This WWII film, “Target: Japan”, shows the rebuilding of the fleet after Pearl Harbor, and outlines some of the strategic operations in 1943-1944. It features Fleet Admiral Ernest J. King outlining the strategic situation as it existed in 1944. The film shows U.S. troops landing on Enewetak and Kwajalein. Task Force 58 moves into the Marianas and Saipan is invaded. Troops advance on Guam. The film features footage of submarines operating in the Northern Pacific at the 4:00 mark, including a submarine with a broom lashed to its periscope mast (for “sweeping the sea” of the Japanese). At the 4:20 mark, women are seen operating control towers, and a naval aircraft factory is seen at 5:15, including jet assisted take-off for bomber aircraft. A task force is seen at the 6:30 mark, Task Force 58, with battleships and aircraft carriers in the vanguard. This Fast Carrier Task Force was the main striking force of the United States Navy in the Pacific War from January 1944 through the end of the war in August 1945. The task force was made up of several separate task groups, each typically built around three to four aircraft carriers and their supporting vessels. The support vessels were screening destroyers, cruisers, and the newly built fast battleships.
The assault on Saipan is seen at the 8 minute mark, fought on the island of Saipan in the Mariana Islands from 15 June–9 July 1944. The Allied invasion fleet embarking the expeditionary forces left Pearl Harbor on 5 June 1944, the day before Operation Overlord in Europe was launched. The U.S. 2nd Marine Division, 4th Marine Division, and the Army’s 27th Infantry Division, commanded by Lieutenant General Holland Smith, defeated the 43rd Division of the Imperial Japanese Army, commanded by Lieutenant General Yoshitsugu Saito.
The implications of an assault on the Philippines is discussed at the 11 minute mark. At the 11:53 mark, Sec. of the Navy James Forrestal makes comments about the pressure being brought against Japan.
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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
