This film might disturb some viewers. [orchestral music] narrator this is the pacific as you know it wide stretches up water, but this is the pacific as the joint chief of staffs view it, a battlefield, a vast, plane on whiched the japanese defensive lineman is in the heart of the homeland. It is the most heavily fortified island in the world. Very deep underground, the japanese weight. 20,000 other fighting men waited for us to make the first move. And they dont have to wait long. [explosions] the navy begins to soften up the island so we can land. [explosions] planes from our Carrier Force take off to strafe and bomb. [machine gun fire] [explosions] gunboats movie and close to work over enemy beach installations. [machine gun fire] enemy fire gets closer. Heavy gunfire] dday, the beginning of the toughest 26 days in history. We watch the Center Control vessels. When this flag drops, our Landing Craft will head to the beach. Artillery explosions] 500 Landing Craft in 10 ways advance on 10,000 yards of beach. [heavy gunfire] enemy fire keeps us pinned down. We want to pull the beach over our heads, like a blanket. Explosions]re and Navy Medical Corpsman carry our wounded out fast. Our tanks, sure our tanks come ashore and grind in. [tank treads turning] we are able to advance from yellow beach, but it is slow going. [artillery explosions] [machine gun fire] we run into trouble on green beach. From there fortified positions on mounts bocce, the mount uribachi, the japs look right down our throats. [automatic gunfire] we need help. We call the command ships standing offshore. Our message is received. The situation map is checked. The support air director contacts carrier planes circling the target. The fight leader receives his instructions. [airplane engines droning] [bombs exploding] as we hit suribachi from the air, supporting ships deliver pointblank fire. [heavy artillery explosions] [heavy machine gun fire] after 72 hours of continuous pounding, our patrols move forward. A mortar barrage searches out. Idden machine gun nests [heavy machine gun fire] we keep a sharp lookout for snipers. Admiral turner gives the order to cease fire. Our guns are quiet as we make the climb. Suribt for a sign that achi is ours. Suribachi is ours, a toehold on the southern tip of the island, but ahead, the main strength of the jap garrison was entrenched in steel and concrete. The show is just beginning. Navy and coast guardsmen rush supplies ashore for the big push north. They never saw a jap, but fire was coming out of every hole and every rock. It was tough going. Many didnt make it. [heavy gunfire] crossfire ahead is murderous. [heavy gunfire] rocket trucks go into action. Spot our position. We dont even have time to remove our dead. [bombs whistling overhead] [explosions] there are heavy defenses on the ridges overlooking this plain. They draw a bead on us again. Fivechase us off there times. We came back six. We brought in our wounded, and we took a breather. The injured are carried to the , plasma is given on the way , hospital dugouts are ready for anything. And we are ready to advance again. Whistle being blown] we call for artillery. [artillery fire] [continuous explosions] duel develops at night. [continuous explosions] one of our ammunition dumps goes up. Weeks, we have cleaned up plenty of japs between here and i, but there is still a lot of violence to be taken, with plenty of japs fighting from pillboxes and caves. We have to go and dig them out, one by one. [heavy machine gun fire] when we cant dig them out, we burn them out. [explosions] [heavy gunfire] while we fought, we prayed. Wreckage along the beach was only a small part of the cost of 26 days of fighting. Beautiful queenie. And there were other names too, names of our friends. We stacked the helmets of our dead in neat piles, helmets of 4000 men who died to take a tiny island somewhere in the pacific. You are right, marine, youve taken a tiny island, but its not just eight square miles lost. Today its a american port, only a few hours from tokyo. Today from your little island, giant Striking Forces are launched against the heart of japan. Today, our planes and ships are blasting the enemy into ashes at ujiyama. Of f with confidence in our armed forces and the unbending determination of our people, we will gain the inevitable triumph, so help us god. [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2020] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] you can watch archival films on Public Affairs in their entirety on our weekly series reel america, saturday 10 00 p. M. And sunday at 4 00 p. M. Eastern here on American History tv. Just south of marilla amarillo is the penn dentalplanes the panhandleplains museum. Next, we hear about the influence of kansas city on the development of amarillo. People know lot of about the ranching history of this area. This history is more like an american regional story that hasnt been told. The isolation of the ranching history as texas, texas,
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