- 2 months ago
Category
📚
LearningTranscript
00:08The End
00:37The End
00:58There's an old saying in the army,
01:01the longest march always begins with the first step.
01:05By the same token, the greatest battle usually begins with one word.
01:09One simple code word which becomes the symbol of the whole operation.
01:14So it happens that the battle for New Britain begins with the word,
01:18overpower.
01:21The secret army code word.
01:23It means that at a certain time, at a certain place,
01:27American troops will land on the Jap-held island of New Britain.
01:32It's a tough island to crack.
01:34The Japs gave it plenty of teeth.
01:37A powerful naval base at Rabaul, good airstrips,
01:41and over 100,000 troops spotted in different places and expecting a visit.
01:47And besides Japs, there's always the jungle.
01:51Never before in history has a large-scale war been fought on such difficult battlefields.
01:57Looks pretty, doesn't it?
02:00Pretty is a picture and a pre-war travel advertisement.
02:03But how is it to live in?
02:06Ask Joe Soldier.
02:08A jungle-clad paradise crawling with bugs, snakes, and lizards, spiders.
02:15Ask him about sweating out a march through blazing equatorial heat.
02:19Ask him about the smell, that wet stench of the jungle.
02:25Yes, and don't let him forget to mention those tropical sunsets,
02:29bringing the malarial mosquito.
02:34An attack is prepared in staging areas where the men are rehearsed for the job.
02:39Quietly, secretly, systematically.
02:41Men and equipment start moving into three separate areas along this coast.
02:47This is done so there'll be no large concentration of troops in any one spot to tip off the plan.
02:55A task force is a miniature army, tailored for a particular job.
03:00This one consists of a regiment from Texas,
03:04a battalion of artillery and service troops,
03:07quartermasters, signal corps, engineers, and medical.
03:11They know what this staging area means.
03:14A jumping off place for something big.
03:26Out here, housekeeping starts from the ground up.
03:29You pick yourself a place
03:31and start chopping.
03:34It used to be hard work mowing the lawn on Sunday afternoons.
03:38Try mowing cunai grass with a machete.
03:44Meantime, a couple of hundred miles to the north,
03:46the second task force marches into their staging area
03:49to prepare for their part in the operations.
03:52These men have seen something of jungle fighting.
03:55They're Marines,
03:57and they cut their teeth on Guadalcanal.
04:05In the third staging area, it's more Marines, more guns, more shells,
04:11more thorns to press into the side of Tojo's Island of New Britain.
04:16And back of the men come the trucks,
04:19the half-tons, the jeeps, the bulldozers,
04:22a community on wheels
04:24carrying the thousand and one needs of a task force.
04:28Food for bellies and gun barrels,
04:31canvas for cover,
04:33wires for communication,
04:35the tools of a jungle army.
04:40When the lot is cleared, you stretch out your house.
04:43It doesn't take long.
04:44Just fasten the ceiling,
04:46get under the center pole,
04:47and hoist.
04:51And leave plenty of slack on those ropes.
04:55The first rain will do the tightening.
04:59Nudging out elbow room in this wilderness
05:01and getting your stuff across swamps and streams
05:03is pretty rugged.
05:05But it's good practice for jungle warfare.
05:19Bridges need plenty of attention.
05:21Mountain rains can swell these streams
05:23to torrents that can drown the truck.
05:26And transportation is important out here.
05:33When it comes to jungle construction,
05:35you can't beat a fuzzy wuzzy.
05:37Uncle Sam has thousands on his payroll.
05:49The foreman checks everything.
05:55Thatched roofs keep out most of the rain,
05:58some of the heat,
05:59and none of the bugs.
06:04And don't think these builders
06:05don't know the value of money.
06:08Money will buy a pig,
06:09and a pig can be exchanged for a wife.
06:29Here's where that Boy Scout training
06:31comes in handy.
06:33And this lad is an awfully tough critic.
06:38Outfits sprawl over a staging area for miles.
06:42It's a signal cord job
06:44to tie them together with telephone lines.
06:48Not much like hometown telephone poles,
06:51but the technique of climbing them
06:53hasn't changed a bit.
07:01The nerves run back to the brain.
07:06This switchboard at headquarters
07:08will handle a thousand calls a day.
07:10Orders, reports, requests, instructions,
07:14to field phones out where the jungle begins.
07:25When a jeep or a truck is issued to a driver,
07:28that's his baby,
07:29and he keeps it clean.
07:37The old swimming hole,
07:39jungle style.
07:41It's the bath, shower,
07:43and laundry combined.
07:48First scrub your skin,
07:50then scrub the clothes you just took off.
07:58This may not be your favorite cafeteria,
08:00but it's the only one handy right now.
08:03And it's the quartermaster's job
08:04to see that the army is fed.
08:13There's a mess of vitamins
08:14that'll pat your ribs,
08:16but don't get us wrong.
08:17We still like home cooking.
08:25These are the canvas cities
08:26that Joe's soldier built
08:28out of jungle and kunai grass.
08:30Like their forefathers,
08:32these troops have tamed
08:33a corner of wilderness
08:34into a temporary home.
08:39Uh-uh.
08:405.45.
08:42And the day begins.
08:48The helmet makes the swell wash basin.
08:52And you can't do this
08:53with a family sink.
08:56And now to work.
08:58It begins with the task force commander
09:00giving the details of the job
09:01to the men who are going to do it.
09:04There will be two landings
09:06on New Britain.
09:07The first at Arroway,
09:09to divert the Japs
09:10from the main landing
09:11a few days later
09:12at Cape Gloucester.
09:15Arroway is a peninsula.
09:18A small force
09:19will make a landing up here
09:21in the enemy's rear,
09:22they hope,
09:23and move down the peninsula
09:25to join with the main forces
09:27who will land along here.
09:30Complete surprise
09:31is the main thing.
09:33Hit fast and hard.
09:35Gain a foothold
09:36before the Japs
09:37can move a large force
09:38against you.
09:39That's what unit leaders
09:41are telling them.
09:42A soldier has to know
09:43what he's supposed to do,
09:45where he's supposed to do it,
09:47and why.
09:53And this is the time
09:54to check your weapons.
09:55A gun jam on a beachhead
09:57might happen only once.
10:01The same thing is going on
10:03up in the Marine staging area.
10:06Weapons, equipment,
10:07and the men themselves
10:08get a personal once-over.
10:13Anti-aircraft protection
10:15stays on its toes,
10:16just in case.
10:1937-millimeter anti-tank teams
10:22have to load, aim,
10:23and fire
10:23almost simultaneously.
10:25They can get off
10:27about 30 rounds a minute.
10:32It's rumored
10:33that a lone star governor
10:35once said,
10:36by gad,
10:37if the United States
10:38ever goes to war,
10:40Texas will go with it.
10:41And here she is.
10:53There'll be artillery, too,
10:54for knocking out
10:55Japs' strong points.
10:58Sometimes it takes
10:59a flamethrower
11:00to burn out a pillbox.
11:01They work well
11:02in jungle warfare.
11:06That could be
11:07a NIP installation.
11:11Native fighters
11:12or bongs,
11:13as they're called,
11:15give our troops
11:16a few tips
11:16on the technique
11:17of jungle fighting.
11:27The training is carried out
11:29under simulated
11:30battle conditions.
11:31And, soldier,
11:32those aren't pebbles
11:33hitting the stream.
11:35You've got to know
11:36how to fire at sounds, too,
11:38because jungle fighters
11:39seldom see each other
11:41alive.
11:45The last stages
11:46of training
11:46begin aboard
11:47the ships
11:47that will carry
11:48the troops
11:48to their mission.
11:51This practice
11:52ends in a full-dress
11:53rehearsal.
11:58Two detachments
11:59are going to make
12:00the landing
12:01in rubber boats.
12:03It takes a lot
12:04of practice
12:05to handle these.
12:06It's dangerous,
12:07plenty dangerous.
12:08No protective armor,
12:10no more speed
12:11than your own
12:12paddle power.
12:23Regular types
12:24of landing craft
12:26may have trouble
12:26getting over the
12:27coral reef
12:28at Arroway,
12:29so buffalers
12:30and alligators
12:31have been selected
12:32to bring the first wave
12:33of assault troops
12:34ashore.
12:34What's an alligator?
12:37It's an amphibious tank.
12:39What's a buffalo?
12:41It's an amphibious tank,
12:42too, but it's got
12:43more armor.
12:45They look like bad dreams,
12:47and they'll deliver
12:48the first punch.
12:50And now let's hear
12:51what the general
12:52thinks.
12:53The secret of your success
12:54is your squad
12:55and platoon leaders.
12:56They must get hold
12:57of their outfits
12:58and control them,
12:59but control
12:59doesn't mean bunching.
13:01The buffaloes
13:02will land in a wave.
13:03From then on,
13:04they're tanks.
13:05They crash
13:05through the underbrush.
13:06They knock out trees,
13:07followed by riflemen.
13:09You run upon
13:10a Jap machine gun nest.
13:11What do you do?
13:12You circle it,
13:12infiltrate,
13:13use grenades,
13:14and don't make
13:15the mistake of stopping
13:16to help a man
13:16who gets hit.
13:17You haven't got time.
13:19Let the medical men
13:20pick him up.
13:21So now,
13:21it's up to you.
13:22Remember,
13:23you can only go forward.
13:24You can't go back.
13:25There'll be nothing
13:26to go back to.
13:27Just grab a piece of beach
13:28and start shoving.
13:33Are there any questions?
13:34You can't go back to you.
13:48You can't go back to you.
14:17Now comes the parade of men and supplies.
14:20The loading, the checking, the counting, the packing.
14:26It's the war of logistics.
14:29Adding up to the final question mark.
14:32Will the troops who make the landing have what they need,
14:35where they need it, and when they need it?
14:39Training is over.
14:41Rehearsals are over.
14:43This is it.
14:50Remember, this is only one of three task forces.
14:53And it's going to make the landing at our way
14:56a few days ahead of the big staff at Gloucester.
15:07The commander-in-chief, who is responsible for the coordination of the whole plan,
15:12comes down for the takeoff.
15:17General MacArthur and General Kruger on the right, commanding the 6th Army,
15:22have a last-minute chat with the task force commander.
15:25And what they said is a military secret.
15:29The first assault waves are ready.
15:43Time doesn't even wait on generals.
15:46And time is running out.
15:48This is goodbye.
15:50And good luck.
15:56There they go.
16:07The buffaloes and alligators are going to load on the mothership.
16:19The buffaloes and alligators are going to load on the mothership.
16:21One, two, three, two, three.
16:24The tiger is going to be lost.
16:24And they're going to be lost.
16:42And they've died.
16:43The turtle is going to be dead.
16:43The essenism and alligators are going to be found.
16:45The cyanism and alligators are going to закон.
16:50meantime the main force loads aboard its transport once up the net the landing
16:55craft that brought them will be hoisted aboard and the rubber boat attachments
17:00move out to load on the destroyer that will carry them the convoy is on its way
17:12to meet its naval escort this is D-day minus one the men know that means the day before invasion
17:36this last-minute check on weapons goes on aboard every ship nobody has to be told
17:41to do it now ammunition to fight malaria it's the daily at a green pill
18:06this too happens on every ship last-minute instructions to officers and non-com it's called briefing
18:14over there fast whatever happens keep contact message center will be in here get your messages
18:23back as fast as you can of course keep your men dispersed cut out bunch look out for this high
18:31ground over here you have to hit it from the flank i think and above all keep moving in this
18:37direction
18:38we've all got compasses
18:44we're at the rendezvous point the task force commander leads to board one of the destroyers of the escort
18:53and now the convoy will fail through the night to arrow
18:59troops ships flanked by destroyers and led by minesweepers and sub-chasers
19:08i hate to see that evening sun go down
19:20tomorrow belongs to the headlines in hometown papers to the radio commentators the casualty list
19:29but these few hours belong to each man to spend as he likes
19:33and then
19:54and
19:55and
19:58and
19:58and
19:58and
19:58and
19:59and
20:05Under the protection of the naval barrage,
20:08the first assault waves keep circling,
20:10awaiting the order to start in.
20:17There they go.
20:26A Jap plane.
20:52A Jap plane.
20:57Calling cars to clear the beaches of small arms fire.
21:20More planes coming.
21:22Ours, we hope.
21:24Yep.
21:25It's a sky full of angels, our own B-25s.
21:33Now it's the Air Force's turn, and they know their way around.
21:36They've been softening it up for days in advance.
21:50Propaganda leaflets to tell the Jap what's happening to him and why.
22:03The naval barrage drove most of the Japs off the beaches up on the cliff.
22:08And that's where the planes work them over.
22:11Strafing may not wipe out a ground force, but it keeps them ducking.
22:22There's the landing place.
22:25The first casualty.
22:28The result of a Jap machine gun burst.
22:33It's safe to raise your head and look at the shore now.
22:37And here's why.
22:41This is what naval barrage and air bombing can do to a shoreline.
22:58Remember, you can only go forward.
23:00You can't go back.
23:02There'll be nothing to go back to.
23:03Just grab a piece of beach and start shoving.
23:09There's still a few snipers around.
23:16The trolls grope ahead of the main body
23:19to feel out the Jap's strength, to locate his positions.
23:33Come on.
23:41The assault troops keep advancing.
24:07The peninsula was lightly held,
24:10but there are still plenty of Japs to comb out.
24:14You don't see many.
24:17Except this kind.
24:25The objective is to push about three miles up the peninsula,
24:29then dig in and hang on.
24:35More and more troops are fed up to the rapidly advancing front
24:38by jeeps.
24:43Alligators.
24:47Buffalo.
24:51Grab is open.
24:53Now to hold on.
24:55Counterattacks may strike anywhere, anytime.
24:58Better be ready.
25:03Beach gun emplacements for all-round security.
25:07That's an air-raid warning truck under the camouflage.
25:11And every man digs a place to dive into when the zeros come.
25:22communication keeps pace with combat.
25:25Switchboard and message sent are open for business.
25:33Supplies are needed faster than ships can bring them.
25:42Parachute-borne ammunition coming down.
25:46But they don't always select ideal landing plates.
25:50A job for the pole line crew.
26:01That dirty pool is being converted into drinking water
26:05by the engineer water purification unit.
26:16Men may one day forget many things of this war,
26:19but never the taste of chlorine.
26:31Casualties from the front get attention in the surgical tent.
26:36The man on the table got a shell fragment in the leg.
26:41the enemy plane.
27:27This is what's left of the surgical tent filled with wounded men after a direct hit.
27:59This is what's left of the surgical tent.
28:09For these men, the road's the longest.
28:16Having received emergency treatment, the wounded are evacuated to hospitals in New Guinea.
28:23This landing was a complete surprise to the Japs, so resistance was light, except at the
28:29upper end of the peninsula where the rubber boats went in before dawn.
28:33They met heavy machine gun fire before they could reach the Beats.
28:37The boats were destroyed.
28:39The men were scattered.
28:40They just couldn't swim and fight at the same time.
28:44But the main landing is successful.
28:46The Japs have been driven back up the peninsula.
28:53The beachhead is established.
28:55The task force commander is ready to make his report.
29:10And now for the main event, the landings on Cape Gloucester.
29:15Arrowy was the fink with the left.
29:18Gloucester will be the right to the jaw.
29:19Now, here, here, and here, the forces will capture the airstrip and converge, setting
29:29up an American stronghold on the supply line to Rabaul.
29:34In the marine staging areas, it is Christmas Day.
29:49The last mass before sailing for Gloucester.
30:05It is Christmas Day.
30:06In the air at the altitude of the sea, the Kentucky.
30:07In the air at the altitude of the sea, it feels like the water will voluntarily dilute the
30:11It still has more confidence in the air.
30:12Here, here, at the sky, the sky is the right to the sea.
30:14Then the sky is the right to the sea.
30:46Masses of men to land upon three separate beaches in the vicinity of Cape Gloucester.
30:55This is to be the main effort. It is an army made up of two task forces in the teeth
31:01of known Jack power.
31:19These two landings are the first stage in the neutralization and envelopment of Rabao.
31:41On Christmas night, a vast convoy sets out.
31:50Cape Gloucester, New Britain.
32:10Nearing the height of the naval bombardment, the first assault load into Higgins' boats.
32:19The End
32:26The End
32:26The End
32:30The End
32:31The End
32:36The End
32:36The End
32:40The End
32:40The End
32:48The End
32:55The End
32:56The End
32:56The End
33:11The End
33:12The End
33:29Back of the beaches, the jungle crawls with Japs. They're dug in and well fortified, but not against this.
33:45The End
34:02The End
34:03The End
34:03The End
34:04The End
34:28The End
34:28Just back of the beaches, but not too far in.
34:32The End
34:34The End
34:43The End
34:45The End
34:53The End
34:54The Higgins' boats keep moving in.
35:15The End
35:40And under this air cover, the invasion fleet creeps forward.
35:47.
35:51.
35:52.
35:57Let's go.
36:35Curtains of smoke to screen our landings.
36:43Here come the first waves in Higgins boats.
36:51Not ghosts from Pearl Harbor, but American boys.
36:55Tom, Dick, and Johnny.
36:57The boys who used to play baseball in the vacant lot on Saturday afternoons.
37:01The youngsters that drove jalopies and sang the popular songs.
37:07You may have wondered sometimes if they'd ever amount to anything.
37:11Well, here they are, giving everything they've got.
37:18This is jungle.
37:21These assault waves are like a hand stretched out in a dark room, feeling their weight.
37:27If they are stopped here, the main force landing behind them is stopped too.
37:34Here you go.
37:37Doctor! Doctor! Doctor!
38:18Contact with the enemy.
39:03And here come the landing craft infantry, called LCI.
39:08They're bringing the main fighting strength to back up the assault wave.
39:37Doctor!
39:41Doctor!
39:44Doctor!
39:53Doctor!
39:55Doctor!
39:55Doctor!
39:56Doctor!
39:56Doctor!
39:57Doctor!
39:58Doctor!
40:00Doctor!
40:00Doctor!
40:00Doctor!
40:00Doctor!
40:01Doctor!
40:01Doctor!
40:01Doctor!
40:01Doctor!
40:02Doctor!
40:02Doctor!
40:02Doctor!
40:02Doctor!
40:03Doctor!
40:03Doctor!
40:03Doctor!
40:04Doctor!
40:04Doctor!
40:04Doctor!
40:05Doctor!
40:13Doctor!
40:17Doctor!
40:17Doctor!
40:17Doctor!
40:18Doctor!
40:20Doctor!
40:21Doctor!
40:21Doctor!
40:21Doctor!
40:21Doctor!
40:21Doctor!
40:21Doctor!
40:25Doctor!
40:25Doctor!
40:25Doctor!
40:27Doctor!
40:27Doctor!
40:27Doctor!
40:28Doctor!
40:29Doctor!
40:29Doctor!
40:29Doctor!
40:29Doctor!
40:29Doctor!
40:36Doctor!
40:38Doctor!
40:48Doctor!
40:50Here's a highly trained specialist.
40:53Even a Jap sniper can't camouflage his scent.
40:59Fresh troops forward.
41:15Wounded to the rear.
41:32You never know what's around the next bush.
41:42Dead Japs aren't always dead.
41:45Better be sure.
41:46Sure.
42:10Enemy strong point.
43:10Here's the bazooka.
43:12This is a hand-carried rocket gun.
43:15Firing it takes close teamwork.
43:49Hand grenades, mortars, bazookas, and flamethrowers did this.
44:02This is a hand-carried rocket gun.
44:32After the LCI's have been emptied of men, the towering LSTs, landing ship tanks, move
44:38in, bringing everything for the establishment of a beachhead.
44:48This succession of ships, all in their proper order, thousands of men and tons of supplies
44:55have been one purpose, to keep a thin line of riflemen fighting their way forward into
45:00the jungle.
45:18Buffaloes and alligators.
45:31Mechanized sledgehammers, smashing holes in the jungle wall.
45:54Bucket lines to pass the ammunition.
45:56Bill Clinton.
45:57Bill Clinton.
45:59Bill Clinton.
46:31Tanks do a lot of things, but they can't swim.
47:00Tanks do a lot of things, but they can't swim.
47:25Tanks do a lot of things, but they can't swim.
47:52Tanks do a lot of things, but they can't go everywhere.
47:57Carrie, it's all part of the same job.
48:16That's barbed wire they're carrying.
48:31As soon as there's any place to phone to, there's a telephone line to do it.
48:47The final protective line against counterattack must be prepared.
48:57You may be hit from anywhere, anytime.
49:00From the flanks, or from the rear, or from the air.
49:14The final protective line against the air.
49:21The final protective line against the air.
49:37At 2.35, enemy dive bombers.
49:45Jap planes shot into the water.
49:48More than 60, costing less than a dozen of our own.
49:54The Japs concentrated on the destroyer Bronson.
49:59That's the Bronson standing on end, sinking fast.
50:22But among the floating wreckage are survivors.
50:47Exhausted.
50:49Some dying.
50:51Some dead.
50:54Some with clothes blown off by the concussion of bombs.
51:13These are a part of 208 survivors who will remember the Bronson when they fight again.
51:23Back at Gloucester, it had begun to rain.
51:51The folks back home are eating Christmas dinner about now.
51:56Out here is the day after.
51:58And just another day.
52:09Out here.
52:12Out here.
52:20Out here.
52:33Out here.
52:35Out here.
52:36Out here.
52:38Out here.
52:46Out here.
52:48Out here.
52:49Out here.
52:52Out here.
52:54Out here.
52:58Out here.
52:58Out here.
53:17Information gained from prisoners confirms what we know.
53:21The advance is nearing its main objective.
53:32But every step forward means some men coming back on stretchers.
53:51Sometimes it takes too long for the stretchers to arrive.
54:15Medical officers scrubbing up for emergency treatment before evacuation.
54:27The country doctor, city surgeon, working together 25 hours out of the 24.
55:03Part of the price of the poor.
55:05It's a beach landing.
55:21Yes, it's a wounded Jap receiving decent treatment and a cigarette.
55:35And on the beach the next day, wreckage.
55:38Wreckage.
55:39Wreckage.
55:48Wreckage.
55:52Wreckage.
55:55Wreckage.
56:07Wreckage.
56:20Wreckage.
56:31Wreckage.
56:32Wreckage.
56:34Wreckage.
56:36Wreckage.
56:37Wreckage.
56:38Wreckage.
56:39Wreckage.
57:22Fire! Fire! Fire!
57:35One day of American living.
57:39Bought and paid for.
58:09Fire!
58:13Fire!
58:17Fire!
58:19Fire!
58:24¶¶