 The National Broadcasting Company and its affiliated stations present the Pacific Story. In the mounting fury of world conflict, events in the Pacific are taking on ever greater importance. Here is the story of the Pacific and the millions of people who live around this greatest sea. The drama of the people's whose destiny is at stake in the Pacific War. Here, as another public service, is the tale of the war in the Pacific and its meaning to us and to the generations to come. The Yellow River, barrier and battle line. Where the Chinese have for thousands of years prevailed against the sinister waters of the Yellow River, they are today prevailing against the Japanese. The Chinese call the Yellow River Huanghou and China's sorrow and the dragon carrier. The Huanghou is one of the most ruthless killers of mankind. No one will ever know how many millions of us it has killed. But as the Chinese have learned to die by it, they have learned to live with it. They have learned to use it as a devastating weapon against the Japanese, as we shall see. The Japanese are bandoning their strongholds in the great bend of the Yellow River, where they've been entrenched for seven years. It is believed that the Japanese are affecting a general withdrawal to the Beiping Hangkau Railroad. Remember that Beiping Hangkau Railroad. It runs roughly north and south, paralleling the southern course of the Yellow River. And in military terms, this is important. The Huanghou rises in the hills of North Tibet and flows 2,500 miles to the sea. 2,500 miles. It meanders across North China a muddy stream, worthless for steam navigation, and only seasonally worthwhile for small craft. When it floods, it spreads out over the Great Plain, bringing suffering and death to millions. For ages, China's scholars have considered control of the Yellow River as one of China's greatest problems. I have called you Kun to answer for the disaster that has befallen us on the Yellow River. I worked for nine years to control the ravaging waters of the Huanghou, my Emperor. Your dikes have been swept away by the Great Flood. The powers of the waters was too great, my Emperor. You have failed, but I... My people are dying in the swirling silt in the slime of the river. The force of the Great Flood was stronger than we had ever... I command that you be exiled to the mountain of the feathers. There to be transformed into a yellow turtle with only three legs, so that you will limp in the pool of feathers for all time. Take him away. Kun, according to the legend, was banished. And his son, you, was ordered to master the floods of the river. Keep clearing the channels. But you, we have been clearing and deepening the channels for 13 years, and still they fill up with silt. If we clear the channels and keep them deep, the flood waters instead of overflowing will be carried down to the sea. The bottoms fill up almost as fast as we clear them. We must never stop clearing them. I have tidings for you. Your wife has given birth to a son, and she begs that you come to her side. I cannot go. She says that you have come this way near your home only three times in 13 years. My duty is to save the lives of my people. Tell her I cannot leave. I will tell her you. Now, Wang. Get your crews down into the river. Dredge out the silt. The snow is melted and the spring rains came and the Yellow River swelled and raged down its course. The deepened channels carried the water safely out to the sea. And you became the great you. And when the old emperor died, he became emperor, and started a dynasty that has lived ever since in the world between the real and the legendary. From northern Tibet, the Yellow River roars down through the mountain chasms to the great plain of north China. It wanders through the yellow soil and itself becomes yellow. And it empties at last into the yellow sea. Along its banks, 50 million people depend on its waters for life. When the river stays within its banks, it irrigates the great flatlands and brings forth bountiful crops. When it breaches its banks, millions suffer and die. The upper stretches of the river. I watched the Cooley straining against the great poles pushing the raft. This is an American. We were bringing a cargo of wool and skins and hides down the river from Tibet. Wraths of this kind made of sheep skins, lashed to wooden frames, have been used on the upper Yellow River for thousands of years. I asked the skipper of the raft, how many sheep skins are there in this raft? About 500 sheep skins making 500 inflated boys. We blow them up one by one. The Cooleys walk down the sides of the raft as they pushed against their poles. At the stern, others man the tellers to keep the raft in the middle of the channel. Tomorrow we will be in Lanzhou. There are few communities of any size on the Yellow River in this part of China. Lanzhou is one of the largest. Lanzhou, there is Lanzhou ahead of us. Look at that, the steel bridge there. That is the only steel bridge across the Wanghou for hundreds of miles. How does there happen to be a bridge way out here? Lanzhou is on the ancient Silk Road to the west. Over the Silk Road, caravans once moved from China across Central Asia into Europe and down into Rome. To Lanzhou, the capital of Kansu province, 5,200 feet above sea level, people came to trade. They came to buy the Kansu grains and tobacco and fruits and to sell their wares. They came to cross the bridge and travel either eastward into China or westward into Central Asia and perhaps into Europe. There seem to be quite a few jumps on the river. Small ones. The water is not deep enough for large ones. And look, there is a raft like this one. No, that one is made of oxhide. Rats like that are made of about 120 oxhides. They are stuffed with wool. They carry a tremendous cargo. They are made to carry great cargo as a place. The raft headed down into the swirling rapids, down between the towering granite cliffs of the gorge. Can this raft with its cargo hold together? Yes. Through rapids after rapids, the rafts make their way, swinging crazily from side to side. Unwieldy yet under control, the experienced rivermen. The river suddenly swings to the northwest to make its great loop around the artist's desert. How much longer will it be? It will be weeks before we get into Baodou. Weeks. We must push every inch of the way. Son, there is no mercy on us. The elements have no regard for men. No. Look at that yellow waist up there. You will see much more of it before you see Baodou. At last Baodou, where the caravan trails in the railroad meet the Yellow River. The wolves and the skins and the hides brought all the way down from Tibet are loaded on the trains for Tien Sin. And when this task is done, the raftmen go ashore and visit the bazaar. Here we can buy the western goods brought in by the trains from Tien Sin. We will take them back by caravan with us. We will take apart our rafts with their hundreds of sheep skins and carry them back on donkeys and camels. All the way back to Tibet? We can make two round trips each year. Unbelievable. It has always been done this way. No man on a raft can go up the Wang Ho. This was the upper Yellow River. The lower Yellow River has for centuries sprawled over the muddy flats of the Great Plains. Once it entered the sea at the present site of Tien Sin up near the Manchurian border. Then it changed its course and for 500 years entered the sea more than 300 miles to the south. Then came 1852. The Dragon Carrier has broken its dice. Take the baby and I will take the other children. We must do it once. The water will soon be here. Hurry! Hurry! The river swept over Honan and found an ancient course north of the Shandong Peninsula. 250 miles north of where its mouth had been for 500 years. The people to the north of the peninsula adjusted their lives to having a river. And the people to the south of the peninsula adjusted their lives to being without one. The good dragons may now favor our land. This was the attitude of the peasants affected by the change. If we have water near, we can grow hemp for rope as well as wheat and corn. And to the south, the peasants were equally optimistic. Now we will escape the danger of flood. And if we have enough rain, if the locusts do not come, we will have good crops. The peasants plowed the Yellow Soil where the river had flowed. The sediment deposited by the river over the plains was rich and fertile. In the middle 30s, the rains poured down. The waters of the upper river became angry torrents, rushing and roaring down through the cattle. Down to the plant lands of the Great Plains. The dikes have broken. The dikes have broken. Are you expecting the water to reach way out here? We must use the boat. We will have to hurry. The river is so far away you can't even see it. The flood comes on wings. No. All of us under this side of the boat. Leave. The boat kept upside down alongside the house, was quickly turned up right on the powdered dry Yellow Soil. Far away across the plains, the waters were approaching. Let me help you carry out some of those things for the boat. Thank you. Would you take those things, please? Yes. All of us go. As much as we can get into the boat. I will get the tools from the field so they will not be lost. Hurry, Ching-Wa. Hurry. While the sun went for the tools, the others hastily carried the belongings of the family out into the boat. There it comes. There comes the water. Ching-Wa. Hurry. Hurry. Where is he? Where is he gone? Something must have happened out there. Ching-Wa. Hurry. Ching-Wa. Ching-Wa. Hurry. Hurry. Ching-Wa. Hurry. The water swept across the plains, across the land that had been tilled by the men and women pulling the plow along with their ops. Can't we get the boat around to pick them up? We must get it around. We must. We are coming, Ching-Wa. We are coming. We've got to hurry. Tragedy struck in a thousand places. The swirling water swept down with such force that those caught, except the strongest, were lost in its slimy silt. The water surged over the land and refugees scrambled to such high ground as they could reach. Many of them set up households on the broad dykes. Ching-Wa is gone. Before we can go back to the land, we must help repair the dykes. Far and near the workers gathered to repair the dykes. Some were paid 15 cents a day. Some were merely given their food. Chinese engineers came to supervise the work. And the thousands struggled with all the strength they had against the mighty devastation. How many thousands have you come here with your wheelbarrow? I do not know. 25,000 workers had come to this vicinity to repair the dykes. I don't see how you can push that wheelbarrow while those big rocks are not through that mud. We must push it through. Here, let me try it. No, there is not time. Just let me try. How can you do it? I must hurry now. Thousands upon thousands of workers moving heavy rocks in their wheelbarrows down into the gap in the dyke. Moving down to the edge of the water from the high ground, dumping their loads and going back for more. Again and again. And into the breach when Kowliang stocks bundled together and woven willow sticks. Then the dragon net was stretched. The ropes are stretched tight across the gap like a breach. Yes, I see. And then other ropes are woven across so it makes a regular net. Not far from the gap, other Chinese were twisting hemp into ropes. And as fast as the ropes were finished, they were taken to the gap and stretched across. There, the dragon net is ready now. Bring the Kowliang stocks. We will make the bail. Oh, they are going to make the bail now. Oh, they just play the stocks like great bundles of faggots across the rope. Yes, so that the pressure of the water is against their in. Very ingenious. As the Kowliang stocks and the bags of earth were piled on the ropes, the net sagged with its great burden. More and more were piled on top and the net sagged deeper and deeper into the gap. At last it settled down into the water and the gap was closed. Still more sacks of earth, more Kowliang stocks, more woven willow sticks went into the gap to make it fill it up to the level of the dike. The yellow river had been pushed back into its channel. We are fortunate. Our land is covered with silt, yes, but it is rich and fertile. We can work it and plant it and next year we will have a new crop. Yes, we are fortunate. We might have lived in the lost village. The people of the lost village were not so fortunate. This was your home here in this village? Yes. Can you ever clear the silt away enough so that you can come back here? No. There must be six feet of silt here. There is more. It is up to the top of some of the houses. Yes. Where will you go now? I do not know. I do not. Homeless, destitute, starving. The multitude set out in quest of another place to live. Another place that will give them the nearest hope of a living. And the yellow river rages down its course. Carrying as much as 40% sediment, which in time will cause more floods. Back in its course, the dragon carrier continued to flow northeastward on the Great Plain. It continued through these years of the Great Floods of the Middle 30s to empty into the LOC north of the Shandong Peninsula. But in 1937, the whole face of affairs in China changed. The Japanese attack outside of Beijing and headed across the Great Plain toward the heart of North China. And now the Yellow River, China's sorrow, was to play its greatest role. If the Japanese drive toward Suqiao, we will divert the river into the channel it followed until 1852. This will halt their march there, at least temporarily. It will give us time to make preparation. This was the Chinese plan, but developments came too rapidly to make this possible. The Japanese are at the gates of Suqiao. It is not possible to hold them and to escape in time to divert the river. The Chinese retreated. The Japanese moved in, took Suqiao, and then continued their drive to the west. The Chinese retreat from Suqiao has turned into a rout. The Chinese are fleeing in wild disorder before the victorious Japanese army. We are now heading directly for Kaifeng, the capital of Hunan province. I thought they should be at the approaches to Kaifeng. But the retreating Chinese armies had other plans. We are still in contact with the Japanese advanced patrols, and the Japanese reconnaissance planes are keeping a close watch on us. Very well. See that we have every appearance of retreating in panic. Yes, sir. Keep in close touch with all commanders so that they can act at once when the order comes. The commanders have their units well under control, sir. Very well. The Chinese continued their apparent rout before the Japanese, and the Japanese continued the pursuit in heavily armed mechanized units. Sir, we have just received intelligence from our air reconnaissance that the Chinese are reforming at Kaifeng. There is every evidence that they are concentrating there to try to stop our drive on the railroad. They think they can keep us from taking Kaifeng and going on to Chengqiao. Well, that seems to be their purpose. They have made it clear that they intend to fight to the end for Kaifeng. Yes. Yes, sir. If you will look at these reconnaissance photographs brought back by our plane. Yes, let me see. You see, this is a new heavy gun emplacement that has just been newly built at Kaifeng. Yes, sir. And these, these are on here. These are machine gun broke houses. And these around here are handbag barricades. And these are the... And what intelligence do we have from Kaifeng? That the Chinese would defend Kaifeng to the last man. They expect us to drive straight on Kaifeng so that they can hit our columns on the flanks and destroy them. We will change our tactics. We will deploy along the approaches. The objective of the Japanese drive was to take Kaifeng and then drive on and take Chengqiao. This would place them on the Beiping Hangkou Railroad. And they would then be in a position to drive down this railroad and take Hangkou. Railroad center and strong point on the Yangtze. The Japanese have deployed in our approaching on a wide front, sir. Hold your fire. Be ready for the order. Yes, sir. The Japanese advanced on the Kaifeng defenses. The Chinese, behind their strong fortifications, held their fire despite the hail of Japanese. Sir, the Chinese are pulling out of Kaifeng. Are they breathing without firing a shot? They are making no defense whatsoever. We will continue to advance according to plans. Yes, sir. The Japanese deployed for heavy attack, moved cautiously into Kaifeng. The Chinese withdrew, retreated toward the railroad junction at Chengqiao. The Japanese reformed and followed in pursuit. The morale of the retreating Chinese is completely broken, sir. Air reconnaissance reports that they are scattering like the wind before our advance. We must not lose the momentum of our drive. This would permit them to reorganize. We must drive them ahead of us like cattle until we have taken Chengqiao. Until this time, the Japanese had feared a trap. Now, with every evidence of the Chinese forces in panic, they abandoned this idea. But now the Chinese were drawing them into a trap. They are now within 20 miles of Chengzhou. It is not yet time. If we permit them to get closer to Chengzhou, it may be too late. We must lure them in closer to the river. The Chinese took positions on high ground. While others visit themselves with dynamite charges in the dykes above Kaifeng and Chengqiao. The Japanese are now at a point 15 miles from Chengzhou. Chinese behind the enemy lines kept the Chinese command informed on the Japanese advance. By daylight we should be in the outskirts of Chengqiao, sir. By daylight we will be in Chengqiao. What was that, sir? That explosion? There was a flash of fire in the west in the direction of Chengqiao. That cannot be gunfire. They are blowing something up. Well, they may be blowing up their munitions to keep them from falling into our hands. We will see when we roll into Chengqiao. The massive dykes built with the hand labor of countless thousands of workers were blown up at Chengqiao. The raging waters of the Yellow River left the course they had followed since 1852 and plunged down over the great plain in the path of the advancing Japanese. As more and more of the dykes north of the Japanese were blasted, the swirling yellow waters drove on down on the Japanese in a solid wall five feet high. Almost before the Japanese could realize what had happened, the 500 square miles which they were occupying were flooded. Our entire force is stopped, sir. The high roads are covered only with one foot of water? Yes, sir, but our heavy mechanized units cannot move in the soft slippery mud. Many of them have gone off the roads into the deep water in the ditches. The waters of the Yellow River, thundering down from the towering mountains of Tibet, roaring down through the rocky chasms, poured out in torrents on the Japanese, poured out also on many hapless Chinese. But the fate of China was at stake. The rain started and the waters of the Huanghou raised 44 feet. When will the planes be here? They should have been here two hours ago. The water is rising. Unless they come soon, it will be too late. Yes, sir. All the rafts and boats gone? The Chinese boats? Yes, sir. If we could get back to the long high railroad embankment, we could walk back. We are too far from the embankment. Oh, oh, look, look, planes, two of them. Are those our planes? Yes, sir. They see us. They are coming over this way. Yes, sir. They are dropping the rafts. They are dropping the rafts. Yes, now get out in the water, bring those rafts back here. Yes, sir. And then we can paddle our way back to high ground. Instead of flowing northeast and emptying into the Gulf of Chile, north of the Changdong Peninsula, the Yellow River in its new course flowed southeast and emptied into the Yellow Sea, south of the peninsula. The mouth of the river was now 250 miles south of where it had been before. Here, take these field glasses, sir. You can see the Japanese on the other side of the river. Yes. Yes, they are still there. Do you think they will try to cross the river? They will not try until the flood season is over. They cannot even start repairs for another two months. By the time the rains had stopped and the flood waters had subsided, the Chinese had been reinforced. But by this time, the Japanese initiative was lost. The Japanese at last crossed the river, but were stumped below the great bend of the stream. And there they dug in and stayed for seven years. As the Japanese withdraw from their strongholds, the Chinese are coming back. They are coming back with their crude tools to this country where the sky is yellow, the earth is yellow, and the swirling waters of the Langhou are yellow. Today, the sleeping river is quiet. The peasants are tilling the fields of the Great Plain. They know that the sleeping river will again spring into wild, ungovernable fury. But deep within them is the unspoken confidence that, as they have survived these thousands of years, so come good fortune or suffering and death, they will still be there. The Pacific Story, presented by the National Broadcasting Company and its affiliated independent stations, has a public service to clarify events in the Pacific and to make understandable the cross currents of life in the Pacific Basin. For a reprint of this Pacific Story program, send ten cents in stamps or coin to University of California Press, Berkeley, California. May I repeat? For a reprint of this Pacific Story program, send ten cents in stamps or coin to University of California Press, Berkeley, California. It is written and directed by Arnold Marcus. The original musical score was composed and conducted by Thomas Paluso. Your narrator, Gain Whitman. This program came to you from Hollywood. This is the National Broadcasting Company.