SAIPAN LANDING, ETC Reel 1 · Part 1

Description

Reel 1, U.S. Marines board transports at a California port, and do calisthenics aboard the ships at sea. The invasion convoy circles off Saipan, Mariana Islands. Marines swarm onto the beach and, supported by tank and artillery fire, advance through palm trees and high grass. Japanese bunkers are shelled. Shows Japanese dead. Jeeps carry wounded Marines to the coast where blood plasma is administered. Reel 2, Seabees use bulldozers and demolitions to clear an airstrip. B-17's take off and bomb Iwo Jima and Yap. Gens. Arnold and Kenney deplane on Saipan and inspect the airstrip. B-29's take off and bomb Tokyo; one crashes and burns on its return landing. Reel 3 shows an injured B-29 crewman in a hospital and dead crewman being carried from the field. Memorial services are held. U.S. warships shell pockets of enemy resistance on the island. Reel 4, B-24's take off. B-29's bomb Tokyo. B-24's escorted by P-38's, bomb Japanese island bases. A transport plane lands on Saipan with reinforcements; wounded are loaded aboard it and evacuated. Reel 5, paratroops roll bundles of supplies for an air-drop; gliders and C-47 transports are loaded with equipment and troops; and the paratroops, glider troops, and equipment are dropped during a practice operation.

Collection

Records of the Office of the Secretary of War

Series

Motion Picture Films