All language subtitles for The World at War - S01E07 - On Our Way U.S.A. (1939 - 1942).eng

I hope the United States
will keep out of this war.

I believe that it will.

And I give you assurance and reassurance

that every effort of your government
will be directed toward that end.

As long as it remains
within my power to prevent,

there will be no blackout of peace
in the United States.

After World War I
there was a surge of isolationism,

a feeling we had no reason
to become involved in World War I

and we'd made a mistake

and there were a lot of debts owed
by European countries,

and the country went isolationist.

I haven't the slightest idea
of European affairs.

-Let Europe fight their own battles.
-War? Not for me.

This time America should keep out -
and I know I will.

If war breaks out in Europe,

I think this country should heed the advice
of its first president

and avoid all foreign entanglement.

NARRATOR: In early 1940, Britain's
ambassador in Washington reported

that nine out of ten Americans

were determined
to keep America out of the war.

A few, like the American Nazi Party,

even wanted America
to aid Britain's enemies.

[SPEAKING GERMAN]

[MAN SHOUTS]

MAN: The country was enormously divided.

There was the America First movement,
which was advocating isolationism;

on the other hand there was

the Committee to Defend America
by Aiding the Allies.

We had these curious voices

such as Charles Lindbergh's,
the voices of isolationism.

In the past, we have dealt with a Europe
dominated by England and France.

In the future, we may have to deal
with a Europe dominated by Germany.

BALL: Charles Lindbergh,
thanks to his extraordinary exploit,

was a very popular figure -
he was almost a folk hero.

So he would have influence.

I suppose that celebrities
of all characters do have influence,

otherwise they wouldn't be
endorsing products all the time.

LINDBERGH: ..but it should not involve
the internal affairs of Europe.

They never were, and never will be,
carried on according to our desires.

[APPLAUSE]

There was a strong anti-British antipathy

in certain parts of the country.

It was felt that Britain

was trying very hard
to drag us into its war.

[MARCHING BAND MUSIC]

NARRATOR: 1 940 was presidential
election year in the United States

and Roosevelt's main concern that summer
was to get himself re-elected.

Ladies and gentlemen,

the 22nd convention of the
Republican Party will now come to order.

Even as we meet,
lights are going out in Europe.

Blackouts of dictators

take the place
of lighthouses of free men.

Ours is the grave responsibility
to preserve the lighthouses of liberty.

In the name...

of the people...

of the whole United States...

I place in nomination...

that valiant American...

Franklin Delano Roosevelt!

NARRATOR: After France's fall,

most Americans were disposed
to aid Britain in some way,

but still more were strongly opposed
to entering the war on Britain's side.

WILLKIE: ...third-term candidate

has not kept faith
with the American people.

NARRATOR: Roosevelt's opponent
in the presidential election that autumn

was an out-and-out anti-war candidate,
Wendell Willkie.

WILLKIE: If his promise
to keep our boys out of foreign wars

is no better than his promise
to balance the budget,

they're already almost on the transports.

NARRATOR: But with the Nazis
triumphant everywhere,

Roosevelt couldn't afford
to wait to be re-elected

before putting America
on some sort of war footing.

ROOSEVELT: The Congress
has debated without partisanship

and has now enacted a law

establishing a selective method
of augmenting our armed forces.

We must, and we will,
marshal our great potential strength

to fend off war from our shores.

MAN: More than 16 million young Americans

are reviving the 300-year-old
American custom of the muster,

by which,
from the earliest colonial times,

every able-bodied citizen

was subject to the call for service
in the national defense.

The first number
drawn by the secretary of war

is serial number 158.

[CHEERING]

I am honored
to be one of those first called

and I'll try very hard
to make a real good soldier.

And I'm proud of you.

WILLKIE: If you elect me
president of the United States,

I shall never send an American boy
to fight in any European war.

I consider it a public duty
to answer falsifications with facts.

I will not pretend
that I find this an unpleasant duty.

[LAUGHTER]

I am an old campaigner
and I love a good fight.

[CHEERING]

NARRATOR: Roosevelt got his good fight,

though to stay in the race
he had promised, like his opponent,

not to send American boys
to fight in foreign wars.

-Name, please?
-Franklin D Roosevelt.

NARRATOR: November 5, 1940,
was election day,

and by midnight America's choice

of president for another four years
was clear.

MAN: The results are now conclusive -
Roosevelt wins.

[CHEERING]

NARRATOR: Now re-elected Roosevelt
felt he had a mandate

to give Britain all aid short of war.

But he moved slowly,
for America was still deeply divided.

CORWIN: Many of the war measures,
such as steps to give aid to Britain

at the time when England
was standing alone and was beleaguered,

just squeaked by in Congress.

Even a program of armament,
of military preparedness,

got through Congress
on very, very close votes,

one-vote margins in a total of 400 votes.

HARRIMAN: Then the extraordinary
legislation, Lend-Lease,

was proposed in December of 1940
and became law in March of '41,

and under that the president

did everything he possibly could
to give aid to Britain.

My instructions
when I went over to represent him

were very simple, very brief.

They were to contact
the British government

to find out what we could do
to help Britain - short of war.

And we began at once
doing all sorts of things

which were not really neutral
under the literal interpretation -

for instance, we were preparing
British naval vessels in American ports

and we escorted convoys
across the Atlantic as far as Iceland,

and we transferred
two million tons of ships.

The immediate problem was to get people
to understand what it was.

In this, I think Mr Roosevelt's
very simple analogy

of lending your neighbour a fire hose
when there's a fire

was a most persuasive
simple illustration.

ROOSEVELT: The people of Europe
who are defending themselves

do not ask us to do their fighting.

They ask us for the implements of war -

the planes, the tanks,
the guns, the freighters -

which will enable them to fight
for their liberty and our security.

We must be
the great arsenal of democracy.

For us, this is an emergency
as serious as war itself.

In those days, the business community
regarded Roosevelt

as, at a minimum,
a major deputy of the devil,

and Roosevelt was deeply suspicious
of the businessmen,

so that the people who were associated
with the mobilizing of the war

had a divided interest.

Some of them felt that their
main purpose in being in Washington

was to put a curb on the
socialist excesses of the New Deal.

Some of them
were uneasy about being there -

they had the feeling of people who were
playing in an orchestra in a brothel.

And there was
also a great unwillingness...

We hear now
about the military-industrial complex -

in those days
there was a great unwillingness

to convert from civilian industry.

There was a feeling that war production
would be a very unprofitable business,

it would lose markets for automobiles,
for tires, for chemicals, and so forth.

GALBRAITH: There was a problem
with some of the unions

up until June of 1941.

Until Russia was in the war,

and in the days of the
Molotov-Ribbentrop pact,

there was foot-dragging on the part
of some of the union leaders.

And there were strikes.

NARRATOR: Four times as many workers

were on strike in 1941
as in the year before.

That spring, nearly half a million
coal miners struck for almost a month,

while on the west coast a walk-out
that summer at North American Aviation

delayed deliveries of planes to Britain
for several weeks.

It took troops
to get production moving again.

But although Roosevelt was still
reluctant to lead America into war,

the war was now catching up with America.

June 11th, 1941: an American freighter,
thr Robin Moor, was sunk by a U-boat.

Roosevelt used this as a pretext
for occupying Iceland

and relieving
the British garrisons there.

September 4th: a US destroyer, Greer,
was attacked by a U-boat near Iceland.

Roosevelt now told his navy
to shoot on sight.

October 16th: the US destroyer Kearney
was struck by a German torpedo

While escorting a convoy in mid-Atlantic
and 11 of her crew were killed.

Roosevelt used this incident

to push through Congress
the repeal of the Neutrality Act.

We have wished to avoid shooting.

But the shooting has started.

And history has recorded
who fired the first shot.

In the long run, however,

all that will matter
is who fired the last shot.

[APPLAUSE]

The repeal of our Neutrality Act will be
the last step on the road to war.

If we load our ships
with contraband of war

and send them into combat zones,

they will most certainly be sunk.

And that means war - a war
which in the opinion of many of us,

although designed
to save democracy abroad,

will surely destroy it at home
right here in America.

NARRATOR: On October 30
the US destroyer Reuben James was sunk

with the loss of 115 lives.

Officers and all hands forward perished.

Myself and 45 men are all that are alive.

NARRATOR:
Despite pressure from Churchill,

who dearly wanted America in the war,
Roosevelt now did nothing.

It was clear it would take much more
than the drowning of 100 or so US seamen

to bring America into the war.

There was even a sentiment -
I remember this being expressed -

to the effect that England
would fight to the last American.

There were steps that were developing -
gradual steps, to be sure -

somewhat comparable to the steps
that took place in World War I.

One incident after another - the
torpedoing of the Sussex got us excited,

then there was the Lusitania episode...

In the same way, I think that with the
moves that Mr Roosevelt was making,

The cash-and-carry program that he had,

the protection of the convoys,
the destroyer deal...

One thing and another was occurring
that would be apt to produce, I think,

an incident that would set the war off.

NARRATOR: That incident
when it came was massive

and it came in an unexpected place:
Pearl Harbor.

RADIO: All army and navy bases

on the island of Oahu in Hawaii
are now under air attack.

For the latest news,
keep tuned to this station.

GALBRAITH: I found that
my superior, who was in charge

of all civilian operations
of the war, was away,

so I was then sent on to the
great meeting of the wartime leaders

that convened in Washington
on the night of Pearl Harbor.

I remember my sense of mission
in going to that meeting.

We had all seen the war coming.

Here was the day and here was the hour,

and here was I, attending the meeting
with the other great men.

We got to the meeting and the
other "great men" - myself included -

were one hell of a disappointment,

because nobody could think
of anything to say or do.

It seemed a good idea to see

what materials were threatened
by the Japanese advance.

Everybody was coming in
during the course of this,

some in sport jackets,
some in tennis shoes,

and it became terribly evident
that nobody had any real information

as to where
these strategic commodities came from.

And eventually the whole discussion
bogged down, I remember,

on the question of kapok.

Kapok, everybody thought... It was
clearly listed as a strategic material,

it evidently came
from that part of the world,

and nobody could think, for God's sake,
what the stuff was used for.

[SIRENS]

I ask that the Congress declare

that since the unprovoked
and dastardly attack by Japan

on Sunday December 7, 1941,

a state of war has existed

between the United States
and the Japanese empire.

[APPLAUSE]

NARRATOR: Even now Roosevelt couldn't bring
himself to ask that the US declare war on Germany -

although Britain had already allied
herself with the US against Japan.

But Hitler decided for him.

For some unexplained reason, Hitler
declared war on the United States,

which relieved Roosevelt
of all of his difficulties.

I was practicing law in Chicago -
that is, at the time of Pearl Harbor -

and I can tell you that if Hitler
had not made this decision,

if he had simply done nothing,

that there would have been
enormous sentiment

in many parts of the United States
that the Pacific war now was our war,

that the European war
was for the Europeans

and we should concentrate
all our efforts against the Japanese.

♪ Oh, give me land, lots of land

♪ Under starry skies above

♪ Don't fence me in

♪ Let me ride through
the wide open country that I love

♪ Don't fence me in

CORWIN: People sold their homes
at a fraction of their value,

they were certain the west coast would
be under attack, that we'd be bombed here.

There were even blackouts
along the west coast,

as there were along the east coast.

And there were even
some false alerts here.

[AIR-RAID SIREN]

NARRATOR: Not everybody
took these precautions seriously.

To European eyes, America's going to war

had moments both ludicrous and familiar.

[♪ "WHEN JOHNNY COMES MARCHING HOME"]

♪ The men will cheer
and the boys will shout

♪ The ladies they will all turn out

♪ And we'll all feel gay

♪ When Johnny comes marching home

Living among us are those we call aliens.

We must remember
that our parents or our grandparents

or our great-grandparents

all were aliens in their day.

If you believe you have knowledge
of any improper activity of any alien

you should report the fact
to the nearest FBI office.

Don't try to be the law yourself.

There was a tremendous change -

the change being
that we were the same individuals

as prior to December 7;

on December 8, when we went to school,
many of our classmates and friends

called us "dirty Japs",
teased us, harassed us,

and our so-called friends
were no longer friends.

In the First World War, as you know,
the Germans were hated thoroughly

and there was a great deal
of discrimination

and harassment of the Germans.

In the Second World War, we were at war
with three different nationalities,

the Italians, the Germans
and the Japanese.

And I remember that Thomas Mann

and Bruno Walter spoke up for the Germans

and said they couldn't be removed
because that would be the last despair,

having fled Nazi Germany, to be
again put into a concentration camp.

And Joe DiMaggio's mother spoke up,

and that was very moving,
in San Francisco.

But the Japanese had really nobody.

I think picking on the Japanese

was partly a logistically rational thing
that the army could handle -

they said, no,we can't handle the Germans,
but we can handle the Japanese.

After all, they couldn't have moved
all the Germans and Italians -

they would have had to move

half the people out of New York.
It would've been ridiculous.

BALL: These people
had always been unpopular

because they competed with the American
farmers in truck gardening and so on,

and worked very much harder

and cultivated their land
very much more efficiently.

So a lot of people
took advantage of their situation

to create antipathy toward them.

And the government
acted hastily and rather brutally

it's not a very attractive chapter.

NARRATOR: More than 100,000 Japanese
Americans were interned en masse,

mostly those on the west coast,

whereas the 600,000 German and Italian
Americans were treated individually.

UNO: Although we had heard rumors
of an evacuation,

we didn't realise
that it was going to indeed take place.

We were told that we could
only take what we could carry.

Evacuees had three choices:
they either had to sell their property,

abandon it or store it.

And in many cases, because
of the uncertainty of the situation,

many people just disposed of their
property as best they could.

We were then put on buses
and taken to assembly centers.

From the assembly centers

we lived in horse stalls
or in quickly made tarpaper barracks.

The mental anguish
that my mother went through,

having four of her sons in the service
of the United States government

and having her husband
labelled a dangerous enemy alien...

We had guards, watch towers,
machine guns...

It was a picture of incarceration.

We felt that we were prisoners -
prisoners in our own country.

It was certain
there'd be no more rubber for a while

and we'd have to make do with the stock
of rubber tires that we had.

And it wasn't in the authority of our
agency to stop the sale of rubber tires,

so we drew up an order anyway

and we had an anonymous young man
circulate it

in the Office of Production Management
that had to clear all pieces of paper.

Walked in, with "Here's the tire order,
sir." Everybody signed it.

And we froze the whole nation's
stock of rubber tires.

Everybody got work.

This was very much appreciated after
the long, deep depression of the 1930s.

You might've thought inflation
would be the major problem,

because in most countries, in most wars,
it's been a major problem.

But very early we mobilized,

we put in a rationing, and, although
there was a small amount of grumbling,

it's amazing how well
the rationing system worked.

GALBRAITH: There was a tendency
to accept shortages with one exception.

People were very resistant
to gasoline rationing.

Clothing shortages, food shortages,
coffee, sugar, people would accept.

But there was no form of
rascality, chicanery, thievery, larceny

that people wouldn't engage in
to get extra gasoline.

I think the thing they most resented

was the extreme youth
of many of us who were doing it.

The Office of Price Administration,

as I look back on it,
must've been very hard to take.

I was then 31.

David Ginsberg, my immediate associate,
general counsel, was 29,

and most everybody else
was younger than we were -

including Richard Nixon,

who was one of the more
obscure employees of the agency.

There's a famous wartime picture
of Sewell Avery,

a great tycoon of the last age,

who was head of Montgomery Ward
and brought it out of the Depression,

being carried out of his office
by two American soldiers in uniform

because he wouldn't comply
with the War Labor Board.

Our war program
for the coming fiscal year

will cost 56 billion dollars.

That means taxes and bonds...

and bonds and taxes.

-Ohh...
-We have a squeal with each orchid.

Want to get your orchid?
Come this way, please.

2250. This is really
a handsome thing to have.

You're getting this
as a premium for a war bond for $2250,

so it's really a good purchase
for anybody.

Let's have a look at that.

Hope is looking at the shoe.
He may increase his bid to $2255.

[LAUGHTER]

You're going to come up a little,
aren't you, flabby?

[LAUGHTER]

I shouldn't, but I'll go 25.

Our enemies aren't pushovers.
They're savage, skilful and relentless.

They've trained for years for
just this chance to enslave the world,

and that's just what they intend to do.
And they'll use every trick and tool.

But on the other hand,
they aren't supermen.

They didn't come down from Mars.

They can be licked
and they will be licked.

By men.

[CHEERING]

♪ We fought in 1917

♪ Rum-di-di dum dum dum

♪ And drove the tyrants from the sea

♪ Rum did-di dum dum dum

♪ We're in a bigger, better war

♪ For your patriotic pastime

♪ We don't know what we're fighting for
But we didn't know the last time

♪ So load the cannon, draw the blade

♪ Rum-di-di dum dum dum

♪ Come on and join the big parade...

♪ Rum-di-di dum dum, rum-di-di dum dum,
rum-di-di dum dum dum

♪ Let the drums roll out

♪ Let the trumpets call

♪ While the people shout

♪ Strike up the band

It was the airplanes in the hands
of the treacherous foe

that brought my husband to his death,

and if I can qualify
as an airplane worker at Vega

and with my hands
help to keep 'em flying,

I will feel
that I am carrying on for him.

♪ Hear the cymbals ring

♪ Calling one and all

♪ To the martial swing

♪ Strike up the band

♪ There is work to be done, to be done

♪ There's a war to be won, to be won

♪ Come, you son of a, son of a gun

♪ Take your stand

♪ Fall in line, yea a bow

♪ Come along, let's go

♪ Hey, leader, strike up the band

We are doing our share,

but we're going to do
infinitely more than we have done.

We have in our town today two mothers,
each of whom has given two sons already.

And, as I said before, we'll give
our sons, we'll give our lives,

but, by the help and grace of God,

we will not give up our free America
or our democratic way of life.

♪ Strike up the band

♪ Yankee-doo doodle-doo doodle-doo

♪ We'll come through,
doodle-doo doodle-doo

♪ For the red, white and blue, doodle-doo

♪ Lend a hand

♪ With the flag unfurled

♪ We can lick the world

♪ Hey, leader, strike up the band

NARRATOR: On the night of Pearl Harbor,

one man had been happy -
Winston Churchill.

For now he knew Britain was saved.

A few days later
he journeyed to Washington

to make sure the war
was going to be fought

on the British plan of Europe first
and the Pacific second,

and to cement
the new Anglo-American alliance.

What kind of a people
do they think we are?

Is it possible they do not realise

that we shall never cease
to persevere against them

until they have been taught a lesson

which they and the world
will never forget.

NARRATOR: Time, Churchill knew,
was on the Allies' side.

With America's industrial might
behind them, they could not lose.

[SHOUTS ORDER]

1942 began badly
for the Americans in the Pacific.

Manila, capital of the Philippines,
fell to the Japanese on January 1.

The Japanese pushed the American forces

back into the narrow peninsular
of Bataan.

The American plan was to hold out there

for six months or so,
until reinforcements came.

But the reinforcements never did come,

and nor had Bataan
been really prepared for a siege.

The American troops besieged at Bataan
had no air support,

were short of medical supplies
and their morale was poor.

Even their commander-in-chief,
General MacArthur,

had left them for safer shores.

Their bitter ballad:
"We are the battling bastards of Bataan"

No mama, no papa, no Uncle Sam

No aunts, no uncles,
no cousins, no nieces,

No pills, no planes or artillery pieces

"And nobody gives a goddamn."

Cock-a-hoop with the ease
of their victory so far,

the Japanese called on the Americans
beleaguered in Bataan to surrender.

The voice of the Philippines calling
the attention of everyone everywhere.

Everyone everywhere, Filipinos
and Americans all over the country...

NARRATOR: They tried leaflets too...

aimed mostly at the Filipino soldiers
among the American forces.

The Japanese closed in for the kill.

In early May, 1942,

the American commander in the
Philippines, General Wainwright,

bowed to the inevitable and surrendered
the remainder of his forces.

INTERPRETER: I've decided to accept,
in the name of humanity,

the formal surrender of all American
and Philippine army troops

in the Philippine islands.

You will - repeat, will - surrender all
troops to the proper Japanese officer.

NARRATOR: 80,000 Americans surrendered,

the largest mass capitulation
in American military history.

The Japanese made the Americans
march in the blazing sun

to prison camps
100 or so miles from Bataan.

Deprived of water and medicine,
starved and brutally beaten,

some 10,000 soldiers died along the way -

more than had been killed
in the actual fighting for Bataan.

By that spring of 1942, the Japanese
conquests were at their peak.

Surely the British and Americans would
now want to make peace, argued Tokyo -

a peace that would allow the Japanese
to retain their conquests.

But already bold steps were being taken
to strike back at the Japanese

here in the heart of their empire, Tokyo.

I was on this cruiser
called the Northampton

and we were several days out at sea
when we saw the Hornet coming up.

And the Hornet
had very unusual planes on deck -

you could see them from a long way.

They were large
land-based planes - B-25s.

MAN: We had only one real worry -
that would have been a dead calm.

Under those conditions,

taking off the carrier deck
with the heavy loads that we had

would have been at best precarious.

The worst thing we thought might happen

would be a completely alerted Japan
waiting for us.

What did happen was that
the morning just before take-off

we encountered
two Japanese fishing boats.

They spotted our task force,
sent a message to the mainland,

but, unfortunately for the Japanese,

were sunk
before they could repeat the message.

So we achieved almost complete surprise.

The actual amount of damage done
was minimal.

We were 16 aeroplanes,
each with one ton of bombs.

In the later stages of World War II,
the 20th Air Force under LeMay

was sending out 500 aeroplanes,
each with 10 tons of bombs.

So we dropped 16
against a later raid of 5,000,

so the damage was not at all great.

However, it did have some advantages.

One, we had had
nothing but bad news at home,

so it was the first good news
our folks got

and it was appreciated as good news.

It caused the Japanese
to question their warlords,

who had informed them
that Japan would never be attacked.

NARRATOR: The Doolittle raid stung
Japan's leaders and made them careless.

Ever since Pearl Harbor,

Japan's navy had sought a decisive
battle with America's navy,

a battle that would decide
once and for all mastery of the Pacific.

In early June, 1942,
the Japanese carriers

rendezvous'd close to Midway Island,

some 1300 miles northwest of Hawaii.

[SPEAKING JAPANESE]

TRANSLATOR:
We had ceased to be as wary as before.

The Americans knew in advance
that we would attack Midway.

They were waiting for us
and we walked into their trap.

NARRATOR: But while the Japanese navy's

attention was focused on Midway Island,

the American navy were preparing

to strike back
at the Japanese carrier fleet.

MAN: We had a wonderful advantage -
we were breaking their code

and they didn't know it.

So we had some idea
what was going to happen there.

We were on the scene

with the carrier force in the right spot
to meet them.

NARRATOR: Midway, one of the greatest
sea battles of all time,

meant the US regained
naval control of the Pacific

and was the end of Japan's hope
of any further conquests.

The same four Japanese carriers

that had launched the raid
on Pearl Harbor six months before

were destroyed by planes
from the very American carriers

that had been at sea
and escaped destruction that day.

The Battle of Midway doomed Japan.

The Midway battle was, many people say,
the turning point of the Pacific war -

that is, the turning point
from complete retreat on our part,

or at least an attempt
to establish a stalemate, and offensive.

NARRATOR: Turning point
not just at sea, but on land too.

The island of Guadalcanal
in the Solomons,

the southernmost limit
of the Japanese conquests.

In August 1942, the Allies returned.

For the Americans,
it was their first invasion of the war.

MAN: We had such a tiny fraction
of America's force and money -

resources and manpower resources.

90% went to Europe.

We had such a tiny little thread
of existence down there.

It was our first offensive in the Pacific

and we went in with only one division.

The Japanese were tough fighters
and they never would give up.

We had isolated a Japanese regiment

in what was known as
the Gifu strongpoint,

and they fought until
we actually had to annihilate them.

We used loudspeakers
after we had surrounded them

and tried to persuade them to surrender,
but they wouldn't surrender .

Japanese shouldn't have made
such a great effort in Guadalcanal.

They could have saved their strength.

[FLIES BUZZING]

NARRATOR: At long last the tide had
turned for the Allies in the Pacific.

But it was still as yet only a sideshow.

The main energies
were being reserved for Europe.

It was really a little odd

to the Americans in the general public
at that time

that we were spending
so little effort in the Pacific.

President Roosevelt made up his mind
that the defeat of Hitler

was by far the most important
to achieve first -

he was the most dangerous of the enemies.

And he was very skilful

in keeping American public opinion
directed towards Europe,

although we did have
a very major operation

in Japan and a very successful operation,

after we recovered
from the tremendous blow

of the loss of a substantial
part of our navy at Pearl Harbor.

I think that generally public opinion
had the feeling, as we say in baseball,

the big league was in Europe

and in the United Kingdom -
I include that in Western Europe.

The decision was made early

that Europe came first -
and it was a wise decision -

in spite of the fact

we got the devil knocked out of us
in the Pacific for a long time.

That was the right decision
and I think everybody recognised it.

Now, of course, the navy protested

at being left
way underpowered in the Pacific.

And it did put us up to
very heavy casualties and all of that.

But I think the country in general
agreed with the decision

that the real threat was in Europe.

We could take care of the Japs
in our own good time,

but the real thing that had to be met
was on the Continent.

♪ This is the army, Mr Jones

♪ No private rooms or telephones

♪ You had your breakfast in bed before

♪ But you won't have it there any more

Here we teach you how to kill:

get the opponent on the ground
as quick as possible

and snuff out his life
by kicking with both feet,

one foot, the flat of the hand,

a rabbit punch,
gouging the eyes out, ripping the mouth.

The gentle art of killing a man

is to get him on the ground
and kick in this manner. See?

Come on, all of you do that. Come on.

♪ Do what the buglers command

♪ They're in the army and not in a band

♪ This is the army, Mr Brown

♪ You and your baby went to town

♪ She had you worried, but this is war

♪ And she won't worry you any more

♪ Mr Jones, Mr Green

♪ Mr Brown...

Mr Churchill
did have a very real antipathy, I think,

toward getting ashore what he would call
prematurely onto the European continent.

He had very vivid memories

of the sacrifice
of a British generation in World War I.

Passchendaele and the Somme -
they were always nightmares to him.

After all this passion

that had been aroused
as a result of Pearl Harbor

and our being in the war, marching
and counter-marching and training,

we just had to get ashore someplace.

In view of the British attitude,

which felt we weren't prepared
to go into the main theater,

we sniffed around for another spot
to express our strength

and it turned out it was Africa.

♪ Over there

♪ Over there

♪ Send the word, send the word

♪ Over there

♪ That the Yanks are coming

♪ The Yanks are coming

♪ The drums rum-tumming everywhere

♪ So prepare

♪ Say a prayer

♪ Send the word, send the word

♪ To beware

♪ We'll be over

♪ We're coming over

♪ And we won't come back
till it's over over there

♪ And we won't come back
till it's over over there

NARRATOR: November, 1942.

600 ships, loaded with men and material,

set sail for North Africa -
Operation Torch.

Said Roosevelt, when he heard the news,
"At last we're on our way."