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American infantry soldiers advance cautiously in the jungle of New Guinea. The Japanese, experts on the natural environment, were
always fearsome adversaries, however being forced to stay on the defensive.
Next to the remainings of a destroyed enemy aircraft, the stars and bars flag waves, after long and very hard combats, on an atoll
of the Marshall Islands.
The specialists onboard an aircraft carrier prepare an F6F Hellcat for flight. While in United States the factories
produced massive amounts of weaponry, the Japanese war industry was already in crisis.
The anti-aircraft artillery onboard an American warship aims to a Japanese formation that approachs, waiting for the moment when
the enemy aircraft is within effective range of fire. On the fighting for the conquest of the island of Saipan, the Japanese fleet
was defeated again.
A column of American destroyers are about to fire against a formation of Japanese aircraft. The Battle of Leyte, which had the
objective of returning the Philippines to American hands, was the largest naval battle on History. And it was during this battle
that kamikaze attacks were seen for the first time.
On the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS Monterrey a multitude of specialists prepare the F6F Hellcat fighters for entering
into action. Two of the aircraft have already started their powerful radial engines.
Japanese kamikaze pilots performing a reverence in direction to Tokyo before the last flight.
There resided the Emperor, the incarnate divinity for whom the young suicidal pilots accepted to die.
The battleship USS Idaho firing against the coasts of Okinawa in 1945. In the islands of Iwo Jima and Okinawa the Japanese made
their last and desperate resistance against the expected American invasion. These were the hardest passages of the war in the
Pacific and the Marines needed months to conquest these islands. After this horrific experience the Government of United States
discarded any attempt to launch an invasion of the metropolitan territory of Japan, taking instead the opportunity of launching
two atomic bombs over it.
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A group of camouflaged US Marines are about to cross a river to effectuate a surprise attack against a Japanese position.
An American pilot is about to descend from an F6F Hellcat fighter. As customary in many armies, each little flag indicates a
neutralized enemy unit, in this case a Japanese aircraft downed. The F6F Hellcat was one of the best naval fighters operated by
the United States Navy.
A long-range reconnaissance aircraft Consolidated PB2Y Coronado of the US Navy flies over the Marshall Islands during a
reconnaissance mission.
The large calibers of an American battleship fire during the battle for the conquest of Saipan, enclave of the Mariana Islands.
American soldiers help a Japanese elderly woman. In Saipan, as in other isles, many locals killed themselves at the arrival of
the invasion, terrified by the nationalist propaganda.
A Japanese bomber Mitsubishi G4M whose tail has been mown down by the fire from an American gighter, achieved to effectuate an
emergency landing on the sea. The reiterated bombing of factories prevented the industrial power of Japan from replenishing the
losses on the military ranks, especially on ships, aircraft and trained pilots. This led ultimately to the aberrant phenomenon of
the kamikaze attacks.
On the flight deck of an American aircraft carrier an F6F Hellcat awaits for the signal of departure; soon the hell will be
triggered over the Japanese ships, which at this point lack an effective air support. During the Battles of Leyte the Imperial
Japanese Navy lost the superbattleship Musashi. This one and her twin Yamato were the heaviest warships ever built until then.
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