All language subtitles for WORLD WAR II - 14 - Long Road To Tokyo - Documentary (2026) -Hr

[foreboding music]

- As in the struggle
against Nazi Germany,

American strategy in
the war against Japan

includes launching mass bombing
attacks against factories,

military installations,
and cities.

But the map of the
Asia-Pacific War

covers enormous distances.

A new, more powerful
bomber is needed,

the B-29 Superfortress.

Securing air bases
for these super-forts

becomes a primary objective
for President Roosevelt

and American military leaders.

[dramatic music]

- All Wars changed the world,

but none of them
changed the world

like the second World War did.

- Japan's on the march,
Germany's on the march.

- No one can imagine
the nightmare

they're about to unleash,

the most destructive
war in human history.

- Suddenly the world
is turned upside down

and all hell is let loose.

- The West is stunned by
the speed of the advance.

[dramatic music]

- You get the Allies
led by the big three:

Roosevelt, Churchill, Stalin,

men who are dealing with
immensely complicated questions.

- It's the biggest military
operation of human history.

-The Allies have to
come together

not just militarily,

but industrial scale

it's a global perspective.

- They have to fight
in every climate

from the Arctic
to the jungles of the Pacific

to the deserts of Africa
and the depths of the ocean.

♪

- But there was
no certainty of victory.

It was going to be
a horrific bloodbath.

- We see humans
at their absolute worst,

how they treat other
human beings.

And we see them
at their absolute best,

willing to give their lives
that others might live.

- World War II was a struggle
in which there could be

one victor and one vanquished.

♪

[siren blaring]

[horn blaring]

[dramatic music]

- [Tom] For over two years,

the United States has been
building the B-29 Bomber,

the Superfortress.

When it's ready to roll
off the assembly line,

the B-29 will be one of
the most potent weapons

in the American arsenal.

- The B-29 Superfortress is
the most expensive program

in World War II,

$3 billion to go ahead
and build an aircraft.

- The B-29 is a stunning
leap in aircraft technology.

The B-29 will incorporate
a pressurized cabin,

airborne radar.

It has 10 miles of wiring.

- It had
remote-controlled turrets.

It had the most powerful engines

in the history of the world.

But the critical thing
about the B-29 was range.

It could carry bombs
farther, higher, faster

than anything else that
had, not just been built,

but ever imagined.

- [Tom] The complexity
of its design, however,

delays its manufacture.

- [Dr.Grant] It's been riddled
with problems.

It ends up behind schedule.

[dramatic music]

- [Tom] Bombing the
Japanese home islands

is a crucial part of
the American strategy

in the Asian-Pacific War.

- Allied air
commanders wanna launch

the same kind of air
offensive against Japan

that they've been carrying
out against Germany.

They wanna destroy factories,
shipyards, infrastructure,

bring the Japanese war
economy to its knees.

- [Tom] In addition to
strategic considerations,

President Roosevelt understands
that the American people

expect retribution
against the Japanese.

- If you'd have done a public
opinion survey of Americans,

there was a palpable sense

of wanting to get these
people back for Pearl Harbor.

By 1943, its payback time.

- [Dr. Grant] And so the B-29 is
going to become

the first weapon system

that can really attack
the Japanese homeland

and military targets.

-[Robert] The problem is where
are your airfields going to be?

They have to be within range
of the Japanese home islands.

- [Tom] US Marines have
been fighting their way

across the Pacific,
but it will take months

before they can secure
an area suitable

for launching B-29s.

- The B-29's got a
1,600 mile combat range.

So Roosevelt's looking
at several options

as to where to
base these things.

- [Robert] They don't have an
island close enough,

but they do have an ally

within range of the
Japanese home islands.

And that ally is Chiang
Kai-shek and China.

[dramatic music]

- [Tom] Chiang Kai-shek
emerged as the leader

of the Chinese
Nationalist Party in 1928.

He's ruled China ever since.

- He is the
Generalissimo of China.

He's a general, but
he's also a dictator.

The problem he's got is
since the early 1930s,

there is rising communism
under Mao Zedong.

He's effectively
got a civil war.

- [Tom] In addition
to internal conflict,

China faces an external threat.

[artilleries firing]

[explosion booming]

Japan invaded China in 1937

and seized Chiang's
capital, Nanking,

as well as all major
Chinese coastal cities.

-[Geoffrey] The Japanese control
95% of China's industry,

90% of China's railways,

half of China's population.

They control a quarter to a
third of China's landmass.

And they closed off
all the Chinese ports.

[dramatic music]

- [Tom] Severed from
Chinese port cities,

Chiang established a
new capital, Chungking,

and constructed a route
that connected China

to the port of Rangoon in
the British colony of Burma.

Cut through more than 700 miles

of mountainous jungle terrain,

the Burma Road was China's main
route for receiving supplies

primarily from
the United States.

Until Japan seized Burma too.

[foreboding music]

[bombs whistling]

[explosion booming]

-[Robert] The final piece of
this Japanese imperial puzzle

was the conquest
of Burma in 1942.

The Japanese seized
the Burma Road

and make it impossible
for the Allies

to supply China's armies.

[artillery firing]

- The Chinese have
lost their umbilical,

they've lost their artery,
all their supplies flowing in.

-[Geoffrey] Chiang Kai-shek has
maybe 4 million men

available for military service,

but only a million rifles.

So he's desperate for Western
material to flesh out his army

and post some kind of serious
obstacle to the Japanese.

[dramatic music]

[propellers whirring]

- [Tom] In November of 1943,

President Roosevelt
confers with Chiang

and British prime minister
Winston Churchill in Cairo.

At the top of the agenda,

how to keep the
Chinese in the fight.

- Franklin Roosevelt is worried

that if China is
without resources,

Chiang Kai-shek could make
a separate peace with Japan,

which would be hugely
problematic for the Americans.

-[Robert] China is where

the vast majority of the
Japanese army

is currently being tied up.

And let's not forget
that Roosevelt

has this big new
weapon, the B-29s.

He wants to base them
in Southern China.

So keeping China in the war is
absolutely essential to FDR.

-[Dan S.] Chiang goes to Cairo
with a big shopping list.

He needs aircraft,
fuel, shells, guns.

He'll take anything that
the Allies will give him.

He's pretty desperate.

Winston Churchill, this is a
little bit alarming to him.

He just doesn't trust Chiang
Kai-shek in his bones.

-[Sarada] Chiang Kai-shek has a
reputation for being corrupt,

not particularly reliable.

There are valid concerns that
instead of using the supplies

that FDR is promising
Chiang Kai-shek

for the purposes
of fighting Japan,

he might instead
hoard those supplies

and then use them to
fight the communists.

- FDR knew he wasn't
running a boy scout troupe,

so he didn't examine too closely

the morals of those who
shared his interest.

That wasn't how you
could fight a global war.

- [Tom] At Cairo, FDR and
Chiang agree that the Chinese

will build runways for the B-29s

and that the US will send
even more supplies to China.

-[James] That requires
mind -boggling

scales of logistics.

For a single bullet to get
to a single Chinese rifle,

it's gotta come from a factory,
let's say in the Midwest.

So you send it all the
way across the Pacific.

The British still hold India,

so it would then
get into Calcutta,

then be put onto a train,

then sent up to Northeast India,

and then fly them
over the Himalayas

to the nationalists in China.

[dramatic music]
[wind howling]

- [Tom] Flying the
India-China ferry

over the highest mountain
range in the world

is extremely hazardous.

The men ordered to do
it call it the Hump.

-[Dr. Grant] Flying supplies
into China

is something that's never
been attempted on this scale.

-[Geoffrey] These were just
transport aircraft,

but the missions
were as challenging

as bomber raids over Germany.

[suspenseful music]

[plane rumbling]

-[Col. Douds] These aircraft are
taking off

with incredibly high weights

because we are trying to get
as many supplies in as we can.

[plane rumbling]

- The route is only
about 500 miles,

but the difficulty
is the altitude.

[plane rumbling]

[plane rumbling]

These pilots are flying
in un-pressurized aircraft

over peaks that are
16,000 feet high,

and then back down again
to their Chinese bases.

[plane rumbling]

-[Geoffrey] We got this hot,
moist air

bubbling out of
the Indian Ocean,

meeting with this Siberian
air blowing down from Tibet,

causing some of the most
difficult weather conditions

on the planet.

[suspenseful music]

You get these incredible
changes in air pressure.

[plane rumbling]

And pilots who flew the Hump

say the plane would lurch like
a hundred feet in the air,

and then drop 200 feet, and
lurch back up a hundred feet.

[suspenseful music]

-[Col. Douds] It's hard to
imagine

for the pilots who do it.

The aircraft is proven but
not in these conditions.

So every time they go
up, they're learning.

But there's a cost to
learning this real time.

594 aircraft are lost
and 1,500 aircrew.

[plane rumbling]
[dreary music]

[plane rumbling]

-[Geoffrey] The problem is you
have to deliver 18 tons of fuel

and other supplies

to get one ton of stuff
to the Chinese army.

It was a trickle
of what was needed.

- [Tom] But China
remains a priority

for President Roosevelt.

-[Dan S.] There is another
option.

The Allies need to
reopen the Burma Road.

[dramatic music]

[gun firing]

[gun firing]

- [Tom] By late 1943, China
has been at war with Japan

for six years, engaging the
majority of the Japanese Army.

for six years, engaging the
majority of the Japanese Army.

[gun firing]

President Roosevelt and
his military leaders

are determined to defend China,

including using B-29s to strike
the Japanese home islands.

The US plans to build four
air bases around Chengdu

that will accommodate the B-29.

-[Dr. Grant] The B-29
Superfortress is a heavy bomber.

And that means it needs a runway

that's strong enough to land on.

But the problem is there's no
way to bring in a bulldozer,

or a truck, or heavy
equipment into China.

They simply won't
fit in the aircraft

that are flying over the Hump.

- But the upside for
running a bomber campaign

out of China is that
the Americans know

that they will have access

to all the Chinese labor
they could ask for.

[dramatic music]

-[Col. Douds] Hundreds of
thousands of people

grinding out a runway by hand.

- [Narrator] No bulldozers

or complicated
machinery available.

Only manpower and hard work.

-[Dr. Grant] Just the sheer
scale of human labor,

it looks like ancient history.

Men, women, children
pulling the rollers,

working side by side.

- [Tom] Their
country in jeopardy,

Chinese civilians defend
against the Japanese

any way they can,
building roads,

constructing airfields,
loading supplies.

-[Dan C.] China's an agrarian
economy

in a time period where

industrial warfare
has taken over.

So how do they produce all
these weapons that you need?

For example, how do
you produce tanks?

So part of the problem
here for Chiang

is that he needs everything.

- [Robert] The only way to bring
the tanks and the artillery

that Chiang needs into China

is to reopen the Burma Road.

[dramatic music]

- [Tom] The Allies have more

than a quarter of a million
troops

based in Eastern India,

from Calcutta to Ledo in Assam.

They planned a
two-pronged offensive.

The British 14th Army will
push into Central Burma

to expel the Japanese.

An American-led force will
cross into Northern Burma

and fight their way through
to reestablish the Burma Road.

General Joseph Stilwell
commands the American forces.

His personal and professional
connection to China

spans three decades.

-[Robert] Joseph Stilwell,

well known as Vinegar Joe,

he's cranky, and
acerbic, and sarcastic.

-[Geoffrey] But Stilwell speaks
and reads Mandarin.

He's a great lover of China

and he has nothing but good
things to say about the Chinese.

[dramatic music]

- [Tom] A respected Commander,

Stilwell has trained
thousands of soldiers

in his long career.

-[Robert] Stilwell's task

is to take a handful of
Chinese divisions,

30,000 of Chiang
Kai-shek's troops,

and train them up to
Western standards.

[gun firing]

[explosions booming]

He takes over an old
British POW camp in India

and he's able to give them
the training, the weaponry,

so that they turn themselves
into relatively solid units.

[pensive music]

- [Tom] General William Slim,
Uncle Bill to his troops,

leads the British 14th
Army, a multinational force

comprised of units from
Britain, India, and Africa.

Many have been
battling the Japanese

since the invasion of Burma.

-[Dan S.] Slim says, look, we
got beaten in Burma

because we couldn't
fight in the jungle

like the Japanese can.

They're not superhuman.

We just have to
learn how to do it.

-[Dan C.] The Japanese were
considered

to be these amazing
jungle fighters.

But we should remember,
Japan's not a jungle country.

They're not great
jungle fighters

'cause they grew up in it.

This is about training.

- A complete rethink is needed.

Slim starts training everybody,

not just frontline infantrymen.

Everyone needs to be
able to handle themselves

with their weapons,

the bottle washers, and the
cooks, and the truck drivers.

And everyone needs to
know that the Japanese

are not these supermen.

They're not bogey men.

Actually, they are
completely defeatable.

[foreboding music]

- So I think by this point,

the war's going very
badly for Japan.

You've had the Battle
of Midway in 1942,

which Japan lost.

[explosion booming]

Now, as a result,
Japanese shipping

is struggling to get through.

So you've got rationing
tightening in Japan.

And then back in Europe,

you've had the German
loss at Stalingrad.

You've had the
toppling of Mussolini.

So I think at this point,
Japan doesn't expect

it's gonna get any help
really from the Axis powers.

[dramatic music]

- [Tom] Hideki Tojo, who has
been Prime Minister since 1941,

is the dominant force

in the Japanese
government and military.

-[Christopher] By early 1944,
there's a feeling for Tojo

and for others at
the high command

that something can be
done elsewhere in the war

to try and offer Japan a
little bit of progress.

And some kind of dramatic
success for the Japanese

might force the Americans to
come to the negotiating table.

One idea is to put some
pressure on the Allies

in Northeast India and on
Chiang Kai-shek in China.

- [Tom] Prime Minister Tojo
approves Operation U-Go,

an invasion into India.

His generals prepare to attack

the British bases
of the 14th Army

and to capture the
American Hump airfields.

-[Jonathan] Tojo understands
that at this point,

these flights across the Hump

are the last remaining
connection point with the West

that the Chinese
national government has.

And if you can cut
those air bases off,

that will then be the straw

that breaks the
nationalist back.

[propellers whirring]

For the Allies, this is rife
with portents of disaster.

[plane rumbling]

[dramatic music]

- [Tom] March, 1944,
Operation U-Go begins.

Japanese troops move across
the Burmese jungle into India,

Japanese troops move across
the Burmese jungle into India,

toward British bases and
the American airfields.

The Japanese commander is
General Renya Mutaguchi.

-[Dan S.] Mutaguchi thinks he is
a creature of destiny.

And he's got a plan.

He believes that right there,

on the very, very western
frontier of the Japanese Empire,

he could strike a blow that
could save the war for Japan.

- [Tom] Mutaguchi
hopes his invasion

will inspire the Indians
to overthrow the British

and join Japan in the war.

- The Japanese are banking
on speed and surprise,

that they're gonna
move three divisions

across these 8,000
foot high mountains

in the space of just a few days.

As such, he cuts the rations
for all of his attack soldiers

to just 20 days worth of food.

- The Japanese soldiers

carry very small amount of
food supply, like dried rice.

And they do not carry
many heavy weapons.

-[Dan S.] So the Japanese
cannot get locked

into an attritional battle.

'Cause they're traveling light,

they're gonna have to rely on
capturing British supply dumps

as they go along.

It's a gamble.

- [Tom] To get to the
air bases in India,

Mutaguchi will need to
cross the Imphal Plain,

site of a large
British forward base.

-[Dan S.] The Imphal Plain, it's
got like a big river valley,

surrounded by mountainous
jungley terrain.

The Brits have used this
sort of like a bread basket.

They've got airfield there,
they've got supply dumps, food,

everything the Japanese need.

- [Tom] Based in Imphal are
three British-Indian divisions

from General Slim's 14th Army.

They're about to push
into enemy territory

when they receive reports that
Mutaguchi's Japanese troops

are moving towards them.

[dramatic music]

-[Dan S.] Bill Slim's new plan
is to withdraw slightly,

create a killing zone,

let the Japanese attack
through this difficult terrain,

and pound them with
artillery and aircraft.

-[James] He's going to
relinquish ground,

but all the time
he's going to attrit,

grind down the Japanese.

This is a high risk strategy

and you can only do that if
you're extremely confident

that your men are
sufficiently trained.

[dramatic music]

- [Tom] But Mutaguchi's
force arrives quickly

and is far larger than
Slim was expecting.

-[Jonathan] So when these
Japanese divisions

start sort of materializing
out of the jungle,

it's a real pucker
moment for the British.

[explosion booming]

[machine gun firing]

[foreboding music]

[machine gun firing]

[machine gun firing]

[machine gun firing]

[artillery firing]

- [Tom] The Japanese
encircle Imphal

and cut off its supply roads.

- There is this
just brutal battle.

The fighting is
incredibly close quarter.

[machine gun firing]

[machine gun firing]

And it is absolutely
touch and go.

[artillery firing]

[machine gun firing]

[artilleries firing]

-[Jonathan] But Mutaguchi is
mired in mental models

that were applicable in 1942

that are no longer
applicable in '44.

Back then, if you hit
an Indian division

in the face with
a frontal attack,

a lot of the time it fell apart.

But Slim's army is better
trained, it is more resilient,

and from a morale standpoint,
they believe in themselves.

They think that they can
fight the Japanese toe to toe.

[guns firing]

- [Tom] Fighting is
relentless around Imphal,

but General Slim has a plan

to bring in reinforcements
and supplies.

[artillery firing]
[machine gun firing]

-[James] All this time, Imphal
itself is completely cut off.

And if you're
gonna make a stand,

you're gonna need supplies.

[machine gun firing]

What Slim recognizes with
his American colleagues

is that air power is
key to the whole thing.

[plane rumbling]

- There's only one way to
supply this Allied pocket,

and that is by air.

-[Jonathan] The Americans have
already got

a very efficient, well-trained
transport air force

in the north of India, the Hump.

And they turn that
airlift 90 degrees aside

and aim it towards Imphal
and the British troops there.

[plane rumbling]

-[Dr. Grant] When you're
flying low and slow,

you are one big fat target.

These cargo planes have
no defensive armament,

they don't have any guns.

And if you push the cargo
out four seconds late,

it's gonna end up
into Japanese hands.

But astonishingly it works.

[dramatic music]

- [Jonathan] These transports
airdrop and land

about 14 million pounds
of food, ammunition,

heavy equipment, and
thousands of fresh troops.

And that means that Slim can
keep his forces fighting.

[suspenseful music]

[artillery firing]

Mutaguchi had hoped to
take Imphal within days,

right off the march.

Instead, what he gets
is a meat grinder.

[dramatic music]
[machine gun firing]

- [Tom] For weeks, divisions
of General Slim's 14th Army

- [Tom] For weeks, divisions
of General Slim's 14th Army

have been receiving
supplies by air,

there, the frontline resisting
Japan's invasion of India.

[machine gun firing]

[artilleries firing]

[explosion booming]
[foreboding music]

But Mutaguchi's men are
running out of time.

-[Col. Douds] The Japanese have
gone into the offensive

without much equipment.

They don't have an
established supply line.

So every day that they
don't achieve success,

it becomes more
and more desperate.

- [Christopher] Of course the
big problem

they face is rations.

These start to run out, hunger
starts to become a big issue.

They're picking up snakes,
they're trying to eat monkeys.

They are literally starving.

-[Noriko] General Tojo famously
issued instructions

for the soldiers
in the battlefield

that to be taken by enemy
as a prisoner of war

is unacceptable.

Facing defeat, they should make

a final suicidal charge and die

or commit suicide.

[dreary music]

-[Robert] The survivors are
forced to retreat.

Japanese soldiers are
dropping dead along the route.

-[Dan C.] The retreats becomes
hellish.

The Japanese words were
translated as the road of bones.

The survivors' accounts
are of mass suicides

all along the way.

There are stories of Japanese
buddies getting together

and hugging each other

and then detonating a grenade
between the two of them.

[dreary music]

- [Jonathan] Up to this point in
the war,

this is the largest
defeat the Japanese Army

has ever suffered on the ground,
around 60,000 casualties.

-[Col. Douds] Mutaguchi had a
vision of this operation

to destroy the Allied
efforts in Northeastern India

and foment an insurrection.

All of those dreams are
shattered at the end of this.

[foreboding music]

- [Tom] In the spring of 1944,

President Roosevelt is
focused on Operation Overlord,

the upcoming
invasion of Normandy.

But he's frustrated by
the delays in East Asia

and the fact that the B-29s
are still not in action.

-[Robert] America is in Burma
and in this theater

to supply China with weapons

and to supply their B-29
bases in Southern China.

Roosevelt has been told time
and again by his military men

that they're devoting
precious resources

on an effort that looks
increasingly futile.

[plane rumbling]

And yet Roosevelt simply doesn't
see another horse to back.

In May of 1944, there
is no alternate place

from which B-29
bombers can operate.

[dramatic music]

- [Tom] In Northern Burma,
General Vinegar Joe Stilwell

is preparing troops to
push to the Burma Road.

- [Jonathan] If the Americans
can reopen that road,

it's gonna completely transform

not only the ground
campaign in China for Chiang

but also the aerial campaign
for the American B-29s

that are gonna be
based in China,

because they will be able to
drive over the heavy equipment

that they can't fly
across the Hump,

like steam shovels
and steam rollers.

And so it transformed these
bases into the sort of bases

that Americans like to build,

big, sprawling, and
full of warehouses.

[dramatic music]

- [Tom] Stilwell's plan is to
move across Northern Burma,

attack the Japanese
military base at Myitkyina,

then push forward to create a
new route to the Burma Road.

He sent 7,000 men,
including Chinese troops

and a veteran American
deep penetration force

nicknamed Merrill's Marauders,

on a three week march through
the jungle towards Myitkyina.

-[Dan C.] Certain fighting
environments kill you

all by themselves.

You don't need bullets,
you don't need shells.

The jungle kills you.

It destroys armies day by day.

-[Geoffrey] The American and
Chinese troops

that are inserted there,

they're just absolutely
devastated by illness.

They've all got amoebic
dysentery, severe diarrhea.

They've all got, you know,

dengue and other
tropical fevers.

There was nowhere to rest,

there was nowhere to recuperate,

and nowhere to get
the resources for war.

[dreary music]

- [Tom] On May 17th,
Stilwell's troops

launched the attack
on Myitkyina.

[dramatic music]
[artillery firing]

[machine gun firing]

[gun firing]

[machine gun firing]

- It's a really
hard-fought battle.

There's more Japanese
there than they expected.

And the Japanese
fight doggedly for it.

[plane rumbling]

- [Tom] The Americans
call in air support

from their bases in India.

[explosion booming]

[plane rumbling]

[explosion booming]

[planes rumbling]

And take Myitkyina Airfield.

US gliders land,

bringing reinforcements

and General Stilwell.

-[Jonathan] So with the fall of
Myitkyina,

that now enables the Americans
to play their strong suit,

which is construction.

[dramatic music]

- [Tom] Army engineers
and local laborers

start to build a new route
from India to the Burma Road.

-[Col. Douds] It's hundreds of
miles long,

scraped out of the jungle,

and it's a major
construction program.

It's gonna take months.

[explosions booming]

[pensive music]

-[Jonathan] From the British and
American standpoint,

it's all looking good.

It's gonna take a while
to rebuild that road,

but we can rebuild it now.

And it seems that the tea
leaves are now propitious

for a B-29 offensive
out of China.

The problem is that
the Allies don't know

that the Japanese have an
even bigger land operation

up their sleeve.

[dramatic music]

- [Tom] General Stilwell's
victory at Myitkyina

will enable the Americans to
reconnect to the Burma Road.

But it's a slow
and arduous process

and the road won't be
operational for months.

[explosion booming]

[plane rumbling]
[dramatic music]

In June, 1944,

B-29s begin to arrive at
the air fields in China.

-[Dr. Grant] The Army Air Forces
have been waiting

for the B-29 for years.

Finally, here they are,

ready to fly their first
missions out of China.

The idea is to put up

a sustained bombing
campaign over Japan.

And the key is being
able to fly missions

over and over and over again.

- The problem is logistics.

The B-29 is an
enormous fuel hog.

It runs on about 9,000 gallons
of gasoline per sortie.

-[Col. Douds] They also need a
lot of bombs.

And the only way
you're gonna get bombs

and fuel to those air fields

is they gotta fly over the Hump,

until they open up
a new Burma Road.

[dramatic music]

-[Dr. Grant] It takes eight
airlift missions

flying over the Hump

for every B-29 combat mission

just to bring in the
bombs and the fuel.

[plane rumbling]

[dramatic music]

- [Tom] In mid-June, the first
B-29 combat mission to Japan

sets off from Chengdu.

68 Superfortresses

attack the Imperial
Iron and steelworks

at Yawata in Southern Japan.

[planes rumbling]

-[Dr. Grant] But because they
don't have enough supplies

coming into China,

they're only flying a
few missions at a time.

It's just not going to add up

to the sustained pounding
campaign that Roosevelt wants.

[foreboding music]

[explosion booming]

- [Tom] Meanwhile,
Prime Minister Tojo

has launched an
offensive in China.

-[Christopher] It's called
Operation Ichi-Go,

which means
Operation Number One.

And this is the
largest operation

that the Japanese
undertake during the war.

- [Tom] The offensive
has two goals,

secure land access to
Japan's occupied possessions

in Southeast Asia and capture
US air bases in China.

[artillery firing]

[guns firing]
[foreboding music]

-[Jonathan] The Japanese attack

with about a half a million
troops,

several thousand
artillery pieces,

hundreds of tanks, a
lot of aircraft as well.

[explosion booming]

[artillery firing]

-[Christopher] But the big
surprise of this campaign

is how poor Chiang
Kai-shek's forces are.

At this point, some
of them are starving.

There've been lots of
deserters from their army.

And with that level of morale,

some of these forces,
under Japanese pressure,

simply melt away.

[dreary music]

- [Tom] The Japanese push south,

overpowering Chinese forces.

Millions of Chinese
attempt to flee,

caught between a foreign invader

and their own corrupt leaders.

The US is forced to abandon
bases and airfields.

-[Christopher] It's a huge
embarrassment

for Chiang Kai-shek,

particularly in the
face of his allies.

All this time,

he's been trying to talk
up what he's capable of

if only the Americans
give him what he needs.

And yet in the face
of Operation Ichi-Go,

his forces just seem to crumble.

-[Jonathan] For the Americans
looking at the wreckage

of the aftermath of Ichi-Go,

they recognized that the Chinese
can't defend American bases

no matter where they are.

On top of that, the increasing
logistical headaches

of trying to get
supplies over the Hump

means that they decide
to just cut their losses.

And they packed up those B-29s.

-[Dr. Grant] The Army Air Forces
have put everything

into making these
Chinese bases work,

but they're done with China.

-[Jonathan] And the Americans
may now have a new option

for basing B-29s,

which is a better option.

[suspenseful music]

- [Tom] Since 1943,

American forces have
been fighting their way

across the Central Pacific.

Now a combined
Marine and Army force

is on the verge of invading
the Mariana Islands,

Tinian, Guam, and Saipan,
only 1,600 miles from Japan.

-[Jonathan] So if the Americans
can capture the Marianas,

the B-29 bomber will
now be within range

of almost all of Japan.

The expectation for the
Americans is that this should be

a relatively easy
operation,

but the reality is gonna
be utterly different.

[dramatic music]

[artilleries firing]

[explosion booming]

- [Tom] Just after D-Day, the
Allied invasion of Europe,

American forces attack Saipan
in the middle of the Pacific.

[suspenseful music]

[artilleries firing]

[artilleries firing]

-[Jonathan] This is really an
unprecedented display

of American power projection,

that the Americans
are able to launch

these two massive operations,

Overlord first in
Europe and then Saipan.

They're separated
by half a planet.

They're thousands
of miles apart.

[artilleries firing]

[explosion booming]

- The expectation is that
this is gonna take three days

for two Marine divisions
and an Army division

to be able to conquer Saipan.

[dreary music]

-[Geoffrey] But the Japanese
had fortified it

and built D-Day
style fortifications,

not only bunkers and pillboxes,

but they had dummy
bunkers and pillboxes

so that they could waste
some of the naval bombardment

on fake targets.

[explosion booming]
[dreary music]

- In fact, there's actually
32,000 Japanese there.

[dramatic music]

Saipan is part of
the Japanese defenses

that they would consider
to be the inner ring

that must be defended,

that they will
sacrifice the most for.

[dramatic music]

Because if they lose Saipan,

then Tokyo is in danger,

and that's where the emperor is.

[suspenseful music]

The resistance is ferocious.

-[Jonathan] The Americans
successfully get

a full division's worth
of troops on there

within the space of
just a few hours.

-[Col. Douds] In the initial
assault, 8,000 Marines land.

Over 2,000 of them
become casualties.

This is a bloodletting beyond
what anybody had expected.

-[Jonathan] Anytime a Japanese
formation

attempts to put in
a counter-attack,

they are immediately met

with inordinate amounts
of naval gunfire

that just crushed them.

[explosions booming]

-[Geoffrey] The Japanese retreat
into the hills in the interior,

along with several
thousand Japanese settlers

living in Saipan.

And they forced the
Marines and the Army troops

to root them out of
caves in these hills.

[dreary music]
[guns firing]

[dreary music]

[gun firing]

- [Tom] The battle for
Saipan lasts almost a month.

Thousands of civilians die,
caught in the crossfire.

[tanks firing]

-[Jonathan] The final climax
of this battle

happens at a set of cliffs

on the northern
part of the island.

[artillery firing]

- [Tom] At Marpi Point,
advancing US troops

trap civilians and
Japanese soldiers

between the frontline
and the sea.

-[Jonathan] The Japanese
propaganda

that's been fed to these people

tells them that the Americans
are going to kill all the men,

rape all the women,
and it's effective.

They don't surrender.

[dreary music]

-[Geoffrey] And then as the
Marines close in,

some of them leap
to their deaths,

some of them clutching
their children.

[dreary music]

- [Tom] Marines and soldiers
confront the inconceivable.

For Japan, the loss of
Saipan is a disaster.

-[Jonathan] They've now had the
heart

ripped out of their
defensive line.

And they know that
the Americans now

are gonna have perfect
operating conditions

to launch this bomber
offensive against Japan itself.

[dreary music]

[guns firing]

-[Col. Douds] The casualties are
high, for both sides.

-[Dr. Grant] But the terrible
loss of life

finally gives the B -29s

the air bases they
need to bomb Japan.

Instead of having
hand-built runways in China

that require airlift
just to bring in the gas,

now in the Mariana's islands,
you have huge runways

built by the Seabees using
brilliant white coral,

as hard and durable
as you can want.

-[Col. Douds] On these three
islands,

Saipan, Tinian, and Guam,

the Americans build five
long runway complexes,

each to be supported by a
bomber group of 180 B-29s.

-[Dr. Grant] And suddenly the
Marianas

are the world's
biggest air base.

[dramatic music]

[planes rumbling]

-[Col. Douds] FDR's objective,
the B-29,

finally gets its
optimum opportunity

to achieve the mission

for which it was developed
in the first place.

-[Tom] November, 1944,

B-29 Superfortresses

take off for the
first of many missions

to bomb the home
islands of Japan.

[planes rumbling]

With the capture of the
Mariana island chain,

the United States is capable
of regularly striking Japan,

just as it's been
able to hit Germany

for the past two years.

As the tide turns for
these Axis partners,

each country tightens
its grip on its people.