MARINES TAKE TARAWA [Main Title]

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  • Title: MARINES TAKE TARAWA [Main Title]
  • Film Number: UNY 42
  • Other titles:
  • Summary: A short film by RKO-Pathe News describing the United States Marine Corps' bloody fight for the tiny island of Tarawa in the Gilbert Islands.
  • Description: Titles: 'RKO – Pathe News: Marines Take Tarawa. Described by Dwight Weist'. Text prologue: 'In the bloodiest battle of the Pacific War, U.S. Marines and soldiers have taken the Gilbert Islands. At Tarawa, 1,026 Marines were killed, 2,557 wounded, in 76 hours'. Footage at sea of 'the largest fleet ever assembled in the Pacific'. Footage of Rear Admiral Harry W Hill and Major-General Julian C Smith USMC. Troops of 2nd Marine Division at prayer on board ship. Aircraft pass overhead and bombard the island. Naval bombardment by '1500 tons of navy shells' and '1000 tons of aerial bombs'. Landing craft head ashore. More naval bombardment 'of powerful Jap defence positions'. On Tarawa 'the Marines inch their way forward'. The enemy's 'skilfully engineered dugouts and pillboxes take a high toll'. Footage of infantry in action against a pillbox. Aerial support. Further naval bombardment. Supplies are brought ashore on a pier built of coconut logs where 'only hours before the Marines' beachhead was a strip just twenty feet wide between water and Jap machine guns…every Marine who fell had had his shot at the enemy'. Survey of destroyed enemy positions; 'many of the enemy positions stood up through all of our savage and concentrated bombardment, were finally taken in hand-to-hand combat'. Japanese dead. Destroyed enemy gun. Admission by commanders that Japanese strength was greater than expected. The Japanese 'a strong and well prepared and skilful enemy…it took all we had to win'. Footage of destruction; Japanese aircraft and vehicles and shattered trees. Captured Korean workers. Japanese casualties given as 6000. Medical treatment of captured personnel. A wounded Marine receives a blood plasma transfusion; casualties in 76 hours said to be higher than six months' fighting on Guadalcanal 'the most savage battle in the Pacific to date...the Gilbert Islands are ours'. Construction of an airfield; arrival of the first plane (apparently a Grumman F6F Hellcat); the pilot is carried aloft by Marines. Tarawa 'an important step nearer to the heart of Japan', part of the Marine Corps' 'glorious tradition'.
  • Alternative Title:
  • Colour: B&W
  • Digitised:
  • Object_Number: UNY 42
  • Sound: Silent
  • Access Conditions: IWM
  • Featured Period: 1939-1945
  • Production Date: 1944
  • Production Country:
  • Production Details: RKO Pathe News (Production company) Weist, Dwight1910-01-161991-07-16 (Production individual)
  • Personalities, Units and Organisations: Smith, Julian Constable (person) Hill, Harry Wilbur (person) United States Marine Corps, 2nd Marine Division (regiment/service)
  • Keywords: Tarawa Atoll, Gilbert Islands and Ellice Islands (geography) Tarawa 1943, Gilbert and Marshall Islands, Pacific War 1941-1945, Second World War (event) Amphibious Warfare (theme) Pacific 1939-1945 (theme)
  • Physical Characteristics: Colour format: B&W Sound format: Silent
  • Technical Details: Format: 35mm Number of items/reels/tapes: 1 Footage: 742 ft; Running time: 9 mins
  • HD Media:
  • Link to IWM Collections page:

    UNY 42

  • Related IWM Collections Objects:

    USA 144 (WITH THE MARINES AT TARAWA [Main Title]) UNY 43 (UNITED NEWS [Series Title]) UNY 80 (UNITED NEWS [Series Title]) UNY 81 (UNITED NEWS [Series Title])
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