World War II In Color: Part 13 Victory In The Pacific

In the final episode of World War Two In HD Color (See Episode List Here) we take up the story of the fight in the Pacific. We had seen The Americans staging Island Wars in Episode 11 in a bid to Isolate Japan and cut off their supply lines. But as Roosevelt's forces closed in on the Japanese mainlands it had become blatantly apparent the Imperial Japanese Army and indeed Japanese civilians would not surrender to an invading force. The Kamikaze pilots faced during the battles at sea and mass "Die Before Surrender" suicide of 2,000 civilians at Saipan had shown the Americans an invasion would be a bloodbath with estimates it could cost up to 250,000 American lives.

Once the Island of Okinawa was taken in June 1945 the plans for how to deal with the home lands of Japan could no longer be delayed. Again strategic bombing was tried just as Hitler had done in the Battle of Britain and the Allies had later in Germany but even with the latest explosives and incendiary devices it would never be enough to force a Japanese surrender. Just when it seemed the only solution would be a full scale invasion the new American president Harry S. Truman heard about The Manhattan Project. Scientists had been working since 1942 on the development of an Atom Bomb and they believed the Atomic Bomb was now ready for use. After fierce testing and believing it to be the only way to force a surrender without an enormous loss of American troops on August 6 1945 in Hiroshima and three days later in Nagasaki for the first time in history and the only time since Atomic bombs were used in warfare.

On August 15th Japan did surrender and World War Two was over or at least on paper was over. The events of the previous six years had divided the world, cities and countries lay in ruins, over 60 Million (3% of the then worlds population) died, the worlds largest war left behind history's largest wreckage. The Cold war, Korean war and many more would stem from WWII, conflicts right up to the current day can be traced back to the Second World War.

This series is the first time footage from World War Two can be seen in HD Color and is narrated by Robert Powell. All 13 episodes will be available on Documentary Fans over the coming week you can find them here : Watch The Complete World War II in HD Color Series.

Watch the full documentary now on Documentary Fans Release Date: 2010 Duration: 45 Minutes.