All language subtitles for World.War.II.in.Colour.S01E05.Red.Sun.Rampant.1080p.AMZN.WEB-DL.DD+2.0.H.264-playWEB_track3_[eng]

At 7:56 on the
morning of December 7th, 1941,

Japanese aircraft swooped
down over Hawaii.

Their target -
the US Pacific Fleet

at anchor in its base
at Pearl Harbor.

Five US ships
were hit immediately.

A few minutes later, more
Japanese aircraft joined in.

By 8:35, two US battleships
were sinking,

two had capsized and
two were badly damaged.

A seventh battleship,
the "Nevada",

slipped her moorings
and was heading out to sea

when she too was caught
and forced to beach.

Simultaneously,
Japanese Zero fighters

strafed US aircraft lined up
on the island's airstrips.

They also shot up
nearby army barracks.

By the end of the attack
dozens of US warships

had been sunk or damaged.

188 aircraft
were also destroyed.

The next day, US President
Franklin Roosevelt

declared war on Japan.

Since the unprovoked
and dastardly attack

by Japan on Sunday
December 7th, 1941,

a state of war

has existed between
the United States

and the Japanese empire.

The stage was set.

Could Japan knock out the
United States with a swift blow

before the huge might
of America ground it down?

It would become one of the great
conflicts of World War Two.

Japan's first steps towards war
had come in August 1940.

Capitalizing on France's
defeat in Europe,

it seized control of air bases

in the north of the French
colony of Indo-China.

It was looking for a quick and
easy expansion of its empire.

A year later,
it issued an ultimatum

demanding the use of all French
air bases throughout Indo-China.

When the French hesitated,

the Japanese invaded and seized
control of the entire colony.

Japan felt the consequences
almost immediately.

The United States froze
its overseas financial assets,

effectively robbing the country
of its ability to buy oil.

Japan faced a choice;
climb down and lose face,

or seize more territory
and up the stakes.

For a new Japanese government,

under the aggressive
General Hideki Tojo,

there was no question
about which course to take.

Japanese army and navy
commanders were told to prepare

for a swift war to occupy all
the Far Eastern territories

controlled by Britain, France,

the Netherlands
and the United States.

The country was expecting
a swift victory.

Japan saw the Americans,
in particular,

as a nation of pleasure
lovers with no stomach

for a lengthy war
and heavy casualties.

The Japanese military calculated
that if they could destroy

the US Pacific Fleet, the US
would quickly sue for peace.

It was now that they decided
to attack Pearl Harbor.

Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto,

commander of the Japanese
combined fleet,

was put in charge.

He had ten battleships,
ten aircraft carriers

and the world's most
advanced naval aircraft.

Against him,
the US Pacific Fleet

had eight World War One-vintage
battleships and two carriers.

Yamamoto planned the attack
with great care.

He would hit the US fleet
in Pearl Harbor on a Sunday,

since, according to
intelligence reports,

it usually spent
the weekends in port.

In total radio silence
the Japanese strike force

gathered in Tankan Bay in
the northerly Kurile Islands.

The fleet set sail
on November 26th, 1941.

Meanwhile, as a decoy,

Japanese negotiators
arrived in Washington

to discuss a possible
Japanese withdrawal from China.

The Japanese fleet refueled
after several days at sea.

Three days later,
it was off Hawaii.

The Americans were still
blissfully unaware

that anything was wrong.

At 6:00am on December 7th,
after a final briefing,

the first wave of Japanese
aircraft took off.

As the Japanese aircraft
dived into the attack,

US personnel
were still just stirring,

on a fine Sunday morning.

It was all over in less than
two and a quarter hours.

Yamamoto's plan had
worked like a dream.

Or had it?

There was only one problem.

The US fleet's
two aircraft carriers

had not been in
Pearl Harbor at the time

and had escaped the attack.

Yamamoto's main aim of
crippling the US Pacific Fleet

had only partially succeeded.

US naval air power in
the region was still intact.

But in the United States
there was shock and disbelief.

It quickly turned into a mood
of fury and determination.

Angry mobs attacked
the Japanese embassy.

Japan had disturbed
a sleeping giant.

The US Secretary of the Navy,
Frank Knox, spoke for many.

The Japs started this war.

We are going to finish it.

Yet before the US could
mobilize its full strength,

the Japanese were to inflict
more humiliating defeats

on the Western Allies.

In December 1941, as America
was licking its wounds

after Pearl Harbor, Japan
launched a series of attacks

on Western colonies
in South-East Asia.

It thought it had
knocked out America.

Now it moved against
Britain and its colonies.

The first to be hit was Malaya,

where a Japanese
force came ashore

in the north-east
of the country.

The plan was that it should
make its way south

down the east coast.

The invasion force was
met by a contingent

of British Indian troops.

But after a day of fighting,
they were brushed aside.

Meanwhile,
further north in Thailand,

a second Japanese
landing was unopposed.

Thirty thousand Japanese troops

were soon making their way down
the western coast of Malaya.

The target of the
two groups - Singapore,

the center of British military

and political rule
in the Far East.

Britain had turned the island
into what it believed

was an impregnable fortress.

But all the guns pointed south,
out to sea.

The Japanese were approaching
by land from the north.

Yet British military commanders
remained remarkably untroubled.

They didn't rate the Japanese
as fighting men,

and believed
the Malay jungle was,

anyway, virtually impassable.

But the Japanese had
other ideas.

To soften up Singapore, they
attacked the city from the air.

Britain sent the new battleship
"Prince of Wales",

and a battle cruiser, "Repulse",

to attack Japanese
troop convoys.

They were met
by Japanese bombers.

Both warships were sunk
in less than two hours.

Almost 1,000 of
their crew were lost.

It was the greatest British
naval disaster of World War Two.

In an era of aircraft
and aircraft carriers,

it was now clear the battleship,

for years the mainstay of the
British navy, had had its day.

Back on land the Japanese
continued to head south

towards Singapore.

On January 11th, 1942,
Kuala Lumpur was captured.

The British forces fell back
and withdrew to Singapore.

There were now about 100,000
British soldiers to defend it.

They faced a force of
only 30,000 Japanese.

Even without their big guns,

the British should have
been able to hold out.

The Japanese launched
an assault in early February.

It was supported by
more air strikes.

The British defense was
soon reduced to chaos.

Civilian casualties
began to escalate.

Four days later, the Japanese
had pushed through

the last of the British
defensive lines.

The commander,
General Arthur Percival,

surrendered
with over 90,000 men.

Never in the history
of the British army

had a commander in charge
of such a large force

had to surrender,
and to an enemy general

whose force was outnumbered
more than three to one.

Britain's 200-year-old power
and prestige in the Far East

had been wiped out
in just ten weeks.

But it wasn't the only disaster.

Elsewhere in South-East Asia

the Japanese forces
were equally triumphant.

The British garrison in
Hong Kong fought for two weeks

before succumbing
to a Japanese invasion.

In the Philippines,
America fared no better.

Here, a pre-emptive bombing raid

caught large numbers
of US aircraft

neatly lined up at Clark Field.

Most were destroyed.

Two days later, with US airpower
virtually non-existent,

Japanese troops began to land.

The local Philippine troops
melted away.

The Japanese advanced rapidly.

Ten days later,
Manila was captured.

The US soldiers were
forced to withdraw

to the Bataan Peninsula.

Here they hoped to hold out
until a relief force
could be sent.

It never came.

On April 3rd, 1942,

Japanese troops launched
a major assault on US positions.

After four days heavy
fighting, they broke through.

The Americans surrendered
two days later.

That left just one British
colony in the region, Burma.

In early 1942, Japanese forces

pushed into the south
of the country.

The British defenses had
been utterly neglected.

There were only some 15,000 men
defending the country.

They were no match
for the Japanese.

The Allied troops mounted
a brief but doomed resistance.

Less than two months
after invading Burma,

the Japanese had seized
the capital, Rangoon.

Eight weeks later,
the British had been pushed

entirely out of the country.

In just under six months,
the Japanese had seized control

of the whole
eastern rim of the Pacific.

Their Oriental Blitzkrieg
had been swift and crushing.

Yet already there were
warning signs

that they were not as
powerful as they appeared.

On April 18th, 1942,
four months after Pearl Harbor,

America struck back
at the Japanese.

US bombers,
flying low over Tokyo,

dropped bombs on the city
close to the Emperor's Palace.

Others struck Yokohama,
Kobe and Nagoya.

The raid, authorized by
President Roosevelt himself,

was daring in the extreme.

The B-25 Mitchell bombers
had not been designed

to be launched
from aircraft carriers.

They barely managed
to lumber off the deck

of the "USS Hornet",

which had brought them
to within 700 miles

of the Japanese capital.

But that didn't diminish
their effectiveness in the air.

In Japan, the raids
caused profound shock.

After their runaway successes
of the past four months,

they had never expected
an attack on their homeland.

Japan's military planners
now decided

to extend
the country's defenses.

If they could seize
additional strategic outposts

in the Pacific,
they could attack and destroy

Allied forces before they even
come close to the homeland.

Japan already controlled
much of the Chinese coast,

South-East Asia
and the Philippines.

They had also seized
the Dutch East Indies.

Now they decided to strike south
and attack Papua New Guinea

and the Solomon Islands.

And east to take
the Island of Midway

in the middle of the Pacific.

It would mean the homeland
was surrounded by a string

of fortified positions.

Yet, even as Japan
was planning its move,

its operations were
severely compromised,

though it only realized
this after the war.

The United States had
broken its military

and diplomatic codes.

By spring 1942,

the US Navy's
code-breaking team in Hawaii

was reading
enough messages to give it

a remarkably accurate insight
into Japan's intentions.

So it was that
the US Commander-in-Chief
in the region,

Admiral Chester Nimitz,

learnt the details and timing
of Japan's planned invasions

of the Solomon Islands
and Papua New Guinea.

If successful they would cut
off Australia from her allies.

A Japanese bombing raid
on Darwin

had already caused
widespread fear of an invasion.

In early May 1942,

the Japanese plan to widen
its defensive perimeter
was launched.

They seized the Solomon Islands.

Two days later,
the Japanese carrier force

entered the Coral Sea
in preparation

for the main assault
on Papua New Guinea.

But this time, the Americans
had anticipated them.

Admiral Nimitz had ordered
two US aircraft carriers

and a number of smaller
warships into the area.

For two days, the rival fleets
searched for each other.

Then on May 7th,
US aircraft located and sank

the Japanese carrier "Shoho".

The battle of the Coral Sea
was underway.

Early the following day,
the Japanese responded,

unleashing a hail of
torpedoes and bombs.

To begin with the US aircraft
carrier "Yorktown"

managed to avoid
the Japanese torpedoes.

But then she took a bomb

which penetrated four decks
before exploding.

Thirty-seven men were killed.

The larger and less maneuverable
carrier "Lexington"

was also hit by several bombs
as well as two torpedoes.

She developed a heavy
list to port.

The Americans returned fire,

attacking the Japanese
carrier "Shokaku".

The first US raid was blunted
by Japanese Zero fighters,

which forced the US
Douglas Devastator bombers

to drop their torpedoes
too far out.

All the torpedoes missed.

But a second wave of
US dive-bombers struck home.

The "Shokaku's" deck
was so badly damaged

she could no longer
be used by aircraft.

After two days of fighting,

the two forces
finally disengaged.

That evening, the "Lexington",
still afloat,

suddenly erupted in
a huge explosion.

There had been an undetected
leak of aviation fuel

that had caught fire.

Amazingly all but 215

of the nearly 3,000 men
on board were rescued.

Later that evening,
an American torpedo

scuttled the burning hulk.

The Battle of the Coral Sea
was, on paper, a draw.

Each side had lost one carrier

and had another
severely damaged.

Strategically, however
it was a major US success.

It had prevented the Japanese
from seizing more territory

and it had stopped them
from isolating Australia.

The Battle of the Coral Sea
marked a new era in
naval tactics.

It was the first
major sea battle

in which the opposing
ships were completely

out of visual contact.

It was fought instead by
aircraft flying from carriers.

It would soon become
clear which side had adapted

to the new form of naval
conflict more successfully.

By the late spring of 1942,

Japan and America
were deadlocked.

Japan needed a quick victory
if it was not to be ground down

by the huge resources
of the United States.

In mid-May
it began its next move.

US code-breakers reported
Japanese plans for a new attack.

It would be on "Target AF",
somewhere in the mid-Pacific.

The problem for the Americans
was that they had no idea

where Target AF was.

Could it be a reference to
Midway Island near Hawaii,

an ideal jumping off
point for another attack

on the American fleet
in Pearl Harbor?

The code-breaking team
suggested a way to find out.

The US air base on Midway
was instructed

to send an uncoded message

reporting problems with
the island's water system.

Almost immediately
the code-breakers intercepted
a Japanese signal

that Target AF was having
water supply problems.

Admiral Chester Nimitz
now knew exactly

where the enemy would strike.

The Japanese plan was
typically complex.

A diversionary attack on
the Aleutian islands

in the North Pacific would
draw away part of the US fleet.

While Midway was seized
by an occupation force.

The Americans would be
obliged to hurriedly commit

their carrier force
to retaking the island.

There they would be annihilated
by a huge Japanese
naval presence,

including four
large aircraft carriers.

It was the second Japanese
attempt to wipe out

the US navy in the Pacific
within a year.

Forewarned,
the American carriers left port

and moved to a position where
they could ambush the Japanese.

On June 3rd, 1942,

Japanese forces launched
the expected attack

on the Aleutian Islands.

Nimitz didn't respond.

Then, early the next morning,

the main Japanese carrier force
launched a first air strike

on Midway Island to
soften up its defenses.

US war planes from the island
intercepted them.

Most were outdated
Brewster Buffaloes

and were easily shot down
by the more agile Japanese
Zero fighters.

But the Japanese attack
had been blunted.

Midway's defenses
had not been broken.

The Japanese commander,
Admiral Chuichi Nagumo,

faced a difficult decision.

He'd kept some of
his aircraft in reserve,

loaded with munitions
designed specifically

for attacking ships, just in
case the US fleet was spotted.

Should he now order this reserve
to be stripped of its torpedoes

and armor-piercing bombs and
reloaded with high explosive

and fragmentation bombs for
a second strike on Midway?

It would leave him ill-equipped
to take on the US navy,

but he calculated it was
a risk worth taking.

Then, just as the reloading
was underway,

he received unwelcome news.

A US naval force
had been spotted.

Was this the US carrier force

or a smaller, less significant
fleet of ships.

Nagumo was in a dilemma.

Should he continue with
the second strike on Midway

or should he, once again,
re-equip his bombers

to take on the US vessels?

Nagumo decided to gamble.

He would push ahead with
the second strike on Midway.

His hope was that
when the bombers returned,

there would still be time
to rearm them to take on
the US ships.

Even as he weighed the odds,

the Japanese carriers were
attacked by US bombers.

Every available Japanese
Zero fighter was scrambled

before the US bombers
were repelled.

Then came another report
from reconnaissance planes.

The US force did indeed
contain aircraft carriers.

Nagumo was, once again,
on the spot.

His aircraft were half
way through reloading

but the US carriers were
a much more important target.

He took a second gamble.

He decided to change
their weapons yet again

to attack the US force.

But while he did so his ships
would be sitting ducks.

Almost immediately
they came under attack

from low-flying
US torpedo bombers.

But they were old and slow

and attacked without
fighter support.

As they approached
the Japanese fleet,

they were rapidly shot down.

For a brief period
it looked as though Nagumo's
gamble had paid off.

Then, just as his bombers
had been reloaded

and were ready to
take on the US carriers,

disaster struck.

US dive-bombers, approaching
unseen at high altitude,

hurtled down on his ships.

The Japanese were caught
completely by surprise.

Nagumo had gambled
once too often

and was now at the mercy
of American air power.

Within five minutes the US
dive-bombers had reduced

three of Japan's largest
aircraft carriers to
flaming wrecks.

All would later sink.

A fourth carrier, the "Hiryu",

had been masked by a rain storm

and that afternoon mounted
a desperate counterattack.

The US carrier "Yorktown"
was severely damaged.

It was torpedoed by a Japanese
submarine several days later.

But the Japanese fight back
was short-lived.

Late in the afternoon that day,

the "Hiryu" was also hit
and turned into a blazing pyre.

In a matter of hours

Japan's mastery of the sea
had been destroyed.

The attack on Midway Island
had achieved nothing.

But it had cost Japan
its finest carriers

and 332 aircraft.

Well over 2,000 sailors
had also died.

America now ruled
the waves in the Pacific.

Yet Japan was still
undefeated on land

and a powerful, threatening,
force in the air.

In the coming months,
it would try to maximize
these advantages.

By summer 1942,

Japanese plans to build
a defensive ring

of occupied territories
around their homeland

had still not been completed.

Heavy losses at sea had
frustrated their attempts

to grab Papua New Guinea and
islands in the central Pacific.

Japanese planners now
came up with a new plan.

If they couldn't do it by
sea they'd do it by land.

On July 21st, a division-sized
force of experienced
jungle troops

landed on the northern
coast of Papua New Guinea.

They immediately struck west
to capture Port Moresby,

the capital.

Progress was swift at first.

The small Australian
defense force was

completely outnumbered.

Within weeks the Japanese
had captured the main pass

over the Owen Stanley Mountains.

They then halted to
await reinforcements

before the final push
on Port Moresby.

The Australians also
mustered new forces.

When the Japanese
moved off again

they now met
much stiffer resistance.

For the first time, Japanese
troops were up against men

who matched them for training,
experience and morale

The Australians
stood their ground

and the Japanese were
temporarily brought to
a standstill.

But conditions in
the jungle were appalling.,

There was constant
tropical rain.

Malaria was rife.

The Australians were eventually,
again, forced to retreat.

After two months
of grim fighting,

the Japanese were within
30 miles of Port Moresby.

Then finally US
reinforcements arrived.

Through September and October,

the Japanese were,
in their turn, forced back.

The Japanese made an heroic
but suicidal stand.

Many chose to die fighting
rather than surrender.

It took the Allies
another two months

before the Japanese were
finally overwhelmed.

It had been a bloodbath.

15,000 Japanese troops had
embarked on the operation.

Only 3,000 got away.

The Japanese were in trouble.

They'd lost at sea.

They were now rapidly losing
the initiative on land.

American military might
was asserting itself.

There was only one
alternative left, airpower.

Through the summer of 1942,

Japanese engineers
began building

a string of airstrips
across the Pacific.

One was on the island
of Guadalcanal

in the southern Solomon Islands.

It was particularly
well situated

to threaten US convoys
heading for Australia.

It would become the focus
of an epic battle.

In July 1942,
an amphibious force

of US Marines
invaded the island.

They landed without resistance.

The plan was to capture
the half-built airstrip,

complete it and then
turn it into a US base.

But the Japanese were
not ready to give up.

That night they sent in a naval
force to land reinforcements

and to attack the fleet of US
ships supporting the Marines.

In a dazzling display of night
fighting the Japanese cruisers

sank four Allied warships
and drove the rest out to sea.

The Marines were now
marooned without supplies

and without much of
their equipment.

They dug in around the airstrip.

Despite constant bombardment,

using construction machinery
left behind by the Japanese,

they pushed ahead with
the completion of the airfield.

Two weeks later a group
of US Wildcat fighters

and Dauntless
dive-bombers flew in.

They were not a moment too soon.

The next day newly arrived
Japanese troops

launched a series of suicidal
attacks on the airstrip.

Over the following months,

wave after wave
of fanatical troops

were thrown into the battle.

By the winter of 1942,

the two sides had fought
themselves to a standstill.

Both now dug in to
defensive positions.

Then, in December,
the exhausted US Marines

were replaced by fresh troops.

US soldiers now began a new
push on the increasingly

isolated pockets of
Japanese resistance.

By early February 1943,

the Americans had finally
won control of Guadalcanal.

They had now beaten
the Japanese at sea

and on land.

They had even denied
them access to the air.

The Oriental Blitzkrieg
had failed.

The Japanese empire
now faced a foe

that was still
growing in strength,

at a rate it could
never hope to match.

It was the beginning
of a fundamental shift

in the course of the war.