Posted on 08/10/2008 5:54:54 PM PDT by decimon
Hollywood duo Josh Hartnett and Ben Affleck portrayed the American desire to avenge the infamous Pearl Harbour bombings playing two US pilots in Michael Bay's hit 2001 epic.
But, the true devastation of the revenge attacks on Japanese forces in 1944 has been captured in one of the most ambitious underwater projects ever undertaken.
Operation Hailstorm was two years in the making - but on February 17, 1944, American forces blitzed the Chuuk Islands, in the south western region of the Pacific Ocean, sinking 70 Japanese ships, 270 aircraft and killing close to 3,000 people - though the official death toll has never been confirmed.
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Pacific Abyss will be shown in three hour-long specials starting next Sunday on BBC1 at 8pm.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
This is the BBC. Be ready for an anti-American slant. A visit to their website one month showed stories about America’s religious snake handlers and their politics, while a corresponding story on the Muslim view of death and mortality touted that religion’s complex understanding of life.
I also doubt that the 1944 attacks were for “revenge” as the article claims. The attacks were to destroy the Imperial Army and Navy which was in the middle of killing lots of US, UK, Aussie, Canadian, and other Allied soldiers and sailors. They had self-preservation, not revenge, as their motive.
It may be interesting, and I will try to watch it. But I have been burned before by the BBC./
And London is still rebuilding from The Blitz.
Four generations later, they have been programmed to forget.
An ex-colleague of mine dove the area. Brought back some great pictures and said that they didn't do it justice.
Also known as the Truk Islands.
What’s with the “revenge” angle?
This was in the middle of the war.
Dear Daily Mail
Please do not rearrange the correct spellling of Pearl Harbor to suit the Angophile spelling of the word “harbour”.
It is a capital name of a city which carries significance and historical meaning to the people of the nation in which that city is located. It should not be subject to your linguistic peculiarities.
Some of you take great freedom in mis-spelling the name of that famous place and I for one resent the ignorance you display.
Wikipedia has an article on this.
I thought the 1942 Doolittle raid on Tokyo was the revenge for Pearl Harbor. It was a great propaganda victory, though of little military value.
The 1944 filmed account, ‘Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo,’ based on Ted Lawson’s book and starring Van Johnson and Spencer Tracy, was an excellent WWII film, and is shown occasionally on TV.
I think we are supposed to feel bad about it. I don’t.
Military history ping
The article uses “revenge” in the title and the text, as well as the word “avenge.”
That is why I said to be careful for BBC leftist slant here. The BBC drips of anti-US sentiment, with a good dose of anti-Israeli sentiment thrown in for balance.
I think the use of the words “revenge” and “avenge” are meant to paint the US’s action in 1944 as being emotional and hence irrational. (Of course they were taken as a very logical action in a war to defeat the enemy.) But the irrationality/emotionality aspect plays into the BBC’s recurring theme that fits today’s view of the US: stupid cowboys who do not act rationally.
You see the same thing with the Israeli/Arab conflict. Reports of Hamas lobbing bombs into Israel are “skirmishes” whereas Israeli Army actions are “brutal offenses” or similarly charged language.
And the Brits are forced to pay for the BBC through a “tele tax.”
There’s no way to know what slant they might put on the story without seeing the show. Probably worth a watch just for the pictures.
“Also known as the Truk Islands.”
I was wondering if that was the case- I didn’t recall ever hearing of the Chuuk Islands in the many nights I spent transfixed by Victory at Sea.
Admiral Halsey had a huge billboard that said:
Kill Japs
Kill Japs
Kill More Japs
Kill Japs
Kill Japs
Kill More Japs
Was that in the Beatles song? ;-)
(not even going to do any online research first)
Isn’t this about Truk Lagoon?
And wasn’t it known as “Iron Bottom Bay” after the successful U.S. attack?
I don't think Yoko would have approved.
O no!
Just parenthetically - but on a related note - I’ve heard that Truk lagoon is a wonderful place for wreck diving; any Freepers done any SCUBA there and care to report?
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