 Nearly two decades have passed since the war clouds first appeared over the Pacific and the United States was plunged into war with Japan. Time changes all things, not the least of them, relations between men and between nations. Today a peaceful and democratic Japan stands as a strong and close ally. But in 1941, under the firm grip of a militarist government, the Japanese were led into what was to be the most costly and tragic war in their history. The big picture this week presents part one of a two-part chronicle of that war, as seen by the men who fought it. Different from any conflict in our history, the Pacific War was waged on an ocean battleground for military bases, which only a short time earlier had been obscure and romantic islands few soldiers ever expected to see. Many were American possessions and the United States Navy was there to keep the peace in that part of the world. This army presents The Big Picture, an official report produced for the armed forces and the American people. Yesterday, December 7th, 1941, a date which will live in infamy. The United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan. The United States was at peace with that nation and at the solicitation of Japan was still in conversation with its governor and its emperor, looking for the maintenance of peace in the Pacific. Japan has therefore undertaken a surprise offensive sending throughout the Pacific area. The facts of yesterday and today speak for themselves. The people of the United States have already formed their opinions and well understand the implications to the very life and safety of our nation. With confidence in our armed forces, with the unbounding determination of our people, we will gain the inevitable triumph so help us God. But fate decreed that victory would be neither quick nor easy. The Japanese spread over the western Pacific, making it their private preserve. Within a few months, they realized their dream of empire, except for the dogged resistance of isolated American forces in the Philippines, enemy success was complete. On April 9, 1942, outnumbered American soldiers surrendered on Batam. The infamous death march that followed was a milestone in the history of man's inhumanity to man. On May 6, the beleaguered garrison on Corrigador capitulated, leaving the enemy supreme between Hawaii and Australia. General Hama, who ordered the death march, accepted the American surrender from General Jonathan Wainwright. Wainwright wrote, just before his capture, we did our best, although beaten, we are unashamed. Before the ink was dry on the surrender documents, General Douglas MacArthur promised, I shall return. In Australia, he prepared his men for the long road back. The Australian countryside was transformed by the temporary quarters of the growing army, as men and supplies were massed for the operations to come. Meanwhile, we struck wherever and however we could. Although the attack on Pearl Harbor crippled our Pacific fleet, our carriers had escaped. While the enemy still savored their early victories, a daring group of army fliers under Colonel James Doolittle left the deck of the carrier Hornet on April 18, 1942, for a surprise raid on Tokyo. Many did not return, but their courageous actions served notice on the enemy of what was to come. May 1942 in the Coral Sea, our Navy successfully blocked the Japanese invasion of Port Morsby and helped prepare the way for a decisive American success at Midway. There, army, navy and marine fliers would be among the first to distinguish themselves in the Pacific fighting. The strategy of the Pacific called for Admiral Nimitz to press westward from Pearl Harbor, while General MacArthur's forces drove north and northwest from Australia. But first, the enemy had to be stopped in New Guinea and the Solomon Islands. Allied troops waged a bitter delaying action during the first phase of the Papuan Campaign in eastern New Guinea. They fought for time and a chance to build up reinforcements and supplies behind their tenuous jungle lines. A cruel climate spread fever in the ranks and turned every routine task into a nightmare. But the Allies held Port Morsby. Fresh troops poured in from Australia and the United States. Men of the 32nd and 41st Infantry Divisions, debarking at the port, faced one of the most arduous and critical campaigns of the early war. To speed the counterattack against the enemy, who had advanced to within 30 miles of Port Morsby, MacArthur flew troops over the rugged Owen Stanley Mountains fighting near Boonah. Friendly, cooperative Papuan tribesmen made a large contribution to the campaign's success. Not only were they willing workmen, they also saved many American lives while serving as guides and scouts. While the Papuan Campaign continued, an amphibious thrust got underway in the Solomon Islands. The enemy had begun construction of an airfield on Guadalcanal, from which planes would soon be able to attack our communications lines across the South Pacific. Our mission was to take this field and the island. Initial enemy resistance on Guadalcanal was so light that landing forces quickly established a beachhead and prepared for advance through heavy jungle. The invasion force was confident after such an easy assault, and few expected the churning hell of enemy fire that was to come, nor did any guess that it would require six months to subdue the island. In New Guinea, during the fall of 1942, tropical diseases and the rigors of jungle took their toll. Entangled vines and shadowy growth, the Japanese wakened, willing to sacrifice their lives rather than surrender. By January 1943, the enemy had expended 8,000 men in a futile effort to hold the area. Then, Buna fell, and the threat to Port Moresby was ended. The enemy tried desperately to reinforce his troops in the face of constant air attack. The keystone of Japanese defenses in the south and southwest Pacific was the base of Ra'baul on the northeastern tip of New Britain. American strategy called for the isolation of Ra'baul. New Georgia in the Solomon Islands was the scene of the first major campaign in this operation. In eastern New Guinea, U.S. Army paratroopers dropped at NADZAB to seize an airstrip deep in enemy-held territory. From NADZAB, Australian troops moved down to Ley. The Bougainville landings in the Salamans provided needed air bases for protection against enemy air attacks and gave us another air base along the road to Ra'baul. Again, we advanced through a green wall of jungle that masked a stubborn enemy. As Allied forces continued to fight and win, the myth of Japanese military superiority began to collapse. The enemy was tough, but he could be beaten. The war on the Pacific presented problems previously unknown to American fighting men. Small islands spread over a vast ocean. Objectives often identifiable only on the combat map. The feeling of isolation and the constant oppressive jungle, a formidable enemy itself. The army air forces developed new supply methods to meet the requirements of isolated jungle troops. Air drops of food and ammunition often sustained American units until the enemy was driven back or destroyed. Air strips were torn out of the unfriendly forest in record time. Fighter planes would be based on these fields less than 225 miles from Ra'baul to escort our bombers on air strikes over enemy objectives. The drive north gained momentum until our troops were ready for the assault on New Britain, the last step in the isolation of Ra'baul. Rest and recuperation camps were scarce. During their preparation for the New Britain invasion, units in New Guinea found relaxation wherever and whenever they could. Religious services were held for those who wished to attend. The landing craft that went in at Cape Gloucester found no beaches. The familiar jungle grew to the water's edge, abundant with swamps and tangled ridges. The smell of rotting vegetation carried far offshore. B-25s helped soften the landing area. The troops called Cape Gloucester the southwest corner of hell. Cavalry units that stormed the Arawe sector as infantry found themselves harassed by mud and mosquitoes as well as a hidden enemy. With western New Britain in American hands, the Admiralty Islands of Los Negros and Manus became primary targets for our advance because of their airfields and harbor. The 1st Cavalry Division had the job of seizing them. Initial enemy reaction at Los Negros was light and the remainder of the 1st Cavalry Division came ashore. After thousands of rounds of machine gun, mortar and artillery fire had stripped the foliage and toppled the trees, troops were able to move inland with greater speed. Enemy resistance increased as the campaign progressed. Still the Admiralty's were secured by early April 1944. This victory completed the isolation of Ra'baal and immobilized more than 100,000 enemy troops for the duration of the war. While the jungle fighting continued, another kind of war was being fought far to the north in the fog-shrouded Aleutians. In the spring and summer of 1943, the Japanese-held islands of Kiska and Attu were retaken after heavy bombing. Twenty days of fighting in Barren Hills was necessary before the Army's 7th Division rested Attu from the enemy. The Japanese secretly evacuated Kiska before allied troops landed. Abandoned enemy supplies gave Americans a surprising change from their own combat rations. In November 1943, Admiral Nimitz forces in the Central Pacific moved into the Gilbert's against the islands of Macon and Tarawa. Stepping storms to the huge enemy naval base at Truck, these small coral atolls would provide valuable lessons for future amphibious operations. The job of taking Betio on Tarawa was given to the 2nd Marine Division. In four days of bloody fighting, these men earned 3,000 purple hearts. On Macon, the Japanese garrison was smaller and not as well entrenched. A regimental combat team of the Army's 27th Infantry Division established a beachhead on November 21, 1943 and snuffed out the last enemy resistance two days later. Next to fall were the Marshall Islands, which had been held by the enemy since the end of World War I. In January 1944, the United States Army's 7th Division, Veterans of the Aleutians, were assigned the biggest and toughest objective of all, trodgolin. Experience gained from earlier landings combined with improved support from air and naval forces enabled the division to crush the enemy within eight days. When Admiral Nimitz and his staff arrived to inspect the island, they found that lessons learned at Tarawa were not far off. Enemy losses had been severe, our own relatively light. Meanwhile, MacArthur was preparing for amphibious landings on the Japanese flanks at Holandia and Itape to provide new advanced bases for the drive on the Philippines. Low-level bomb runs by B-25s once again proved their worth. B-25s. Three excellent enemy airfields at Holandia were among our objectives. To take them, MacArthur would use the 41st Division, one of the toughest jungle outfits under his command. With them would fight a new division, the 24th. You're better physically, you're better mentally, you have better weapons, so that you're going to be able to lick him hands down when it comes to individual fighting. However, do not take him too lightly. The men were certain not to take him lightly. Briefings covered tactical aspects of the operations, including the treatment of prisoners. Now, when we get them, maybe that they will have gone for a long time without water, perhaps without food. All right, give them a drink of water give them something to eat if you like. But don't give them cigarettes. Don't give them gum. Don't give them candy if you have any. Treat them according to the rules of war, no less, and no more. American forces again fought through steaming jungle to cut off 60,000 enemy soldiers to the east. For these captured enemy soldiers the war was over. Their dreams of conquest and empire shattered. The much needed airfields around Holandia were the big prizes. Americans held at Itapi against a relentless enemy. Then continued northwest along the coast to Waqdisarmi. They cleaned out the enemy from the caves and ridges of Biak. They secured little noon for Ireland and moved on to the tip of New Guinea. Not only the enemy waged war, American troops were set upon by leeches, centipedes, fire ants, and mosquitoes. In a climate where clothing mildewed, leather rotted, and bayonets rusted in a day, they fought out. Hope rose steadily through the spring and summer of 1944. Not all the men would see the end, but at last that end seemed in sight. With the addition of new airfields our planes were able to strike more often at the critical supply lines which supported far flung enemy defenses. In rear areas, the airfields were used to support Allied operations throughout the Pacific Theater. By the summer of 1944 General MacArthur's forces were ready to move on toward the Philippines while Admiral Nimitz prepared for the early invasion of the Marianas. The inevitable triumph over Japan was still a year in the future, but the way was clearly marked.