I knew man who was on Guadalcanal. He died in 1994. Many of the scenes in this show were exactly how he described them. It was like watching his words unfold on film.
@@Unregistered.Hypercam.2. I had an uncle that was a Marine that was at Guadalcanal. He never talked about his time in the Pacific at all to his family, but he did talk a bit about it to me (something my dad and my aunt found remarkable), at the time I was an Army Reserve officer and something of an amateur historian (it was my college major for my B.A.). The subject of Guadalcanal never came up specifically unfortunately, though I sensed he knew I knew he saw some serious shit while there. I get the same vibe out of my cousin who was in the infantry in Vietnam--willing to open up a bit, but you can tell when the memories start to overwhelm them so you don't press. Maybe he got the guy to talk, maybe not, maybe the guy talked and was there but mostly told tall tales, maybe the guy said he was there when in reality he was a motor pool sergeant at Pearl the whole war. Whatever the case, I'm very respectful of the veterans who served. This series does an excellent job of trying to capture what it was like over there.
This was an actual issue in the Pacific Campaign. Marines became hesitant to try and take Japanese prisoners due to how many suicide attacks they suffered from, so they would often simply shoot surrendering Japanese soldiers instead of risking a suicide attack. US high command was, of course, displeased with this, and ended up bribing Marines with various different items in order to get them to start taking prisoners again.
@@aaronbrall2870 Nope. Crayons were too expensive, they bribed them with sweets and candy... Not joking, either. I specifically remember reading that ice cream was offered to Marines for taking POWs.
There is a reason the Pacific campaign took on it's pall of darkness. Desperation, fanaticism, distrust. Odd to think of warring powers to have trust between the sides, but there are rules to warfare and for them to work requires a degree of honor. And it does work, and it can happen. But not when this starts taking place. I think something similar ended up playing out on the Eastern Front of Europe. The Germans and Soviets, did not like one another, and did not treat the other with any respect, though not to the same degree of deceptive suicide grenades in the name of "the Fuhrer/Stalin." It was a bloody fight over there, and the socialists were fanatical of their own side over the other presented before them.
@@jackr2287 a lot of soviet soldiers from penal battalions would try to surrender to Hungarian or Italian units as they treated prisoners a lot better than the Germans or Romanians. Ultimately it wouldn't matter though as eventually they would end up as prisoners to the Germans regardless of who they surrendered to. Sort of the same thing happened with the Italians in North Africa, they would surrender to the British or Americans as they didn't want to fight or die for mussolini (who could blame them) as well as that they got better food rations as prisoners than they did in their own army.
Yes, I don’t know what fate has in store for me but if I look at my life, I can look back at many many years of peace. I am way over 40 and had such a good life so far. If it hits me now, I can still say: I had a life. Most if the young boys who died in war can’t say this. Some of them never had a women. They die way before time. I am just grateful for what I had and what I have. I don’t know what will be. But this will not take away what I had.
My grandfather mentioned a similar incident on one of the few times he ever talked about his service in the Pacific. His platoon made sure any "dead" Japanese soldiers really were dead after that.
The Pacific campaign was notoriously bloody due to the Japanese attitude being so merciless towards prisoners which in their propaganda was said to be the same on the other side. Hundreds of civilians committed a mass suicide at the end of battle of Okinawa because they were told that Americans would torture them to death.
@@TheSuspectOnFoot There's a whole chapter of "On killing" by LTC Dave Grossman that talks about using atrocities to wage war and how in many ways it backfires in a big way (e.g. feigning surrender with a grenade will get actually surrendering soldiers shot)
@@iche9373 No he couldn't. In Japanese society at the time, surrendering was the worst disgrace (instilled from an early age and the whole society was turned towards it). Death was better than surrender. In addition, Japanese officers made sure that their men made their sacrifice... It's tragic that a society, a people came to its values there (for us Westerners) and this allowed the Japanese to make their "banzai" charges and the kamikazes...
Indeed. The Japanese back then were a lot like the Soviets. The choice of the enemy's bullets or one from your commanding officer. Or worse, be beheaded.
@@TheDa6781 i literally wanted to put the same TIKs link but you were here 5h before me hahaha But you should know that no historian is as "historically accurate" as western sovietofobic propaganda
When I first saw this scene, I actually imagined the Japanese soldier feeling like he was in some kind of a nightmare. The kind where something is chasing you and you can't get away. He turns to run left and right, and his stride falters as if his legs were weighing him down. He knows he's trapped, and just wants it to be over.
Good, those Japanese soldiers, sailors, and pilots during ww2 deserve nothing but pain and agony for eternity, I hope they are suffering for the rest of time for what they did
@@terrytucker4811 you haven't been to war. Never had a superior tell you, "forward or it's court marshall and discharge." Not a lot of the Japanese people then and now are proud of what the country did between the 20s and late 40s. Read a book from the other side once or twice.
@@casablanca3871 But the vast, vast majority of modern Japanese citizens have no idea of what their own (WWII) history is. What you actually run into is a staggering pool of self-pity. Yup. In high school, Japanese kids are taught that WWII just kind of happened to Japan -- the whole world started picking on them. I paraphrase, but my essence is true.
You are right. The others were toying with him.... teasing him with the release of death. Then Leckie (spelling?) Didnthe humane thing and put the japanese sildier out of rhe miseries of this life. There is no judgement on the other US Marines. War is an inhumane condition of the human existence..... but then again so is humanity.
My late grandfather served in the navy in WW2 on transports made every amphibious landing we did from the Canal to Okinawa. He flat out refused to say what he did in the war unless he was drunk. One night I got him drunk as I wanted to hear about his time in the Navy. Big mistake on my part. He told of going into the Canal after they had left the Marines there to drop off reinforcements and also supplies during the campaign and how they literally would clean out the ships galley of everything to give the Marines extra food for them to have on the Canal. How his captain without orders charged into the battle area where the Escort Carriers of Taffy 3 had just driven off the IJN at Leyte Gulf. How they pulled men out of the water there. The terror they felt off of Okinawa not knowing when a kamikaze plane could be overhead. Then he talked of the POW's he brought home the Bataan Death March survivors that where nothing but skin and bones a Marine off of Wake Island one of the lucky ones that survived from there. Why do I say that. Most of the Marines at Wake where KILLED ON WAKE after the Surrender as the Japanese High Command did not want to waste the Transports needed to move them off the island. That man had his hands beaten into clubs for being part of the Shore Batteries that had sunk a Cruiser on the first attempt to take Wake. Another he told me about was a 21st AAF 1st LT who had NO EYES at all just empty sockets as they had burned them out of his skull. He had been a Bombardier on a B=29 that had been shot down. The last one he mentioned and cried himself to sleep about was another US Army officer. A 1st LT in the Medical Corp. She had been a nurse in the Philippine's that got caught when Corregidor fell. She had spent the rest of the war prior to being freed as a Comfort Camp woman reserved for Japanese Officers. She had endured almost 4 years of constant rape and starvation before being freed.
The Japanese soldier was at least 100 feet away, which in Hollywood measurements is about 10 feet. In Hollywood pistols have the range of rifles, rifles are as accurate as handguns, and grenades have about 500 lbs of explosive in them.
@@JGSuttonJr this is true for most movies, but if you pay attention, he is taking a lot of time to get proper placement and to steady his breath. It is a lot more likely especially because he just did a center mass shot not a headshot or impossible shot.
It must be so inimmaginably tiring and frustrating to fight for your own life, to only realize that no matter what you do, you will die. I can't Imagine how psychologically stressful that must be. It was hard to watch him break and give up. That is no way to die.
@@Pincuishin it always baffles me how little basic human sympathy people seem to have. yes, the japanese empire during ww2 was one of the most mind bogglingly cruel countries to ever exist. that doesn't change the fact that this man was fighting for god knows how long in unbearable conditions which eventually broke him. he died a heart-breakingly pathetic death after giving up on life. if this does not make you feel sorrow then you too have been corrupted by a war fought decades before you were born.
@@kapas2070 I'd imagine if I had to fight in a war like that I'd be scared like most vets of it. but like most of them I'd have the same opinion. you meet brutality with brutality you win wars by slaughtering your enemy and breaking their will to fight. I'd doubt you would find anyone from the pacific theater that would find any sympathy for the japanese military
I mean, he’s probably about 40-50 feet/13-17 yards away so honestly that isn’t too bad considering it’s a full sized target standing still. Definitely not a super easy shot, but a shooter with just a little training could probably pull it off given it’s a single shot and the target is standing still.
@@CptFordo-bv8dc Ignition time is highly subjective in grenades. Lower build quality by the time of the later war (1942 to 1945) would have made the fuses much more variable especially after 1944.
My father was a US Navy Hospital Corpsman in the Pacific from 1943/45. I remember him telling me stories about how the Japanese would go to any length to kill Marines. Corpsman were no exceptions.After a while, Marines stopped bothering with prisoners.
Japanese propaganda was a madness in WW2, the Japanese soldiers were convinced the Americans were not sending soldiers, they were sending armed convicts and madmen to would kill all the men and rape all the women.
One of the nicest best men I ever met . A family friend was in the south pacific in the army . Told stories just like this and things that happened to him . Was a farmer his whole life. I never knew him to get upset or raise his voice . This was a very good mini series. I watched it once & I own it . There was never anything good that came out of it for anyone. Very depressing for those men . Maybe that's why our friend led the rest of his life with kindness.
@@user-ri1gq3ec2q Bill, His name was Harry Allen. Creston IL Alto Township . My Grandparents good friends. Originally from Mendota IL. Can give you kids names , our church ect . Pictures.? Don't be a Doucher guys like you troll wannabe. WTF.
@@dougtheviking6503 Your english is to weak to be an american. Just look on how you write "My Grandparents good friends." You also use very short sentences that sounds weird when you read them. I call your story fake beacuse there is no way you and your family live in america, and therefore have not ever meet a Pacific Vet
Gaudalcanal is one of the most Tragic stories in the Whole of WW2. From the Marines landing on the Island and surrounding Islands August 1942 till the Army took over on the Island. It had everything Big Naval Battles, Massive Air Combat and Ground Combat that never seemed to end. I chose it for my Thesis. absolutely mind blowing. What those men went through (Both sides) was Hell (Sorry I know it's a Cliche!! BUT it's as close to truth as you can get.)
I read Neptune's Inferno. Phenomenal book. What blew my mind was the navy lost 3-4 times as many sailors as the USMC did marines. If they had it bad on the island, the boats were a different breed of nightmare.
Have done many of research on this battle and many of the other island battles. Hope your thesis only got a B, because you should get only a B for Guadalcanal.B for blood. Was in the Marines, talked to many including Mitchell page and did extensive studies on Vanderhrifts, edson and pullers tactics at the navel war college. Truly a heart stopper
1:27 hes a good man, he just wanted to end his suffering. after all, the other soldiers were purposely aiming their shots toward his shoulders to watch him suffer.
Had he not put that soldier out of MI misery, those other soldiers who have kept toying with him. After he shoots him, one of them angrily asks "what did you do that for?!" It's a painful scene
@@ccaulkins94 Once you see your friends killed or ripped open or blown to pieces, You now enter the dark side of your world. They called it battle fatigue. Today it's known as PTSD.
That’s war dude but movies or video games don’t do justice for the reality of war. However they can give us a glimpse of what war is. If you catch my drift.
@@AlexKS1992 yeah I get it, I would probably know more if my parents allowed me to watch more things like this, I do plan on teaching history though. so realistic scenes like this will help a lot. And researching first hand accounts. Another thing is, I value life and all that juicy stuff so that adds extra weight.
@@MrTremewan Again, what did you expect to see? A scene where someone is blown to pieces by a grenade is done either with mannequins and low grade explosive, or full computer graphics.
@@shoewithbeans8472 I believe he means the Japanese forces. Japanese soldiers were pretty much patriots who believed every word their precious emperor said. No value for their life, brainwashed them to believe that suicide is “honor” when in reality it’s pointless.
Emperor was a god in Japan so its like jihadis - if you die in the name of god emperor you go to haven or become a hero or whatever if you are coward you are damned - different way of thinking
This is a true story about Japanese soldiers using grenades and explosives when they surrendered. My father fought on Okinawa and he personally witnessed this type of enemy action.
Did no one else notice how different this whole setting was from Band of Brothers? During band of brothers, you already see German clothing during the first episode and you see them also on the first episode of combat (dday) In The Pacific, you never saw the Japanese until now, before this, they were chasing shadows and it took 3/4ths of an episode to finally come in contact with them
A little reminiscent of Dunkirk, where you only hear and see fleeting images of the Germans right up until the last moments of the movie where they capture Tom Hardy's character, and then not even in much deail.
@@harrypost9442 He made his point. Perhaps certain conversations about Art and artistic creativity aren't something you should engage in. There are videos of guys getting hit in the balls you may be more interested in. Something you can relate too and understand. More on your social and intellectual level..Enjoy.
@@グレンくれ Every man is an animal in fact. It's just not enough triggers in our enviroment to release our animal instinct. And this is sad - even war doesn't release these instincts in whole. Animals doesn't make other animals suffer - they just do what they must to survive.
Reminds me of a story a soldier I was visiting as a hospice volunteer told me. He said a Japanese plane would strafe them fairly regularly, and one day this plane took a direct hit and was burning all the way to splashdown. Of course he cheered with his buddies, but he told me how profoundly sad it made him, seeing a person of about his own age die for what they were ordered to do; just like him. Vets may have talked crap during the war, but I NEVER spoke with a Pacific Theater vet who did not think the Japanese were an extremely tough enemy to be feared.
This scene always kinda broke my heart. This poor kid knew he couldn't surrender, but there was no was he could win. His only choice was to let them kill him, fortunately Leckie showed him mercy.
Its sad to think that a few years before the war, all these guys were innocent teens. Although both sides commited atrocities , it was the war that turned them into merciless sociopaths. Prior to the war most of them would never dream to do such hideous acts
That is what war does to people, and why it is interesting to study. It gives people a license to kill and a clear enemy. When put in that kind of situation we default to our most basic function: "I want to survive and I want my tribe to survive." The pacific does a great job showing all the ugly and human aspect of war.
It's not that they wouldn't. It's just they never had a reason to. War doesn't cause mean to do such things. It only allows them to do what we already have in us from the moment we were born. No war doesn't cause horrible things in man...it exposes them.
@@patricktalamantes5503 no man, youre only half right. Yes a certain percentage of the population are sociopaths/psychopaths and when they are put in a war scenario they get to play out their sinister side. But there are also normal people who can be turned into monsters because of the circumstances around them. There is a lot of recorded evidenxe of nazi police officers who were friendly towards jews and at the ennof the war they were commiting hideous acts against them. And here on youtube you cannfind a lot of recording of people who went to war, who never imagined they would be committing war crimes. Theres also all the propaganda fed to troops during war time
There's a myth in the West about the Japanese not retreating or withdrawing. In fact they do order withdrawals when it's tactically necessary or to conserve resources. Those are true in larger picture strategic moves. One example was the combined 'ghost withdrawal' from Kiska in the Aleutians which was successfully conducted undercover of fog under the nose of Allied sea and air superiority. But the distinction of the Japanese as fanatical and suicidal usually referred to rear-guard units and small pockets of troops ordered to stay behind and hold lost ground, which was also an element of a tactical withdrawal. Surrenders are rare, as they often fought to the death or die in a Banzai charge. The Imperial Navy also withdrew and retreated tactically, but they also unleashed the infamous Kamikaze, Kai-Ten manned torpedoes and other suicidal crafts designed to inflict damage to the Allies. Those are the type of Japanese many Allied troops encountered face to face in battles, which is the reason why the image of them as suicidal and fanatical stuck.
I could be wrong but I think certain troops were trained specifically for suicide or certain death in battle. I don't know about all the other examples you mentioned but I heard kamikaze pilots had very specific training and meditation to combat the fear of death. Another thing I heard is if a kamikaze pilot flew back, they weren't usually scolded much by the military, as they were valuable assets. Makes sense considering I don't know many people willing to fly a bomb into a ship
our high school coach mentioned that you would see less and less banzai charges as the years went on once the japanese realised they were now the ones defending the positions, banzais were usually last resort when everything has been done or nothing else to do but surrender
@eedd sdsd It doesn't make sense to reduce an entire population of 80 mio. people to the actions of few. Most soldiers were thinking they were doing the right thing since propaganda has told them gruesome things about america. So did the americans believe they are doing the right thing. Both had no choice but to believe. It just turned out that one side was more right than the other. Of course there were many soldiers going beyond and doing the unimaginable but it's not the best thing to prejudice against every soldier.
When fighting a war you need to be better than your enemies. There's always a moral high ground. Real heroes and soldiers don't kill the enemy because they hate them but because every one of them they kill saves one of their comrades next to them. Leckie did the heroic and humane thing by ending his life cleanly.
1911's can be surprisingly accurate. When I was 14, I shot NRA matches with the 45. Outdoors. Slow fire was 50 yards. 10 rounds/10 minutes. OFFHAND. (1 handed). The scoring area was about 20 inches or so. (IIRC) Timed and rapid fire was 25 yards. 5 rounds/20 seconds timed, 5 rounds 10 seconds rapid 2x each Now, one important fact. The 1911 I shot had the bare minimum trigger pull. Maybe a third of a government issue.. Plus we were shooting lighter lead bullets and reduced loads (Different main springs) AND - most importantly, we were not in an area where someone was going to take a shot at us. But, yes, out to 50 yards with someone very familiar with the weapon. doable.
Guadalcanal was horrendous. Just read Richard B. Frank's excellent treatise titled "Guadalcanal", which covers the many and various air, sea and land battles in that campaign. Inhumane, brutal beyond belief, but then so is all war.
And to think my Great Grandpa was there 79 years ago, I wonder what he saw and witnessed, I'm sure he wouldn't want to tell, all he just said to my Dad was his friends died over there and he got part of his nose shot off
Ironically the Marines get all the credit for the Guadalcanal victory. They lost just over 1100 killed with three times as many wounded. 5,000 Navy sailors died in the naval and air battles off the island.
I tried watching that excellent American documentary on the War in the Pacific. It gave the unvarnished truth, no punches pulled. I couldn't make it through the first episode.
I've read how Marines would land on some islands and kill everything that moved. When asked about it, the reply was, if we kill it, it can't kill us. There was a reason Tecumseh Sherman said, "War is Hell".
love this scene and love that you did not cut it up, because it shows both sides of a very basic yet complicated moral question, do you take prisoners/show pity to this enemy that shows they are determined to kill you and your comrades at any cost, including suicidal attacks and underhanded (booby trapping dead/wounded) methods. if you only saw the first half of the clip, you would say of course not, in fact you may even think you should show cruelty towards them. then you see the second half of the clip where it shows the marines doing just that to an enemy soldier, one who is clearly distraught as hundreds, maybe thousands of his brothers lay dead or dying around him, and he is being toyed with by the enemy who did this to them. war is truly hell, respect and gratitude to those who fought and died, may they all find peace.
I read both Leckie and Sledge’s book, Helmet for my Pillow and With the Old Breed after watching this series. I also read and seen the movie Gualdcanal Diary.
He wished for death and they gave him a dance, pride and nationalism might be different but they pave the same path, that man wanted to end it's life but it's scared to do so, he's had enough like all of those who fight, poor man
Not every Japanese soldier was a savage, but I will say that the orders they received and those that followed them through with full conviction, that to me is the definition of savage. It is very interesting to see the vast difference in literally a 2 minute scene from a person that does as they are told, to one with humanity that simply doesn't want to get killed but accepts his fate anyway. I recommend watching letters from iwo jima, any of you.
These scenes are so important for people to be aware of. If anyone who pushes for war, insurrection, revolution etc had any idea of the reality of what they demand, they would think twice. Guns jam, ammunition fails, fuckups happen. In fact any war is really just a series of screwups with hard lessons learnt along the way - even for the supposedly winning side. My great uncle fought in the pacific in ww2 pretty much right from the start in the NZEF. Whilst he hardly ever talked about it, as was expected at the time, he was traumatised on a scale we cannot imagine. He always paid his dues to the returned services association, but never attended. Stories of him terrified and screaming at night for grenades etc and all that well into his old age. He even built a sort of bunker for some sense of security - "when laying concrete remember your hand 5:1 mix and 5 inches thick". Yeah, good luck to anyone having to bust up that driveway. Having grown up during the depression with an alcoholic father he was no stranger to violence before he joined the army. One thing he would say was the only good thing about the army was they would give you a good pair of boots and when those boots wore out they had another pair for you. He got his first pair of footwear when he joined the army, so he appreciated it. In any case, in his last few years, in an aged home, some of the stories came out. Stories of men on fire. Stories of being told to stay down in a river for hours on end before being told to get the Fuck out and running. The running didn't hurt so much, but when they stopped, the excruciating agony of having the skin of your inner thighs being stripped away because your pants were woolen and your skin was soft. Stories of crossing a river with a good mate next to him and in the snap of his finger, his mate was gone and he had his mates intestines wall over his face and body. No warning, just happened with the snap of a finger. To his credit he taught me and many others to not judge others by what they say, but by what they do. That's what counts. And man, did he live up to that. In a small town, if someone would be doing it tough, he would get a big box, go through the supermarket and fill it with essentials - no coffee, nothing non essential, just filled with the basics. They would trip over the box at their doorstep in the morning - nothing said, totally discrete. And he would do this all the time.
I was listening to Dan Hardy’s hardcore history about Japan in ww2 about why those guys fought like that even years after war. Different mentality. It’s just crazy how people can be indoctrinated
It wasn't indoctrination. The Japanese culture had emphasized death before dishonor for centuries, and the code of bushido states that one must fight honorably...but ONLY against other samurai. Everyone else was beneath contempt. It's also worth noting that the Japanese, even today, loathe the Okinawans and don't see them as "true" Japanese. The Imperial army was unspeakably cruel to the Okinawans, just as they were to the US troops and Chinese during Nanking. Japan believed itself the crown jewel of the world, and everybody else was inferior. It's a belief that---while subdued beneath a westernized economy---still simmers in Japan even today.
@@theusher2893 Death before dishonour, was a bushido/samurai thing, and my understanding is, it was historically only really the "senior officers", who were expected to follow it, not common soldiers. It is not a "Japanese" thing going back centuries. It was not until the Imperial Japanese government of the late 19th/early 20th centuries, essentially hijacked, for lack of a better word, this code that it began to be expected of the entire military, and later, the entire population of Japan, and it was done through indoctrination, literally the definition of the word.
If you want a Marines view of Guadalcanal, find the book “On Valors Side” by Grady Gallant. He wrote shortly after the war, and served in Corps on the Canal from day one to the day his division was relieved.
That’s how the Imperial Japanese were. They saw it as treason and cowardice. That’s why I’m the early war with the Canadians, Rajputs, and British on Hong Kong, they slaughtered everybody at St. Joseph.
My Grandfather was US Army 11th Airborne in the Philippines during 1944-1945. They were not kind to the enemy. He never talked about it. Had that 1,000 yard stare. He investigated and documented war crimes. I know he saw and did some awful stuff. Bop maintained a special respect yet simultaneous disdain for the Japanese for the rest of his life.
@@butchyshoe for the politicians and leaders that don’t need to experience war, yes, because they are cowards that hide in their comfortable offices away from the fighting. For the average soldier, not so much.
I'll never forget what our General said before we enter the War in Marawi in 2017. He said : "Does any one of you Guys had Seen it?" We answered : "Seen what Sir?" General replied: "What man can do to another man?". "You'll see it Soon so prepare to meet Death in Hell". I had never been so scared in my life on that Fateful Day.
@@killtheheretics2915 Marawi is a City in the Philippines where ISIS set up their Headquarters here in South East Asia. They Captured the whole City in May 22, 2017. They Established and pledge with the other rebels here in the Philippines and started a war with the Government. After 3 months of War. We Successfully Liberated the City and Eliminated the whole ISIS forces. We killed 900 ISIS members including local Rebels who Pledge with them. Thousands of innocent people had lost their homes and lives on that war.
The American hatred of the Japanese was more than we can imagine. Not only did Japan start the war with a sneak attack that murdered 2335 men and brutally wounded 1143, but the Japanese army was merciless, torturing and killing everything in their path. By this point in the war, all these men had seen friends of their killed by the Japanese. This hatred the American soldiers had was very understandable.
As a Japanese this scene hits hard. My Great Grandfather according to my mother came back after surrendering to the American's in WWII in the Battle of Iwo Jima. To our family, we had a sort of happiness to see him once more, but not relief because deep down we still felt the pressure of disgrace for him coming home. It may be harsh but I think that final Japanese soldier should of died. It would of been even more of a disgrace to his family coming home, and would have also brought huge problems for his family. I just want to point out that although the way of Kamikaze is to die honorably, it however is a myth that ALL Japanese Soldiers wanted glory in death. Some really didn't want to die, but rather not bring a burden on their family.
To be honest the scene kind of bugs me, the soldiers toying with him and such; just .... I don't know, that isn't an honorable way to fight as far as I am concerned. Then again, I've never been in war, never been in combat, so perhaps its my ignorance speaking. Either way, I am glad to hear that your great grandfather made it out of the war alive. My grandfather, who served in the Pacific as an artillery gunner, was captured by the Japanese but later rescued (his brother, however, wasn't so fortunate. From what my grandfather told me, his brother was found having been tortured, he wouldn't go into too many details but my grandmother told me that it wasn't pretty when they found him *his wife was a nurse, they married after the war*) and sadly that side of the family even to this day harbors a lot of resentment toward the Japanese (even though the Japanese of today are not the one's who fought in the war, so I see no reason for resentment)
@@Suisfonia I'm sorry that happened. My grandmother tells me that in War there really isn't a "good or bad" side, but rather "good" or "bad" people within each side fighting for what they believe is right. I most certainly would like to defend my great grandfather's actions, but i cannot say for the rest of the Japanese Soldiers during WWII.
As a Chinese American, I'm curious how today's Japanese people think about glory? Do you still believe in Bushido? My grandfather was a Chinese army officer, and his soldiers caught 2 young Japanese soldiers, they were only 17 years old. They were executed by the angry local civilian people for their troop killed thousands of the innocent civilian people. Before their death, they were screaming for their mothers. My grandfather told me this story and he felt so sad for these 2 young Japanese soldiers' fate.
It's so sad that the US Marines, in trying to be humane spare Japanese prisoners and in doing so, take a suicide attack, and the real Japanese people who surrender are shot in case of the risk of other suicide attacks.
This scene is great, it shows why the hate for the japanese was understandable, but on the other hand, how cruelty towards every japanese is still a questionable thing. Some see no problem with it, others might have a fundemental problem with such things, and others might wonder whether the actions of some japanese soldiers reflect the true nature of them all.
It wasn’t necessarily just the soldiers, but also the brutal torture that was done by the Japanese to people including its own. You think Guantanamo bay is inhumane? Go lookup Unit 731.
If an American soldier stayed behind the lines, and heroically sacrificed himself with a grenade to kill some enemy troops, then we'd be talking about giving him a posthumous medal. The second the Japanese (Or the Vietnamese, or the Arabs, or the Afghans, or literally anyone who isn't white/American), it's suddenly dirty and dishonorable.
@@Branflakes143 difference is the Americans didn't blow themselves up when being taken prisoner, fought to the death sure since being prisoner to the Japanese was worse than death. Also the Americans weren't fanatical or indoctrinated like the Japanese. Nothing to do with race, also hardly heroic from the Japanese grenade guy.
@@Branflakes143 to be fair, the man was faking to be wounded, which is agaisnt the Geneva convention. If the Japanese soldier was running towards them with the grenade as a last ditch effort, that'd be different.
@@Branflakes143 I would hardly call it a heroic sacrifice considering the way he went out pretending to be wounded. Although I’m sure he believed in his mind that’s what he was doing. I’ve come to find that throughout all human history and especially in war it’s all a matter of perspective. The reason we wouldn’t look at it the same if the man was American is because we are American and because in wwII we truly were the good guys idc how you spin it.
I was on a range in Malaysia. A bush chicken ran across the range left to right. The sergeant said, " That thing! Shoot that thing!" We all unloaded on the bush chicken. It ran left to right, then right to left as we shot at it then it ran off into the bush. Moving targets are hard. Had a similar experience with a kangaroo, Back and forth no hits. MG and rifles. Amazing.
So a disturbing scene to watch. The Japanese soldier knew that his death was inevitable. The enemy will take no prisoner and humiliate you painfully till death. Even if he surrendered he would be wiped out by angered Marines.
It's like...which one would you rather be? The men with the power, who are laughing while shooting at the representation of an extremely brutal enemy who has inflicted unimaginable cruelty upon them and civilians? Or a faceless, nameless soldier of that enemy whose life story and actions you don't know, who knows he is at the end of his life and wants to have a "good death", but isn't sure if he wants to go through with it or not, so can only bellow helplessly at the sky while hoping it's over quickly? I wouldn't want to be either.
Actually, the choice is easy. Just imagine the Japanese army from that area conquering your town and did there what they did to others in other places, but this time your family. In short, I would have no issues gunning down that Japanese ww2 era mindset soldier in such a setting.
@@tacitus6384 I would rather put it that you see the "little picture", while I see the "big picture". It is not like I dont understand your angle, I just dont agree because I know what would happen if the table were turned.
Not all every axis soldiers are evil, not all allied soldiers are good. This Japanese dude seriously just wants to get home. "War is where the young and stupid are tricked by the old and bitter into killing each other." -Niko Bellic
When you think of somebody using a HMG, you tend to think of a heartless brute. I like how this scene shows the humanity in some yet the horrors of war.
Imagine, being a youngster who has seen your fellow soldier do a suicide attack on the enemy in the name of the emperor, then you and your boys rush in without thinking due to momentary adrenaline and getting mowed down with you being the only one alive just to be toyed and tortured by the enemy. Probably wanted to go home so badly while thinking about his whole life.
I knew man who was on Guadalcanal. He died in 1994. Many of the scenes in this show were exactly how he described them. It was like watching his words unfold on film.
Seems like a dirty dirty arena of war. What did he say about it specifically?
I absolutely doubt you got a vet that actually fought to talk about it less so in world War two and even less so in Guadalcanal
@@Unregistered.Hypercam.2. Agree. Them dudes didn't like talking about stuff like this.
@@Unregistered.Hypercam.2. I had an uncle that was a Marine that was at Guadalcanal. He never talked about his time in the Pacific at all to his family, but he did talk a bit about it to me (something my dad and my aunt found remarkable), at the time I was an Army Reserve officer and something of an amateur historian (it was my college major for my B.A.). The subject of Guadalcanal never came up specifically unfortunately, though I sensed he knew I knew he saw some serious shit while there. I get the same vibe out of my cousin who was in the infantry in Vietnam--willing to open up a bit, but you can tell when the memories start to overwhelm them so you don't press.
Maybe he got the guy to talk, maybe not, maybe the guy talked and was there but mostly told tall tales, maybe the guy said he was there when in reality he was a motor pool sergeant at Pearl the whole war. Whatever the case, I'm very respectful of the veterans who served. This series does an excellent job of trying to capture what it was like over there.
Hard to imagine that while this slaughter was going on people in US were still enjoying baseball
This was an actual issue in the Pacific Campaign. Marines became hesitant to try and take Japanese prisoners due to how many suicide attacks they suffered from, so they would often simply shoot surrendering Japanese soldiers instead of risking a suicide attack.
US high command was, of course, displeased with this, and ended up bribing Marines with various different items in order to get them to start taking prisoners again.
Did they bribe them with crayons?
@@aaronbrall2870 Nope. Crayons were too expensive, they bribed them with sweets and candy...
Not joking, either. I specifically remember reading that ice cream was offered to Marines for taking POWs.
There is a reason the Pacific campaign took on it's pall of darkness. Desperation, fanaticism, distrust. Odd to think of warring powers to have trust between the sides, but there are rules to warfare and for them to work requires a degree of honor. And it does work, and it can happen. But not when this starts taking place.
I think something similar ended up playing out on the Eastern Front of Europe. The Germans and Soviets, did not like one another, and did not treat the other with any respect, though not to the same degree of deceptive suicide grenades in the name of "the Fuhrer/Stalin." It was a bloody fight over there, and the socialists were fanatical of their own side over the other presented before them.
@@jackr2287 a lot of soviet soldiers from penal battalions would try to surrender to Hungarian or Italian units as they treated prisoners a lot better than the Germans or Romanians. Ultimately it wouldn't matter though as eventually they would end up as prisoners to the Germans regardless of who they surrendered to.
Sort of the same thing happened with the Italians in North Africa, they would surrender to the British or Americans as they didn't want to fight or die for mussolini (who could blame them) as well as that they got better food rations as prisoners than they did in their own army.
@@wifi_soldier5076 Exactly the sort of info I was fishing for. Thanks mate.
0:18 Probably the most accurate depiction of a grenade explosion in Hollywood's history
Exactly, no one flew 15 feet away from where they were currently standing
Exactly, the explosion wont kill you, the shrapnel will, i mean...a frag grenade is really just a ball that shoots in every direction
Everyone should remember the atomic grenade from The Book of Eli that flipped an armored truck. Is Hollywood lazy, arrogant, or dumb?
I know, a puff is smoke and some shrapnel it’s not like a goddamn JDAM went off
Welcome to ww2
Brutality of war causes one to do the imaginable, the pain and memories never goes away.....
does not forgive the barbaric animalistic nature of the Japanese armed forces during the conflict.
@@paulpaterson1661 indeed, i will not forget that
@@paulpaterson1661 agreed. The Japanese literally believed we were beneath them.
@@boystainey Get away from him. No more help for Japanese soldiers.
Both sides did horrendous things to each other war crimes and ignoring basic human decency, Indeed the horror of war causes us to forget ourselves.
I am so deeply grateful that I never had to endure this.
The desert was no fun, but this was worse.
Be grateful before you die, thing's like this creep IP on a man, you never know what faith has in store for you until you have your life behind you
No one knows whether this will happen in the rest of your life.
This is the only reasonable comment, among the many Rambos out here
Yes, I don’t know what fate has in store for me but if I look at my life, I can look back at many many years of peace. I am way over 40 and had such a good life so far. If it hits me now, I can still say: I had a life. Most if the young boys who died in war can’t say this. Some of them never had a women. They die way before time. I am just grateful for what I had and what I have. I don’t know what will be. But this will not take away what I had.
Yeah, They were done taking prisoners after that whole grenade thing.
My grandfather mentioned a similar incident on one of the few times he ever talked about his service in the Pacific. His platoon made sure any "dead" Japanese soldiers really were dead after that.
The Pacific campaign was notoriously bloody due to the Japanese attitude being so merciless towards prisoners which in their propaganda was said to be the same on the other side. Hundreds of civilians committed a mass suicide at the end of battle of Okinawa because they were told that Americans would torture them to death.
@@TheSuspectOnFoot There's a whole chapter of "On killing" by LTC Dave Grossman that talks about using atrocities to wage war and how in many ways it backfires in a big way (e.g. feigning surrender with a grenade will get actually surrendering soldiers shot)
There are Japanese reports of wounded Australian soldiers also doing the same, rather than face capture.
@@CZ350tuner Guess, you could say they learned from the best?
It looks like a soldier who has nothing else to lose... hard to watch
You can.mentally translate the tossed hat moment as "come on and kill me already fuckers".
He could surrender
@@iche9373 No he couldn't. In Japanese society at the time, surrendering was the worst disgrace (instilled from an early age and the whole society was turned towards it). Death was better than surrender. In addition, Japanese officers made sure that their men made their sacrifice...
It's tragic that a society, a people came to its values there (for us Westerners) and this allowed the Japanese to make their "banzai" charges and the kamikazes...
@@PradayX7 Life is more important than dignity.
In the Battle of Okinawa, a lot of Japanese soldiers surrendered.
@@iche9373 I agree and i know i know but how many others Japanese was died in banzaï.. It was just sad...
Japanese translation 00:50 (yells) “come on shoot” “come, come on shoot” “kill me”
Don't need a translation to know what capacity a man in that situation is saying.
I thought he was screaming"Look I washed for supper"
Its really obvious
@@PrimarisBlackTemplaDravenreference?
@@vergil8257 yup
Scared to die, but even more so to retreat
Indeed. The Japanese back then were a lot like the Soviets. The choice of the enemy's bullets or one from your commanding officer. Or worse, be beheaded.
I would also be scared to retreat
hi JC :)
@@CactusCowboyDan the Soviets were nowhere near like that. ruclips.net/video/JOKAIDpOY80/видео.html
@@TheDa6781 i literally wanted to put the same TIKs link but you were here 5h before me hahaha
But you should know that no historian is as "historically accurate" as western sovietofobic propaganda
When I first saw this scene, I actually imagined the Japanese soldier feeling like he was in some kind of a nightmare. The kind where something is chasing you and you can't get away. He turns to run left and right, and his stride falters as if his legs were weighing him down. He knows he's trapped, and just wants it to be over.
And retreating is dishonorable, so the only way he sees out of it is death.
And the sadness, is that it's actually real this time 💔 I'm Navajo, but this scene truly breaks my heart.
Good, those Japanese soldiers, sailors, and pilots during ww2 deserve nothing but pain and agony for eternity, I hope they are suffering for the rest of time for what they did
@@terrytucker4811 you haven't been to war. Never had a superior tell you, "forward or it's court marshall and discharge." Not a lot of the Japanese people then and now are proud of what the country did between the 20s and late 40s. Read a book from the other side once or twice.
@@casablanca3871 But the vast, vast majority of modern Japanese citizens have no idea of what their own (WWII) history is.
What you actually run into is a staggering pool of self-pity. Yup. In high school, Japanese kids are taught that WWII just kind of happened to Japan -- the whole world started picking on them. I paraphrase, but my essence is true.
He offered the Japanese soldier the tiny bit of mercy that the situation allowed.
You are right. The others were toying with him.... teasing him with the release of death. Then Leckie (spelling?) Didnthe humane thing and put the japanese sildier out of rhe miseries of this life. There is no judgement on the other US Marines. War is an inhumane condition of the human existence..... but then again so is humanity.
“Strict Justice bears greater fruit than mercy.”
- Abe Lincoln
They could have captured him
@@slusherice4131 after seeing their friends get blown up by a surrendering soldier? I don't think so
No mercy for scumbags lure in medics so they can be suicide bombers.
My late grandfather served in the navy in WW2 on transports made every amphibious landing we did from the Canal to Okinawa. He flat out refused to say what he did in the war unless he was drunk. One night I got him drunk as I wanted to hear about his time in the Navy. Big mistake on my part. He told of going into the Canal after they had left the Marines there to drop off reinforcements and also supplies during the campaign and how they literally would clean out the ships galley of everything to give the Marines extra food for them to have on the Canal. How his captain without orders charged into the battle area where the Escort Carriers of Taffy 3 had just driven off the IJN at Leyte Gulf. How they pulled men out of the water there. The terror they felt off of Okinawa not knowing when a kamikaze plane could be overhead. Then he talked of the POW's he brought home the Bataan Death March survivors that where nothing but skin and bones a Marine off of Wake Island one of the lucky ones that survived from there. Why do I say that. Most of the Marines at Wake where KILLED ON WAKE after the Surrender as the Japanese High Command did not want to waste the Transports needed to move them off the island. That man had his hands beaten into clubs for being part of the Shore Batteries that had sunk a Cruiser on the first attempt to take Wake. Another he told me about was a 21st AAF 1st LT who had NO EYES at all just empty sockets as they had burned them out of his skull. He had been a Bombardier on a B=29 that had been shot down. The last one he mentioned and cried himself to sleep about was another US Army officer. A 1st LT in the Medical Corp. She had been a nurse in the Philippine's that got caught when Corregidor fell. She had spent the rest of the war prior to being freed as a Comfort Camp woman reserved for Japanese Officers. She had endured almost 4 years of constant rape and starvation before being freed.
The Japanese soldier was at least 100 feet away, which in Hollywood measurements is about 10 feet. In Hollywood pistols have the range of rifles, rifles are as accurate as handguns, and grenades have about 500 lbs of explosive in them.
@@JGSuttonJr I've hit man sized targets at 100 ft with a 1911. Not easy but with a single action trigger, it's not as hard as a glock
@@JGSuttonJr this is true for most movies, but if you pay attention, he is taking a lot of time to get proper placement and to steady his breath. It is a lot more likely especially because he just did a center mass shot not a headshot or impossible shot.
Thank you for sharing, I’ll never miss an opportunity to hear the stories told by the brave men from these times
wow, i have no words for that
Yeah this scene wasn't an easy one to watch.
I loved it.
Pretty easy if you ask me. I didnt feel bad for the guy. Dont expect to be spared just because you make a scene in front of yout enemy
@@Foxik58 @Hamburger Hoover Spoken by two guys who have never been to war.
@@JohnSmith-gy8rc you could not have said it better
@@Foxik58 he didn’t want to surrender he was asking to be shot. He wanted an honorable death in battle.
It must be so inimmaginably tiring and frustrating to fight for your own life, to only realize that no matter what you do, you will die.
I can't Imagine how psychologically stressful that must be.
It was hard to watch him break and give up. That is no way to die.
yea idk considering how the entire japanese military treated civilians and pows? lmfao
@@Pincuishin I mean, they're both allowed to be bad.
@@simonbrahan3198 no the USA compared to Japan was a saint
And Japan got off unfairly easy for the war crimes they did in Asia
@@Pincuishin it always baffles me how little basic human sympathy people seem to have. yes, the japanese empire during ww2 was one of the most mind bogglingly cruel countries to ever exist. that doesn't change the fact that this man was fighting for god knows how long in unbearable conditions which eventually broke him. he died a heart-breakingly pathetic death after giving up on life. if this does not make you feel sorrow then you too have been corrupted by a war fought decades before you were born.
@@kapas2070 I'd imagine if I had to fight in a war like that I'd be scared like most vets of it. but like most of them I'd have the same opinion. you meet brutality with brutality you win wars by slaughtering your enemy and breaking their will to fight. I'd doubt you would find anyone from the pacific theater that would find any sympathy for the japanese military
“My dad died of Alzheimer’s in 2001. At the end, even when he couldn’t remember any of us, he never forgot being in the Pacific.” -David Leckie
free palestine
@@saidismail5973 Yeah I agree. Free it from HAMAS and all the other terrorists that celebrated the killing of hundreds of civilians 🙃
@@saidismail5973bro shit the hell up and show some respect
@@saidismail5973???
I keep forgetting that he married Vera
That's a good aim from robert leckie character, one hand shot using a 45 is not easy
Its possible at that range tho 7 meters
Back in WW2 every M1911 users had to train to shoot with one hand unlike today
He's aiming at a person at like 20 feet. Not a target
Speak for yourself, newbie
I mean, he’s probably about 40-50 feet/13-17 yards away so honestly that isn’t too bad considering it’s a full sized target standing still. Definitely not a super easy shot, but a shooter with just a little training could probably pull it off given it’s a single shot and the target is standing still.
I like the small detail of the Japanese soldier hitting the head of the grenade against the left American soldier to detonate it.
agree, however the delay for a type 97 grenade is a little bit longer, 4 to 5 seconds
@@antarca3213 True. It ignites way too quickly.
@@CptFordo-bv8dc that's the standard, like virtually grenade is around that time
@@Kevin-fj5oe I never said it was just the Type 97 that did that.
@@CptFordo-bv8dc Ignition time is highly subjective in grenades. Lower build quality by the time of the later war (1942 to 1945) would have made the fuses much more variable especially after 1944.
My father was a US Navy Hospital Corpsman in the Pacific from 1943/45.
I remember him telling me stories about how the Japanese would go to any length to kill Marines.
Corpsman were no exceptions.After a while, Marines stopped bothering with prisoners.
Corpsmen, radio men, flamethrower operators, and officers -- if able to be identified -- were preferred targets.
I heard the same from a man who was there, he simply said, it was easier to shoot them with hands up,
Japanese propaganda was a madness in WW2, the Japanese soldiers were convinced the Americans were not sending soldiers, they were sending armed convicts and madmen to would kill all the men and rape all the women.
Damn
One of the nicest best men I ever met . A family friend was in the south pacific in the army . Told stories just like this and things that happened to him . Was a farmer his whole life. I never knew him to get upset or raise his voice . This was a very good mini series. I watched it once & I own it . There was never anything good that came out of it for anyone. Very depressing for those men . Maybe that's why our friend led the rest of his life with kindness.
I call fake news on your story
@@user-ri1gq3ec2q i dont. Doesnt seem far fetched at all lmao
@@user-ri1gq3ec2q Bill, His name was Harry Allen. Creston IL Alto Township . My Grandparents good friends. Originally from Mendota IL. Can give you kids names , our church ect . Pictures.? Don't be a Doucher guys like you troll wannabe. WTF.
@@coolhwip6638 Brad Barker? Sounds like a comicbook name, like peter parker or Bruce Banner LMAO xD
@@dougtheviking6503 Your english is to weak to be an american. Just look on how you write "My Grandparents good friends." You also use very short sentences that sounds weird when you read them. I call your story fake beacuse there is no way you and your family live in america, and therefore have not ever meet a Pacific Vet
Gaudalcanal is one of the most Tragic stories in the Whole of WW2. From the Marines landing on the Island and surrounding Islands August 1942 till the Army took over on the Island. It had everything Big Naval Battles, Massive Air Combat and Ground Combat that never seemed to end. I chose it for my Thesis.
absolutely mind blowing. What those men went through (Both sides) was Hell (Sorry I know it's a Cliche!! BUT it's as close to truth as you can get.)
I read Neptune's Inferno. Phenomenal book. What blew my mind was the navy lost 3-4 times as many sailors as the USMC did marines. If they had it bad on the island, the boats were a different breed of nightmare.
The older I get the more I realize how accurate "cliches" really are!
Yeah. The Big thing about Guadalcanal - was that it was the last time the Japanese could have won something.
.
Have done many of research on this battle and many of the other island battles. Hope your thesis only got a B, because you should get only a B for Guadalcanal.B for blood. Was in the Marines, talked to many including Mitchell page and did extensive studies on Vanderhrifts, edson and pullers tactics at the navel war college. Truly a heart stopper
撃てよ(U Te Yo) means 'shoot'
Thank you!
What did the soldier said before detonating the grenade?
@@GannicusMisteriosdeHonduras "Long Live his Majesty, the Emperor"
@@GannicusMisteriosdeHonduras
天皇陛下万歳🙌
te n nou hei ka ban zai
@@wa6247 yeah I know right?
This is the brink of humanity. Making up a moral compass in chaos. I don’t envy anyone on either side.
1:27 hes a good man, he just wanted to end his suffering. after all, the other soldiers were purposely aiming their shots toward his shoulders to watch him suffer.
*marines
@@dishlord8549 and marines arent that special dumb ass..
@@JuniorJuni070 it’s not about that buddy, soldiers and marines are two different things
It’s not easy to watch suffering, especially when you have the means to end it loaded in your pistol
@@JuniorJuni070 Neither are you
I like to think that this scene sets up the idea that war brings out the worst in everyone.
Had he not put that soldier out of MI misery, those other soldiers who have kept toying with him. After he shoots him, one of them angrily asks "what did you do that for?!" It's a painful scene
The comment sections on RUclips does the same thing.
@@ccaulkins94 Once you see your friends killed or ripped open or blown to pieces, You now enter the dark side of your world. They called it battle fatigue. Today it's known as PTSD.
Unfortunately you have to be. Can't win wars with rainbows and cotton candy.
That grenade detonation was actually pretty legit, maybe even modest. Really good shit
most realistic depiction of a grenade in cinema probably
This scene was so hard to watch, I watch a lot of historical movies and shorts. But this has to be the most heartbreaking thing for me to watch.
You’re joking....
@@Trythis837 No he isn't unless you have already lost your humanity than I pity you.
Lol ok
That’s war dude but movies or video games don’t do justice for the reality of war. However they can give us a glimpse of what war is. If you catch my drift.
@@AlexKS1992 yeah I get it, I would probably know more if my parents allowed me to watch more things like this, I do plan on teaching history though. so realistic scenes like this will help a lot. And researching first hand accounts. Another thing is, I value life and all that juicy stuff so that adds extra weight.
I'm somewhat grateful you can play the grenade scene in slow motion are see two clean mannekin arms and a helmet tumble out of the explosion
What did you expect? To film people really being broken to pieces by a live grenade?
@@Kontorotsui They must have done the scene well, because I can't see that.
@@MrTremewan Again, what did you expect to see?
A scene where someone is blown to pieces by a grenade is done either with mannequins and low grade explosive, or full computer graphics.
I think you misunderstood my comment. What I mean is that I can't see flying mannequin arms or a helmet, at least at regular speed. I
@@MrTremewan Understood, I thought you were the original poster.
So sad what these young men were forced to do.
Not even forced, they were just totally brainwashed, wich is even worst I think
@@vacciniumaugustifolium1420 The Us or Japanese forces?
@@shoewithbeans8472 I believe he means the Japanese forces. Japanese soldiers were pretty much patriots who believed every word their precious emperor said. No value for their life, brainwashed them to believe that suicide is “honor” when in reality it’s pointless.
@@ryandan646 That’s what I though the was referring to aswell
Emperor was a god in Japan so its like jihadis - if you die in the name of god emperor you go to haven or become a hero or whatever if you are coward you are damned - different way of thinking
This is a true story about Japanese soldiers using grenades and explosives when they surrendered. My father fought on Okinawa and he personally witnessed this type of enemy action.
i sa almacih son of god malaysian palestine free gaza from Melaka bElon al-lah maha Besar a-mIn rUn garuda rUn
My Grandad served in North Africa & Italy. As he got older he spoke more about it.....it made my 4 years in the Army feel like a holiday.
Did no one else notice how different this whole setting was from Band of Brothers?
During band of brothers, you already see German clothing during the first episode and you see them also on the first episode of combat (dday)
In The Pacific, you never saw the Japanese until now, before this, they were chasing shadows and it took 3/4ths of an episode to finally come in contact with them
A little reminiscent of Dunkirk, where you only hear and see fleeting images of the Germans right up until the last moments of the movie where they capture Tom Hardy's character, and then not even in much deail.
Your point?
@@harrypost9442 He made his point. Perhaps certain conversations about Art and artistic creativity aren't something you should engage in. There are videos of guys getting hit in the balls you may be more interested in. Something you can relate too and understand. More on your social and intellectual level..Enjoy.
@@harrypost9442 maybe of you were reading his comment you'd understand
@@harrypost9442 try to keep up
This scene made clear the authenticity of this series.
My God.
"It's only cruel to prolong an animal's suffering."
-Viktor Reznov
Edit: I don't think people understood the message behind this quote.
raicist?
You call the Japanese an Animal?
@@グレンくれ Every man is an animal in fact. It's just not enough triggers in our enviroment to release our animal instinct. And this is sad - even war doesn't release these instincts in whole. Animals doesn't make other animals suffer - they just do what they must to survive.
@@petematerazzi01 That was deep and I think of it as true.
You should have shot them chernov.
作品として高い評価に値しメッセージ性の強いドラマ故に、総じて見るに辛いものがあった。
Reminds me of a story a soldier I was visiting as a hospice volunteer told me. He said a Japanese plane would strafe them fairly regularly, and one day this plane took a direct hit and was burning all the way to splashdown. Of course he cheered with his buddies, but he told me how profoundly sad it made him, seeing a person of about his own age die for what they were ordered to do; just like him. Vets may have talked crap during the war, but I NEVER spoke with a Pacific Theater vet who did not think the Japanese were an extremely tough enemy to be feared.
This scene always kinda broke my heart. This poor kid knew he couldn't surrender, but there was no was he could win. His only choice was to let them kill him, fortunately Leckie showed him mercy.
This was the scene that made me think "holy shit this show is going to be more brutal than BoB"
Band of Brothers? Yeah I saw this first then Band of Brothers, this one was honestly more brutal.
Just like the Pacific theatre was far more brutal then the Western front. Both sides hated each other, both sides showed little mercy.
Its sad to think that a few years before the war, all these guys were innocent teens. Although both sides commited atrocities , it was the war that turned them into merciless sociopaths. Prior to the war most of them would never dream to do such hideous acts
Most are teens now
That is what war does to people, and why it is interesting to study. It gives people a license to kill and a clear enemy. When put in that kind of situation we default to our most basic function: "I want to survive and I want my tribe to survive." The pacific does a great job showing all the ugly and human aspect of war.
@@sirilluminarthevaliant2895 when did world war 2 veterans turn into teenagers what did I miss??
It's not that they wouldn't. It's just they never had a reason to. War doesn't cause mean to do such things. It only allows them to do what we already have in us from the moment we were born. No war doesn't cause horrible things in man...it exposes them.
@@patricktalamantes5503 no man, youre only half right. Yes a certain percentage of the population are sociopaths/psychopaths and when they are put in a war scenario they get to play out their sinister side. But there are also normal people who can be turned into monsters because of the circumstances around them. There is a lot of recorded evidenxe of nazi police officers who were friendly towards jews and at the ennof the war they were commiting hideous acts against them. And here on youtube you cannfind a lot of recording of people who went to war, who never imagined they would be committing war crimes. Theres also all the propaganda fed to troops during war time
There's a myth in the West about the Japanese not retreating or withdrawing. In fact they do order withdrawals when it's tactically necessary or to conserve resources. Those are true in larger picture strategic moves. One example was the combined 'ghost withdrawal' from Kiska in the Aleutians which was successfully conducted undercover of fog under the nose of Allied sea and air superiority.
But the distinction of the Japanese as fanatical and suicidal usually referred to rear-guard units and small pockets of troops ordered to stay behind and hold lost ground, which was also an element of a tactical withdrawal. Surrenders are rare, as they often fought to the death or die in a Banzai charge.
The Imperial Navy also withdrew and retreated tactically, but they also unleashed the infamous Kamikaze, Kai-Ten manned torpedoes and other suicidal crafts designed to inflict damage to the Allies.
Those are the type of Japanese many Allied troops encountered face to face in battles, which is the reason why the image of them as suicidal and fanatical stuck.
I could be wrong but I think certain troops were trained specifically for suicide or certain death in battle. I don't know about all the other examples you mentioned but I heard kamikaze pilots had very specific training and meditation to combat the fear of death. Another thing I heard is if a kamikaze pilot flew back, they weren't usually scolded much by the military, as they were valuable assets. Makes sense considering I don't know many people willing to fly a bomb into a ship
our high school coach mentioned that you would see less and less banzai charges as the years went on once the japanese realised they were now the ones defending the positions, banzais were usually last resort when everything has been done or nothing else to do but surrender
This shows how sad war can be even if it is an enemy, because they are still human beings that have families that are just fighting for their country.
Nah watching the Japanese soldier suffer in pain was funny, he deserved it 🤣
@eedd sdsd It doesn't make sense to reduce an entire population of 80 mio. people to the actions of few. Most soldiers were thinking they were doing the right thing since propaganda has told them gruesome things about america. So did the americans believe they are doing the right thing. Both had no choice but to believe. It just turned out that one side was more right than the other. Of course there were many soldiers going beyond and doing the unimaginable but it's not the best thing to prejudice against every soldier.
@@marioo849 Well said
I think this scene shows how the horrors of war can change people
When fighting a war you need to be better than your enemies. There's always a moral high ground. Real heroes and soldiers don't kill the enemy because they hate them but because every one of them they kill saves one of their comrades next to them. Leckie did the heroic and humane thing by ending his life cleanly.
"When fighting a war you need to be better than your enemies."
Only when it doesn't get you killed...otherwise it's a luxury....
This gets me every time. The whole gambit of emotions on both sides.
Band of Brothers end with much more calmer and heroic premise
The Pacific end with much more bittersweet
"I killed fiddy men!"
--Cotton Hill
That was the most accurate shot I’ve ever seen from a 1911.
Center of mass and gunslinger perks, plus he used V.A.T.S.
maybe he was aiming for the head but hit the body
it's a movie. This incident, or something similar might have happened, but what you see on the screen is not reality.
1911's can be surprisingly accurate. When I was 14, I shot NRA matches with the 45. Outdoors.
Slow fire was 50 yards. 10 rounds/10 minutes. OFFHAND. (1 handed). The scoring area was about 20 inches or so. (IIRC)
Timed and rapid fire was 25 yards. 5 rounds/20 seconds timed, 5 rounds 10 seconds rapid 2x each
Now, one important fact. The 1911 I shot had the bare minimum trigger pull. Maybe a third of a government issue.. Plus we were shooting lighter lead bullets and reduced loads (Different main springs)
AND - most importantly, we were not in an area where someone was going to take a shot at us.
But, yes, out to 50 yards with someone very familiar with the weapon. doable.
@@GraemeSPa The 45 was meant for close range shooting. It carried 7 rnds and one in the chamber.
Why are we stopping to their level.Respect to the marine who’s paired him the pain
"stooping" and "spared"
@@shadowbanned5164 yes thnx
You 100% the type to deny that americans ever committed war crimes 💀
@@gambigambigambiThere’s atrocities on both sides, but the Japs were the ones who started issued by their power hungry war ministers.
Guadalcanal was horrendous. Just read Richard B. Frank's excellent treatise titled "Guadalcanal", which covers the many and various air, sea and land battles in that campaign. Inhumane, brutal beyond belief, but then so is all war.
And to think my Great Grandpa was there 79 years ago, I wonder what he saw and witnessed, I'm sure he wouldn't want to tell, all he just said to my Dad was his friends died over there and he got part of his nose shot off
Ironically the Marines get all the credit for the Guadalcanal victory. They lost just over 1100 killed with three times as many wounded. 5,000 Navy sailors died in the naval and air battles off the island.
I tried watching that excellent American documentary on the War in the Pacific. It gave the unvarnished truth, no punches pulled. I couldn't make it through the first episode.
My great great grandfather died in a Japanese pow camp. He never stood a chance
@Pep They worked him to death actually, the Japanese were ruthless in WW2
@@varidian694 Go bless him for his service. Was he captured in Bataan or elsewhere?
Neither did this Japanese soldier
This show was honestly amazing
I've read how Marines would land on some islands and kill everything that moved. When asked about it, the reply was, if we kill it, it can't kill us. There was a reason Tecumseh Sherman said, "War is Hell".
If my enemy has no fear for death then that is enough to put fear on my bones. It's commitment .
love this scene and love that you did not cut it up, because it shows both sides of a very basic yet complicated moral question, do you take prisoners/show pity to this enemy that shows they are determined to kill you and your comrades at any cost, including suicidal attacks and underhanded (booby trapping dead/wounded) methods. if you only saw the first half of the clip, you would say of course not, in fact you may even think you should show cruelty towards them. then you see the second half of the clip where it shows the marines doing just that to an enemy soldier, one who is clearly distraught as hundreds, maybe thousands of his brothers lay dead or dying around him, and he is being toyed with by the enemy who did this to them. war is truly hell, respect and gratitude to those who fought and died, may they all find peace.
I read both Leckie and Sledge’s book, Helmet for my Pillow and With the Old Breed after watching this series. I also read and seen the movie Gualdcanal Diary.
It's hard to find HD Band of Brother or The Pacific scenes on YT
There's been a few posters going back and doing HD as of late.
He wished for death and they gave him a dance, pride and nationalism might be different but they pave the same path, that man wanted to end it's life but it's scared to do so, he's had enough like all of those who fight, poor man
For it is war... and it never changes
Not every Japanese soldier was a savage, but I will say that the orders they received and those that followed them through with full conviction, that to me is the definition of savage. It is very interesting to see the vast difference in literally a 2 minute scene from a person that does as they are told, to one with humanity that simply doesn't want to get killed but accepts his fate anyway. I recommend watching letters from iwo jima, any of you.
To be honest that grenade scene would have ended any leniency from me if in the same situation its the sort of thing you dont forget.
Same, you bet your ass I'm not taking chances with any surrendering enemy after such an event.
Meanwhile, ufos circled overhead and said "damn these humans are brutal"
I like how yt has Saving Private Ryan listed like thats what this is from
These scenes are so important for people to be aware of. If anyone who pushes for war, insurrection, revolution etc had any idea of the reality of what they demand, they would think twice. Guns jam, ammunition fails, fuckups happen. In fact any war is really just a series of screwups with hard lessons learnt along the way - even for the supposedly winning side. My great uncle fought in the pacific in ww2 pretty much right from the start in the NZEF. Whilst he hardly ever talked about it, as was expected at the time, he was traumatised on a scale we cannot imagine. He always paid his dues to the returned services association, but never attended. Stories of him terrified and screaming at night for grenades etc and all that well into his old age. He even built a sort of bunker for some sense of security - "when laying concrete remember your hand 5:1 mix and 5 inches thick". Yeah, good luck to anyone having to bust up that driveway. Having grown up during the depression with an alcoholic father he was no stranger to violence before he joined the army. One thing he would say was the only good thing about the army was they would give you a good pair of boots and when those boots wore out they had another pair for you. He got his first pair of footwear when he joined the army, so he appreciated it. In any case, in his last few years, in an aged home, some of the stories came out. Stories of men on fire. Stories of being told to stay down in a river for hours on end before being told to get the Fuck out and running. The running didn't hurt so much, but when they stopped, the excruciating agony of having the skin of your inner thighs being stripped away because your pants were woolen and your skin was soft. Stories of crossing a river with a good mate next to him and in the snap of his finger, his mate was gone and he had his mates intestines wall over his face and body. No warning, just happened with the snap of a finger. To his credit he taught me and many others to not judge others by what they say, but by what they do. That's what counts. And man, did he live up to that. In a small town, if someone would be doing it tough, he would get a big box, go through the supermarket and fill it with essentials - no coffee, nothing non essential, just filled with the basics. They would trip over the box at their doorstep in the morning - nothing said, totally discrete. And he would do this all the time.
Holy shit...
You told it the way it is.
I was listening to Dan Hardy’s hardcore history about Japan in ww2 about why those guys fought like that even years after war. Different mentality. It’s just crazy how people can be indoctrinated
It was centuries of a code of living that they exhibited. Extremely differe from our weatern culture and many centuries older than our civilization.
That's a great show I used to listen to! I believe dude's name is Dan Carlin though.
All you have to do is convince them enough that what they’re doing is right.
It wasn't indoctrination. The Japanese culture had emphasized death before dishonor for centuries, and the code of bushido states that one must fight honorably...but ONLY against other samurai. Everyone else was beneath contempt.
It's also worth noting that the Japanese, even today, loathe the Okinawans and don't see them as "true" Japanese. The Imperial army was unspeakably cruel to the Okinawans, just as they were to the US troops and Chinese during Nanking. Japan believed itself the crown jewel of the world, and everybody else was inferior. It's a belief that---while subdued beneath a westernized economy---still simmers in Japan even today.
@@theusher2893 Death before dishonour, was a bushido/samurai thing, and my understanding is, it was historically only really the "senior officers", who were expected to follow it, not common soldiers. It is not a "Japanese" thing going back centuries. It was not until the Imperial Japanese government of the late 19th/early 20th centuries, essentially hijacked, for lack of a better word, this code that it began to be expected of the entire military, and later, the entire population of Japan, and it was done through indoctrination, literally the definition of the word.
it was very good, soldier!!
You know this was good because the entire show you feel like you're suffering.
If you want a Marines view of Guadalcanal, find the book “On Valors Side” by Grady Gallant. He wrote shortly after the war, and served in Corps on the Canal from day one to the day his division was relieved.
That’s the problem, we only get there side. I wanna know what they were thinking.
The japanese soldier was saying SHOOT ME! KILL ME! if anyone was wondering
Imagine people coming to save you while you're on the verge of dying and you just decide to kill them with yourself also damn...
That’s how the Imperial Japanese were. They saw it as treason and cowardice. That’s why I’m the early war with the Canadians, Rajputs, and British on Hong Kong, they slaughtered everybody at St. Joseph.
the Japanese believed that if they were captured they would suffer a fate worse than death
My Grandfather was US Army 11th Airborne in the Philippines during 1944-1945. They were not kind to the enemy. He never talked about it. Had that 1,000 yard stare. He investigated and documented war crimes. I know he saw and did some awful stuff. Bop maintained a special respect yet simultaneous disdain for the Japanese for the rest of his life.
There’s no glory in war. This is the reality of war.
There is some glory in war if you win. Just saying.
@@butchyshoe for the politicians and leaders that don’t need to experience war, yes, because they are cowards that hide in their comfortable offices away from the fighting.
For the average soldier, not so much.
Sad that we will never get a tv show of this quality from the soviet POV. Pacific was hell but compared to the eastern front, its child's play
No war is "child's play".
You should watch “come and see.” Free movie on RUclips all about the grittiness of the eastern front
The Pacific War was in no way "child's play'.
Mofo advocates for struggle olympics 💀💀
All them wars are equally hell.
I'll never forget what our General said before we enter the War in Marawi in 2017. He said : "Does any one of you Guys had Seen it?"
We answered : "Seen what Sir?"
General replied: "What man can do to another man?". "You'll see it Soon so prepare to meet Death in Hell".
I had never been so scared in my life on that Fateful Day.
What was the marawi war?
@@killtheheretics2915 Marawi is a City in the Philippines where ISIS set up their Headquarters here in South East Asia. They Captured the whole City in May 22, 2017. They Established and pledge with the other rebels here in the Philippines and started a war with the Government. After 3 months of War. We Successfully Liberated the City and Eliminated the whole ISIS forces. We killed 900 ISIS members including local Rebels who Pledge with them. Thousands of innocent people had lost their homes and lives on that war.
@@denzelle5227 wait ISIS? How did isis get into the Philippines
@@denzelle5227 dang sorry that had to happen
The American hatred of the Japanese was more than we can imagine. Not only did Japan start the war with a sneak attack that murdered 2335 men and brutally wounded 1143, but the Japanese army was merciless, torturing and killing everything in their path. By this point in the war, all these men had seen friends of their killed by the Japanese. This hatred the American soldiers had was very understandable.
LMFAO
@@Pussinator.69 Whatever that means.
@@robertjensen1048 hehe yeah
The Japanese also believed the same of the Americans
Just gunna say, that one handed pistol shot is extremely hard to make in that distance, I love how Hollywood makes it seem so easy
at least its more realistic that he aimed for the heart instead of a headshot
That scene was more like a mental pain than a phycsical pain
Great shot with the 45. Never missed with it myself
It takes him time to shoot for aiming probably
I ve never shot a 45 I could hit the broadside of a barn with, maybe its operator error but I find 9mm much better
1:00 was that a head or a helmet the marine threw? The marines did headhunt Japanese troops throughout the war.
Coconut. I thought it was a helmet but pretty sure it’s a coconut. The human head would be too heavy to throw that far lol
yeah it's a coconut. you can see it float
Me when I finish a hw and the teacher gave another one: 0:49
Dont
Unturned chad player spotted.
@@roskcity huh
Whenever I feel down, I come back to this clip and it always makes my day! 🙂
As a Japanese this scene hits hard. My Great Grandfather according to my mother came back after surrendering to the American's in WWII in the Battle of Iwo Jima. To our family, we had a sort of happiness to see him once more, but not relief because deep down we still felt the pressure of disgrace for him coming home.
It may be harsh but I think that final Japanese soldier should of died. It would of been even more of a disgrace to his family coming home, and would have also brought huge problems for his family. I just want to point out that although the way of Kamikaze is to die honorably, it however is a myth that ALL Japanese Soldiers wanted glory in death. Some really didn't want to die, but rather not bring a burden on their family.
To be honest the scene kind of bugs me, the soldiers toying with him and such; just .... I don't know, that isn't an honorable way to fight as far as I am concerned. Then again, I've never been in war, never been in combat, so perhaps its my ignorance speaking.
Either way, I am glad to hear that your great grandfather made it out of the war alive. My grandfather, who served in the Pacific as an artillery gunner, was captured by the Japanese but later rescued (his brother, however, wasn't so fortunate. From what my grandfather told me, his brother was found having been tortured, he wouldn't go into too many details but my grandmother told me that it wasn't pretty when they found him *his wife was a nurse, they married after the war*) and sadly that side of the family even to this day harbors a lot of resentment toward the Japanese (even though the Japanese of today are not the one's who fought in the war, so I see no reason for resentment)
@@Suisfonia I'm sorry that happened. My grandmother tells me that in War there really isn't a "good or bad" side, but rather "good" or "bad" people within each side fighting for what they believe is right. I most certainly would like to defend my great grandfather's actions, but i cannot say for the rest of the Japanese Soldiers during WWII.
@@Flippy617 Aye, I agree with you and your grandmother is certainly correct in what she says.
@@Flippy617 as an American, its so true, we all have our flaws
As a Chinese American, I'm curious how today's Japanese people think about glory? Do you still believe in Bushido? My grandfather was a Chinese army officer, and his soldiers caught 2 young Japanese soldiers, they were only 17 years old. They were executed by the angry local civilian people for their troop killed thousands of the innocent civilian people. Before their death, they were screaming for their mothers. My grandfather told me this story and he felt so sad for these 2 young Japanese soldiers' fate.
Sad part of the show
Not as sad as sledge dropping motor round on child and mother
@@charlesuplifted5216*mortar?
@ابوفادى المستعرب حبيب الملايين You knew exactly what he meant. No one gives a fuck about your “years in the military.”
It's so sad that the US Marines, in trying to be humane spare Japanese prisoners and in doing so, take a suicide attack, and the real Japanese people who surrender are shot in case of the risk of other suicide attacks.
paranoia was a powerful thing especially when done it in front of your eyes
you can no longer take any chances after that
This scene is great, it shows why the hate for the japanese was understandable, but on the other hand, how cruelty towards every japanese is still a questionable thing. Some see no problem with it, others might have a fundemental problem with such things, and others might wonder whether the actions of some japanese soldiers reflect the true nature of them all.
It wasn’t necessarily just the soldiers, but also the brutal torture that was done by the Japanese to people including its own. You think Guantanamo bay is inhumane? Go lookup Unit 731.
If an American soldier stayed behind the lines, and heroically sacrificed himself with a grenade to kill some enemy troops, then we'd be talking about giving him a posthumous medal. The second the Japanese (Or the Vietnamese, or the Arabs, or the Afghans, or literally anyone who isn't white/American), it's suddenly dirty and dishonorable.
@@Branflakes143 difference is the Americans didn't blow themselves up when being taken prisoner, fought to the death sure since being prisoner to the Japanese was worse than death. Also the Americans weren't fanatical or indoctrinated like the Japanese. Nothing to do with race, also hardly heroic from the Japanese grenade guy.
@@Branflakes143 to be fair, the man was faking to be wounded, which is agaisnt the Geneva convention.
If the Japanese soldier was running towards them with the grenade as a last ditch effort, that'd be different.
@@Branflakes143 I would hardly call it a heroic sacrifice considering the way he went out pretending to be wounded. Although I’m sure he believed in his mind that’s what he was doing. I’ve come to find that throughout all human history and especially in war it’s all a matter of perspective. The reason we wouldn’t look at it the same if the man was American is because we are American and because in wwII we truly were the good guys idc how you spin it.
I was on a range in Malaysia. A bush chicken ran across the range left to right. The sergeant said, " That thing! Shoot that thing!" We all unloaded on the bush chicken. It ran left to right, then right to left as we shot at it then it ran off into the bush. Moving targets are hard. Had a similar experience with a kangaroo, Back and forth no hits. MG and rifles. Amazing.
0:20 as an Asian this was actually kinda funny calling us a yellow monkey 😂
I love how you can see they're blanks in the belt fed weapon lol
nice catch.
This escene broke something inside me when a saw.
So a disturbing scene to watch. The Japanese soldier knew that his death was inevitable. The enemy will take no prisoner and humiliate you painfully till death. Even if he surrendered he would be wiped out by angered Marines.
This Leckie character seems so nice, I sure hope nothing bad happens to him in this show.
0:39 bro was thinking if he charges in he dies but if he retreats he dies too lmao
It's like...which one would you rather be?
The men with the power, who are laughing while shooting at the representation of an extremely brutal enemy who has inflicted unimaginable cruelty upon them and civilians?
Or a faceless, nameless soldier of that enemy whose life story and actions you don't know, who knows he is at the end of his life and wants to have a "good death", but isn't sure if he wants to go through with it or not, so can only bellow helplessly at the sky while hoping it's over quickly?
I wouldn't want to be either.
Actually, the choice is easy. Just imagine the Japanese army from that area conquering your town and did there what they did to others in other places, but this time your family. In short, I would have no issues gunning down that Japanese ww2 era mindset soldier in such a setting.
Awesome, so the scene is completely lost on you, cool.
@@tacitus6384 I would rather put it that you see the "little picture", while I see the "big picture". It is not like I dont understand your angle, I just dont agree because I know what would happen if the table were turned.
A veteran I knew said they would bayonet or shoot the Japanese lying on the ground. That war was brutal and no quarter given.
Imagine getting helped by the enemies and you suicide bomb them
I was in the Corps in the 60s and served with some WW-II guys. This was the way it was done.
So many who have never seen war watch but but the ones who have seen war are scarred forever and won’t
Not all every axis soldiers are evil, not all allied soldiers are good. This Japanese dude seriously just wants to get home.
"War is where the young and stupid are tricked by the old and bitter into killing each other."
-Niko Bellic
0:35 no wonder they keep missing, they're firing blanks lmao
They're Marines, they just work with it.....
They are laughing and torture him , undermining his misery
Er yeah . Its a bit of a human rights issue if you actually physically shoot the actor ....
@@hannahdyson7129 you must be fun at parties
When you think of somebody using a HMG, you tend to think of a heartless brute. I like how this scene shows the humanity in some yet the horrors of war.
Do you?
Great scene….. changes the whole emotional direction. Wonderful acting!
Imagine, being a youngster who has seen your fellow soldier do a suicide attack on the enemy in the name of the emperor, then you and your boys rush in without thinking due to momentary adrenaline and getting mowed down with you being the only one alive just to be toyed and tortured by the enemy. Probably wanted to go home so badly while thinking about his whole life.