The Pacific War in Color

History | War

Station:
Smithsonian Channel (US)

Status:
Ended

Start:
2018-06-24

Rating:
0/10 from 0 users

The Pacific War in Color immerses viewers in a graphic and dramatic look through an unfiltered lens. Rare home movies from servicemen capture intimate images of troops on tropical beaches, naval hazing rituals when sailors cross the equator, and morale-boosting USO shows on dusty desert islands. Personal movies shot by pilots in cockpits crackle with intensity, and color combat footage bursts with the nervous energy of storming beaches, white-knuckle dogfights and face-to-face island-hopping warfare. Remarkable home movies from General Douglas MacArthur show his family in the Philippines before the war and later in Japan after the surrender, offering a different view of life during wartime.

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List of episodes

S1E6 - Fire from the Sky

Allies slug it out on the nearby island of Peleliu in a long and bloody campaign to pave the way for General MacArthur's return to the Philippines. Never-before-broadcast footage shows troops enduring the muddy muck in the Philippines that bogs down the supply line. In the Battle of Leyte Gulf, an immensely fierce naval battle, Japan unveils a devastating new tactic: the kamikaze. Finally, General LeMay designs a radical raid on Japan, resulting in the deadliest single day of the war – the firebombing of Tokyo.

Air Date: 29 Jul 2018 19:00 (CDT)

S1E7 - No Surrender

By the spring of 1945, America begins to take back the Philippines, Manila is liberated after a devastating battle, and the USO show comes to boost morale. On Borneo, the Australians invade Labuan and liberate the Indonesians from oppressive Japanese occupation. When the U.S. invades Okinawa, Japan makes a strong stand and launches the biggest kamikaze attacks of the war. Record-shattering casualties – including the generals from both sides – mount in island-hopping's last epic battle. POWs are rare. Japanese forces fight to the end, with no sign of surrender.

Air Date: 05 Aug 2018 19:00 (CDT)

S1E8 - From the Ashes

President Harry Truman momentously decides to drop a new weapon – the atomic bomb – on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945. Emperor Hirohito surrenders, and General Douglas MacArthur arrives to oversee the country's occupation. Mortal enemies must now become partners in Japan's rebirth. In America, the internment camps are closed, but many Japanese-Americans have no homes to return to and fear reprisals. For survivors on both sides, the long journey home is the final exhausted act of the war.

Air Date: 12 Aug 2018 19:00 (CDT)