong by 12,000 men.
24:02On October 13th, the Japanese unleashed two air attacks.
24:07They put the runway at Henderson Field out of action.
24:11They set fire to several aircraft on the ground and destroyed 5,000 gallons of precious gasoline.
24:22The air attacks were just a prelude.
24:25At 01.38, Japanese battleships began to shell the runway with their 14-inch guns.
24:31All gasoline supplies were destroyed.
24:34All the Avengers and most of the SBDs were destroyed.
24:38Most of the F-4Fs were okay and six of the P-400s were left.
24:45The next night, there was more shelling.
24:48It destroyed almost everything missed in the first round.
24:52Henderson Field was now impotent.
24:55The Japanese began unloading troops and supplies.
24:59The force was built to 20,000, including tanks and heavy artillery.
25:06But the Japanese now began to throw their advantage away by making a series of ill-coordinated
25:11frontal attacks on marine positions.
25:17The terrifying Japanese bonsai charges melted in the face of marine firepower.
25:22The Japanese were forced into another humiliating retreat through the jungle.
25:30Now Hyakutake called for 12,000 men to reinforce the 15,000 he had remaining.
25:37They were to be brought to Gadal Canal the following month in a great transport armada.
25:44In the meantime, the Japanese carriers sailed to sink the Hornet.
25:48They believed it was the only U.S. carrier remaining in the area.
25:52But the Hornet had been joined by the Enterprise.
25:55It was also reinforced by the new battleship South Dakota.
25:59On October 26th, the American carriers drew first blood in what would become known as
26:04the Battle of Santa Cruz.
26:06SBDs from the Enterprise sighted the Japanese-like carrier Zuiho.
26:11The SBDs dived on the Zuiho and blew a huge hole in the flight deck.
26:17It was unable to recover aircraft, but could still launch nine Zeros for the next strike.
26:26Admiral Nagumo's strike force from the flagship carrier Shokaku was made up of 22 VALs and
26:3218 Kate torpedo planes.
26:35They were escorted by 27 Zeros.
26:39Most of the pilots in this formidable force were veterans of Pearl Harbor.
26:44It was to be a bad day for the American fleet.
26:49The Japanese launched a well-coordinated attack on the Hornet.
26:54One of the dive bombers was damaged and crashed into the flight deck.
26:58More bombs and torpedoes set the Hornet afire.
27:05But even as the Hornet burned, her aircraft were attacking the Shokaku, Admiral Nagumo's
27:10flagship.
27:11Four 1,000-pound bombs hit her flight deck, putting her out of the war for nine months.
27:18A second Japanese strike of 78 planes attacked the Enterprise and the South Dakota.
27:24They hit the Enterprise three times and put a bomb into the South Dakota's No. 1 turret.
27:30Just as it appeared that the torpedo bombers had been driven off, 18 VALs dropped out of
27:35the sky on the Enterprise and the South Dakota.
27:52Eight of the VALs were shot down, but single hits were scored by the Japanese on the Enterprise,
27:58the South Dakota, and the San Juan.
28:58Damage control parties on the Enterprise showed the skill gained by experience.
29:21They were able to put her in a condition to begin recovering aircraft.
29:29The air was full of returning planes.
29:32Lieutenant Robin M. Lindsey was the landing signal officer.
29:36With incredible skill, he managed to land 95 aircraft on the Enterprise before a lack
29:41of deck area forced him to halt operations.
29:46Fifty-four planes had to ditch in the ocean.
29:52The fires on the Hornet had almost been contained when another attack from the Zikaku's Kates
29:58forced her to be abandoned.
30:02The Battle of Santa Cruz was a tactical victory for the Japanese.
30:05They had sunk the Hornet and sustained damage to only two of their carriers.
30:12The United States had entered the war with seven carriers.
30:15Four had been sunk by the Japanese.
30:17Now only one remained in the Pacific, the damaged Enterprise.
30:32But the U.S. fleet was growing stronger every day.
30:36America was able to replace ships, planes, and pilots on a prodigious scale.
30:50In contrast, the combined fleet was severely weakened.
30:54It had no immediate prospect of replenishment.
30:58The pride of the Imperial Japanese Navy, its fighter and bomber crews, was being consumed
31:03in a fatal war of attrition.
31:05Both Navy's carrier task forces were weakened to the danger point.
31:10The principal air combat shifted back to land-based forces.
31:16Henderson Field on Guadalcanal had reached a low point of 30 fighters on October 26th,
31:22but now it was being steadily reinforced.
31:25By the end of October, it became possible for the first time to rotate pilots out for
31:30rest.
31:33The Japanese high command planned another major air, land, and sea attack on Guadalcanal
31:39for the middle of November 1942.
31:43Westerners assumed that the Japanese military was highly disciplined.
31:48But in fact, it tolerated insubordination to a degree unheard of in Allied armies.
31:55Junior officers often countermanded orders that were not radical enough.
32:00Senior officers feared being accused of cowardice or lack of patriotism.
32:06They did not dare resist.
32:09A Japanese colonel, Tsuji Masanobu, was one of the major practitioners of this insubordination.
32:17His arguments drove the Imperial Army into piecemeal commitment of its forces in Guadalcanal.
32:24Guadalcanal's fate was decided in the series of land, sea, and air battles that began on
32:28November 12th, 1942.
32:31The odds in numbers of ships were very uneven.
32:35The Japanese had two carriers, four battleships, five heavy cruisers, and 30 destroyers.
32:43The American Admiral Halsey could only muster five cruisers and 12 destroyers.
32:49Repairs were accelerated on the aircraft carrier Enterprise.
32:53It would sail from Noumea, New Caledonia on November 11th.
32:57It would be accompanied by three cruisers and six destroyers.
33:02On Guadalcanal, the Japanese sent in heavy cruisers to bombard Henderson Field, but only
33:07a handful of aircraft were destroyed.
33:11Admiral Tanaka had a fleet of 11 transports escorted by a dozen destroyers.
33:16He assumed that the cruiser attack had knocked out air power on Henderson Field.
33:22But shortly after noon, an American force made up of aircraft from Henderson Field and
33:26the Enterprise arrived in force.
33:29They systematically began to slaughter Tanaka's ships.
33:34Seven transports were sunk.
33:56Four were forced to beach themselves.
34:06The next day, they were shuttle bombed by Avengers from Henderson Field.
34:12Troops struggling down rope ladders were killed.
34:14The supplies in the ships were burned.
34:18Of the 10,000 Japanese soldiers in the transports, only 4,000 made it to Guadalcanal.
34:24Now called by the Japanese, the Island of Death.
34:30Admiral Halsey later correctly noted that until November 15th, 1942, the enemy advanced
34:36at its will.
34:38From that point on, it retreated at the will of the Allies.
34:43Guadalcanal demonstrated that air, sea, and land power were no longer just complementary.
34:48They were inextricably intertwined.
34:52The Japanese Prime Minister, General Tojo Hideki, ordered the evacuation of Guadalcanal
34:58on January 4th, 1943.
35:01It was also a signal to Japanese leaders that the United States was not going to seek a
35:06negotiated peace.
35:08Instead, it would bring the full weight of its enormous resources to bear.
35:12There would be many bitter battles after Guadalcanal, but none where the issue was in doubt.
35:18For the next two years, Japan, the nation that prided itself on never losing a war,
35:23would suffer one disaster after another.
35:26American strength would grow quickly.
35:28The United States would elect to fight the war on its own terms, substituting firepower
35:33for manpower on a scale undreamed of.
35:40In early 1943, American strength on Guadalcanal was growing rapidly.
35:46The battered 1st Marine Division had been relieved.
35:49The U.S. Army assumed the predominant ground fighting role.
35:53By early December, Henderson Field had almost 200 aircraft.
35:57There were 71 Wildcats and 17 of the new Lockheed P-38s.
36:05This beautiful new twin-engined fighter would prove to be perfectly suited to the Pacific
36:10Theater.
36:12In many respects, after Guadalcanal, it was a totally new war.
36:17Over the next three years, America would vastly expand the land-based Army Air Forces.
36:22It would field fleets of new aircraft carriers and produce hundreds of thousands of aircraft.
36:28The majority of these new aircraft would be types not seen before in battle.
36:38The Japanese would launch some new carriers as well.
36:41They would introduce new combat planes, but in pathetically small numbers.
36:47For the most part, the Japanese Army and Navy would fight the remainder of the war with
36:52updated versions of the Zeros, Oscars, Bettys, and Kates with which it started.
36:59It would suffer terribly without the veteran pilots upon which its strategy had depended.
37:05As the war moved closer to the home islands, the Japanese would attempt to overcome these
37:09inadequacies with what became known to the West as Kamikaze tactics.
37:20While Japan and America struggled to win the Battle of Guadalcanal, the forces of General
37:25Douglas MacArthur waged war in New Guinea.
37:29General MacArthur was caught out by the Japanese push to take Port Moresby and the rest of
37:34New Guinea.
37:36That push began on July 22, 1942.
37:41The Japanese Army was convinced it could not rely on naval support.
37:46It decided to conquer the Paquan Peninsula and Port Moresby by the most difficult possible
37:51route.
37:53The Owen Stanley Mountains combined extremely difficult terrain with almost impenetrable
37:59jungle.
38:00General Hyakutake Harukichi directed that 16,000 of the best Japanese troops be landed
38:05at Buna.
38:07From there, with 1,000 native bearers, they were to push across the Kokoda Trail, which
38:13ran 100 crooked miles to Port Moresby.
38:18The Japanese brushed back their Australian defending forces.
38:22For weeks they made good progress, but they suffered from lack of food, medical supplies,
38:28and the difficult terrain.
38:32Australian resistance, backed by an increasingly powerful ground attack air force, led them
38:36down.
38:42The Allied air forces in the southwest Pacific had a new leader.
38:47Lieutenant General George Churchill Kenney, United States Army Air Forces, had shot down
38:52two planes in World War I.
38:54He was energetic, practical, and a natural leader.
38:58In short, he would revolutionize Army air power.
39:02Kenney was not only able to stand up to MacArthur, he could also inspire confidence in him.
39:08When he arrived at his new command, Kenney found that it was disorganized to the point
39:12of fragmentation.
39:13Australian, New Zealand, and American crew members were assigned to fly together on a
39:18random basis.
39:22Attacks were carried out almost informally without precise orders.
39:26As a result, only a few aircraft at a time went on raids, and then only in loose formation.
39:40Kenney's charter had been to organize existing forces into a competent defense of Australia.
39:46He was also to organize a new air force, the Fifth, to undertake offensive operations.
39:52Kenney ruthlessly shook up his command.
39:55He sent home people he considered too tired or insufficiently aggressive.
39:59He replaced them with younger men who wanted to fight.
40:25Kenney fostered the concept of skip bombing and the use of parafrag bombs.
40:39He was infuriated at the low in commission rate of his most potent weapon, the Boeing
40:44B-17, more than half were out for lack of engines or tail wheels alone.
40:52He ordered an immediate stand down on all bomber flying.
40:55He started a crash program of maintenance.
40:57He wanted 20 B-17s to attack a Japanese air base near Rabaul on August 7th, 1942.
41:05Only 16 got off.
41:06Of these, only 13 made it to the target area.
41:11In spite of this attrition, the B-17s managed to make their presence felt.
41:33Many Japanese aircraft were destroyed on the ground.
41:36Kenney had proven that American forces were capable of striking out.
41:40The attack reversed a process of defeat that had begun on December 7th, 1941 at Pearl Harbor.
42:01Kenney gradually obtained air superiority over New Guinea.
42:05It was tenuous.
42:06The Japanese still had more than 100 aircraft at Rabaul.
42:28But the Japanese aircraft rarely intruded over New Guinea.
42:32Kenney was able to begin an aerial resupply service to help the land campaign.
42:41As Australian and American troops drove the Japanese back, Douglas C-47s ferried in tons
42:47of supplies to forward detachments.
42:57They also flew the sick and wounded out.
43:04And all the while, the intensity of Allied strikes on the Japanese increased.
43:10Organized Japanese resistance on the Papuan Peninsula ended on January 22nd, 1943.
43:16The land victory was made possible by the 5th Air Force's dominance.
43:26There's a postscript to this chapter on the Pacific War.
43:29In early 1943, Allied codebreakers learned that Admiral Yamamoto was planning an inspection
43:35trip.
43:36Ironically, this trip would take place exactly one year after Jimmy Doolittle's daring raid
43:41on Tokyo.
43:45Admiral Yamamoto planned to travel to the Kahili area in South Bougainville.
43:50He was famous for his adherence to schedules.
43:54The Allied codebreakers knew his obsession with punctuality.
43:58They were able to determine his exact itinerary.
44:04He would arrive in a bomber off the southern tip of Bougainville on April 18th, 1943.
44:14The Army Air Force's P-38s on Guadalcanal had the range to make an interception.
44:21Admiral Nimitz gave the authorization for Yamamoto to be assassinated.
44:26Major John W. Mitchell, commander of the 339th Fighter Squadron, was appointed to lead the
44:31attack.
44:33Eighteen P-38 pilots were chosen.
44:44An attack section of four aircraft, the Killers, would destroy Yamamoto's airplane.
44:50The remaining fourteen would fight off the escort aircraft.
44:54Six Zeros were known to be accompanying Yamamoto's flight of two Bettys.
45:04The navigation challenge alone was formidable.
45:07The plan called for a 435-mile flight at wavetop level.
45:13This would be entirely over the ocean, out of sight of any land-based observers.
45:19They were to arrive at a point thirty-five miles off the coast of Kahili at 0935.
45:27P-38 compasses at this time were notoriously unreliable.
45:33There were no radio navigation devices.
45:36It was also possible that Yamamoto would not arrive on time.
45:39If so, the P-38s couldn't wait.
45:42It would be a split-second ambush or a wasted effort.
45:50The Lockheed P-38 was an extraordinary airplane.
45:54It was the first twin-engine, single-seat fighter ever put into mass production.
46:05The twin-engine safety and long range of the P-38 made it perfect for the Pacific.
46:11After a two-hour and forty-two minute flight over the ocean, the P-38s were still at wavetop
46:16height when they saw the Japanese formation exactly on time and on course.
46:22The two remaining aircraft of the killer group headed straight for the formation.
46:26The protection flight climbed to altitude.
46:49Both Bettys were shot down.
46:52Yamamoto was killed by gunfire before he crashed into the jungle.
46:57In the wild melee, American pilots claimed three Zeros and three Bettys shot down.
47:03But post-war records show that of Yamamoto's eight-plane formation, only the two Bettys
47:08were lost.
47:09It may be that Zeros were scrambled from Kahili and these were the victims, but no investigation
47:15has confirmed this.
47:38One P-38 was lost.
47:48Yamamoto's death may well have saved him tremendous loss of face when the full implications of
47:53the defeats at Midway and Guadalcanal were evaluated.
47:56Instead, his ashes were returned to Japan for a state funeral.
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