All language subtitles for World.War.II.in.Colour.S02E05.Victory.in.the.Pacific.1080p.AMZN.WEB-DL.DD+2.0.H.264-playWEB_track3_[eng]

In the first months of 1945,

Japan was on the run.

The Americans had fought
their way across the Pacific.

US submarines and
aircraft had destroyed

Japan's merchant fleet
and naval airpower.

The main Japanese home
islands had been cut off

from vital supplies of
fuel and raw materials.

The Japanese were facing defeat.

Yet they refused to surrender,

convinced that if they fought
back with sufficient brutality

the Americans wouldn't have
the stomach for the fight,

and would give in.

Japan made clear that every
move towards the home islands

would be paid for
in Allied blood.

It presented the United States
with a huge problem.

How could Japan be defeated

without a terrible
loss of American life?

The country would eventually
turn to the most powerful

and dreadful weapon ever seen.

A weapon that would change
the course of war for ever.

In early 1945,
as US military planners

considered the next
move against Japan,

their gaze fell on the Japanese
occupied island of Iwo Jima.

It lay a mere 800 miles
from the Japanese mainland

and would be a valuable base
for attacking the country.

The US commander in the central
Pacific, Admiral Chester Nimitz,

assembled the largest
landing fleet

ever brought together
in the Pacific campaign

and prepared
to invade the island.

Nimitz was taking no risks.

Wave after wave
of American aircraft

paved the way with a massive
aerial bombardment.

Then, on the morning
of February 19th, 1945,

the guns of the naval task force

began one of the most prolonged
bombardments of the war.

At the same time, landing
craft set off for the shore.

The Marines hit
the beaches of Iwo Jima

along the south-western shore
just after nine o'clock
in the morning.

For a few moments,
there was an eerie calm,

the massive naval
and aerial bombardment

appeared to have overwhelmed
the Japanese garrison.

Then a hurricane of Japanese
fire swept over them.

General Tadamichi Kuribayashi,

the Japanese commander
on the island,

had told his men
to hold their fire

until the Americans were
right under their guns.

Now, the Japanese opened up
from a network of tunnels,

caves and bunkers.

There was carnage.

But gradually small groups of US
troops inched their way forward.

Finally, by the evening,
the beach-head had been secured.

The task now was to
capture the 550-foot high

Mount Suribachi,
the heavily-defended volcano

that dominates Iwo Jima.

For three days,
Marines clawed their way up

the steep, pitted slopes.

They were supported
by a constant air
and naval bombardment

from the invasion fleet.

Finally, on February 23rd, 1945,

a US platoon led by
1st Lieutenant Harold Schreier

began the final assault,

carrying with them
a small US flag.

They reached the summit
and raised their flag

using a piece
of piping as a pole.

Marine Corps photographer
Staff Sergeant Louis Lowery

captured the scene with
a few precious photographs.

The hard pressed Marines
on the beaches below

cheered and wept.

Ships sounded their whistles.

Three hours later, the event was
restaged with a larger US flag.

The moment was immortalized
by photographer Joe Rosenthal

with one of the most
iconic photographs of the war.

But the battle for Iwo Jima
was far from over.

The rest of the island was
still in Japanese hands.

The next day, the Marines
captured the first

of the island's strategically
vital airfields.

But Kuribayashi had
told his men to take

as many of the enemy
with them as possible.

Their duty to the Emperor -
to die on the island.

It meant each assault became
a bloody frontal affair.

It took two weeks
before the remaining

two airfields on the island
were in US hands.

Even as the fighting continued,

the US Airforce began to make
use of Iwo Jima's airfields.

During the late spring
and summer of 1945,

over 2,500 damaged US bombers

made emergency landings
on the island,

often saving the lives
of their crews.

Finally, at the end of March,

after some six weeks
of ferocious fighting,

the last Japanese resistance
was snuffed out.

But the capture of Iwo Jima
had come at a terrible price.

Only 200 of the 22,000-strong
Japanese garrison survived.

The Americans had
also suffered badly.

Nearly 7,000 Marines had been
killed and some 18,000 wounded.

The Americans finally had
the base they needed.

But it was now clear

that unless the US could
come up with an alternative,

any invasion of Japan

would be paid for in tens of
thousands of American lives.

In the United States,
one group of military planners

had long believed there was an
alternative to invading Japan.

It was called strategic bombing.

This involved carefully
targeted bombing raids

designed to destroy
Japan's infrastructure,

industry and ability
to wage war.

But in the first years
of the Pacific war,

there was a problem.

Japan lay beyond the range
of America's bombers.

In April 1942, the US
had managed to launch

a one-off bombing raid on Tokyo.

But it had pushed the bombers
to their limits

and was never a practical
long-term option.

Then, in early 1944,
the Boeing Aircraft Corporation

produced a revolutionary
new heavy bomber,

the B-29 Superfortress.

It could carry
20,000 lbs of bombs

over a range of 3,250 miles.

Suddenly, Japan
was just about in reach

of America's forward bases
in the Pacific.

In summer 1944, nine months
before the assault on Iwo Jima,

US B-29s stationed at Chengdu
in south-west China,

began a series of strategic
bombing raids on Japan.

But range was still an issue.

It was too far for
a fighter escort,

so the Superfortresses
had to fly alone,

staying at high altitude
for their own safety.

Even then, the range was
also only just within limits

and there was no room
for navigational error.

Many of the bombs
missed their targets.

Then in July 1944,
there was a development

that gave strategic bombing
a new lease of life.

The US navy captured
the Mariana Islands

in the central Pacific.

They were only 1,500 miles
from the Japanese homeland.

This was well within
the B-29's operating range.

The odds for a successful
bombing campaign on Japan

had dramatically improved.

On November 24th,
over 100 Superfortresses

took off from the Marianas.

Their target - the Nakajima
aircraft factory in Tokyo.

But only 48 bombs struck
anywhere near the target.

For three months, more raids
targeted other industrial sites.

But the B-29's were still
flying without a fighter escort

and still dropping
their bombs from high altitude.

The targets were often
obscured by cloud

and jet stream winds made
accurate bomb aiming impossible.

To make matters worse, the B-29s
suffered from engine problems.

There were also attacks
from Kamikaze pilots.

By the winter of 1944,

it was clear that strategic
bombing was just not working.

If Japan was to be
bombed into submission,

the US would have to come up
with something else.

So it was that on
December 18th, 1944,

America tried a new tactic.

Eighty-four B-29s set
off from Chengdu

for Japanese-occupied Hankow,
on the Yangtze River.

They flew much lower than usual

and carried mostly incendiary

rather than
high-explosive bombs.

Hankow was devastated.

The raid was more effective

than almost any of the previous
strategic bombing raids.

The US appeared to have
found a way forward,

fire-bombing at low altitude.

The US bomber commander
in the Marianas,

General Curtis LeMay,

now ordered the systematic
fire-bombing of Japan.

It was the same tactic that
Britain had employed in Germany.

On the evening
of March 9th, 1945,

Pathfinder aircraft
roared over Tokyo,

dropping incendiary
target indicators.

The fires they started
marked the aiming points

for almost 300 B-29s.

Coming in at just 5,000 feet,

they dropped over 2,000 tons
of incendiary bombs.

The flimsy wooden houses
stood no chance.

Air was sucked in,
creating towering firestorms,

which raced faster
than people could run.

The glow from the burning city

could be seen over
150 miles away.

When the all-clear finally
sounded the following morning,

16 square miles of Tokyo
had been obliterated.

Over 100,000 of
its citizens were killed

and a million made homeless.

Tokyo was not the only city
to face this devastating
new tactic.

Nagoya was set ablaze
two nights later.

Then Osaka and Kobe
during the following week.

Firestorms engulfed whole areas,

destroying houses
and industrial facilities.

But American success
was coming at a price.

Without escorts,
the low-flying US bombers

were dangerously vulnerable
to Japanese fighters.

American losses now mounted.

If the bombing campaign
was ever to succeed,

the US needed bases
even closer to Japan.

Within weeks, Iwo Jima fell.

Now, at last, the US air force

not only had a base
for its bombers

within easy striking
distance of Japan,

it could finally use its
Mustang fighters to escort them.

During the late spring
and early summer of 1945,

strikes of up to 500 bombers
attacked Japan every other day.

Once the largest industrial
areas had been crippled,

LeMay moved
on to lesser targets.

Yet in the face
of catastrophic damage

and an appalling death toll,

the Japanese showed
no sign of cracking.

It finally dawned
on the Americans

that strategic bombing alone

was never going to
defeat Japan.

It looked like a full-scale
invasion of the country

was becoming inevitable.

For the US battle planners,

the next logical step
in the land campaign

was the Japanese
island of Okinawa.

It lay a mere 350 miles from
the Japanese homeland islands.

The island was defended
by more than 120,000 men.

The Japanese commander,
General Mitsuru Ishijima,

was determined to turn it
into an American graveyard.

Once again, Admiral Nimitz,
the US commander in the region,

assembled a huge fleet.

It included 40 aircraft carriers
and 18 battleships.

The opening
bombardment of Okinawa

began on March 23rd, 1945.

It lasted for a whole week.

Finally, on the morning
of April 1st,

the assault boats
headed for the shore.

To their surprise,
they met almost no opposition.

By nightfall,
60,000 men had landed

and the beach-head
was up to two miles deep.

For the next two days,
the US forces

built up their strength
and pushed across the island.

Again, opposition was
unexpectedly light.

By April 4th, the Japanese
defenders had been split in two.

Marine divisions
now headed north.

Army units pushed south.

The Marines continued to meet
only sporadic resistance

and within three weeks had
cleared the northern part
of the island.

But it was a different
story in the south.

There, the army units
ran into savage fire.

For ten days, the Japanese
held their defensive line.

Then, when they could
hold out no longer,

they simply withdrew
to the next defensive position

and continued
to resist all over again.

Meanwhile, the Japanese
also prepared to launch

an air assault
on the invasion fleet.

Early on the morning
of April 7th,

Kamikaze pilots gathered to
drink their ritual cups of sake

and climb into their aircraft
for the last time.

Over 700 aircraft,
half of them Kamikazes,

took off and approached
the US landing fleet,

A line of radar-equipped
destroyers,

operating about 50 miles
out at sea, was hit first.

By the end of the first day
of the attack,

two US destroyers had been sunk.

Twenty-four other vessels
were also damaged.

But the Japanese
had lost over 300 planes.

Over the following days,

the Japanese introduced
a new weapon.

The Okha, or "Cherry Blossom",

was a rocket-powered
suicide missile

driven by a Kamikaze pilot.

It was launched from a bomber

and carried a massive
2,650 pound warhead.

On April 12th, another US
destroyer was hit and sunk.

The Okha looked deadly.

But US fighters quickly
learnt to intercept

and shoot down the bombers
that carried them.

In desperation,
the Japanese navy

now sent a suicide
mission of its own.

The "Yamato",
Japan's largest battleship,

was loaded with just enough
fuel to reach Okinawa

and ordered
to fight to the death,

sinking as many US ships
as possible in the process.

But as the giant ship approached
Okinawa, it was spotted.

Some 400 US aircraft
descended on it.

Within two hours, it blew up.

The fireball could be
seen for over 100 miles.

Back on Okinawa,
torrential rain

now turned the battlefield
into a quagmire.

For over a month, US troops
struggled to push
their way south.

Every cave or dugout entrance

had to be blasted
by flamethrowers,

grenades and explosives.

As before, as one
defensive line was overrun,

the Japanese slipped
back to another,

and the whole grim
business would start again.

US casualties rapidly mounted.

Finally, on June 1st,
the town of Shuri was captured.

Then, on June 4th, a new
contingent of Marines landed

to the south of Naha,
the island's capital,

and linked up with troops
pushing down from the north.

Savage fighting continued,
but by June 17th,

the Japanese resistance
was collapsing.

Five days later, the Americans
finally secured Okinawa.

The Japanese commander,
General Ishijima,

committed ritual suicide -
hara kiri.

Over 7,000 prisoners were taken,
the first time ever

that such large numbers of
Japanese troops had surrendered.

It had been a bloody
and exhausting campaign.

100,000 Japanese soldiers,

and some 40,000 civilians
had been killed.

The Americans, for their part,
had lost over 15,000 men.

It was a sobering reminder
of what would await
the American forces

if they invaded the main
Japanese home islands.

More than ever,
they needed a solution.

A way to obliterate Japan's
will to fight once and for all.

The victory at Okinawa meant
America's military planners

now had to decide
what to do next.

Despite shattering defeats,

the Japanese still showed
no sign of surrendering.

Some US commanders argued
for a continuation

of the fire-bombing campaign.

But by the summer of 1945,

it was clear that bombing alone
would never defeat Japan.

An invasion seemed unavoidable.

But the question was:
at what price?

The Japanese had
some one million men

defending the home islands.

They were supported
by about 5,000 aircraft

and new Kamikaze pilots were
being trained all the time.

Mass suicide attacks
by civilian volunteers

could also be expected.

A bloodbath seemed inevitable.

It was estimated that
over a quarter of a million
American lives might be lost.

Then, in July 1945,
the new US President,

Harry S. Truman,
heard about the results

of a top secret Allied
scientific research program.

It was called
the "Manhattan Project".

For three years,
Allied scientists

had been working
on an atom bomb -

a weapon that draws on
the vast quantities of energy

released when an atom is split.

It would have an unimaginable
destructive force.

The project was led by
US General Leslie Groves,

an army engineer.

The scientific director
was Robert Oppenheimer,

a 39-year-old physicist from
the University of California.

Over a three year period,
the program had recruited

many of the Allies'
best scientific brains.

Two radioactive materials
seemed to offer most promise

as fuels for the new bombs.

One was a naturally
occurring form of uranium

called Uranium-235.

It was processed at a vast
factory at Oak Ridge, Tennessee.

The other was plutonium -
a man-made material

manufactured in primitive
nuclear reactors

at Hanford in Washington State.

The research was
co-ordinated and conducted

by a team of scientists
at Los Alamos,

a specially-built
laboratory complex

in the New Mexico desert.

By early 1945,

the Los Alamo scientists
were pretty confident

that they had
a uranium bomb that worked.

But it required huge
quantities of Uranium-235

and the scientists worried that
they didn't have enough of it.

So they also designed a second
bomb that used plutonium.

But this,
unlike the uranium bomb,

was much less well understood

and they weren't sure
it would work.

Before it could be used,
they would need to test it.

By early July 1945,

after an expenditure of
more than two billion dollars,

the plutonium bomb
was ready for trials.

The "gadget", as it was called,

was mounted on a steel tower
in the New Mexico desert.

At 5:30 in the morning of
July 16th, the atomic age began.

News that "Operation Trinity"
had been successful

was swiftly passed
to President Truman.

He had recently
arrived at a conference

in the Berlin suburb
of Potsdam,

meeting with
Stalin and Churchill,

discussing the future of Europe.

Truman didn't hesitate.

He ordered his commanders
to prepare to drop the new bombs

on Japan as soon as possible.

Two bombs - a uranium device
codenamed "Little Boy"

and a plutonium bomb
called "Fat Man" -

were now transported
to the Mariana Islands.

There, the immensely experienced
Colonel Paul Tibbets,

leader of the specially-trained
509th Composite Group,

prepared his B-29.

At 2:45 in the morning
of August 6th,

Tibbets lifted his plane,

named "Enola Gay" after
his mother, off the runway.

On board he was carrying
"Little Boy".

The flight to the target,
Japan's fourth largest city,

Hiroshima,
went without a hitch.

At 08:00am, on a bright
sunny morning,

"Enola Gay" approached
the city at 33,000 feet.

Then, at just after 08:15,
Little Boy was released.

The uranium bomb had the power
of nearly 13,000 tons of TNT.

The temperature
beneath the mushroom cloud

reached 5,000 degrees
Centigrade.

Thousands of people were
instantly vaporized.

Shockwaves levelled buildings
up to a five mile radius.

Estimates of the death toll
vary hugely.

Some put it at 40,000 people,
others at 100,000.

Many suffered from terrible
burns and blistering.

Over the course of
the following weeks,

thousands more people died
from radiation poisoning.

On August 7, 1945,
President Truman told the world

about the bomb and issued
Japan with a warning.

Let there be no mistake,

we shall completely destroy
Japan's power to make war.

They may expect a rain
of ruin from the air,

the like of which has never
been seen on this Earth.

But no Japanese
surrender was received.

Two days later, on August 9th,

"Fat Man" was dropped on the
major military port of Nagasaki.

The plutonium bomb was
even more powerful.

In fact, the bomb
fell way off target,

but it still caused
massive destruction.

Between 35,000 and 50,000
people are estimated

to have died in the explosion.

The Japanese government
could now have no doubt

that they faced
a new and horrific weapon,

but the question remained,

would even this force
them to surrender?

The Nagasaki bomb was
followed by a stark warning

from US Secretary of State
James Byrnes.

There is still time,

but little time for the
Japanese to save themselves

from the destruction
which threatens them.

The intention was clear -

the atom bomb would be
used again and again

until Japan gave in.

That same day, Japan's position
became even more precarious.

Early in the morning
of August 9th,

a million and a half
Soviet troops

stormed into Manchuria
and northern China.

The Soviet leader, Josef Stalin,
was not only after territory.

He wanted a say in any
final peace settlement

in the Far East.

There were still over a million
Japanese troops in the area

but the Red Army
Blitzkrieg was unstoppable.

The Japanese position in
the war had become untenable.

That evening,
Emperor Hirohito met

with his six top military
and political leaders.

The war cabinet was divided.

Three, led
by the Prime Minister,

Baron Kantaro Suzuki,
argued for peace.

The other three wanted
to continue fighting.

It was deadlock.

Then the Japanese Prime Minster
broke with all precedent

and asked the Emperor
for his opinion.

Emperor Hirohito
voted for peace,

on condition that his position
as head of state was maintained.

The next morning,
a proposal was sent

to the US Secretary of State
James Byrnes.

Byrnes rejected it.

Only unconditional
surrender would do.

As the Japanese war cabinet
argued amongst itself,

Soviet troops continued
to tear into Mongolia.

At the same time,
American fighters now
roamed freely over Japan,

shooting up military targets
and transport links at will.

Massive air raids continued
to devastate Japan.

Then, on August 14th,
the Truman administration

sent word that the Emperor's
position would be safeguarded,

provided he agreed
to accept the orders

of the Supreme Commander
of Allied Forces.

Hirohito used his huge prestige
to instruct the war cabinet

to "endure the unendurable"
and accept the terms.

That day in Washington,
President Truman announced

that Japan had surrendered
unconditionally.

I deem this reply
a full acceptance

of the Potsdam declaration,
which specifies

the unconditional surrender
of Japan.

Cheering, singing crowds

erupted onto the streets
of every American city.

In Britain, it was midnight
when the new Prime Minister,

Clement Atlee,
broadcast the news.

Japan has
today surrendered.

The last of our enemies
is laid low.

Peace has once again
come to the world.

Let us thank God for this great
deliverance and his mercies.

Long live the King.

Within minutes, crowds appeared
on the streets of London.

Many gathered outside
Buckingham Palace.

A giant street party lasted
well into the following day.

The next morning, August 15th,

an astounded Japanese people

listened to the voice
of their God Emperor

for the very first time.

He told them that Japan's
position had become impossible

and the country
was obliged to surrender.

All military forces
must lay down their arms.

Such was the emperor's prestige
that almost every unit obeyed.

But in Manchuria, despite
the Japanese ceasefire,

the Soviet forces fought on.

For the first time,
large numbers of Japanese
troops now surrendered.

Nevertheless, the Soviets,
determined to seize

as much territory as possible,
continued to advance.

Stalin wouldn't stop
the fighting for another week.

By then the whole of Manchuria,

half of Korea,

and part of northern China
were under his control.

Elsewhere in South-East Asia,
in the Philippines,

and on many of
the Pacific islands

bypassed by the Americans,

it took weeks for news
of the surrender

to reach isolated
Japanese garrisons.

Some Japanese soldiers would
remain hidden in the jungle

for more than 30 years.

Finally, on August 28th,

two weeks after the surrender,

the first US troops
arrived in Japan.

A huge US fleet
gathered in Tokyo Bay,

sailing past the shattered hulks

of the once-proud
Japanese navy

that they had so
comprehensively defeated.

Several days later,
on September 2nd, 1945,

a Japanese delegation came
aboard the USS battleship
"Missouri".

On its quarterdeck, the new
Japanese foreign minister,

Mamoru Shigemitsu,

signed the document of
unconditional surrender.

It was countersigned by
US General Douglas MacArthur,

the man who would
effectively run Japan

for the next six years.

As supreme commander
for the Allied powers,

I announce it my firm purpose

in the tradition
of the countries I represent,

to proceed in the discharge
of my responsibilities

with justice and tolerance.

Then a force of more than 2,000
Allied aircraft roared overhead.

It was a fitting tribute
to the overwhelming power

which had finally
brought Germany and Japan

to utter defeat.

World War Two was at an end.

Japan's ruthless desire
to wage war

had been crushed by a weapon
of awesome destructive power.

Now in the East,
as in the West,

the world would be divided
and shared along new lines.

New allegiances would be formed,

and new enemies would
vie for global influence,

under the specter
of nuclear war.

A new era in world
history had begun.