This black & white educational/propaganda film is about the battle of Saipan during World War 2 in the Pacific between the USA and Japanese forces. The copyright is 1945.
Opening titles: U.S. Navy Training Film nonclassified, PACIFIC FIREPOWER
(:07-:36). The Marianas Islands. Tanks ride in Saipan. Saipan is the largest of the Northern Mariana Islands. Cities on the island are shown on a map. Aslito Airfield, renamed Isley Field in name of an American flyer – P-47 planes land on the airfield. Japanese retreated as U.S. pushed them back. Explosions. American forces fire at the enemy. The map of Saipan is shown with how the Japanese forces were retreating and finally were overcome. Dead Japanese soldiers strewn about, more than 16,000 were killed. 1,000 Japanese taken prisoner (:37-2:27). Pacific fleet marches onward in the Pacific Ocean. Jeeps and tanks covered on a ship. A ship is near shore and jeeps and trucks are unloaded. Truck drives through mud. Bulldozers push through heavy brush and tall trees. Tall trees are toppled. A crane moves dirt. An airfield is being made by the military. Men set up a command post. An officer uses a radio. A Republic P-47 Thunderbolt lands on the new airstrip. The P-47 is then stationary on a beach. A heavy transport plane lands which carries spares and equipment. There is also a Navy Nurse on board. She waves at the happy men. She shakes hands and the men are happy. A Japanese Zero lands. The droppable fuel tank gives them more distance. The Japanese Zero takes off. Lt. Colonel Joe Renner holds a tiny Japanese Zero model and explains it (2:28-5:32). The Navy’s new bomber, the Helldiver. A pilot gets in it, taxis out. Three of them take off down a runway. Ships on the ocean. Guam. Planes in the air, ships off the coast. Bombs explode on Guam. Fighters in formation in the sky. A battleship fires shells. Landing craft rendezvous, they then head for shore. The ship fires shells at the Japanese forces on Guam. A U.S. Soldier bites down on a cigar. Soldiers huddle together on the amphibious craft as they head for shore. Landing craft head for shore. Bombs explode all around them, the U.S. loses two craft. The amphibious crafts get on shore. Admiral Shimada, a Japanese Navy officer, followed by Hideki Tojo was a general of the Imperial Japanese Army exit vehicles. Tojo stands before the cameras. A poster distributed to Japanese production plants is read. Workers at work. The Japanese Rising Sun flag. Japanese Soldiers on the march (5:33-9:32). End credits (9:33-9:39).
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This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD and 2k. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com
