World War II Documentary Double Feature: 6th Marine Division on Okinawa / The Last Bomb

THE 6TH MARINE DIVISION ON OKINAWA (1945):The 6th Marine Division on Okinawa chronicles Marine operations during the Battle of Okinawa in at times brutal detail. Codenamed "Operation Iceberg", the Battle of Okinawa was one of the most important battles of World War II, and is considered the largest amphibious assault to take place in the Pacific Theater. Okinawa was a supply base for the Japanese forces, and its proximity to China was instrumental to Imperial Japan's "choke hold" on that nation. This Academy Award-nominated documentary follows the early months of the battle, beginning on April 1, 1945 (it actually lasted until June 22, two weeks after the film's June 7 release date.) The battle was nicknamed the "typhoon of steel" for the ferocity of its combat, which included suicidal kamikaze attacks from Japanese fighters and more ships and armored vehicles than had ever been used by the Americans before. The Marines are shown liberating villagers in northern Okinawa, who set up a provisionary democratic government. The film concludes with the Americans using flamethrowers to draw out the remaining Japanese soldiers, who are now hiding in caves. They emerge clad only in ill-fitting loincloths - presumably, they couldn't stand the heat! By the time The 6th Marine Division on Okinawa premiered in theaters, World War II only had three months to go...but first, the bombing of Tokyo had to begin…

THE LAST BOMB (1945): The Last Bomb documents the bombing of Tokyo that took place in the final days of World War II. Narrator Reed Hadley calls it "the longest, toughest bomber mission in history" (Hadley is well-remembered by TV fans for Racket Squad and The Public Defender, but was at the time probably most recognizable to audiences as the voice of Red Ryder on radio.) B-29 bombers are shown taking off from strategic points in Saipan, Guam, and Tinian to commence bombing on Tokyo. Nearly 50% of the city's infrastructure was destroyed in the process. The sheer loss of civilian life (over 83,000 dead) has led many to criticize Americans' zealousness in the years since. As an example, the "Operation Meetinghouse" bombing (shown in this film) took more lives than Dresden, Hamburg, Hiroshima or Nagasaki. However, this film places more of an emphasis on the Americans' bombing strategy being ultimately unfeasible, with the resistance the bombers met from Japanese kamikaze fighter pilots and the dangers of landing those big planes accessed. So it ends with a shot of the mushroom cloud over Nagasaki and Hadley telling us that the atomic bomb "hastened the (Japanese) surrender and saved untold thousands of Americans lives." The Last Bomb was released by Warner Brothers shortly after V-J Day, and was nominated for Best Documentary Feature at the 1946 Academy Awards, perhaps owing to the country's relief over the war's conclusion.