THE PACIFIC WAR - Japan versus the US | Full Documentary

0:03 it was a bitter fight for supremacy in asia japan had provoked the us in the pacific war the second world war now spanned the entire globe the two naval nations competed against each other on the world's largest ocean and fought battles on an unprecedented scale [Music] the u.s had to transport their troops and their supplies across thousands of kilometers to regain control of japanese occupied asia it was a battle for every island and even though airplanes played the most

0:49 important role at that time it was the soldiers on the ground whose blood was shed in the struggle for victory on beaches as well as in the jungle [Music] on december 7 1941 american broadcasters interrupted their program with a special report japan had attacked the american military base pearl harbor in hawaii fully unprovoked the second world war had entered a new phase

1:37 japan had signed hitler's tripartite pact and was subject to severe economic sanctions it was only a matter of time before the japanese empire would be at war with the us the military leadership in tokyo saw the american presence in the pacific ocean as a dagger to the throat in 1940 the u.s relocated its pacific fleet to pearl harbor hawaii and it is here that admiral isuruku yamamoto planned to destroy it on sunday december 7 1941 the japanese combat unit arrived at the starting point for its attack at 6 a.m the six japanese carriers turned toward the wind and started their

2:23 planes dive bombers torpedo planes and fighter planes just after sunrise the aggressors bore down on the marine base just as it awoke it was 7 48 am shortly afterwards the first report was sent to the japanese leaders torah torah torah the codeword used for the successful surprise attack all eight of the u.s pacific fleet's battleships were moored in a double row along ford island an ideal target two waves of attacks approximately 350 planes took part in the japanese airstrike [Music]

3:11 that left five u.s battleships at the bottom of the harbor the other three battleships a cruiser and several destroyers all sustained heavy damage the japanese destroyed 188 american planes at both the hickam and wheeler air force bases the japanese themselves lost a mere 29 planes in the attack [Music] as the smoke began to clear over the naval base in hawaii the majority of the american pacific fleet had been destroyed more than 2 400 u.s soldiers were dead america was now at war

3:57 the attack was intended as a liberating move for japan the empire's dependency on oil and other raw materials forced it to conquer more and more land as it expanded under roosevelt the u.s tried to hinder this by means of economic sanctions and lastly an oil embargo at first glance the attack was a great success or so it seemed however none of the american aircraft carriers were at the naval base at the time [Music] the u.s aircraft carriers enterprise and lexington were tasked with taking planes to the american bases on midway and wake and were thus spared in the attack

4:43 in 1941 aircraft carriers were a relatively new weapon before that battleships were considered rulers of the ocean however this symbol of power at sea proved to be virtually defenseless against relatively cheap airplanes the attack on pearl harbor turned the u.s battleship fleet into a fleet of aircraft carriers a tactical and strategic revolution with far-reaching consequences for the future u.s president roosevelt called the attack a day of infamy on december 8 1941 the u.s declared war on japan

5:28 shortly after and unprovoked hitler announced that germany now found itself at war with america too the second world war had erupted into a global wildfire japan had already been on a military campaign for the best part of the previous 10 years in manchuria in china and in the pacific region japan wanted to expand its imperial reach and to do so the country needed to gain unlimited access to natural resources the attack against the u.s fleet was meant to buy japan additional time to conquer more land and thus secure its supremacy the japanese were expanding their sphere of control at the same time as the attack on pearl harbor

6:14 the tennos soldiers were driving the americans away from wake island in the central pacific as well as seizing dutch-controlled india from the dutch the land of the rising sun was waging a merciless war of conquest and it seemed as though nobody could stand in their way by the spring of 1942 the japanese dominion had expanded to its largest size ever the japanese empire was at the point of having uncontested control over the entire far east while displacing its european colonial rulers thailand hong kong and singapore fell to the japanese in just a few weeks north borneo indonesia and the philippines were the next to surrender

7:00 emperor hirohito's troops rampaged through the pacific region like a hurricane in the months following pearl harbor i shall return u.s general douglas macarthur promised on march 12 1942 as he was forced to flee the philippines in may the remaining u.s soldiers capitulate thousands of them died on their way to prison [Music] the u.s had no choice but to go on the defensive president roosevelt needed to show strength and the americans demonstrated their resolve by conceiving an unconventional plan they were going to hit the enemy where it would hurt most tokyo the emperor city the son of heaven would soon feel

7:46 their wrath firsthand [Music] on april 2nd 1942 the u.s aircraft carrier hornet set course for japan there were 16 b-25 bombers tied down on board in fact the u.s army's airplanes were not designed for taking off from aircraft carriers returning to the ship and landing on deck was out of the question therefore they had to fly to china after the bombing raid the attack was drawn up and then executed by lieutenant colonel james h doolittle and his name went down in history for what came to be known as the doolittle raid on route the hornet met the aircraft carrier enterprise

8:32 it led task force 16 the escort for doolittle and his planes the crew on board the hornet waited for its deployment they strapped old japanese friendship medals to their bombs as a greeting to the enemy after pearl harbor there was no longer any hope of friendship [Music] on the morning of april 18th the day of the attack the fleet encountered japanese forward post ships the americans managed to sink a few of these small ships however they were unable to stop them from sending radio transmissions the u.s unit had been discovered

9:18 doolittle and mark mitcher the hornet's captain decided to launch the bombers immediately the first b-25 piloted by james doolittle took off 10 hours earlier than planned the bomber set course for tokyo all the crew members were volunteers and they knew what this premature launch meant there wouldn't be enough fuel to make it to the part of china not occupied by the japanese [Applause] the coup was a success us bombs fell on tokyo america so the story goes was able to strike back

10:04 most of the bomber crews made it to non-japanese-controlled territory following the attack and then headed home to the u.s two men drowned during an emergency landing on water eight u.s soldiers were taken to prison in japan three of whom were executed japan's leaders were shocked the u.s pacific fleet appeared to be more threatening than ever spring 1942 chester nimitz u.s commander-in-chief of the pacific sent a carrier strike group to the coral sea after receiving a warning from american radio intelligence admiral yamamoto intended to attack the

10:49 americans in the central pacific the japanese plan to establish strongholds on new guinea and the solomon islands in order to secure their territory but it's here where the americans are waiting to ambush them this was the first sea battle in history that was fought at such long distance and using planes exclusively the two fleets never came into view of each other the war of the aircraft carriers had begun the enemies launched their squadrons almost simultaneously they met over the coral sea the battle lasted for two days [Music]

11:38 the americans sank the japanese carrier shoho and dealt heavy damage to japan's brand new carrier shokaku a third japanese carrier the zuikaku lost virtually all of its aircraft the americans also took a real beating the carrier lexington sank and the yorktown was heavily damaged but the japanese advance was halted [Music] with their attack on pearl harbor the japanese had awoken a giant now thirsty for blood within a few months the u.s industry switched to the production of military equipment

12:25 it was a new generation of aircraft carriers that was meant to reclaim power for the us in particular in the pacific the ships were fast had a long range and could carry up to 100 planes the americans moved unit after unit to the pacific via the panama canal [Music] and they had a decisive advantage after having decoded the japanese encryption system [Music] u.s code breakers were now able to decode a large part of japanese communications and in doing so prevented further surprise attacks

13:12 the scene of another encounter was a tiny spot in the middle of the pacific ocean the u.s naval base midway japan intended to provoke a fight with the american fleet with a diversion attack on the aleutian islands and by occupying midway island here admiral yamamoto planned to bring about what pearl harbor failed to do the complete destruction of the u.s pacific fleet on june 4 1942 the japanese launched their attack on midway the enemy's radio defense rendered yamamoto's plan void the americans were prepared

14:01 the three aircraft carriers hornet enterprise as well as the yorktown which had been quickly repaired following the coral sea battle waited in ambush 300 miles northeast of the midway atolls [Music] then a u.s plane discovered the japanese advance commander yamamoto and admiral nagumo the commanding officer of the japanese aircraft carriers were completely oblivious to how dangerously close the enemy had drawn [Music] a japanese reconnaissance aircraft also cited enemy ships however its transmission warning the

14:47 japanese of the presence of aircraft carriers came too late chaos ensued onboard the japanese aircraft carriers as the threat revealed itself first nagumo's airplanes had to be re-equipped for sea targets and yamamoto's battleships were too far away to intervene [Music] but even the american attack was uncoordinated at first virtually all the u.s torpedo bombers were destroyed but dive bombers later destroyed three out of the four japanese carriers within just a few hours the soryu kaga and japanese flagship

15:34 akagi in the afternoon of june 4th 1942 the americans even managed to sink the hiryu the final carrier in japan's attack fleet admiral yamamoto had to abandon his plan and withdrew the americans had now gone on the offensive their advance should have then taken them in the direction of new guinea but as u.s reconnaissance planes discovered that the japanese had built an airfield on the solomon island of guadalcanal the island became their first target from here japanese planes threatened u.s supply lines

16:19 air dominance played a decisive role in the pacific and the airfield on guadalcanal had become a powerful chess piece in it that's why the u.s commanding officers ordered its troops to attack the island and conquer the japanese airfield [Music] the americans sent 19 000 marines to the solomon islands under the code name operation watchtower their objective to drive the japanese away from guadalcanal and to laggy to the north however it was a rather small expeditionary force that was tasked with these objectives the u.s found itself in the middle of a war spanning two oceans germany first was the instruction the

17:06 allies global strategy had provided it was not until nazi germany had been conquered that all resources could be directed toward the pacific theater of war the troops knew very little about the islands accurate maps of the region were yet to be drawn up this was the first deployment for the majority of the nineteen thousand u.s marines most of whom were very young further out to sea admiral frank fletcher shielded the landing with a fleet of three aircraft carriers and the battleship north carolina [Music] the operation launched in the early

17:53 hours of august 7 1942 with shelling of the coast of guadalcanal the americans did not know what awaited them on the beach nor did they know whether or not the landing sectors were defended and if so how they didn't know how many of the enemy would be awaiting for them at the edge of the jungle or whether they would live or die in the next few hours they had no reason to suspect that the battle for the island of guadalcanal would go down in history as one of the bloodiest in the pacific war at 9 00 a.m the first marines set foot on red beach the name given to the landing sector by u.s strategists

18:39 they encountered only a little resistance on the beach the japanese defending soldiers had withdrawn into the jungle where they suffered heavy losses at the hands of advancing american troops by the following day the u.s marines had already taken control of the airfield they christened it henderson field in honor of major lofton henderson who fell at midway then they set out in pursuit of the japanese troops that night and the following days saw repeated hard-fought sea battles the japanese sank several american cruisers the battle of savo island is considered the greatest defeat suffered by the us navy during the second world war soldiers engaged in hand-to-hand combat

19:26 in the hinterland and jungle of guadalcanal november 1942 the marines finally gained the upper hand on guadalcanal on the other side of the globe the destruction of germany's sixth army began in stalingrad russia the british expelled general rommel from egypt and while the u.s drove the remaining japanese troops out of guadalcanal the allies landed on the north african coast the americans british and french work together to establish control over morocco tunisia and algeria [Music] was losing the initiative in europe in the pacific the americans finally got

20:13 the chance to go on an all-out offensive against the japanese empire november 1942 marks the turning point in the second world war [Music] the u.s had seized an important base with guadalcanal their air force now controlled the solomon islands but the price for such a victory was much bloodshed the americans lost almost 7 000 men in the battle for the island the japanese on the other hand suffered more than double the number of fatalities because of the island's airfield and unbeknownst to the japanese high command

20:58 it had lost its most important general in the fight for supremacy in the pacific american code breakers had decoded a radio message which revealed that admiral yamamoto was due to do a tour of inspection u.s commanding officers decided to intercept his plane isoruko yamamoto the mastermind behind pearl harbor was to be made accountable for the attack the mission was given to one of the lockheed p-38 lightning squadrons stationed on guadalcanal the planes with their distinctive twin tail booms were deployed as reconnaissance planes and as high altitude fighters vengeance was the code name given to the

21:44 operation which launched with a group of interceptors taking flight on april 18th 1943. the pilots knew of yamamoto's destination his flight route and exact flight time they even knew who was escorting him the conditions for interception could not have been better after flying 650 kilometers the american fighters engaged the admiral's aircraft [Music] isuruku yamamoto died in a hail of bullets his plane crashed into the jungle on bougainville island one of the solomon islands killing yamamoto meant that the u.s had eliminated one of

22:29 japan's most important figures from the game the americans turned their attention to the aleutian islands following the death of the enemy's chief strategist the uninhabited and strategically unimportant archipelago was occupied by the japanese as a diversion before the attack on midway since then two and a half thousand japanese soldiers had been holding out on the american territory an unacceptable situation for the us they sent 150 000 soldiers to the islands of atu and kiska located between alaska and kamchatka to liberate them from occupying forces more americans died in these battles due

23:17 to adverse weather conditions than at the hands of the enemy the soldiers deployed to the aleutian islands were poorly prepared and inadequately equipped the japanese defended the islands with fierce determination in one last desperate attack against american supremacy approximately 500 japanese soldiers committed mass suicide following the bushido samurai codex this involved holding grenades against their stomachs and detonating them [Music] they would rather die than surrender the us troops would continue to encounter this conduct repeatedly during the war with japan

24:02 and this behavior contributed to a significantly high number of losses on both sides the battles for the islands of atu and kiska carried on well into august 1943. american commanders had already turned their attention to new objectives this is why the battle of the aleutian islands is also known as the forgotten battle [Music] after the solomon islands had been secured the united states began its advance on the japanese motherland one aircraft carrier after another left the shipyards

24:48 in 1943 alone the u.s navy put half a dozen carriers of the new essex class into service approximately 270 meters long with a displacement of 27 000 metric tons and a crew of over 2 600 men a floating airport with space for 80 to 100 aircraft the units entered the pacific ocean through the panama canal where they were formed into aircraft carrier groups [Music] in november 1943 operation galvanic was launched the objective was to conquer the gilbert islands a strategically important chain of atolls on the dividing line between the north and south pacific

25:38 the u.s had set a veritable armada in motion 17 aircraft carriers and 10 battleships were pulled together in front of the gilbert islands as well as numerous cruisers destroyers and troop transporters tankers and freighters supplied the huge battle unit galvanic marked the beginning of an island jumping operation by the american armed forces which had already been described in war plan orange a strategy paper from 1919 drawn up in case of a war with japan the first objective of the operation landing on tarawa a small atoll with an airfield on the western island of

26:25 baichio the japanese leaders were aware of the strategic significance this tiny at all had beechio island along with its airfield was developed into a stronghold the defenders pledged to fight to the bitter end for their tenno at dawn on november 20th 1943 the u.s invasion fleet got into position in front of the island [Music] the shelling of tarawa began at 5 am

27:14 a gun battle between the american ship artillery and the japanese coastal guns ensued [Music] five thousand marines set course for the beach for the first wave of attacks the u.s navy stopped firing so as not to endanger the lives of its own troops bombers and fighter planes were now meant to service flying artillery and eliminate point targets on the island but smoke and fumes obstructed their view many of the well-camouflaged japanese machine gun nests and gun emplacements remained undetected the landing craft were moving towards a

28:01 still heavily defended beach the u.s troops were also hopelessly behind schedule the low tide was already setting in and many boats got stuck on the coral reef as the tide went out the soldiers of the first attack wave had to reach the beach without any artillery support they were easy targets for the japanese defenders a chaotic and ultimately life-threatening situation was developing at some of the landing sections coming under heavy fire the marines

28:47 stormed the beach and tried to reach the edge of the jungle which offered some degree of cover the americans counted 500 fatalities on the first day alone [Music] after four days of heavy fighting the at hole had been captured [Music] only a few of the 4 500 japanese defenders surrendered the rest died on the island more than 1 000 marines had also lost their lives on the beaches of tarawa [Music] the americans expanded the airfield to

29:34 suit their requirements and put it into operation the very first day after their victory they called it hawkins field after first lieutenant william dean hawkins who fell alongside many other comrades in the assault on tarawa news of the conquest of the gilbert islands had reached home the actor lewis hayward captured the landing on tarawa on film he was a soldier in the u.s marines whose mission it was to document the landing his film shows the full extent of horror and brutality experienced during the battle for the island initially the commanding officers wanted to hold the film back but once president roosevelt had seen it

30:20 he decided that it should be broadcast the american population was both shocked and frightened but the film triggered a wave of support and backing for u.s soldiers fighting all over the globe [Music] hundreds of thousands volunteered to join the war in europe and the pacific among them many women who joined the war effort as nurses and hospital staff [Music] the u.s army and navy maintained separate units for the nurses these provided care and nursing for the incessant stream of wounded and sick soldiers

31:07 and even when they were deployed outside actual combat zones they worked in constant danger hospitals and hospital ships were also potential targets for the enemy [Music] october 1944 the u.s was now advancing throughout the pacific region in the west general macarthur had the philippine island of laity in his sights the united states identified a key strategic position in the philippines by recapturing the region it could isolate japanese troops in china burma and indonesia and cut them off from their other battle zones in the pacific the battle of leyte began on october 18

31:54 1944 with the bombing of island regions and the jungle behind them reconnaissance planes identified the targets for the naval artillery before the fleet fired several hundred tons of shells at the island on october 20th 1944 the troops of the 24th u.s infantry division landed on laity without encountering any major resistance on the island's beaches the bridgeheads on the coast were quickly secured and a few serious skirmishes with the japanese defenders emerged only in the island's

32:40 interior the u.s army maintained the upper hand at all times on the american side the losses were negligible the landing troops were also supported by several thousand filipino gorillas fighting at their side [Music] the battle for the island marked the beginning of the americans taking back control of the philippines their commanding officer was getting ready to make his grand entrance for general douglas macarthur the filipino reconquest was a personal

33:26 matter he wanted to fulfill his promise of returning to the philippines and finally the time had come however the japanese fleet retaliated against the americans in the gulf of laity and in the philippine sea losing the philippines would be fatal for japan it faced losing its supply routes to occupied indonesia and with it its access to oil which was vital to the war the japanese navy sent almost its entire remaining fleet into the waters surrounding laity but the americans were three times as powerful by number of ships alone eight heavy u.s aircraft carriers

34:13 cruised the philippine sea accompanied by a heavy escort of five modern battleships there were also as many light carriers each carrying 50 aircraft on board the u.s navy could deploy more than 1 200 aircraft against the tennos fleet the japanese were carrying out a desperate plan their last aircraft carriers were to serve as bait they were to engage the navy in battle while their battleships destroyed the american landing fleet they accepted the loss of their carriers

35:00 what followed was one of the greatest naval battles in history the americans might was overwhelming they sank four japanese aircraft carriers off the coast of leyte including the zuikaku the empire's final operational carrier three battleships ten cruisers and many smaller units were sunk by u.s airmen and radar-guided naval artillery the japanese also lost most of their carrier-based air fleet in the battle the empire unsurprisingly lacked well-trained and experienced pilots the philippine sea swallowed what was left of them the japanese navy lost the capacity for

35:47 coordinating future attacks with this battle what was left of their fleet was but a pitiful remnant of the imperial navy that had once dominated the pacific and so the first kamikaze attacks by japanese planes took place off laity on command they attacked american ships as manned bombs a sacrifice in the name of the fatherland in the tradition of the samurai a futile sacrifice [Music] november 24 1944

36:33 from the mariana island of guam the u.s air force launched its first strategic attack on tokyo capturing the mariana islands marked another milestone for america's pacific strategy with guam tinian and saipan the u.s now had three airports from which its newest bomber could take flight the b-29 super fortress with its immense range the b-29 could reach any target in japan [Music] by this time tokyo and other japanese cities had become regular targets of american bombs the newly deployed 20th u.s air force

37:19 was stationed on saipan the battle for the island was extremely bloody and brutal while 26 000 japanese soldiers died fanatically defending it 3 500 soldiers lost their lives on the u.s side yet the horrors of the war were made unbearable on saipan among the dead left behind by the battle were 12 000 japanese civilians they killed themselves on mass even killing their children the american soldiers were only able to stop and save but a few japanese

38:06 this disturbed the gis and made them despair for years japanese propaganda had demonized them as the spawn of evil out of both fear and a sense of honor the people of saipan would rather take their own lives than surrender to american occupying forces [Music] u.s soldiers searched for survivors but few were found the majority were children that had been hidden [Music] interpreters using megaphones tried to dissuade the desperate from committing suicide they begged them not to jump and to choose life instead

38:52 but to little avail the american was the devil at least that's what propaganda had taught them they wanted to preserve their purity as well as their honor so they preferred to die the americans also experienced how fanatically a virtually defeated japan defended itself in the fight for a spot of sand in the pacific iwo jima the island with the prominent mountain suribachi at its western tip was only 20 square kilometers in size a japanese airbase that the americans wanted for themselves for three days they weakened iwo jima in preparation for an attack what they did not know

39:38 the enemy had retreated into the depths of the island the whole island and the cinder mountain suribachi in particular were riddled with caves and tunnels in their bunkers the defenders waited until the storm of steel raging above them was over the landing began on february 19th more than 30 000 marines headed for the only favorable landing section a beach of black sand on the southern edge of the island the operation was to be completed in one week and both iwo jima and the airfield would be in the hands of the marines

40:25 the defense was led by general tadamichi kuribayashi he was aware that he could not prevent the americans from taking it his plan was to inflict the most terrible losses possible on the u.s soldiers [Music] kuribayashi spent two years in the u.s he knew the country well and knew how quickly the mood of the american public could change if enough u.s soldiers were to return dead [Music] as the marines ventured into the interior of the island he attacked [Music] fanatically the japanese struggled for every meter the americans fought from bunker to bunker each position had to be

41:12 taken individually there were hundreds of them on february 23rd a group of marines stormed the summit of suribayachi and raised the star-spangled banner a second squadron later put up a larger u.s flag this was probably the most powerful symbol of the american fight in the pacific but the battle was not yet won of the soldiers in the picture three more would lose their lives before fighting would cease from iwo jima fighter planes now accompanied the flying fortresses all the way over the main japanese islands

41:58 in march 1945 80 000 people died in a single attack on tokyo japan and the son of heaven were now exposed to an american firestorm april 1945 the american fleet lay off okinawa the battle for the island was to become the biggest of its kind in the pacific it would last for a quarter of a year the u.s soldiers set foot on the japanese motherland meeting only little resistance on the beach the enemy had entrenched itself within

42:43 the island like iwo jima the first japanese attack came from the air and targeted the landing fleet it was the last contingent of the japanese air force and the planes were manned only by pilots with basic training who were tasked with sacrificing their lives for the nation in the first wave more than 300 suicide planes crashed into the american ships the japanese called them the shimpu tokotai or special attack force [Music] in allied parlance they soon became known as the kamikaze

43:28 one ship one plane that was their mission [Music] for many of them it was the first and also the last mission of their lives more than 2 000 japanese pilots flew to their deaths in this way some hit their targets they damaged the u.s flagship bunker hill and the enterprise however they could not sink the two carriers for days japanese airplanes rained down on the u.s fleet 34 ships sank the largest of them was a destroyer the pilots sacrificed themselves in vain

44:17 [Music] the biggest battle between american and japanese troops began with the landing on okinawa it would last three months the defenders followed their orders to fight to the last cartridge about 12 000 americans died on okinawa however this number seems small when compared to the approximate 75 000 japanese soldiers who died in the same battle neither commanding officer survived us general buckner died in an artillery attack and japanese general mitsuru ushima committed suicide by slashing his own stomach in true samurai tradition

45:05 it was also the first time on okinawa that japanese soldiers surrendered to the americans in such large numbers typhoon of steel is the name the locals later gave the battle more than a third of the inhabitants died in this typhoon over 120 000 elderly women and children many of whom took their own lives as on saipan children and young people died in the service of the japanese defenders they went to their deaths as messengers ammunition carriers or paramedics those who wanted to survive hid underground seeking shelter in caves and on the

45:51 cliffs they sought protection from the attackers but above all from the japanese defenders franklin delano roosevelt would not live to see the victory on okinawa on april 14 1945 america bid farewell to its president with an active state roosevelt had died two days prior in doomed berlin hitler excitedly spoke of a miracle not knowing that he himself had only a few days to live vice president harry truman took over the presidency july 1945 it had been three months since the end of the war in europe the german

46:36 army surrendered on may 8th the fuhrer had shot himself the week before the victors met in potsdam to discuss how europe would navigate the post-war world from berlin u.s president truman called on japan to surrender unconditionally japan refused at the time of the potsdam conference truman already knew that the weapon that would finally bring japan to its knees had been tested successfully the us had become a nuclear power with the atomic bomb the ultimatum meant the immediate and complete destruction of japan should japan refuse to surrender the u.s president had now acted upon

47:22 this threat he ordered that the new bomb be deployed against the empire which was already on its knees and whose military was not willing to end the war on august 6 1945 an american b-29 aircraft dropped the atomic bomb little boy on hiroshima the city was obliterated almost entirely two days later stalin marched on japan occupied manchuria three months after germany's surrender as discussed at the yalta conference in early february 1945 three days after hiroshima the americans loaded another plane with a second atomic bomb from their base on tinian

48:11 fatman was the name of the nuclear explosive that was to be dropped on nagasaki [Music] it is impossible to determine the exact number of victims of the hiroshima and nagasaki bombings however estimates put the death toll from both the atomic blast and aftermath at numbers widely exceeding 100 000 japan surrendered in response to the attack on nagasaki the country is devastated and its fleet destroyed the land army was defeated the air force no longer in existence stalin's red army drove the japanese occupying forces out of manchuria

48:59 on september 2nd 1945 aboard the u.s battleship missouri anchored in tokyo bay general douglas macarthur accepts japan's unconditional surrender three years and eight months after the attack on pearl harbor the indomitable holy realm has been defeated tokyo lay in ruins the cities of hiroshima and nagasaki were both in a sea of debris and had become contaminated graveyards for countless victims the site marked the end of the second world war