This first episode gives you a good glimpse of how different warfare in the Pacific was from Europe or North Africa, and I wanted to let you know to be ready for a much higher level of brutality in this show. I do not know how many episodes ahead you have watched, and I do not want to spoil anything, but this show does an admirable job showing how much more brutal and deadly combat was for Americans in the Pacific than in the European or African areas. Far more Americans died and were wounded in the fighting in North Africa and Italy and France than died and were wounded in the Pacific, but the rates at which men were killed and wounded was far higher in the Pacific than in Europe. In Europe, the casualty rate for each 1000 men deployed per day was 1.75...in the Pacific, that number was 5.5...the death rates were even more uneven, with .36 deaths per day per 1000 men in Europe to 1.78 in the Pacific. So please be prepared for this show to somewhat accurately reflect those killed and wounded rates being so much higher.
Not sure why some places you watch this doesn’t have the intros from the actual people. I know on HBO Max they include them and Tom Hanks explaining what’s going on with the war with maps of the islands that makes it a lot easier to know what’s happening and where it’s happening
its because the box set comes with the intros, but online versions don't have it added. inn the box set you have to click "play with historical background" not an option for online versions. you can find them all on youtube tho.
A name that is not mentioned the Guadalcanal campaign is that of Jacob Vouza. Jacob was an Island native that volunteered to scout for the Marines. They gave him a small American flag that he proudly carried with him. On one of his scouting trips he was captured by the Japanese. They tortured him but he refused to give them any information. They tied him to a tree and used him for bayonet practice. They left him there to die but Jacob managed to free himself, walked 3 miles to a marine post, and before he allowed the doctor to put him under he told the officer in charge that the Japanese were getting ready to attack. The marines prepared their defenses and within 10 minutes the attack came. For his actions, Jacob was awarded the Knights Commander of the Order of the British Empire, the George Medal, the US Silver Star, and the US Legion of Merit. In 1968 Jacob was flown to the US by 1st Marine Division Association. He loved the Marines and they loved him. He should have been mentioned somehow.
Sid Philips is duplicated at the end of the episode celebrating his birthday. What’s noteworthy about this birthday is that he turned 18 during this infamously harsh battle. He was a combat veteran before he was old enough to cast a vote or be considered an adult.
My Grandfather served in Guadalcanal during the war. He never wanted to talk about what he saw there as he said it would only bring back memories he wanted to forget. I have a lot of pictures he took while there and still have one of his uniforms. I really loved this series as it gave me just a small glimpse into what he experienced. It's cool that you're watching it.
My uncle was there, but in the army, not the Marines. I never really knew him as my dad was the youngest of 8 and I am the youngest of 7. I guess my uncle always had to sleep alone for fear of night terrors and flashbacks causing him to harm whomever was nearby.
Make sure you watch all shows which have the "Historical extras", these will have all the Marines talking about what happened. Just like Band of Brothers has the extra video called "Together We Stand Alone", The Pacific has an extra video called "Profiles in the Pacific". You need to watch the two movies about the lives of the two Conscientious Objectors who have been awarded the highest honor the US bestows the Medal of Honor. The first is about Alvin York during WWI the movie is Sergeant York, the second is about Desmond Doss during the battle of Okinawa the movie is Hacksaw Ridge. The big difference between the two was where Desmond Doss refused to use a weapon, Alvin York used his gift to use a weapon to save lives. The Battle of Okinawa is in The Pacific also. Two other movies you should watch is about the battle of Iwo Jima, which is also in The Pacific series. The two movies are Letters from Iwo Jima, the other is Flags of Our Fathers. One is from the Japanese perspective, the other from the American perspective.
15:12 He would likely have been executed by his officers if he returned to base. That's why he breaks down and begs them to shoot him, so he can at least die an "honorable" death.
The naval battle they were cheering on was the Battle of Savo Island. The ship that went up was the USS _Vincennes_ which took a torpedo to her powder magazine. The battle was a lopsided Japanese victory, with the loss of the _Vincennes_ and the HMAS _Canberra_ the remaining Allied task group withdrew, leaving the Marines at the mercy of the Japanese battleships _Hiei_ and _Kirīshima_ and their 355mm main batteries.
A bit of a read but I know a lot about this battle and the participants if anybody cares to learn a little about what these men did. They don't show it here, but then Sergeant John Basilone burnt his hands all the way to the bone carrying that machine gun. After he lost his glove, basically a thicker oven mitt, he carried that red hot browning 1919 .30 caliber machine gun bare handed, running through the jungle killing dozens. Basilone and the few men he was with fought for two straight days, not one. No sleep, no water, no food, dying of exhaustion and malaria. Fighting day and night, sprinting back and forth to resupply and maintain the guns. Exhaustion like you couldn't believe. After the fighting was over, bulldozers had to be brought in to bury the dead. Those few men, between 10-20, and all them but three (including Basilone) died. They'd fought off an entire Japanese regiment, upwards of 3000 men, with basically no support. The number of KIA is unknown but they described mounds of corpses surrounding every fighting position, hundreds of bodies. He got the Medal of Honor for that, and got sent home to sell war bonds. He demanded over and over that he return to the fight. Even though he could have lived like a celebrity and died of old age. He was famous in the US at the time. After enough requests, they sent him back. He died on Iwo Jima. He destroyed a fortified Jap emplacement by himself with grenades and a flamethrower. He guided a tank through a minefield while under heavy fire. Finally, he tried to rally men for an assault and got hit by artillery or a sniper, unknown. His story is just one of countless that didn't get told, didn't have witnesses, so no medals. Those guys gave everything. I served in modern times in the Corps and those Marines legacy is revered and cherished by all. Even in training you learn their names and stories, and they really try to make you understand how brutal it was. Run up and down a hill with 40lb of gear and another 60-70lb of ammo, a hundred times, as fast as you can, while people are shooting guns and explosives at you, knowing if that ammo doesn't get where it needs to go, your brothers will be overrun and probably die, and you haven't slept or ate or even sipped water in days. It is absolutely gut wrenching to try and place yourself in those boots, the things they saw and did were beyond anything we can imagine. They were forever changed by it. Waking up every night for the next 60-70 years in a sweat, your dreams replaying over and over how your brothers died in front of you, trying to make sense of something that is truly senseless. Wishing you'd taken the bullet, or been in a different spot, or didn't miss the guy who threw a grenade at your brothers. I really believe all Americans should understand the sacrifices. The things done to preserve this life of ours were tremendous. The families gave their brothers, sons, fathers. The men gave their bodies and souls. Uncommon valor was a common virtue. Semper fi. God rest those weathered souls.
They are both amazing and I could watch them 100 times. I really hope you go back and watch the opening intros. They should be included, as they add so much.
T here were a number of factors involved. First Japan never signed the Geneva Convention so they didn't follow it. Second at the time of Pearl Harbor, the Japanese had been fighting in China for about 4 years. Also their own discipline was brutal by the standards of US or European armies. For both reasons they were extremely hardened. Finally they'd been raised to regard the emperor as literally a god, which made them even more fanatical.
The war in the Pacific was in my opinion more brutal than the European war. The biggest difference was it was between 2 different cultures. For the Japanese the worst thing a solider could do was to surrender. So they really treated allied soldiers that surrendered very badly. The other thing the Japanese would do is what we saw that one soldier do pull out a grenade kill himself and 2 US soldiers. Sadly it happened enough that US soldiers became very nervous about trying to take Japanese prisoners. I know I read somewhere from a US soldier that after a few incidents like this they never attempted to take a live Japanese prisoner the rest of the war. So compared to western Europe a very brutal war.
In some ways. But one consistent I've found throughout US military history is the USMC are pretty dedicated to historical revisionism so that they always have it tougher than everyone else. The contributions of the Army and Navy are buried to a footnote in many accounts of the pacific theatre (look at this and the following episode, the navy is shown to have completely abandoned them when in reality they fought tooth and nail throughout the campaign suffering far more deaths, and the army are shown as fat and happy and their combat contribution is never mentioned. And the whole series is based on not just the 3 primary memoirs (helmet for my pillow, with the old breed and islands of the damned) and histories but the commonly accepted lore of the marines is how it was so much worse than everywhere. But while the Japanese were suicidally brave and vicious they also lacked the tactical competence (on land), equipment and firepower of the Germans.
There is an unstated theme in TP where they show how Japanese tactics change through the war. The Japanese, like everyone else, did what worked for them the last time. Japan had been in a war for years against China. The Chinese troops were undisciplined and had incompetent leaders. When the Japanese would attack at night with loud noises and flares the Chinese would panic and flee. This did not work against the well trained Marines. It took a while for the Japanese to adapt. As they did the battles became bloodier. As we advanced closer to Japan our casualty rate started to increase steeply. The math of this influenced the decision to drop the bomb.
If you watch actual films, you might notice that Japanese prisoners are very often in their underwear - the reason was because US soldiers would force them to strip so they couldn't hide any weapons.
@@michaelstach5744 I'd still prefer the snow. At least there are no snakes, spiders, scorpions and other biting and stinging insects and pests to harass me.
Cool Larissa, glad you are reacting to The Pacific. At first I didn't like this one as much as BoB but it has grown on me to the point that I like it just as much. Looking forward to your reactions!
There are interviews with these guys, there is also a full documentary with some of these guys, it's on youtube as well I think(I watched it here), its called "Peleliu 1944 horror in the pacific", they went through some very rough times. I think that was recorded some years prior to this series though, so I dont think it has anything to do with it. A qoute from that documentary - How could I describe Peleliu? - Probably the toughest campaign in World War II. - Well, I would say that it was almost indescribably and intensely horrible, almost beyond imagination.
Larissa, I think you should definitely watch Breaking Bad, The Sopranos, Mr. Robot, The Dark Knight Trilogy, Inception, Interstellar, and Oppenheimer at some point
Hopefully you can watch the intros because they show actually footage of the war (bodies included) and the real men. Compared to band of brothers this show focuses more on the brutality and the psychological effects of war. Alot of people think the violence is to much but i think its to show what our ancestors went through and it would dishonor them to tone done and downplay their sacrifice. And like any good war show/movie by the end of it should make you anti-war and hate it. To explain leckies dad in his book it’s explained that he lost his brother and his dad never seemed to get over that and when he left his dad couldn’t cope. Now fun fact the naval battle you see would go on to be called the “battle of the savo island” it would go on to be the worst naval defeat in US naval history losing nearly 2/3 of the fleet in a signal night and the waters around Guadalcanal became know as “iron bottom sound” due to the amount of ships both sides were losing. Next episode when you see the bombings of the airfield and compare it to band of brothers on EP 7 how bad that artillery barrage? That was with 88 and mortars now the bombings that the airfield and marines suffered was from battleships and cruisers with guns as big 14in (355 millimeters!) to 8in (203MM) guns so it was even more devastating and terrifying A great documentary to watch similar to “we stand alone together” is “he who has seen war” it involves both the old vets from BOB and the Pacific and they talk about their service and how they reintegrate back to civilian life
The night time naval battle was the Battle of Savo Island, considered one of the worst defeats in US Navy history. The Japanese caught the Americans completely off-guard. Early in the war, the Japanese were far more experienced, and the Americans had a bad combination of over confidence, and under performance. The defeat at Savo Island caused a thorough investigation, and major reforms in tactics and procedures. The captain of the USS Chicago actually killed himself prior to the investigation being released, due to shame over abandoning the battle mid fight.
Regarding the officer who got a "panic attack", I believe it's called a combat stress reaction in english, in high intensity warfighting(think e.g Ukraine) it is pretty common, it doesn't mean one is "loosing it", it's temporary and short-term and friends can help one snap out of it.
I think the reason you don't get as many interviews with the real soldiers in the beginning is because this series was filmed 5 years or so after BoB and a lot of them had passed away by then. You do get Sid Phillips who lived long into old age, but most of these guys sadly were just gone by the time of this series.
Initially the Japanese were taken by surprise. The Japanese naval counterattack nearly destroyed the USN in the Pacific, 9 months after Pear Harbor. ;-( ... it was hidden from the public at the time. It took 6 months to clear that island. The Japanese did constant counterattacks on land, air and sea.
It's interesting that they show Leckie floating in the water. In his book, Helmet for My Pillow, he talks about swimming across the Tenaru after the battle looking for a katana. After he is back he notices the crocodiles swimming around. If anyone is curious about the first battle depicted. The Operations Room channel does a good video on it: ua-cam.com/video/HhVaI38dvco/v-deo.html
He swam the Tenaru because they were told swimming in the waters prevented malaria, which seemed true. He saw binoculars on a dead Japanese soldier and swam across to retrieve it. Later he saw a V shape in the water and heard crunching sounds. It was crocodiles eating the dead Japanese. He never swam it again.
Oh please do yourself a favor and watch more Sid Phillips in Ken Burns’ documentary “The War.“ That smile is so infectious - plus you’ll get more of the American perspective from the homefront during The War; it’s a very well-done documentary that also includes stories from The Philippines, which personally affected my family. These stories are intimate and unforgettable and must be watched for posterity. Also highly recommend the short documentary “Ghosts of Bataan.“
currenrly strapping up my boots to jump through the next month of crying. this show is great but it gets realistically dark. this campaign was one of war crimes and torment. Into the green inferno...
If anyone is looking for Band of Brothers Ver 2.0, this ain't it. The theme here is that War is Hell - and it sucks. And it only gets worse. Don't wanna join the VFW and meet for beers when you get home, you just wanna crawl under the covers and try to forget it ever happened. Without the warm fuzzies it doesn't get good ratings like BoB, but it needs to be watched. I hope you can stick it out - a lot of people think it's not worth their time.
Watch ALL of my reactions to The Pacific already!: Patreon.com/larissazeeuwe 🤩
This first episode gives you a good glimpse of how different warfare in the Pacific was from Europe or North Africa, and I wanted to let you know to be ready for a much higher level of brutality in this show. I do not know how many episodes ahead you have watched, and I do not want to spoil anything, but this show does an admirable job showing how much more brutal and deadly combat was for Americans in the Pacific than in the European or African areas.
Far more Americans died and were wounded in the fighting in North Africa and Italy and France than died and were wounded in the Pacific, but the rates at which men were killed and wounded was far higher in the Pacific than in Europe. In Europe, the casualty rate for each 1000 men deployed per day was 1.75...in the Pacific, that number was 5.5...the death rates were even more uneven, with .36 deaths per day per 1000 men in Europe to 1.78 in the Pacific.
So please be prepared for this show to somewhat accurately reflect those killed and wounded rates being so much higher.
It was also hugely over optimistic in that many thought the war would be over in a short time. It turned out to be a long war.
Not sure why some places you watch this doesn’t have the intros from the actual people. I know on HBO Max they include them and Tom Hanks explaining what’s going on with the war with maps of the islands that makes it a lot easier to know what’s happening and where it’s happening
its because the box set comes with the intros, but online versions don't have it added. inn the box set you have to click "play with historical background" not an option for online versions. you can find them all on youtube tho.
A name that is not mentioned the Guadalcanal campaign is that of Jacob Vouza. Jacob was an Island native that volunteered to scout for the Marines. They gave him a small American flag that he proudly carried with him. On one of his scouting trips he was captured by the Japanese. They tortured him but he refused to give them any information. They tied him to a tree and used him for bayonet practice. They left him there to die but Jacob managed to free himself, walked 3 miles to a marine post, and before he allowed the doctor to put him under he told the officer in charge that the Japanese were getting ready to attack. The marines prepared their defenses and within 10 minutes the attack came.
For his actions, Jacob was awarded the Knights Commander of the Order of the British Empire, the George Medal, the US Silver Star, and the US Legion of Merit. In 1968 Jacob was flown to the US by 1st Marine Division Association. He loved the Marines and they loved him. He should have been mentioned somehow.
This series is brutal. I think you'll appreciate the exploration of humanity in this.
Sid Philips is duplicated at the end of the episode celebrating his birthday. What’s noteworthy about this birthday is that he turned 18 during this infamously harsh battle. He was a combat veteran before he was old enough to cast a vote or be considered an adult.
This episode was light. It gets MUCH heavier from now on
My Grandfather served in Guadalcanal during the war. He never wanted to talk about what he saw there as he said it would only bring back memories he wanted to forget. I have a lot of pictures he took while there and still have one of his uniforms. I really loved this series as it gave me just a small glimpse into what he experienced. It's cool that you're watching it.
My uncle was there, but in the army, not the Marines. I never really knew him as my dad was the youngest of 8 and I am the youngest of 7. I guess my uncle always had to sleep alone for fear of night terrors and flashbacks causing him to harm whomever was nearby.
You might recognize Joseph Mazzello aka Eugene Sledge as the little boy from Jurassic Park.
Also playedJohn Deacon in the film "Bohemian Rhapsody"
when you said "i feel that i know him" thats because the actor of eugene is little timmy from jurassic park :)
I hope you find the version where it has the Tom Hanks voiceover and the veteran interview intros from now on because they are great.
Sadly I recorded all of them already but I’ll definitely look for it and watch it after
This series is Excellent. This Campaign was brutal ❤
Make sure you watch all shows which have the "Historical extras", these will have all the Marines talking about what happened. Just like Band of Brothers has the extra video called "Together We Stand Alone", The Pacific has an extra video called "Profiles in the Pacific". You need to watch the two movies about the lives of the two Conscientious Objectors who have been awarded the highest honor the US bestows the Medal of Honor. The first is about Alvin York during WWI the movie is Sergeant York, the second is about Desmond Doss during the battle of Okinawa the movie is Hacksaw Ridge. The big difference between the two was where Desmond Doss refused to use a weapon, Alvin York used his gift to use a weapon to save lives. The Battle of Okinawa is in The Pacific also. Two other movies you should watch is about the battle of Iwo Jima, which is also in The Pacific series. The two movies are Letters from Iwo Jima, the other is Flags of Our Fathers. One is from the Japanese perspective, the other from the American perspective.
7:43 " i feel like i know him" he was the little kid in Jurassic Park
15:12 He would likely have been executed by his officers if he returned to base. That's why he breaks down and begs them to shoot him, so he can at least die an "honorable" death.
Had to look to see if anybody said what I was going to say. I was not disappointed.
The naval battle they were cheering on was the Battle of Savo Island. The ship that went up was the USS _Vincennes_ which took a torpedo to her powder magazine. The battle was a lopsided Japanese victory, with the loss of the _Vincennes_ and the HMAS _Canberra_ the remaining Allied task group withdrew, leaving the Marines at the mercy of the Japanese battleships _Hiei_ and _Kirīshima_ and their 355mm main batteries.
I hope "Hacksaw Ridge" is one of the movies you end up watching, an amazing mostly true story.
A bit of a read but I know a lot about this battle and the participants if anybody cares to learn a little about what these men did.
They don't show it here, but then Sergeant John Basilone burnt his hands all the way to the bone carrying that machine gun. After he lost his glove, basically a thicker oven mitt, he carried that red hot browning 1919 .30 caliber machine gun bare handed, running through the jungle killing dozens.
Basilone and the few men he was with fought for two straight days, not one. No sleep, no water, no food, dying of exhaustion and malaria.
Fighting day and night, sprinting back and forth to resupply and maintain the guns. Exhaustion like you couldn't believe.
After the fighting was over, bulldozers had to be brought in to bury the dead. Those few men, between 10-20, and all them but three (including Basilone) died. They'd fought off an entire Japanese regiment, upwards of 3000 men, with basically no support. The number of KIA is unknown but they described mounds of corpses surrounding every fighting position, hundreds of bodies.
He got the Medal of Honor for that, and got sent home to sell war bonds. He demanded over and over that he return to the fight. Even though he could have lived like a celebrity and died of old age. He was famous in the US at the time. After enough requests, they sent him back.
He died on Iwo Jima. He destroyed a fortified Jap emplacement by himself with grenades and a flamethrower. He guided a tank through a minefield while under heavy fire. Finally, he tried to rally men for an assault and got hit by artillery or a sniper, unknown.
His story is just one of countless that didn't get told, didn't have witnesses, so no medals.
Those guys gave everything. I served in modern times in the Corps and those Marines legacy is revered and cherished by all. Even in training you learn their names and stories, and they really try to make you understand how brutal it was. Run up and down a hill with 40lb of gear and another 60-70lb of ammo, a hundred times, as fast as you can, while people are shooting guns and explosives at you, knowing if that ammo doesn't get where it needs to go, your brothers will be overrun and probably die, and you haven't slept or ate or even sipped water in days.
It is absolutely gut wrenching to try and place yourself in those boots, the things they saw and did were beyond anything we can imagine. They were forever changed by it. Waking up every night for the next 60-70 years in a sweat, your dreams replaying over and over how your brothers died in front of you, trying to make sense of something that is truly senseless. Wishing you'd taken the bullet, or been in a different spot, or didn't miss the guy who threw a grenade at your brothers.
I really believe all Americans should understand the sacrifices. The things done to preserve this life of ours were tremendous. The families gave their brothers, sons, fathers. The men gave their bodies and souls.
Uncommon valor was a common virtue.
Semper fi. God rest those weathered souls.
They are both amazing and I could watch them 100 times. I really hope you go back and watch the opening intros. They should be included, as they add so much.
T here were a number of factors involved.
First Japan never signed the Geneva Convention so they didn't follow it.
Second at the time of Pearl Harbor, the Japanese had been fighting in China for about 4 years. Also their own discipline was brutal by the standards of US or European armies. For both reasons they were extremely hardened.
Finally they'd been raised to regard the emperor as literally a god, which made them even more fanatical.
I ordered Leckies book that this is based on few weeks ago it will be here soon :)
The war in the Pacific was in my opinion more brutal than the European war. The biggest difference was it was between 2 different cultures. For the Japanese the worst thing a solider could do was to surrender. So they really treated allied soldiers that surrendered very badly. The other thing the Japanese would do is what we saw that one soldier do pull out a grenade kill himself and 2 US soldiers. Sadly it happened enough that US soldiers became very nervous about trying to take Japanese prisoners. I know I read somewhere from a US soldier that after a few incidents like this they never attempted to take a live Japanese prisoner the rest of the war. So compared to western Europe a very brutal war.
In some ways. But one consistent I've found throughout US military history is the USMC are pretty dedicated to historical revisionism so that they always have it tougher than everyone else. The contributions of the Army and Navy are buried to a footnote in many accounts of the pacific theatre (look at this and the following episode, the navy is shown to have completely abandoned them when in reality they fought tooth and nail throughout the campaign suffering far more deaths, and the army are shown as fat and happy and their combat contribution is never mentioned.
And the whole series is based on not just the 3 primary memoirs (helmet for my pillow, with the old breed and islands of the damned) and histories but the commonly accepted lore of the marines is how it was so much worse than everywhere. But while the Japanese were suicidally brave and vicious they also lacked the tactical competence (on land), equipment and firepower of the Germans.
You could be freezing in the snow of Russia. Whether Russian or German the Eastern front was frozen hell. Flip a coin, either way it’s a loser.
There is an unstated theme in TP where they show how Japanese tactics change through the war. The Japanese, like everyone else, did what worked for them the last time. Japan had been in a war for years against China. The Chinese troops were undisciplined and had incompetent leaders. When the Japanese would attack at night with loud noises and flares the Chinese would panic and flee. This did not work against the well trained Marines. It took a while for the Japanese to adapt. As they did the battles became bloodier. As we advanced closer to Japan our casualty rate started to increase steeply. The math of this influenced the decision to drop the bomb.
If you watch actual films, you might notice that Japanese prisoners are very often in their underwear - the reason was because US soldiers would force them to strip so they couldn't hide any weapons.
@@michaelstach5744 I'd still prefer the snow. At least there are no snakes, spiders, scorpions and other biting and stinging insects and pests to harass me.
Cool Larissa, glad you are reacting to The Pacific. At first I didn't like this one as much as BoB but it has grown on me to the point that I like it just as much. Looking forward to your reactions!
There are interviews with these guys, there is also a full documentary with some of these guys, it's on youtube as well I think(I watched it here), its called "Peleliu 1944 horror in the pacific", they went through some very rough times. I think that was recorded some years prior to this series though, so I dont think it has anything to do with it.
A qoute from that documentary
- How could I describe Peleliu? - Probably the toughest campaign in World War II.
- Well, I would say that it was almost indescribably and intensely horrible, almost beyond imagination.
Larissa, I think you should definitely watch Breaking Bad, The Sopranos, Mr. Robot, The Dark Knight Trilogy, Inception, Interstellar, and Oppenheimer at some point
Hopefully you can watch the intros because they show actually footage of the war (bodies included) and the real men. Compared to band of brothers this show focuses more on the brutality and the psychological effects of war. Alot of people think the violence is to much but i think its to show what our ancestors went through and it would dishonor them to tone done and downplay their sacrifice. And like any good war show/movie by the end of it should make you anti-war and hate it.
To explain leckies dad in his book it’s explained that he lost his brother and his dad never seemed to get over that and when he left his dad couldn’t cope.
Now fun fact the naval battle you see would go on to be called the “battle of the savo island” it would go on to be the worst naval defeat in US naval history losing nearly 2/3 of the fleet in a signal night and the waters around Guadalcanal became know as “iron bottom sound” due to the amount of ships both sides were losing.
Next episode when you see the bombings of the airfield and compare it to band of brothers on EP 7 how bad that artillery barrage? That was with 88 and mortars now the bombings that the airfield and marines suffered was from battleships and cruisers with guns as big 14in (355 millimeters!) to 8in (203MM) guns so it was even more devastating and terrifying
A great documentary to watch similar to “we stand alone together” is “he who has seen war” it involves both the old vets from BOB and the Pacific and they talk about their service and how they reintegrate back to civilian life
To answer your question about what happens to are buried by a US military graves registration unit.
The night time naval battle was the Battle of Savo Island, considered one of the worst defeats in US Navy history. The Japanese caught the Americans completely off-guard. Early in the war, the Japanese were far more experienced, and the Americans had a bad combination of over confidence, and under performance. The defeat at Savo Island caused a thorough investigation, and major reforms in tactics and procedures. The captain of the USS Chicago actually killed himself prior to the investigation being released, due to shame over abandoning the battle mid fight.
The battle at "Alligator creek" was a huge loss for the Japanese. The Japan lost over 1,200 men and the Marines lost around 30 men in a 10hr battle.
You can see the b/w photos on the inter web. The image of the bodies washing in the surf is not exaggerated.
The number of Japanese soldier dead in action is 774-777. Either way, it was a heavy loss.
I believe this is the best seriers on WW2. Band of Brothers comes in a close second in my opinion.
Regarding the officer who got a "panic attack", I believe it's called a combat stress reaction in english, in high intensity warfighting(think e.g Ukraine) it is pretty common, it doesn't mean one is "loosing it", it's temporary and short-term and friends can help one snap out of it.
I think the reason you don't get as many interviews with the real soldiers in the beginning is because this series was filmed 5 years or so after BoB and a lot of them had passed away by then. You do get Sid Phillips who lived long into old age, but most of these guys sadly were just gone by the time of this series.
This show had a bigger budget than all of Game of Thrones😮
Initially the Japanese were taken by surprise. The Japanese naval counterattack nearly destroyed the USN in the Pacific, 9 months after Pear Harbor. ;-( ... it was hidden from the public at the time. It took 6 months to clear that island. The Japanese did constant counterattacks on land, air and sea.
The bodies that weren’t buried by bulldozers in a mass grave were eaten by the crocodiles.
This takes a much different tone to Band of Brothers. It focuses much more on the de-humanizing effects of war, and, it's raw, naked, brutality.
On hbo max via Hulu they still have the talking before each episode.
This was 10x better than band of brothers, still good tho
There is a version with the veterans, maybe the blu ray or some special edition, but I think the main release did not.
It's interesting that they show Leckie floating in the water. In his book, Helmet for My Pillow, he talks about swimming across the Tenaru after the battle looking for a katana. After he is back he notices the crocodiles swimming around. If anyone is curious about the first battle depicted. The Operations Room channel does a good video on it: ua-cam.com/video/HhVaI38dvco/v-deo.html
He swam the Tenaru because they were told swimming in the waters prevented malaria, which seemed true. He saw binoculars on a dead Japanese soldier and swam across to retrieve it. Later he saw a V shape in the water and heard crunching sounds. It was crocodiles eating the dead Japanese. He never swam it again.
I thought that he swam across thinking it could be a samurai sword, but it turned out the reflection was from binoculars.
You probably recognize sledge from jurassic park lol
Oh please do yourself a favor and watch more Sid Phillips in Ken Burns’ documentary “The War.“ That smile is so infectious - plus you’ll get more of the American perspective from the homefront during The War; it’s a very well-done documentary that also includes stories from The Philippines, which personally affected my family. These stories are intimate and unforgettable and must be watched for posterity. Also highly recommend the short documentary “Ghosts of Bataan.“
he said "come on! shoot me! kill me!" in japanese
Yay The Pacific!
II louve your videos❤❤❤❤❤❤❤
currenrly strapping up my boots to jump through the next month of crying. this show is great but it gets realistically dark. this campaign was one of war crimes and torment. Into the green inferno...
A great series, but very brutal - like the Pacific war itself.
Generation war very good series German band of brothers
"Go shoot me," he says.15:14
Banzi! Attack !
If anyone is looking for Band of Brothers Ver 2.0, this ain't it. The theme here is that War is Hell - and it sucks. And it only gets worse. Don't wanna join the VFW and meet for beers when you get home, you just wanna crawl under the covers and try to forget it ever happened. Without the warm fuzzies it doesn't get good ratings like BoB, but it needs to be watched.
I hope you can stick it out - a lot of people think it's not worth their time.
Buckle up. This one is much more depressing than Band of Brothers. Every bit as good just completely different.
Japaners 😂
pls react to The Boys it is so good
Hey Larissa love you
I absolutely love BoB as a show but it is somewhat biased and a little jingoist. The Pacific holds a lot more realism and bleak accuracy
Get rid of the nose hardware...too dang irritating
I believe this is the best seriers on WW2. Band of Brothers comes in a close second in my opinion.