Mission to Rabaul - The Fury of the Fighting 5th Air Force

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War Documentary published by USAAF in 1943 - English narration

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Mission to Rabaul (1943, B&W, 60:00)

September - October 1943: The hellish triangle of blood soaked mud, jungle and sky bore witness to one of history's most savage battle scenes. October 12: One hundred and fourteen B-25's , P-38's and B-24 's bombard Rabaul. Angry warbirds sweep Cape Gloucester, Hansa Bay, Lae and Salamanaua leaving a wake of devastation unequaled in the Pacific campaign.

The island of Rabaul, located in the southwest Pacific, northeast of the large island of New Guinea, was one of the two strategic lynch pins for the Japanese. (The other was the naval base at Truk.) From Rabaul, the Japanese could project force throughout the region, support their forces in New Guinea, and block the advance up the Solomons. They poured tens of thousands of troops, hundreds of airplanes, and thousands of tons of supplies and material on to Rabaul to make it a mighty fortress. Douglas MacArthur brilliant solution to the Rabaul conundrum was to isolate it, slowly starve it, and bypass it, rather than directly assault it. One of the key steps in this strategy was to seize airfields in northern New Guinea to base Army P-38 fighters that could escort bombers on long range missions against the heavily defended Japanese stronghold. By the end of the War, once mighty Rabaul was cut off and reduced to a virtual prison for the starving Japanese garrison. "Mission to Rabaul" shows step-by-step how each piece of this classic campaign culminated logically and inevitably in the first escorted, massed bomber strike on 12th October, 1943. The film focuses on the decisive and revolutionary impact of the air component, including high & low level attacks, parachute drops, and re-supply. You'll see some amazing on the deck footage from attacking A-20s and B-25s. This dramatic, high impact documentary film shows some of the most memorable, exciting, and extensive footage of 5th Air Force B-25G bombers conducting tree top level attacks with machine guns and delayed action bombs to come out of World War 2 .The first step in the reduction of Rabaul was the seizure of a string of Japanese bases along the Northeast coast of New Guinea. The film focuses on the decisive and revolutionary impact of the air component in the strategy, including high & low level attacks, parachute drops, and resupply, accompanied by a magnificent musical score drawn from Holst's "The Planets."You're literally sitting in the cockpit or in the tail gunners seat watching amazing low level attack runs. You'll also see P-38s, A-20s, B-25s and B-24 cooperating with US Australian and New Zealand Forces securing forward air bases to strike against Rabaul and for the invasion of New Britain. "Mission to Rabaul" shows how each piece of this classic strategy culminated inevitably in the first escorted, massed bomber strike on Rabaul on 12th October, 1943 an essential goal in the reduction of Japanese defenses.

The air war as conducted by the United States 5th Air Force in the New Guinea theatre culminating in the raid on Rabaul 12 October 1943 in which 326 fighters and bombers took part. Operations covered are: construction of the airstrip at Marilinan. The raid on Wewak 17 August 1943. Salamaua area including footage of bombing of Komiatum and Roosevelt Ridge. Hansa Bay hit by 98 medium and heavy bombers. Bombing of Alexishafen. Attacks on Cape Gloucester area - Borgen Bay, Rein Bay and Stettin Bay. Interdiction of Japanese transport barges. Attack on Hopoi in support of Allied landings at mouth of Busu River. The parachute drop at Nadzab. Destruction of Japanese aircraft at Lae 16 September 1943. Finschafen 27 September 1943. Wewak raid 27 September 1943. Rabaul mission authorised by Lieutenant General Kenney commanding general of the 5th Air Force 11 October 1943 after intelligence indicated that there were 243 Japanaese aircraft at Rabaul. Preparations for the attack. Close ups of nose art, B-24 Liberator 'Moby Dick', P-38 Lighting "Six Shooter". US 5th Air Force rendezvous at Oro Bay. Attack on Vunakanau airstrip. Sequence of attack by Japanese fighter 'Hamp'. Attack on Ropopo airstrip.

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[edit] Technical Specs

Video Codec: XviD ISO MPEG-4
Video Bitrate: 1772 kbps
Video Resolution: 704x528
Video Aspect Ratio: 1.333:1
Frames Per Second: 29.970
Audio Codec: 0x2000 (Dolby AC3) AC3
Audio Bitrate: 128kb/s CBR 48000 Hz
Audio Streams: 2
Audio Languages: english
RunTime Per Part: 55:12.209
Number Of Parts: 1
Part Size: 791,775,044 Bytes
Subtitles: no
Ripped by: DocFreak08