The Color of War Episode 2 Face to Face
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00:00During the Second World War, an entire generation recorded their personal experiences for posterity.
00:07Combat cameramen braved enemy fire to send home moving images, many of them in color.
00:14They captured history, and in the process they captured ordinary people caught up in extraordinary events,
00:21bearing witness to the color of war.
00:30The Vast Majority of Men
00:49The vast majority of men, five out of every six serving in World War II, never experienced combat.
00:56Serving instead in the huge support services that kept the war machine going.
01:05But the men who were actually at the front lived through some of the greatest horrors of the human experience.
01:12For them, everything was about survival.
01:19Surviving getting to the front.
01:23Surviving being attacked.
01:30Surviving combat.
01:34Surviving the aftermath.
01:39They persevered through an ordeal that is difficult to understand without having experienced it firsthand.
01:45Among those who did were the war correspondents and cameramen who accompanied the men into battle,
01:51risking their lives to record the sights and sounds of actual combat.
01:58The Marines have landed. The situation is not in hands yet.
02:04They're going into a lot of fire, but they're going in. They're not stopping for anything.
02:11We're seeing a rapid exchange over there with our boys putting on a little more than they're taking.
02:15The tanks are putting on a lot more than they're taking.
02:19These were the daily experiences of thousands of servicemen who actually saw combat.
02:26Their story is one of a constant struggle to stay alive,
02:31while experiencing appalling suffering and of being pushed beyond the limits of hope.
02:49The troops' first step towards battle occurred when they were gathered together in huge numbers and moved to the front.
02:57Finally, training and maneuvers were over as tens of thousands of men were crammed into troop transports.
03:04Most of the time, they didn't know where they were going or when they would get there.
03:09The ships were often grossly overcrowded, which could create barely livable conditions.
03:16There was just room for everyone to sit down, provided that they were not wearing equipment.
03:22While at night, hammocks were hung from every conceivable projection,
03:26and tables and floors were covered with sleeping bodies.
03:30There were no portholes to open, and air entered through the open hatch above.
03:35At night, the atmosphere soon became unendurable.
03:40For most of the men, this was their first extended experience on a ship,
03:47and seasickness became a significant problem.
03:51It's been very rough all day, as a result of which I've only been up long enough to eat.
03:57And then I return to my bunk and try to keep my food down.
04:01At this very moment, the boat is pitching and tossing like a cork.
04:06All sorts of rumors are going about as to when and where we will strike,
04:11but I'm too damn sick to worry about it.
04:14The last three days have really been most miserable,
04:17and I can hardly wait to set on some terra firma,
04:20even in the face of enemy machine gun fire.
04:24At best, the voyage was bearable.
04:27At worst, it was a living nightmare.
04:30Prior to the attack on Guam in July 1943,
04:34the 3rd Marine Division spent seven weeks at sea,
04:38most of that time in very bad weather.
04:41As the ships approached their destination,
04:44the troops transferred to smaller landing craft.
04:49Young, frightened, many ill from the trip,
04:53the men were weighed down with up to 132 pounds of assault gear and supplies.
05:00Some climbed into landing craft that were lowered 40 feet into the sea.
05:07Other landings demanded that the troops scramble down netting into a waiting craft.
05:13Either method could be perilous.
05:16When a man was harnessed into a pack in web belt
05:19and carried a rifle and two bandoliers and several grenades,
05:22a bayonet and a helmet,
05:25he felt as though he had a tourniquet over both shoulders and across his chest.
05:30It was hard to breathe, and limbs kept falling asleep.
05:36Climbing down to the landing craft became an adventure,
05:39not unlike walking a tightrope while wearing a suit of armor.
05:46Once in the landing craft, the journey to the shore,
05:50no matter how short, could be an ordeal.
05:53One American war correspondent who went ashore
05:56with the leading wave of an invasion in 1943
05:59described the experience.
06:02Our dash towards the unseen shore
06:05became a nightmare of sickness, pain, and fear.
06:08The boat had gathered speed now,
06:10and we were beginning to bound from one wave press to the next
06:13with a distinct shock.
06:15There were no seats of any kind in the boat.
06:18The motion threw us all against one another.
06:21It rolled us against iron pipes,
06:23smashed us against coils of wire,
06:25and jammed us on top of one another,
06:26compounding us with metal, water, and vomit.
06:31The boys are all ready.
06:33Their machine guns are right in every boat.
06:36Every man is armed with his own ammunition.
06:38He has three days' supply of food.
06:40He's completely equipped.
06:42He himself is a mobile fighting unit.
06:51Once the troops actually reached the shore,
06:53the situation varied enormously, depending on the location.
06:56Many landings met with little resistance,
06:59but the lack of an enemy didn't ensure a safe landing.
07:03Rough seas and surf destroyed
07:06almost the entire first wave of landing craft at Algiers.
07:10Reefs sometimes prevented the landing craft
07:13from getting close to the beach.
07:17Carrying their heavy packs,
07:19many G.I.s who stepped into unexpected landings
07:21or G.I.s who stepped into unexpectedly deep water
07:24or simply lost their balance drowned.
07:31An even more hazardous way of getting ground troops
07:34within striking distance of the enemy
07:36was to drop them out of the sky
07:38in unpowered aircraft called gliders.
07:43As with amphibious landings,
07:45the physical demands were intense.
07:48Air sickness was common.
07:52Cramped and dizzy in a rolling, windowless tube,
07:55enough men got sick
07:57that the floors of gliders often became slick with vomit.
08:03The wings of the glider vibrated violently,
08:06almost shook you out of your seat.
08:08You closed your eyes and clenched your teeth and prayed.
08:12Then, without an instant's warning,
08:14your seat dropped from under you.
08:16Your helmet flew off and you were on your knees on the floor.
08:18That's just the way a glider rides.
08:21The man next to you wasn't wearing a helmet.
08:23Blood is streaming down his ashen face.
08:26He's a casualty even before we've landed.
08:29His head bashed against the metal framework.
08:33The rough ride was the least of glider infantry's worries.
08:37Landings could be even more perilous.
08:41One of the worst cases was the invasion of Sicily in July 1943.
08:46Of the 144 gliders sent in,
08:4969 came down in the sea
08:52and others were scattered all over the southern coastline.
08:55Only 12 came down in the actual drop zone.
08:58More than 600 men were killed.
09:01Half of them drowned.
09:04Then there was the threat of friendly fire.
09:07During the first airborne operations of the war,
09:10more than 100 Allied transport aircraft
09:12were mistakenly shot down by U.S. anti-aircraft fire.
09:17Coordination improved after these initial tragedies,
09:21but that was too late for morale.
09:24Late in the war, American glider troops,
09:27who previously had all been volunteers,
09:30had to be conscripted despite the inducement
09:33of an extra $50 a month,
09:36which almost doubled their monthly pay.
09:39But amphibious and air transport
09:42were not the usual way for an infantryman to go into combat.
09:46World War II was no different from any other war in history.
09:50Men marched.
09:53Before an attack, start lines were designated for each unit
09:57and the most common way forward to these jumping-off points
10:00was on foot.
10:03The troops often moved at night,
10:05preparing for a dawn attack.
10:08But even during the day,
10:11marching meant pushing oneself to the limit.
10:14Within 150 yards, I was panting,
10:17and I do not really remember ceasing to pant
10:20and breathing simply and normally again.
10:23That was the way it was in the beginning of a march.
10:26Everyone was so busy, and time and space were lost completely.
10:35After enduring a long and difficult journey,
10:39the troops were finally in striking distance of enemy positions.
10:43They were far from home, tired and often very afraid.
10:49But their ordeal was far from over.
10:52In fact, it was only beginning.
10:56Already these men moved in another world,
11:00in the world of absorption in the fight
11:03and in personal survival,
11:06which started just across the river.
11:18Once the men were assembled at the front,
11:21they began to prepare for battle.
11:23Once the men were assembled at the front,
11:26wherever that front might be,
11:29there was usually a period, sometimes an agonizingly long one,
11:32during which they waited for the order to attack.
11:35But this didn't mean the troops could simply stay
11:38in their trenches or foxholes, biding time.
11:41In all of the theaters of war, patrols were essential.
11:45Intelligence had to be obtained about the enemy's location,
11:48his strength and his intentions.
11:50This original footage of combat patrols in the Pacific
11:54captured the danger and tension of these missions.
11:59On June 21st, 1944, the day after my 19th birthday,
12:04my company was given the mission of a daytime combat patrol.
12:08A combat patrol is an action where a large, heavily armed group
12:12probes the enemy line, not so much to gain ground
12:16as to determine enemy strength and reaction to an apparent attack.
12:21It can also be a feint, while the main attack hits elsewhere.
12:28In short, it is a group of soldiers looking for trouble,
12:32and if you look hard enough, trouble will usually find you.
12:37Sometimes a patrol set out under orders to bring back prisoners
12:42who might reveal important information.
12:45These types of patrols were often the enlisted man's
12:49first face-to-face encounter with the enemy.
12:54A patrol could either set up an ambush, hoping to trap an enemy patrol,
12:59or they could burst into an enemy position
13:02and try to make off with a few prisoners.
13:05In either case, patrols were an excruciating experience.
13:09Muscles tightened into steel knots,
13:11and emotions strained to the breaking point.
13:14There was much creeping forward, much stopping to listen,
13:18many false alarms.
13:20On the return, there was still a chance of being lost,
13:24of meeting an enemy patrol, or of stepping on a mine.
13:28Then, when our lines were reached,
13:31there was always the chance that some trigger-happy sentry of our own
13:35might fire at us.
13:37For all the men who participated in the patrol,
13:39patrols became a feared and hated responsibility.
13:43They were unavoidable, and they came at regular intervals.
13:48An American soldier could expect to go out on patrol every nine or ten days.
13:55It was much worse for the company officers.
13:58They had to lead a patrol every other night.
14:02Most of them were forced to survive on no more than four hours' sleep a day.
14:06And yet, ironically, the psychological motive for patrols
14:10was to keep the men alert.
14:14It was often after a hard day that an officer would be called upon
14:18to take out a patrol, to harass the enemy,
14:21or destroy an abandoned tank, or,
14:24and this is the hardest of all, for a prisoner,
14:28or just to find out how far the enemy had gone.
14:32Riflemen were sometimes called to the patrols
14:35Riflemen were sometimes so tired that they would fall asleep
14:38at each pause of the patrol.
14:41While patrols probed the enemy's lines,
14:44the vast majority of men stood by waiting for essential supplies
14:48and reinforcements before receiving the command to go into combat.
14:52In the meantime, they could often expect an attack from enemy artillery.
15:01Stuck in their foxholes or trenches,
15:04all the men could do was hunker down,
15:07pray that they wouldn't get hit,
15:09and try to tough it out as the world exploded around them.
15:14They're firing at us again.
15:16Something must be up.
15:20Never knew we could take such a pounding and still be here.
15:23I've been shivering and with an earache, but
15:26right now I'm thankful I'm alive.
15:28Many times I thought we would be driven back from the tremendous pounding.
15:32I'm sure most everyone prayed.
15:35The roar of a bombardment was overwhelming,
15:38but the consequences of shelling could be even more devastating.
15:43In Tunisia and Italy,
15:45the impact of a shell threw out hundreds of small rock chips
15:49that were as deadly as flying shrapnel.
15:52On some Pacific islands, bombs blasted into coral beds,
15:56sending thousands of potentially lethal shards slicing through the air.
16:04Being shelled is a real work of an infantry soldier,
16:07which no one talks about.
16:10Everyone has his own way of going about it.
16:14In general, it means lying down
16:16and contracting your body into as small a space as possible.
16:20In novels, you read about soldiers at such moments fouling themselves.
16:25The opposite is true.
16:27As all your parts are contracting,
16:29you're more likely to be constipated.
16:35Even worse were those rare occasions
16:37when the bombardment came not from the enemy,
16:40but from one's own forces.
16:43World War II bombing technology was not capable of pinpoint precision,
16:48and sometimes outright errors were made.
16:53During the battles of Cassino in central Italy,
16:56one flight of American fighter bombers
16:58unwittingly dropped its load over American lines,
17:01ten miles away from their intended target.
17:04There were over 150 Allied casualties.
17:08One American soldier who endured a bombing by friendly forces
17:12described the experience.
17:15After a few minutes, I felt like shouting,
17:18That's enough!
17:20But it went on and on until our eardrums were bursting
17:22and our senses befuddled.
17:24Several bombs fell on my company
17:26and I found myself shouting curses at the planes.
17:30In the weeks following the invasion of Europe in 1944,
17:34inaccurate bombing runs by the 8th U.S. Air Force
17:37killed 171 Allied troops and wounded over 700 more.
17:44Several months later,
17:46the 9th U.S. Air Force mistakenly bombed the 30th U.S. Division
17:50in a series of raids lasting three days,
17:53killing numerous infantrymen and civilians
17:56and earning them the bitter nickname of the American Luftwaffe.
18:00Such accidents were an unavoidable consequence of mass warfare.
18:09Enemy bombardments were furious, frightening and often fatal.
18:15And all troops could do was attempt to survive them
18:18until the order was given to advance.
18:22Now, they would have to leave what little shelter they had
18:25and make their way across a killing ground called No Man's Land.
18:39Everyone was shouting, screaming, swearing,
18:42shouting for their mom, shouting for their dad.
18:45I didn't know whether to look at the ground or at the sky.
18:49Someone said look at the ground for mines,
18:51someone said look at the sky for the flashes.
18:53Shells were coming all ways.
18:56The man next to me got hit through the shoulder.
18:59He fell down.
19:02I looked at him and said Christ,
19:04and then ran on.
19:06I didn't know whether to be sick or dirty my trousers.
19:09After weeks, sometimes months,
19:12of living in almost unbearable conditions in the field,
19:15enduring the agony of patrols and surviving enemy fire,
19:19the order to advance finally came.
19:23Item company is going to move on up.
19:26We're going to move on up.
19:28We're going to move on up.
19:30We're going to move on up.
19:32We're going to move on up.
19:34We're going to move on up.
19:36Item company is going to move on up,
19:39so we'll have to probably go up about 200 yards or more.
19:42This is the second day of fighting,
19:44and they're moving slowly but steadily up the ridge.
19:47Everything is quiet now,
19:49but whenever they get up, they start moving out
19:51while they bamboo-fire and mortar shells left and all.
19:53That's why it's taken so long to get up.
19:55Every time they do move, we'll have to open up on them.
20:01The infantry in World War II
20:02almost always had to press forward
20:05towards heavily fortified enemy positions,
20:08often under fire,
20:10often unable to return fire until they got into position.
20:17Those on the front soon became familiar
20:19with the arsenal of enemy weaponry
20:21that was trained against them,
20:23each weapon terrifying in its own way,
20:26each of them deadly.
20:28One of the deadliest,
20:30and often one of the first encountered,
20:32was the landmine.
20:34Millions of landmines were used during the war.
20:38They were a particularly insidious weapon,
20:41designed to maim, not kill,
20:43so both the wounded man
20:45and those assisting him would be unable to fight.
20:51In Europe, the German shoe mine was particularly feared.
20:54Because it was made of wood,
20:56it couldn't be located by electronic mine detectors,
20:59which identified the devices
21:01by detecting the magnetic fields of their metal casings.
21:06The Japanese applied the same concept in the Pacific,
21:09using ceramic as well as wood casings
21:12to make their mines undetectable.
21:17Mines such as these were such a threat
21:20that U.S. Marine combatants
21:21J.B. Fellows
21:23was directed to shoot this rare film on Iwo Jima,
21:26in which a marine engineer demonstrates
21:29the features of the mines
21:31and how to disarm them.
21:42At first sound of exploding mines,
21:45the Germans would lay down
21:47final protective fires
21:48with machine guns, mortars and artillery.
21:51If the men fell to earth to escape this fire,
21:54they might detonate more mines.
21:56Some elected to remain erect
21:58through intense shell fire
22:00rather than risk falling on a mine.
22:05The nerve-wracking task of mine detecting
22:08fell on the shoulders of engineers,
22:11infantrymen whose responsibilities
22:13included everything from building bridges
22:15to vehicle maintenance.
22:17In Europe, electronic mine detectors
22:19were sometimes used,
22:21but due to a shortage of the devices
22:23as well as the fact
22:25that they were ineffective
22:27against non-metallic mines,
22:29most mine detecting
22:31by British and American troops
22:33was accomplished by a much more harrowing method.
22:36Individual engineers
22:38got down on their hands and knees
22:40and felt with their fingers
22:42or probed with a bayonet.
22:44Despite the best efforts
22:46of engineer troops, however,
22:48mines remained one of the principal threats
22:50to Allied forces in both theaters.
22:53A Japanese anti-tank mine on Guam
22:56was powerful enough
22:58to blow this 33-ton Sherman tank
23:00on its back.
23:17Machine guns were employed
23:19with deadly accuracy
23:21in all theaters.
23:23In Tunisia,
23:25the Germans had extremely strong
23:27defensive positions.
23:29Dug into heavily fortified sites
23:31on hilltops or ridges,
23:33they could afford to wait
23:35until a target was within reach
23:37before firing.
23:40The Germans knew
23:42that in bad weather
23:43the only fighting object
23:45which can get up a hill
23:47is a man
23:49and that the surest and most economical way
23:51to stop men climbing hills
23:53is to spray them
23:55with machine gun bullets.
23:57One machine gun
23:59unleashing more than 10 rounds per second
24:01could wreak havoc
24:03on an entire platoon.
24:05Even the most cautious advance
24:07could be obliterated in seconds.
24:09On the surface,
24:11a rifle would appear
24:13to be a far less threatening weapon
24:15than a machine gun.
24:17But in the hands of a sniper,
24:19it was as deadly as any other.
24:22In the impenetrable forests
24:24and hedgerows of France and Germany,
24:26a skilled sniper could be a threat
24:28to even a large formation.
24:33Snipers also attacked troops
24:35in the Pacific.
24:36Sharp shooting Japanese
24:38could remain completely concealed
24:40in a cave or treetop
24:42until their targets
24:44were almost on top of them.
24:46Even after they fired,
24:48it was usually impossible
24:50to tell where they were located.
24:53Wherever snipers were encountered,
24:55it was critical
24:57for the men to know how to respond.
24:59It's best to go slowly
25:01and very deliberately
25:03and in small groups.
25:04Snipers very often
25:06won't fire in a group.
25:08They're afraid of giving away
25:10their position to the men
25:12whom they can't hit
25:14with their first shots.
25:16You've got to keep dispersed,
25:18move fast,
25:20and keep on moving
25:22whatever happens.
25:24Many a man has been hit
25:26through freezing and bunching down
25:28when trouble starts.
25:30You feel inclined to drop down
25:32and bury your head
25:34but when you do,
25:36you give them a real target.
25:38All the old hands will tell you
25:40to keep your head up
25:42and your eyes open.
25:45In Italy and northwest Europe,
25:47there was a weapon
25:49that was even more feared
25:51than machine guns,
25:53rifles, and mines.
25:55It was a small but powerful
25:57German rocket-launched mortar
25:59called the Nebelwerfer
26:01which was so effective
26:03US soldiers nicknamed
26:05the Nebelwerfer
26:07the screaming or moaning mini
26:09because of its shell's
26:11loud and unnerving wail.
26:13The psychological effect
26:15the weapon's noise had
26:17on the troops
26:19was almost as terrifying
26:21as the actual moment of impact.
26:23The moaning mini sounded
26:25just like a lot of women
26:27sobbing their hearts out.
26:29The noise would start
26:30and there would come
26:32six 6-inch mortar bombs.
26:38An army study found
26:40that the machine gun
26:42was the most dangerous weapon.
26:4450% of the men shot
26:46by machine gun fire died.
26:49For artillery,
26:51the number shrank to 20%
26:53and for mortars,
26:55including the screaming minis,
26:57it was even less.
26:58Soldiers consistently concluded
27:00that the vast majority of men
27:02found the noisiest weapons
27:04the most frightening
27:06and believed they were
27:08the most dangerous.
27:10We could hear it fire
27:12in the distance.
27:14Then for several seconds
27:16everything would be quiet
27:18until it hit.
27:20You'd think the whole
27:22damn mountain had exploded.
27:24Through machine gun fire,
27:26mines, snipers, mortars
27:28kept moving forward,
27:30fighting the enemy,
27:32fighting their own fear.
27:35As friends fell around them,
27:37others continued to advance,
27:39moving forward
27:41toward an even more
27:43frightening confrontation,
27:45personal contact with the enemy,
27:47weapon to weapon,
27:49face to face.
27:59War isn't nice.
28:02We fought the Jap often
28:04and I'm proud to say
28:06I've killed them,
28:08plenty of them,
28:10but I've lost some good friends
28:12right beside me.
28:29Nothing that any G.I. experienced
28:32leading up to combat
28:34compared to actually
28:36coming to grips with the enemy.
28:43In the Pacific,
28:45the Japanese were a tenacious
28:47and well-trained adversary
28:49whose tactics were completely
28:51alien to American troops.
28:55In unfamiliar territory,
28:56the Allies attacked
28:58these unseen troops
29:00who were deeply dug
29:02into both natural
29:04and constructed defenses.
29:06The Japanese had spent
29:08months on fortification
29:10which had to be knocked out
29:12one by one.
29:14Usually these strongholds
29:16were called pillboxes
29:18and were constructed of
29:20coconut logs and coral blocks.
29:22Some of the stronger built
29:24pillboxes were two stories deep
29:26If they were bombed or shelled
29:28the Japanese would drop
29:30through a trap door
29:32into the lower level
29:34about 15 feet underground.
29:36Pillboxes of this type
29:38will stand anything
29:40but a direct hit.
29:46On Iwo Jima,
29:48800 such strong points
29:50and three miles of tunnels
29:52were uncovered within an area
29:54of only eight square miles.
29:57The assault on this maze
29:59took three full days.
30:02It was a foot-by-foot crawl
30:04with mortars, artillery,
30:06rockets, machine guns
30:08and grenades
30:10making us hug every rock
30:12and shell hole.
30:14Rock slides were tumbled down
30:16on our heads by the Japs.
30:18Each pillbox
30:20was a separate problem
30:22an intricately designed fortress
30:24that had to be smashed
30:26to the ground.
30:30Even after a strong point
30:32had been secured
30:34armed Japanese often
30:36refused to surrender.
30:38The warrior code of Bushido
30:40did not allow for surrender.
30:42The consequences of such refusals
30:44were almost always deadly.
30:46An interpreter wasted
30:48a good 20 minutes
30:50pleading with a couple of nips
30:52asking them to come out
30:54of the pillbox and surrender.
30:57When the flamethrower moved in
30:59one of the nips rushed at him.
31:01The flame caught him in mid-air
31:03and he fell to his hands and knees.
31:05When the smoke cleared
31:07he was frozen in the same position
31:09as if he was crawling
31:11on his hands and knees.
31:14Flamethrowers were ineffective
31:16against another common
31:18Japanese defense
31:20deep elaborate networks of caves.
31:22In the Philippines alone
31:24hundreds of caves
31:26with hundreds of connecting tunnels
31:28were destroyed
31:30by a more lethal flammable weapon
31:32called napalm.
31:34It was a mixture of gasoline
31:36and chemical powder
31:38that made a flammable
31:40gelatinous substance
31:42designed to cling
31:44to everything it touched
31:46especially human flesh.
31:52Jap infested caves
31:54are dug at staggering levels
31:56through solid coral and limestone
31:58which ran through
32:00hundreds of yards
32:02of treacherous hills and ravines.
32:04Throughout the campaign
32:06hundreds of thousands
32:08of tons of explosives
32:10were thrown at the hills
32:12to level them
32:14and seal the caves.
32:16Like the pillboxes
32:18caves could not be secured
32:19with explosives left.
32:21In the confusion
32:23and uncertainty of battle
32:25situations occurred
32:27that tore at the emotions
32:29of even the most hardened soldier.
32:31This was especially true
32:33on Okinawa
32:35the only part of the
32:37Japanese homeland
32:39to experience ground warfare
32:41during World War II.
32:43For the first time
32:45in the Pacific campaign
32:47the Battle of Okinawa
32:49saw these poignant images.
32:51Tragically
32:53many Okinawans
32:55were loath to surrender
32:57after being told repeatedly
32:59about the brutality
33:01of American troops.
33:04The patrol had spotted
33:06a couple of nips
33:08and before anyone could
33:10fire a single shot
33:12they both beat it
33:14back into a cave.
33:16After a few minutes
33:17a long burst into the cave.
33:19When all the screaming began
33:21they found that the cave
33:23was loaded with civilians.
33:27I had to get away from there.
33:30Worrying about someone else's
33:32feelings can get you killed.
33:39The fighting was no less brutal
33:41earlier in the Pacific campaign.
33:43This rare recording
33:45of a battle on the Marshall Islands
33:47was the first ever
33:49eyewitness account of combat
33:51to be broadcast live
33:53on the radio.
33:56Can you hear that sound?
33:58Those my friends are bullets.
34:02Just landed here
34:04about 15 minutes ago
34:06and I don't know
34:08whether I sound scared or not
34:10but I am.
34:12I don't know if you hear
34:14any rifles popping or not
34:15it's just everything in the book
34:17is going off around this joint.
34:20We're up just a little further now
34:22and you can probably hear
34:25the shots of them.
34:28Them tanks over here
34:30is a concrete abutment of some sort
34:32and they're set up behind us
34:34in a pretty nice manner.
34:36However our boys are going
34:38to get them out somehow.
34:40There they go, that's the bazookas.
34:42Those bazookas are really
34:43getting in line now.
34:45They're going to blast them
34:47out of there, concrete and all.
34:49Our boys are running across.
34:51I haven't seen any of them
34:53come back yet.
34:55A few casualties come back
34:57but other than that
34:59they're going straight ahead.
35:01Another bazooka let loose.
35:05Tanks are getting into position
35:07too in several places.
35:14Even when the Japanese
35:16were beaten
35:18they still had one horrifying
35:20weapon left,
35:22the bonsai charge.
35:26You start hearing bonsai
35:28all over the place
35:30and suddenly it looks like
35:32every nip in the Japanese army
35:34is coming at you.
35:36You have your finger squeezing
35:38the trigger of the machine gun.
35:40You can see the fire
35:41of the recoil.
35:43You can barely hear it
35:45because every marine
35:47up and down the line
35:49is firing too.
35:51You can hear the crack
35:53of nip bullets overhead
35:55but everything is happening
35:57so fast you don't have
35:59very long to be scared.
36:01You wonder when
36:03they're going to stop coming.
36:05Some of them have come
36:07so close before dropping dead
36:09you have to get out
36:11of the fire.
36:15I'm not afraid any longer
36:17since I met God
36:19the other day.
36:21I met him on Iwo Jima
36:23and I followed while
36:25he led the way.
36:27We've come through
36:29this hell together.
36:31He's been by my side
36:33every day.
36:35He stays every night
36:37in my foxhole.
36:39He stands watch
36:41all the time.
36:43As God in the Pacific
36:45warfare was also
36:46raging in Europe and Africa.
36:49It was a different type
36:51of combat
36:52but it was no less horrific
36:54and no less deadly.
37:01One shell burst
37:03not 25 yards ahead of me.
37:05I ran forward
37:07into the smoke and dust
37:09nearly falling over a man
37:11I grabbed him by the arm to help him to his feet, crying,
37:15Come on, boy, let's go.
37:17Only then did I look down to see that the soldier had no feet.
37:31While the war in the Pacific was fought on alien terrain
37:34against a dangerous unknown enemy,
37:37the war in Europe and Africa was in many ways
37:40reminiscent of World War I.
37:43The Allies attacked heavily fortified German lines
37:46and strongpoints built on high ground.
37:49As in the Pacific, the infantry suffered the greatest toll
37:52as they engaged in an agonizingly slow and brutal push forward.
37:57American war correspondent Sergeant Ernie Stanley
38:01went to the front lines and described what it was like
38:04to be in an infantry unit during an attack.
38:08Well, we're about on the front lines right now.
38:10We only got to go to this hill, and then that is the front lines,
38:13so they tell me.
38:15And possibly you can hear some of our guns
38:17as well as some of the enemy shells falling not far from us.
38:21This is how it feels to be on the front lines.
38:24We're going to turn around now and go back toward our command post.
38:29I just received word from one of the tanks
38:31on the damn train, damn track driver,
38:33that this field is mine,
38:35so we're going to have to watch how he turns around.
38:37Well, that's all we can do is trust in him now to get us back.
38:42Another American war correspondent, Seymour Corman,
38:45described the experience of U.S. soldiers
38:48trying to marshal for an advance under an intense artillery barrage.
38:54All through the night and all today,
38:56the Germans have been smashing at our precious plot of ground.
39:00The shells are roaring over now,
39:02and they've got plenty of steam and variety.
39:05The holding on the beachhead consists of flat, barren land
39:08intersected by ditches and canals.
39:11Every spot is under direct enemy fire.
39:14Every moment, the odds are being played by our men
39:16against their being killed by a shell or a bomb.
39:22Allied forces faced another challenge
39:24as they tried to advance against the Germans.
39:28Throughout Europe, the Germans flooded land behind them
39:31to block the Allied offensive.
39:34Fighting across miles of completely waterlogged ground
39:38was enormously difficult.
39:40The going was extremely slow
39:42as men and equipment slogged through the mud and water.
39:47In Holland, the Germans breached the dikes
39:49and then trained their machine guns and artillery
39:52on the few roads left above water,
39:55knowing that the Allies would eventually have to use them.
40:00Often in these flooded areas,
40:02hundreds of German soldiers were left behind
40:04in buildings and other strong points to harass the Allies.
40:10These pockets of resistance had to be flushed out
40:13by troops using small boats.
40:15The boats afforded little protection for the men,
40:18and the missions could be extremely hazardous.
40:26Even after the troops overcame Germany's major defenses,
40:30they still had to contend with further obstacles.
40:34Thick forests were among the last bastions
40:37for the retreating German forces,
40:39and the Allies suffered heavy casualties
40:42as they advanced through the dense foliage.
40:47One of the last forms of German resistance faced by Allied troops
40:51came from pockets of armed troops
40:54laying in wait in French and German towns.
40:58This so-called street fighting
41:01required carefully securing every house in every village.
41:06It was a slow, dangerous, often ferocious process.
41:13The old hands at the game go through a town
41:16keeping inside the houses and using bazookas
41:19to knock holes in the dividing walls as they go.
41:22When they come to the end of the block
41:24and have to cross the street to the next block,
41:27they throw out smoke and cross over under cover of that.
41:32They say it's usually better to clear out a house
41:35from the top downwards if you can,
41:37break a hole in the roof,
41:39and get in by an upper floor if possible.
41:43We began the house and barn clearing on the edge of town.
41:47Not many prisoners were taken,
41:49as if they did not surrender before we started on a house,
41:53they never had the opportunity afterwards.
41:57Even after the enemy surrendered, the battle wasn't over.
42:03For the fighting men of World War II,
42:05every phase of combat, including its aftermath,
42:09presented unique challenges.
42:12The memories that haunted these men
42:14moved many of them to write about their experiences.
42:18I stood watching the infantry.
42:21Without any show of emotion, they got up,
42:24picked up their mortars, their rifles, and ammunition,
42:28and walked slowly up the road towards the enemy.
42:33With the same bored indifference of a man
42:36who goes to a work he does not love,
42:39men moved slowly against death.
42:43And although the shafts were heavy,
42:46and although the shaft of every stomach
42:49was a vacuum of bile and lead,
42:51no sign was given,
42:53and I tried to cover my fear.
42:58It was like being completely suspended,
43:01like being under a strong anesthetic.
43:05Not asleep,
43:07not even in a nightmare, but just having everything stop.
43:11Our lips were cracked with the dryness of fear,
43:14and our voices sounded to us like the voices of complete strangers,
43:18voices we had never heard before.
43:22Men's mouths were literally black with dryness from fear.
43:27Not just a few of them,
43:29but all of them.
43:32The soldiers' struggle to deal with the feelings
43:35churning through him during and after battle
43:38has been called the sharpest end,
43:41an agonizing place filled with horror and uncertainty.
43:47Until the fighting was over,
43:49and for most men long after,
43:51dealing with the effects of combat
43:54was the toughest battle of all.
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