Pacific warfare in World War 2 was some of the most brutal in history, both due to the tenacity of what America was fighting against as well as the accursed environments marines and ordinary soldiers had to deal with. This film, made when the war was still going on, focuses on the battle over the secluded island of Peleliu, today part of the Micronesian country of Palau. This place needed to be secured from Japanese forces as part of a big offensive campaign which lasted until late Autumn 1944. The main reason Peleliu needed to be taken is because it had a rudimentary airfield that could service planes looking to bomb distant targets that would otherwise be out of range. Due to fanatical japanese resistance (despite being outnumbered), Americans would be killed at a higher rate here than any other amphibious attack of the Pacific theater. The film opens by showing the US Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force and even the Coast Guard getting ready to stage the attack. Planes from carriers fly thousands of missions over the island and drop bombs, some of them incendiary ones, made to burn trees, foliage, and human flesh. Marines and other personnel come from bases located on Guadalcanal and the Marshall Islands to take part in the invasion. They're loaded into amphibious tracked vehicles armed with turrets. A huge number of battleships and destroyers sail off the coast of the island and begin shelling it. Thousands of rounds of ammunition will be launched towards japanese positions in order to make the marines' job easier. Marine forces then hit the beach and begin attacking the japanese with support from the tracked vehicles and flamethrowers. Concurrently, an army division on neighboring Angaur island to the south is trying to destroy japanese resistance there. They use tanks in order to gain a presence on the beach, and then push into the nearby jungle. The japanese fight savagely and it wouldn't be until 2 weeks later when Angaur is captured. Meanwhile to the north, american pilots make use of the captured airstrip to undertake what must be one of the shortest bombing missions on record: flying just 1000 yards to attack what has been named "Bloody Nose Ridge." Right below the planes, marines continue to assault japanese emplacements, and nearly 10 cameramen were killed trying to film all this. Finally, the army division on Angaur comes north to Peleliu in order to relieve the marines and the japanese are beat back. Unusually for japanese troops, some of them begin to surrender. Even though Peleliu is small, america has had to pay a high price for seizing it; over 1500 dead (not counting the servicemen killed on Angaur). Old, obscure short films like these are some of my favorite things to talk about because not many people know about them. The narration and way the film keeps moving to a new piece of footage every couple of seconds reminds me a lot of things like World at War or (more aptly) Victory at Sea, whose entire premise revolves around america's quest to defeat japanese imperialism in world war 2. It really puts into perspective how destructive the whole conflict was when they say the huge guns on the battleships would fire 70 thousand shells onto this one tiny island few people today even care about. Just imagine how many bullets or munitions were used throughout the whole war, and you'll start to be glad you weren't involved in this historical event. One thing this film can't show however, is the 110+ degree heat the combat was being done in.
3 out of 3 found this helpful.
Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
