This is the real story of Operation Watchtower, America’s first victorious attack on Japanese-held land and one of the fiercest battles in the Pacific in WWII. Dramatic narration and close-up combat footage plus rare still photography capture all the intense fighting from the air, sea and land. Witness the six months of hell that earned Guadalcanal the nickname, The Island of Death in 1942.
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No mention of Sgt John Basilone, MOH?
My Dad was there in the Army combat Engineers!
100 years from now, when all the actors and their immediate descendants are dead, the US will come to recognise that the Pacific War in WW2, wasn’t conducted for any reason other than to advance the careers and interests of the Officer Corps, both Navy and Army (which included the Air Force at that time). Victory for “the Allies” was pre-ordained, all the main participants knew that, even the Japanese General Staff, the Allied Military conducted the war with callous disregard for the lives of the participants.
All the lessons that had to be learned to win in the Pacific were learned at Guadalcanal. It doesn’t matter how shiny your brass is, are your turrets aligned? Do the torpedo tubes work? Maybe seaman so-and-so didn’t get a haircut this morning, but does he know how to patch pipes? Can he fight a fire? Can he work a portable pump? Maybe the officers in the Wardroom are not “yes men” but do they know what to do with radar reports? Does your Tactical Action Officer wait for your orders in every single situation or is he willing to call General Quarters on his own initiative? Do your radar operators say “I have a Surface Contact/Air Contact bearing 020 true bearing” or do they just say “I have a bogey bearing 020”? The US Navy fought five brutal surface actions during the Guadalcanal Campaign and in only one of them was a victory: “The Battle of Cape Esperance.” It was an expensive victory at that. Even the “Duel of the Dreadnoughts” was a tactical defeat for the USN. Yes, the Japanese lost the Battleship Kirishima (modernized from a Battle Cruiser) but the USN lost four destroyers and the modern USN Battleship South Dakota was knocked out of the war for four months. But Japanese Admiral Kondo ordered a retreat which turned a tactical Japanese victory into a strategic American victory: the airfield on Guadalcanal was intact and the majestic USS Washington was the sole remaining ship in the area. At the Battle of Tassafronga five US Cruisers and four destroyers engaged eight Japanese destroyers. The result? One US Cruiser sunk, three more damaged and zero Japanese ships even damaged. The US Navy also fought two Carrier Duels at Guadalcanal the first one was a tactical draw but a Strategic Victory for the USN. The second one, the savage Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands was a Japanese victory hands down. But we were learning. All the gasoline lines on our aircraft carriers were flooded with CO2 gas before the battle so the wouldn’t explode or catch fire. During the Japanese attacks all US Navy Damage Control Specialists were ordered to lie down to avoid being hit by splinters and shrapnel. The lessons of a lifetime were learned, in six brutal, painful months.
I don't think that a General who sat in the rear and was never shot at deserves to receive the Medal of Honor! JMHO
Seen many videos and Hollywood movies about Guadalcanal, but this is one of the best. The photographers managed to capture actual footage that is beyond amazing, and string it all together into a coherent chronicle. Well done.
In these jungle environments not clearing the jungle back 100 yards or so allows the enemy to creep within feet of the defensive line–then burst out of the jungle right in the face of our guys. This poor defensive position selection continued to cause unnecessary casualties among our guys for the duration of the war. The British suffered from this lack of foresight as well..
imagine a banzai charge coming to u..scary no
Amazing how the microphone picks up the racket of the camera spooling mechanism, but no tank engines or other beach landing sounds.
my dad lost his ship there a lead heavy cruiser called north Hampton, swimmed all night , torpedo got her , PT boat picked him up in the morning , my dad knows what happened there, he also missed pearl harbor fight by three hours
This summary is a mess. It's like the whole thing was put together by an undergrad history major. It's hard to believe a grownup would put a documentary together this way.
If you know how the battle went, you’d know how much propaganda this is. The marines were incredible in the defense of the island, but most of their problems was the lack of naval support. When it finally arrived, victory was assured
Was there around 2004 to build a building and oh my word I can only imagine how our troops suffered in that climate and the mosquitoes were beyond bad they were awful
The Battle for New Britain was the longest campaign of the Pacific War, by far, not Guadalcanal… 15 December 1943 – 21 August 1945.
My grandfather commanded the 24th Infantry Regiment at Guadalcanal after the Marines had secured the island. The Marines were glad to see the Army finally show up and even more glad to get off that stinking island.
Following the Australian defeats of Japan at Kokoda and Milne Bay, Guadalcanal was their next defeat until they were occupied in 1945.
Love watching stuff on Guadalcanal. My grand father started to tell me some of the stuff he saw and did during “the long patrol”, right before he passed away.
Pops was a medic with the marines on Guadalcanal.
For an interesting look at the naval campaign for Guadalcanal, U Tuber Drachinifel did a tremendous series of videos.
27:00 watch this hit
My uncle Martin Dewey was there in the NAVY, his stories were uncle real, GOD BLESS THE U.S.A.
Correction, his stories were unreal, I miss him R.I.P. uncle Martin
My dad's uncle was a SeaBee on Guadalcanal with the 6th Naval Construction Battalion
😔🤦😔
A friend of mine, who now has passed, was with the 1st Raider Bn. on Guadalcanal. He and his best friend from high school enlisted together and both became Raiders. My friend Ralph told me his buddy Hardy was killed at Tulagi. The VFW post in my hometown is named for that young Marine who died on Tulagi.
Imagine this generation of soldiers if they had to do what they did in WWII😳we all would be speaking German,Japanese,Italian
The North Dakota National Guard 164th (ARMY) was the first to encounter the Japanese, and played a significant role in the battles. My Uncle Lt William Pflugrath (buried at Ft. Snelling, Minn) was killed by a sniper on November 22, 1942, three months after the landings.
クソ、ヤンキー
ヤンキーはこそこそにげまわるのがとくい
damn commercials,i got rid of t.v. because of them now i get rid of you toube🤬🤬🤬
Don't work
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