Victory at Sea The Pacific Boils Over (1952–1953) watch online HD

With the War in Europe significantly under way, Japan finds itself on the other side of the world hampered by the presence of the American Pacific fleet. The Imperial power needs Southeast Asian oil to continue their quest for world domination. Japanese strategists concluded that a successful attack on Pearl Harbor was worth the risk of America entering the War if only they could deal a crippling blow right from the start. Following repeated practice runs against terrain resembling their ultimate target, the Japanese felt confident in launching their armada in November 1941 with the intention of striking the American fleet. On December 7th, three hundred sixty Japanese planes managed to sink or shatter eight battleships, three cruisers, three destroyers, four smaller ships and a hundred eighty eight American planes. The human toll was even more grim, over two thousand military personnel dead and another thousand wounded. The Japanese paid for their assault by losing twenty nine planes, sixty eight pilots and sailors, and five midget submarines that attempted to breach naval defenses at Pearl Harbor. With those meager losses, the Japanese secured one of the cheapest military triumphs on record. In Tokyo, the propaganda effort went into high gear celebrating a smashing victory. The recovery and rebuilding effort at Pearl Harbor began immediately, while in Washington, America was officially at War.

In honor of Memorial Day, which this year is on May 28, I started watching the first two episodes of the television documentary series "Victory at Sea". This entry, "The Pacific Boils Over" is the second. Using Japanese footage, we see the planning, execution, and ultimately the celebration of the Asian country's attack on Pearl Harbor. There's also an explanation provided for the attack and some peaceful moments depicted among the U.S. sailors before the fateful events that use some of the most exciting film provided with the accompaniment of the stirring music score of Richard Rodgers to great effect. Essential viewing for anyone with interest in U.S. involvement in World War II, this one should make you sit up and take notice!

The first episode ended with Germany winning on every front - in the Atlantic Ocean, the skies over Europe and on the ground in Europe. The Nazis, narrator Leonard Graves tells us, were "feeling invincible." The United States, meanwhile, is slowing gearing up for a war effort but things suddenly switch into high gear after the morning of December 7, 1941. That's the day, as we all know, in which Japan bombed our base in Pearl Harbor in Hawaii and the invaders "woke up the sleeping giant." Now the United States is officially into fighting this war.

The one-and-a-half hour Pearl Harbor raid killed thousands of men and women and destroyed or damaged many ships. (Eight U.S. battleships were sunk, alone.) Much of this episode is film footage taken by the Japanese, not only of the famous raid but of practice runs the Japanese had prior to Dec. 7. They also show how the enemy had a map of Pearl Harbor and knew where every ship and plane was located, so hitting their targets wasn't that difficult.

All of it is very interesting and this episode is full of information and dramatic footage. I hope the rest of the set does what it's done so far, giving us film taken by all sides because it gives us more of a complete look at this horrendous world war.