Hell in the Pacific

One of the most bitter battle arenas of the Second World War, Pearl Harbor represented the trigger that led America into the greatest conflict ever recorded and the eventual liberation of the people of Asia and the Pacific. On the 7th December 1941 Japan launched surprise attacks across the Pacific region, setting battleships ablaze in Pearl Harbor, then routing the British in Malaya and capturing Singapore itself: the greatest humiliation in British war history. The Japanese now seemed unstoppable and after being at war with China for a decade, and shocking the world with atrocities like the Nanking Massacre, they believed their destiny was to rule Asia under the Emperor, for them, a living god.

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Created By

Status

Ended

Original Name

Hell in the Pacific

First Air Date

June 14, 2001

Last Air Date

July 5, 2001

Seasons

Episodes

Language

—

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S01E04

Apocalypse

The closer the Allies got to Japan, the more savage the fighting. Tiny islands like Peleliu and Iwo Jima were carpeted with corpses. The Americans slaughtered wounded Japanese; both sides looted and mutilated the dead. Desperate and starving, the Japanese turned to cannibalism - but would not surrender. The atomic bomb seemed a godsend to the Allies poised to invade mainland Japan; it would also deter the Soviet Union. The Hiroshima pilot and a survivor recall the moment that changed the world. Then came the joy of going home - and the pain of having to live with the memories of hell. Powerful, emotional interviews and striking, rare archive film showing combat and victims may be distressing to some viewers.

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