It's a superior documentary about the first US amphibious assault in the Pacific theater in late 1942 by the Marine Corps and later the US Army. The Navy too was involved in no small way.
It's above average for several reasons. It's not a World War II flag waver, for one thing. The presentation of events is reasonably balanced and unmarred by name calling and insinuations. The Japanese point of view is clearly presented, although the handful of talking heads we see are all Americans -- a medic, an aviator, a PT boat crew member, and a Marine foot soldier.
It was a victory for our side, of course, but the final impression left on the viewer is one of a series of brutal, bitter battles fought both on land and at sea that left everyone thoroughly exhausted, sick, and hungry. Two thirds of the Japanese who set foot on Guadalcanal never left it. And when the First Marine Division was finally relieved and moved out to the transports, the men were too weak to struggle up the cargo nets.
The basic pattern of the fight for the island was this. The Marines landed against no opposition and quickly established a perimeter around the airfield the Japanese had been building. (The opposition on a few small islands across the bay was fierce.) The Japanese launched a number of counter attacks that were supposed to be coordinated but were not, because the dense jungle impeded progress and communications. When the American launched coordinate attacks, they got lost too.
The US Navy suffered one or two humiliating defeats at the hands of the Japanese, for which no excuse is given, until finally winning control of the sea.
The narration is by Jack Reed, whom you'll probably recognize if you watched A&E, and the graphics are useful, although I was sometimes confused by the troop movements they depicted, just as I'm confused when I read about them.
The combat footage is appropriate, as far as I could tell, and seems to be from the battles as described. Most of the Marines carry Springfield '03 rifles, and only later do we see M-1s.
I wouldn't expect any future documentaries about Guadalcanal that were better than this. The participants are rapidly disappearing and it's unlikely that anything new will emerge from the historical record.
It's above average for several reasons. It's not a World War II flag waver, for one thing. The presentation of events is reasonably balanced and unmarred by name calling and insinuations. The Japanese point of view is clearly presented, although the handful of talking heads we see are all Americans -- a medic, an aviator, a PT boat crew member, and a Marine foot soldier.
It was a victory for our side, of course, but the final impression left on the viewer is one of a series of brutal, bitter battles fought both on land and at sea that left everyone thoroughly exhausted, sick, and hungry. Two thirds of the Japanese who set foot on Guadalcanal never left it. And when the First Marine Division was finally relieved and moved out to the transports, the men were too weak to struggle up the cargo nets.
The basic pattern of the fight for the island was this. The Marines landed against no opposition and quickly established a perimeter around the airfield the Japanese had been building. (The opposition on a few small islands across the bay was fierce.) The Japanese launched a number of counter attacks that were supposed to be coordinated but were not, because the dense jungle impeded progress and communications. When the American launched coordinate attacks, they got lost too.
The US Navy suffered one or two humiliating defeats at the hands of the Japanese, for which no excuse is given, until finally winning control of the sea.
The narration is by Jack Reed, whom you'll probably recognize if you watched A&E, and the graphics are useful, although I was sometimes confused by the troop movements they depicted, just as I'm confused when I read about them.
The combat footage is appropriate, as far as I could tell, and seems to be from the battles as described. Most of the Marines carry Springfield '03 rifles, and only later do we see M-1s.
I wouldn't expect any future documentaries about Guadalcanal that were better than this. The participants are rapidly disappearing and it's unlikely that anything new will emerge from the historical record.
