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Hello Kings and Generals, don't forget about "Dutch East/Indonesian campaign" full video on TH-cam. Just keep doing to upload new video about second world war 😊.
This series is by far your longest running and your most in depth dive into any historical era or conflict and from the start till now I've never been disappointed. Having my grandfather serve in the CBI theater this series holds a particular place in my heart and I look forward to every new release and will look forward up to the end of 45'. Absolutely keep it up K&G team 👍
@@npierce14 so why are you using a 4 and a half long video from a different channel as an example to try to compare it to their longest running series that clocks well, well, well over 4 and a half hours long?
@@frantictoast3741 ……I literally just said you were right and idk what I was thinking and W&W is the same channel bro that’s why they have it linked on here
My uncle served with a construction battalion in this campaign and said it was hell all the way. He and most of the battalion were very sick and it took weeks for them to recover. They started on Guadalcanal and built some of the airstrips that were mentioned along side the SeeBees. They were always short of clean water and could not wash up because they needed water for drinking, their rations rotted as did their clothing and shoes. When he and the battalion worked on Luzon their clothing and shoes were better quality and lasted longer. The Japanese had it even worse as their logistics could not keep up with their needs.
This is a massive bin of information put together in way that makes one of the longest and most complex campaigns of WW2 readily accessible and easily digestible. I've been a WW2 Solomons Campaign buff since the mid 70s after reading Air War and Guadalcanal Diary, and even after reading just about every book published on the subject since then, it was still hard to coherently piece together. Thank you for taking the time to weave it all together in a masterful manner, worthy of a modern war college.
If I was a history teacher, I would probably get in trouble for showing too much TH-cam videos to the students. Honestly a lot of great history channels on TH-cam that I’ve learned a lot more from than I ever did in history class. But that’s the American public school system at work for ya.
I don't remember learning anything about WW2 in high school. We learned about Hannibal crossing the Alps & other ancient battles like Agememnon sacking Troy cuz his brother's wife ran away with the Prince of Troy. Stupid kid got his whole family & kingdom killed & ransacked over a piece of ass. I think that they covered the Pearl Harbor attack & the atomic weapons being dropped on Hiroshima & Nagasaki but pretty much nothing in between. And I always wondered what happened for the 4 years in between. I don't even remember learning about the Battle of Midway in school. Or the Battle of Britain. I learned about all of that simply by reading books. I would hear about stuff in movies & knowing you can't trust Hollywood to give a clear picture of what happened, even when they are trying. If something interested me I'd hit the library to see what I could find. And in the words of JRR Tolkien... "If you want to find something, there is nothing like looking. You don't always find what you were looking for but you usually find something." That is a statement that will probably forever remain true. And in a quest for knowledge of what happened.. there are two sides to every story & the truth lies somewhere in between them. And then there are facts too. A fact is something that is the truth no matter what side you are on.
My father was a member of the 1st Marine Air Wing and arrived in the Solomons in March of 1943. He remained there until 1945 when he came home on leave. He used to tell my brother and I stories (funny ones) about the war. I'll never forget the romantic names of places- Vella Lavella, Rendova and Espiritu Santu. I've never found a more complete account of the battle up the Solomons than this one. Thank you! Greg Daniels
Must have had some cool stories I'm sure! My grandmother's older brother from Malaita was part of the Fiji Commando unit 23, fought in Guadalcanal and later in New Georgia.
"little less known" is what every one says about every other battle/campaign ever. I know the Marines dont live on laurels but the "1" on the blue diamond literally stands for Guadalcanal. The story got around.
@@Person0fColor Yet, this very battle is about the Battle for New Georgia, which is indeed seldom covered in most documentaries (even most Pacific-centric documentaries ignore it in favor of skipping to the Battle of Tarawa).
This series always reminds me of something that many Japanese people forget. It wasnt only Japanese and American people who fought, slaughtered, and sacrificed their lives on Pacific Front
This is the info I have been looking for without having to read through a ton of books. If I weren't so old and had more time I would stop the video to read all the extra info included. I may come back some day and do just that. Thank you.
i love long videos. i genuinely believe that this wouldve been even better if it was twice as long and went into even greater detail. and the day by day thingy at the top helped keep everything in order so it wasnt just an unintelligible inundation of information. it was more like taking turns in a total war videogame. an easy breakdown on wtf happened all over the place that day
Amazing to hear about some actual cooperation between the IJA and IJN. One wonders what might have happened at Guadalcanal if the Japanese could have managed this.
Nothing would have happened, by February 1942 the Japanese are already over extending their lines just 3 months after Pearl. By September while the Japanese and the Marines are battling for Guadalcanal America is already on a war footing that Japan cant match, The liberty merchant ships by September 1942 are being made in 4 weeks flat, the Robert E Peary is built that autumn in just 4 days. The Japanese cannot build like the Americans and once production outpaces tonnage sunk its all over for Germany and Japan. What if the Marines had a fully equipped marine division prior to Pearl? What if during the 30's we heeded Japan's challenge and after the dissolution of the five power treaty we just went ahead and started building aircraft carriers the way the Japanese did? Oddly enough Japan and Germany's best course of action would have been to keep the Americans out of the war, but for Japan this was impossible buts its only America's commitment to non intervention isolationism that allows the German and Japanese empire to grow. The minute America is pulled into war with Japan and then Germany the war is lost. Japan didnt do enough at Pearl, Coral Sea and Midway, maybe they couldve pounded the Americans so hard they would have lost the stomach for a fight, which I doubt, but by Guadalcanal the ship has already sailed and the Japanese while they still have naval superiority are really having their own strategy turned against them. Yamamoto wanted to draw out the PACFleet for a decisive engagement, but what is actually happening is the Japanese Navy is the one being drawn into naval engagements it cant afford to lose or even draw, it must deliver the knockout blow. Guadalcanal for the Japanese was a great expenditure of men and material, for the Americans its a morale booster and gives America some experience with their new enemy. Same thing happened during the American civil war so long as the South was in the union is could sure up its interest in slavery and defend it through the SCOTUS and President and senate and congress, but the minute they become radical secessionists and declare the only way to defend it is through a policy of war and aggression thats the minute they lose control of the situation which is what war really is. Its an admission that you can no longer defend your interests through conventional means. The Japanese for decades were involved in Navy conventions and peace treaties with the Western powers, once Japan realizes they can non longer obtain their national goal through these means they seek a policy of war and aggression.
@@Person0fColor Counterfactuals are always tricky, but specifically at the start of Watchtower, American resources were very limited. They had a big division but not all their equipment and 3 good regiments. With collaboration between the army and navy the Japanese had more resources than that -- just ended up delivering the piecemeal and launching unfounded attacks. Now if your point is that the US could have survived a loss at Guadalcanal with little to no long term impact, I agree. In all probability in just means that they progress through the central pacific as their greater resources start to come online. Once they have Essex class carriers with Hellcats everything that follows is just a matter of time and a loss on Guadalcanal might actually have led to more resources being allocated to the Pacific. (Actually I think everything is a matter of time after Midway and after the US sorts out their torpedo issues) I'm thinking specifically of Guadalcanal itself which from the Japanese point of view is a study in disfunction. A loss on Guadalcanal would never have made the Americans give up.
@@rohanthandi4903 Invective doesn't make an opinion more compelling. The loss of the First Marines was certainly possible at the time -- Vandergrift was concerned about that possibility. Does it change the eventual outcome of the war? No Does it change the outcome of the next few months? Yes.
Interesting. My grandmother's older brother (George Maelalo) a South Pacific Islander from Malaita, Langalanga lagoon, was 19 years old in 1943, and was part of the Fiji Commando Guerella Unit mentioned in 1:10:14 under the New Zealand team that also fought alongside the Americans in New Georgia. He were assigned to unit 23 under Lt. Len Barrow, trained alongside other Solomon Islanders, and Fijians and fought in jungle guerrilla warfare, and scouting missions in Guadalcanal as well as here in New Georgia. He was also part of the end of the Guadalcanal campaign. But then they moved to New Georgia to chase back the Japanese until 1945. He said in Guadalcanal, general Vandergrift divided them into platoons. He recalls that the Japanese occupied the Gaudalcanal area from Honiara to the tip of Guadalcanal and he was sent with many soldiers to Mataniko where the Japanese were holding off the other side of the river in a place today called, Tuvaruhu (the area has hills and jungles). The fighting was very intense, day and night the Japanese bombed the place and fired shells, and then the Ameicans would reply by raining bullets back, even the American ships at sea would rain bullets on to the hill tops, it was like hell on earth he described. At Mboganavera, he recalled he went up the hill and arrived to see nothing but all the allied marines laying down on the grass smoking. He asked "Ai, wea nao enemi?" Translated: "where's the enemy?" Then they said to him, just smoke your cigarette, no enemies here, just hotel here, you got anything to drink?" LOL. He found the American behavior was different. They had a no care attitude. Because, being in the jungle, they don't care of doing anything, if they wanted to do something they just did it, unlike the Australian soldiers who respected their senior officers well. The fighting in Guadalcanal that George Maelalo was part of was around toward the end of the Guadalcanal campaign from what I gatheref from his stories because he never gave specific dates but he did give names. I only reference the events in this TH-cam video as well as the Guadalcanal campaign also covered by Kings and Generals here. So at Guadalcanal they fought the Japanese back. This happened day, and night always before the Japanese retreated. When crossing to the Mataniko river to the other side, you couldn't just run down the hill or you were easy target due to machine gun fire, so plenty people rolled down the hill like drums because it was faster. Many soldiers got hit but you had to keep going on or else you'd get hit too. George Maelalo described that when going down he rolled down the hill and splashed into the river, and crossed to other side to kill a few Japs in Guadalcanal before they retreated. His helmet had leaves on it, making it hard for the enemy to spot him. He splashed into the river and bullets were firing toward him but not at him. He saw five Japs, and shot at them, hitting one. And they pushed them back. Afterwards, now in New Georgia, after the Guadalcanal campaign was over they were transported to and rested at Kokorano on Renova Island. They were preparing for the New Georgia campaign which he would be stationed at until the end of the war. Then toward the end of the war, George Maelalo and the rest of the Pacific islanders there would help build an airport at Ibu. One of his best contributions was for the Americans against a fortified hilly place called Sorokina which was an annoying "fortified position". The Japs had a base there and a radar that alerted them of American planes which really hindered dropping off essential supplies and more importantly, food rations for months. A few Americans and Australians tried to go up to Sorokina to destroy the radar but many never returned. George Maelalo volunteered to go up, and so he was reassigned to a mines division so they would train him how to use a specific mine. Then, was sent off essentially on a stealth mission in the morning where it was still dark to destroy that radar by 6 oclock. He travelled up the bush by himself in the dark toward the Japanese fortified camp at Sorokina to detonate a radar. It's here that he crept and crawled his way into the area, and noted that the Jap guards were asleep. He remarked how fortunate that all guards he passed by were asleep how it was like his custom was operating (side note, he says custom referring to Melanesian practice of heathens before Christianity came to the Islands, which is ironic because George Maelalo was the Son of a Christian Pastor our great Grand father, Clement Maelalo who was a preacher and the first Islander from Malaita to switch from Heathen ways to Jesus, and encouraged us all his children to pray to God properly to stop Heathen/pagan ways, so George makes a reference to saying his fortunes were attributed to custom when without a doubt it must have been God's blessing he was alive is just a way for him to be cocky I guess). He even crept up to one Jap soldier, stole his magazine clip to show as proof to his American superiors that he was in the area, and went up to find the radar. He set the mines on location, then pulled the detonator, and pressed down the two handles, round and round it went to 1600 pressure, ready, touch pull, and waited for 6 o'clock the time to pull. At one minute to 6 ocklock he recalls thinking about his mom back in Malaita who didnt want him to go to war, and how his dad let him come to war because he is a boy. He was thinking probably his mum was right, and why he has to involve himself in this war and maybe this is his last day alive on earth about to kill himself with this mine. By 6 o'clock, he put his leg on the mine pushed it inside, jamming it inside the small hole, and destroyed the radar as it flew up in the air. He successfully destroyed the radar at Sorokina at 6 oclcok that morning, because the Americans said if it isn't by 6 o'clock they would assume he was dead or taken prisoner. Then when the radar exploded, the Japs scrambled around shouting "Merika Merika". Place was so dark, he couldn't see his own hands in front his face but threw smoke bombs around, but when he saw the shadows of Japs, tak tak, down they went, they didn't even see him as he shot around 17 Japs that morning, before running down a hill as the rest of the Americans who saw the radar destroyed and were waiting surrpunding Sorokina, fired bullets and explosions into the area. George found a safe place and waited for the fighting to die down, eventually around 0930 hours, when the Americans came searching for prisoners, and they one of the soldiers saw him raise the American helmet. And the Americans saw it was their scout. He said the name of the captain was Cpt. Tregaskis (spelled phonetically I think) and he showed the magazine he clipped from the sleeping Japanese soldier before destroying the radar that night. After the events of Sorokina destroying that radar, George Maelalo and the other islanders remaining helped the Americans build an airport, clearing trees, digging earth, to evacuate injured Allied soldiers back to Guadalcanal until 1945 when the war ended. There's a lot more stories he told us but that's all for now. Thanks to Kings and Generals
35.10 Note on Wildcat firing times: That 18 seconds of firing time assumes you supply power and use ALL guns at once. Turning on only 2 power switches at a time, increases your firing time by using only 2 of 4 or 2 of 6 guns at once. With Japanese aircraft being lightly armored and the captured A6m from the Aleutians having been evaluated by this time, I don't doubt the claims of Lt.Sewett. th-cam.com/video/L27bpIKlqo0/w-d-xo.html Loaded with Incendiary ammunition, twin 50's can do a LOT.
This is an excellent video - well researched and well presented. You have to really pay attention, though as there are a lot of moving parts and it is easy to lose track of the larger picture. It speaks to the command and staff work, especially on the Allied side, to manage a truly joint force (all US branches plus New Zealanders and Fijian commandoes) in so many locations. My father served in the US Army this region at the time so it has a special meaning to me.
My grandfather served in the pacific and in my opinion I think the pacific was a worst theater of war than Europe. In Europe soldiers liberated cities and got women in celebration before back to war. In the Pacific, you got jungle rot, malaria, suicidal pilots, guerrilla warfare, and possibility of being stranded in an island, drowned or worse a pow camp by the Japanese.
Central Solomons Campaign=knife fight in a phone booth. Man, it was just a slug match between 2 forces! What's amazing is that the Americans were actually conducting over seas offensives just under 15 months after their fleet was smashed at Pearl.
@@Person0fColor Damn, I forgot about them taking the airfield in August, I had too much tunnel vision on thinking about the Solomon Campaign in the beginning of 43 lol.
@KingsandGenerals You should write a history book with links made up mostly of your videos and sell it to the public school system. You wouldnt have to do much beyond printing out the transcript lol These videos are so awesome. I just cant get enough 💙💙😂😂👌🏼
The fact that the USN in 1943 used night tactics for bombardment, surface interception and convoy movement, just what the IJN did mostly in 1942, also the USN was getting more proficient with nighttime gunnery on their ships and tactics. How the tide has turned
I am not military but my father was involved in the liberation of Antwerpen in 1944. This is extremely intense and makes us want to support Ukraine even more....
53:44 Ugaki's Betty Bomber OBVIOUSLY DIDN'T "disintegrate," because he and a pilot survived. They CRASH-LANDED the plane in the water and were barely able to swim to shore
Just a suggestion: you guys might want to consider placing a hit-point bar above the units, to show how depleted the companies/battalions/regiments actually were. It would help us to understand the "real" situation going on--especially for the Japanese forces.
Indeed. Kursk, Tunisia, New Georgia, Operation Cartwheel, the North Burma campaign, the Dniper River crossings, Sicily and Italy, etc. 1943 was a very busy year for both the Allies and Axis, as well as the year where things turned decidedly on the Allies' favor.
I know you folks at K&G and Wizards and Warriors are working on new projects all the time, but I would love to see a video of this detail about Iwo Jima. Keep it up! I can't wait for the next installment about the Horus Heresy on W&W! 🤟
It is considered a Central Solomons Campaign was so widely called "New Georgia Campaign" in this video regardlessly, but the indication since the latest episode of Pacific War Series having they waited back since on July 2023. Hope that on going would like to be more post videos of Pacific War Series
Cool. I just got the giant neoprene map for Pacific Victory from Columbia Games, and have it all set up on the table behind me. And this epic documentary pops up in my feed. Merry Christmas!!!!
Holy shit, I was waiting for the next long video on the Pacific War, really nice!!! Bit of feedback, can you keep the info boxes just 2 more seconds on the screen? I stop the video for each and every one of them, even if I know it gets summarised in the narration
Christmas comes early!! Hey Kings and Generals, have you ever thought (once the series is complete) about releasing a hardcover coffee table book of this series? Like,
Why didn’t the Japanese sent the Kokotai fighter wing, the best Japanese fighter group in the area to escorted Yamamoto.. this wing composed of Japanese aces Nishizawa, Saburo Sakai…
My great-great-grandfather was a career military man with strong values concerning military service My great-grandmother wanted him home wanting to see more of her father when asked why such a long military career keeping him away from home for long periods of time it is said that he gazed off into the distance stating I have 11 daughters four by the time I was 20 I enlisted when I was 16 married when I was 16 and you all were born on a military base somewhere and I couldn't imagine life without every single one of you and I felt that I couldn't provide a good life for you all without the military and I couldn't imagine life without the military
As a graphic designer since 1997 id suggest upper and lower on the panel pop ups. We read by recognizing the shapes of words not the individual letters. When you do all caps, you take the shape away making it harder to read.
Yeah, I had thought that by the conclusion of the Guadal Canal campaign that the USN had finally realized how devastating the IJN's long lance torpedoes were & that they had a very significant range. In watching this video, it becomes apparent that evidently the USN was still ignorant of the capabilities of the type 93 torpedo. And you would also think that they would hear them on the hydrophones before they launched their own torpedoes. Although I'm fairly certain the USN torpedoes were still having problems at this point too.
By February 1943, the analogy of two heavyweight boxers, exhausted and beat up, waiting for the bell to ring. One side got a massive steroid injection, the other, determined not to lose.
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There is a time stamp to find what it was released already on previous videos and those reserved for patrons?
Will you tackle Majapahit kingdom aswel. We really like the classical conquest
Hello Kings and Generals, don't forget about "Dutch East/Indonesian campaign" full video on TH-cam. Just keep doing to upload new video about second world war 😊.
This series is by far your longest running and your most in depth dive into any historical era or conflict and from the start till now I've never been disappointed. Having my grandfather serve in the CBI theater this series holds a particular place in my heart and I look forward to every new release and will look forward up to the end of 45'. Absolutely keep it up K&G team 👍
Wizards and warriors has a 4 and a half video on warhammer
@npierce14 this is just a 3 hour video of a much much larger series on the pacific war. He was talking about the entire series, not this video.
@@frantictoast3741 you are so right idk what I was even thinking they started doing these
Videos 2 years ago and roll 1 sometimes 2 out every week
@@npierce14 so why are you using a 4 and a half long video from a different channel as an example to try to compare it to their longest running series that clocks well, well, well over 4 and a half hours long?
@@frantictoast3741 ……I literally just said you were right and idk what I was thinking and W&W is the same channel bro that’s why they have it linked on here
For those interested on the chronology of the series at 2:05:06 ends the last public available video, the rest is new.
Thank you
Thank you as well, The algorithm just now gave me this whole year compedium.
My uncle served with a construction battalion in this campaign and said it was hell all the way. He and most of the battalion were very sick and it took weeks for them to recover. They started on Guadalcanal and built some of the airstrips that were mentioned along side the SeeBees. They were always short of clean water and could not wash up because they needed water for drinking, their rations rotted as did their clothing and shoes. When he and the battalion worked on Luzon their clothing and shoes were better quality and lasted longer. The Japanese had it even worse as their logistics could not keep up with their needs.
This stuff is the gold standard for history content on YT.
Thanks!
An epic saga, the go-to choice for those wanting to dive into the Battle of Guadalcanal. Thanks for your consistently high-quality production!👏
Please "No bended Knee" Merrill B Twining.
What a time to be alive to be able to see quality documentaries like this one for free
This is a massive bin of information put together in way that makes one of the longest and most complex campaigns of WW2 readily accessible and easily digestible. I've been a WW2 Solomons Campaign buff since the mid 70s after reading Air War and Guadalcanal Diary, and even after reading just about every book published on the subject since then, it was still hard to coherently piece together. Thank you for taking the time to weave it all together in a masterful manner, worthy of a modern war college.
If I was a history teacher, I would probably get in trouble for showing too much TH-cam videos to the students. Honestly a lot of great history channels on TH-cam that I’ve learned a lot more from than I ever did in history class. But that’s the American public school system at work for ya.
I don't remember learning anything about WW2 in high school. We learned about Hannibal crossing the Alps & other ancient battles like Agememnon sacking Troy cuz his brother's wife ran away with the Prince of Troy. Stupid kid got his whole family & kingdom killed & ransacked over a piece of ass. I think that they covered the Pearl Harbor attack & the atomic weapons being dropped on Hiroshima & Nagasaki but pretty much nothing in between. And I always wondered what happened for the 4 years in between. I don't even remember learning about the Battle of Midway in school. Or the Battle of Britain. I learned about all of that simply by reading books. I would hear about stuff in movies & knowing you can't trust Hollywood to give a clear picture of what happened, even when they are trying. If something interested me I'd hit the library to see what I could find. And in the words of JRR Tolkien... "If you want to find something, there is nothing like looking. You don't always find what you were looking for but you usually find something." That is a statement that will probably forever remain true. And in a quest for knowledge of what happened.. there are two sides to every story & the truth lies somewhere in between them. And then there are facts too. A fact is something that is the truth no matter what side you are on.
Thank you so much for _consistently_ producing such high end content. You are very much appreciated!
My father was a member of the 1st Marine Air Wing and arrived in the Solomons in March of 1943. He remained there until 1945 when he came home on leave. He used to tell my brother and I stories (funny ones) about the war. I'll never forget the romantic names of places- Vella Lavella, Rendova and Espiritu Santu.
I've never found a more complete account of the battle up the Solomons than this one.
Thank you!
Greg Daniels
Must have had some cool stories I'm sure! My grandmother's older brother from Malaita was part of the Fiji Commando unit 23, fought in Guadalcanal and later in New Georgia.
I've never had to fact check with your Chanel. I can't stress how much you've made me smile. Please don't stop
Fact check the pronunciation of Halsey's name.
Absolutely amazing, little less known campaign in the pacific and definitely deserve this huge amount of effort, amazing video!
"little less known" is what every one says about every other battle/campaign ever. I know the Marines dont live on laurels but the "1" on the blue diamond literally stands for Guadalcanal. The story got around.
@@Person0fColor no shit, anywhere the marines go it’ll get around, but compared to other campaigns especially in Europe, this is a bit lesser known.
@@Person0fColor Yet, this very battle is about the Battle for New Georgia, which is indeed seldom covered in most documentaries (even most Pacific-centric documentaries ignore it in favor of skipping to the Battle of Tarawa).
This series always reminds me of something that many Japanese people forget. It wasnt only Japanese and American people who fought, slaughtered, and sacrificed their lives on Pacific Front
My Grandpa was part of the Guadalcanal & Solomons campaign back in WWII! He used to tell me so many stories about the campaigns.
Was your grandpa in the 25th Infantry? Mine was. He served in all campaigns in WWII.
@@Scott-kc5fg lemme look at my Grandpa's records & I'll get back to you. My gut tells me he was 3rd Marines.
This is the info I have been looking for without having to read through a ton of books. If I weren't so old and had more time I would stop the video to read all the extra info included. I may come back some day and do just that. Thank you.
You all are legends, especially after the pearl harbor and midway video.
This is an incredible series of videos on the Pacific war!
This Pacific series is great. Kings and Generals is my favorite videos on TH-cam. Great work everyone.
i love long videos. i genuinely believe that this wouldve been even better if it was twice as long and went into even greater detail. and the day by day thingy at the top helped keep everything in order so it wasnt just an unintelligible inundation of information. it was more like taking turns in a total war videogame. an easy breakdown on wtf happened all over the place that day
This is like a college course on the Pacific war. Very well done.
Thanks!
So nice to see the WW2 stuff again for plebians :D thank you
Keep it up K&G. You guys dont disappoint with your videos. ❤👍
Amazing to hear about some actual cooperation between the IJA and IJN. One wonders what might have happened at Guadalcanal if the Japanese could have managed this.
Nothing would have happened, by February 1942 the Japanese are already over extending their lines just 3 months after Pearl. By September while the Japanese and the Marines are battling for Guadalcanal America is already on a war footing that Japan cant match, The liberty merchant ships by September 1942 are being made in 4 weeks flat, the Robert E Peary is built that autumn in just 4 days. The Japanese cannot build like the Americans and once production outpaces tonnage sunk its all over for Germany and Japan.
What if the Marines had a fully equipped marine division prior to Pearl? What if during the 30's we heeded Japan's challenge and after the dissolution of the five power treaty we just went ahead and started building aircraft carriers the way the Japanese did?
Oddly enough Japan and Germany's best course of action would have been to keep the Americans out of the war, but for Japan this was impossible buts its only America's commitment to non intervention isolationism that allows the German and Japanese empire to grow. The minute America is pulled into war with Japan and then Germany the war is lost. Japan didnt do enough at Pearl, Coral Sea and Midway, maybe they couldve pounded the Americans so hard they would have lost the stomach for a fight, which I doubt, but by Guadalcanal the ship has already sailed and the Japanese while they still have naval superiority are really having their own strategy turned against them. Yamamoto wanted to draw out the PACFleet for a decisive engagement, but what is actually happening is the Japanese Navy is the one being drawn into naval engagements it cant afford to lose or even draw, it must deliver the knockout blow. Guadalcanal for the Japanese was a great expenditure of men and material, for the Americans its a morale booster and gives America some experience with their new enemy.
Same thing happened during the American civil war so long as the South was in the union is could sure up its interest in slavery and defend it through the SCOTUS and President and senate and congress, but the minute they become radical secessionists and declare the only way to defend it is through a policy of war and aggression thats the minute they lose control of the situation which is what war really is. Its an admission that you can no longer defend your interests through conventional means. The Japanese for decades were involved in Navy conventions and peace treaties with the Western powers, once Japan realizes they can non longer obtain their national goal through these means they seek a policy of war and aggression.
@@Person0fColor Counterfactuals are always tricky, but specifically at the start of Watchtower, American resources were very limited. They had a big division but not all their equipment and 3 good regiments. With collaboration between the army and navy the Japanese had more resources than that -- just ended up delivering the piecemeal and launching unfounded attacks.
Now if your point is that the US could have survived a loss at Guadalcanal with little to no long term impact, I agree. In all probability in just means that they progress through the central pacific as their greater resources start to come online. Once they have Essex class carriers with Hellcats everything that follows is just a matter of time and a loss on Guadalcanal might actually have led to more resources being allocated to the Pacific. (Actually I think everything is a matter of time after Midway and after the US sorts out their torpedo issues)
I'm thinking specifically of Guadalcanal itself which from the Japanese point of view is a study in disfunction. A loss on Guadalcanal would never have made the Americans give up.
@@ronjohnson6916nonsense. Guadalcanal was unholdable. Even if it was held it would’ve been bypassed. You sound delusional
@@rohanthandi4903 Invective doesn't make an opinion more compelling. The loss of the First Marines was certainly possible at the time -- Vandergrift was concerned about that possibility. Does it change the eventual outcome of the war? No Does it change the outcome of the next few months? Yes.
@@ronjohnson6916 my bad totally confused u for another guy who was trolling lol
Interesting.
My grandmother's older brother (George Maelalo) a South Pacific Islander from Malaita, Langalanga lagoon, was 19 years old in 1943, and was part of the Fiji Commando Guerella Unit mentioned in 1:10:14 under the New Zealand team that also fought alongside the Americans in New Georgia.
He were assigned to unit 23 under Lt. Len Barrow, trained alongside other Solomon Islanders, and Fijians and fought in jungle guerrilla warfare, and scouting missions in Guadalcanal as well as here in New Georgia. He was also part of the end of the Guadalcanal campaign. But then they moved to New Georgia to chase back the Japanese until 1945.
He said in Guadalcanal, general Vandergrift divided them into platoons. He recalls that the Japanese occupied the Gaudalcanal area from Honiara to the tip of Guadalcanal and he was sent with many soldiers to Mataniko where the Japanese were holding off the other side of the river in a place today called, Tuvaruhu (the area has hills and jungles). The fighting was very intense, day and night the Japanese bombed the place and fired shells, and then the Ameicans would reply by raining bullets back, even the American ships at sea would rain bullets on to the hill tops, it was like hell on earth he described.
At Mboganavera, he recalled he went up the hill and arrived to see nothing but all the allied marines laying down on the grass smoking. He asked "Ai, wea nao enemi?" Translated: "where's the enemy?" Then they said to him, just smoke your cigarette, no enemies here, just hotel here, you got anything to drink?" LOL. He found the American behavior was different. They had a no care attitude. Because, being in the jungle, they don't care of doing anything, if they wanted to do something they just did it, unlike the Australian soldiers who respected their senior officers well.
The fighting in Guadalcanal that George Maelalo was part of was around toward the end of the Guadalcanal campaign from what I gatheref from his stories because he never gave specific dates but he did give names. I only reference the events in this TH-cam video as well as the Guadalcanal campaign also covered by Kings and Generals here.
So at Guadalcanal they fought the Japanese back. This happened day, and night always before the Japanese retreated. When crossing to the Mataniko river to the other side, you couldn't just run down the hill or you were easy target due to machine gun fire, so plenty people rolled down the hill like drums because it was faster. Many soldiers got hit but you had to keep going on or else you'd get hit too. George Maelalo described that when going down he rolled down the hill and splashed into the river, and crossed to other side to kill a few Japs in Guadalcanal before they retreated. His helmet had leaves on it, making it hard for the enemy to spot him. He splashed into the river and bullets were firing toward him but not at him. He saw five Japs, and shot at them, hitting one. And they pushed them back.
Afterwards, now in New Georgia, after the Guadalcanal campaign was over they were transported to and rested at Kokorano on Renova Island. They were preparing for the New Georgia campaign which he would be stationed at until the end of the war. Then toward the end of the war, George Maelalo and the rest of the Pacific islanders there would help build an airport at Ibu.
One of his best contributions was for the Americans against a fortified hilly place called Sorokina which was an annoying "fortified position". The Japs had a base there and a radar that alerted them of American planes which really hindered dropping off essential supplies and more importantly, food rations for months.
A few Americans and Australians tried to go up to Sorokina to destroy the radar but many never returned. George Maelalo volunteered to go up, and so he was reassigned to a mines division so they would train him how to use a specific mine. Then, was sent off essentially on a stealth mission in the morning where it was still dark to destroy that radar by 6 oclock. He travelled up the bush by himself in the dark toward the Japanese fortified camp at Sorokina to detonate a radar. It's here that he crept and crawled his way into the area, and noted that the Jap guards were asleep. He remarked how fortunate that all guards he passed by were asleep how it was like his custom was operating (side note, he says custom referring to Melanesian practice of heathens before Christianity came to the Islands, which is ironic because George Maelalo was the Son of a Christian Pastor our great Grand father, Clement Maelalo who was a preacher and the first Islander from Malaita to switch from Heathen ways to Jesus, and encouraged us all his children to pray to God properly to stop Heathen/pagan ways, so George makes a reference to saying his fortunes were attributed to custom when without a doubt it must have been God's blessing he was alive is just a way for him to be cocky I guess).
He even crept up to one Jap soldier, stole his magazine clip to show as proof to his American superiors that he was in the area, and went up to find the radar. He set the mines on location, then pulled the detonator, and pressed down the two handles, round and round it went to 1600 pressure, ready, touch pull, and waited for 6 o'clock the time to pull. At one minute to 6 ocklock he recalls thinking about his mom back in Malaita who didnt want him to go to war, and how his dad let him come to war because he is a boy. He was thinking probably his mum was right, and why he has to involve himself in this war and maybe this is his last day alive on earth about to kill himself with this mine. By 6 o'clock, he put his leg on the mine pushed it inside, jamming it inside the small hole, and destroyed the radar as it flew up in the air. He successfully destroyed the radar at Sorokina at 6 oclcok that morning, because the Americans said if it isn't by 6 o'clock they would assume he was dead or taken prisoner. Then when the radar exploded, the Japs scrambled around shouting "Merika Merika". Place was so dark, he couldn't see his own hands in front his face but threw smoke bombs around, but when he saw the shadows of Japs, tak tak, down they went, they didn't even see him as he shot around 17 Japs that morning, before running down a hill as the rest of the Americans who saw the radar destroyed and were waiting surrpunding Sorokina, fired bullets and explosions into the area. George found a safe place and waited for the fighting to die down, eventually around 0930 hours, when the Americans came searching for prisoners, and they one of the soldiers saw him raise the American helmet. And the Americans saw it was their scout. He said the name of the captain was Cpt. Tregaskis (spelled phonetically I think) and he showed the magazine he clipped from the sleeping Japanese soldier before destroying the radar that night.
After the events of Sorokina destroying that radar, George Maelalo and the other islanders remaining helped the Americans build an airport, clearing trees, digging earth, to evacuate injured Allied soldiers back to Guadalcanal until 1945 when the war ended.
There's a lot more stories he told us but that's all for now.
Thanks to Kings and Generals
That was a fascinating bit of history you won't find anywhere else. Thank you.
Thanks for your hard work KnG! as always!
Incredible docu-series! Thank you.
35.10 Note on Wildcat firing times: That 18 seconds of firing time assumes you supply power and use ALL guns at once. Turning on only 2 power switches at a time, increases your firing time by using only 2 of 4 or 2 of 6 guns at once. With Japanese aircraft being lightly armored and the captured A6m from the Aleutians having been evaluated by this time, I don't doubt the claims of Lt.Sewett. th-cam.com/video/L27bpIKlqo0/w-d-xo.html
Loaded with Incendiary ammunition, twin 50's can do a LOT.
This is the best documentary of pacific war❤
Nope, just only one of the few you have seen. Tubi has the best documentaries for Marines in the Pacific hands down
Truly like this format. Excellent job!
This is an excellent video - well researched and well presented. You have to really pay attention, though as there are a lot of moving parts and it is easy to lose track of the larger picture. It speaks to the command and staff work, especially on the Allied side, to manage a truly joint force (all US branches plus New Zealanders and Fijian commandoes) in so many locations. My father served in the US Army this region at the time so it has a special meaning to me.
That thumbnail absolutely slaps 💯
The biggest series on this channel continues!
Terrible how this theatre of WW2 is so overlooked. Same as the Aussies/Japan in New Guinea.
Türkiye de ww2 ve tarihe meraklı çok insan var. Türkçe alt yazı desteği için teşekkür ederim. Uzun videolar en anlaşılır ayrıntılı 🙏🙏
For the Kings and Generals. For the algorithm.
My grandfather served in the pacific and in my opinion I think the pacific was a worst theater of war than Europe.
In Europe soldiers liberated cities and got women in celebration before back to war. In the Pacific, you got jungle rot, malaria, suicidal pilots, guerrilla warfare, and possibility of being stranded in an island, drowned or worse a pow camp by the Japanese.
Depends on the unit you serve with.
I think that entirely depends on whether you're Russian
Amazing work K&G crew!
Been waiting for this for a long time.
Admirals and generals aren’t built like this anymore. The quality of our military leaders is severely watered down.
G'day, greetings from down under.
That was brilliant, most enjoyable. 👍
Merry Christmas to you and yours andd a safe and well 2024.
This is a masterpiece! 🎉
Central Solomons Campaign=knife fight in a phone booth. Man, it was just a slug match between 2 forces!
What's amazing is that the Americans were actually conducting over seas offensives just under 15 months after their fleet was smashed at Pearl.
15 months? dood 2nd Marine Raider Bn was in action 8 months to the day after Pearl, what you mean 15 months?
@@Person0fColor Damn, I forgot about them taking the airfield in August, I had too much tunnel vision on thinking about the Solomon Campaign in the beginning of 43 lol.
No it wasn’t lol
@KingsandGenerals You should write a history book with links made up mostly of your videos and sell it to the public school system. You wouldnt have to do much beyond printing out the transcript lol These videos are so awesome.
I just cant get enough 💙💙😂😂👌🏼
I am starting to think this channels is better than the history channel
Very interesting from start to finish. Thank you.
Well done as always!
The fact that the USN in 1943 used night tactics for bombardment, surface interception and convoy movement, just what the IJN did mostly in 1942, also the USN was getting more proficient with nighttime gunnery on their ships and tactics. How the tide has turned
This is impressive work, great video!
Uncle KIA USS San Francisco (CA-38) Naval Battle of Guadalcanal 12-13 November 1942. Gone too soon, Rest In Peace. All gave some, some gave all. 🫡
Very much appreciated.
Very excellent summation...
Another engrossing, informative, masterpiece. Thank you.
I am not military but my father was involved in the liberation of Antwerpen in 1944. This is extremely intense and makes us want to support Ukraine even more....
Jesus Christ!!!!
Imagine if ALLLLL their videos were this long.❤
Is this the former patreon only videos combined? I was really bummed you made it from free to patreons
I was DEVESTATED when that happened. 😥
@@blockmasterscottI was too I have ADHD and can’t watch the long form videos
53:44 Ugaki's Betty Bomber OBVIOUSLY DIDN'T "disintegrate," because he and a pilot survived. They CRASH-LANDED the plane in the water and were barely able to swim to shore
Thank you , K & G .
🐺 Loupis Canis .
A fantastic piece of work. It really shows the brilliance of our military once they got rolling.
Oh boy, an early birthday present for me!?
Just a suggestion: you guys might want to consider placing a hit-point bar above the units, to show how depleted the companies/battalions/regiments actually were. It would help us to understand the "real" situation going on--especially for the Japanese forces.
I don't think it is feasible, to be honest
Aww yeah, just got off work after a busy Sunday, and have 3 hours of K&G to relax to😎time to rip a bong and some knowledge
Love your stuff!!! Keep it up!!
Quick test of one's knowledge of WW2 PTO history: Can you state significant events that occurred at Pavuvu, Peleliu, and Palawan during the war?
Excellent topic on a time peroid which no one covers. Lot of ppl call 1943 halftime but really its anything but
Indeed. Kursk, Tunisia, New Georgia, Operation Cartwheel, the North Burma campaign, the Dniper River crossings, Sicily and Italy, etc. 1943 was a very busy year for both the Allies and Axis, as well as the year where things turned decidedly on the Allies' favor.
It's because there are no major carrier battles. Even though this was just as important. 43 is when the guts of the Japanese Navy is torn out.
Love these videos. Can't wait to watch them all ❤
I know what I'm listening to at work tomorrow
Thank you for further update on this series I'm hooked and love watching everything you do and look forward to more videos
I know you folks at K&G and Wizards and Warriors are working on new projects all the time, but I would love to see a video of this detail about Iwo Jima. Keep it up! I can't wait for the next installment about the Horus Heresy on W&W! 🤟
Excellent video.
A lot of history there, yet I wish you could have included more information on the PT Boats.
Absolutely, this is a treasure.
Great video keep it up you're doing amazing things 😁👍
Most WWII documentaries quickly pass thru the Solomons campaign. There's so much more that happened. Brave men indeed.
I nominate this for submission to the National Archives.
It is considered a Central Solomons Campaign was so widely called "New Georgia Campaign" in this video regardlessly, but the indication since the latest episode of Pacific War Series having they waited back since on July 2023.
Hope that on going would like to be more post videos of Pacific War Series
very nice TY KG for doing this way so i can catch up on ones i miss. since you switch to prem. also can you more like this please .
I love the video editing, general icons and the visuals of this video. Big fan of all your videos.
I put a thumbs up before watching it... 😂
A video or series on the wars of Joshua from the Bible would be fascinating
Cool. I just got the giant neoprene map for Pacific Victory from Columbia Games, and have it all set up on the table behind me. And this epic documentary pops up in my feed. Merry Christmas!!!!
Holy shit, I was waiting for the next long video on the Pacific War, really nice!!! Bit of feedback, can you keep the info boxes just 2 more seconds on the screen? I stop the video for each and every one of them, even if I know it gets summarised in the narration
Christmas comes early!! Hey Kings and Generals, have you ever thought (once the series is complete) about releasing a hardcover coffee table book of this series? Like,
😊
Wow what an awesome idea! I would buy this.
3+ hours on post Guadalcanal? I'm in.
Thank u
Yesssss!!!! Woohoo!!!!
Such awesome videos. They're very informative and entertaining
Why didn’t the Japanese sent the Kokotai fighter wing, the best Japanese fighter group in the area to escorted Yamamoto.. this wing composed of Japanese aces Nishizawa, Saburo Sakai…
Youre right. Well detailed...
2/230rd officer: "Sir, the enemy has overrun us!"
Lt.-Col. Yano Keiji: "Shhh, we must be vewy quiet."
Luv it may do for day off :)
My great-great-grandfather was a career military man with strong values concerning military service My great-grandmother wanted him home wanting to see more of her father when asked why such a long military career keeping him away from home for long periods of time it is said that he gazed off into the distance stating I have 11 daughters four by the time I was 20 I enlisted when I was 16 married when I was 16 and you all were born on a military base somewhere and I couldn't imagine life without every single one of you and I felt that I couldn't provide a good life for you all without the military and I couldn't imagine life without the military
As a graphic designer since 1997 id suggest upper and lower on the panel pop ups. We read by recognizing the shapes of words not the individual letters. When you do all caps, you take the shape away making it harder to read.
Amazing!
Yeah, I had thought that by the conclusion of the Guadal Canal campaign that the USN had finally realized how devastating the IJN's long lance torpedoes were & that they had a very significant range. In watching this video, it becomes apparent that evidently the USN was still ignorant of the capabilities of the type 93 torpedo. And you would also think that they would hear them on the hydrophones before they launched their own torpedoes. Although I'm fairly certain the USN torpedoes were still having problems at this point too.
Amazing
I see four Tie-Fighters over the Solomon Sea at 36:36
By February 1943, the analogy of two heavyweight boxers, exhausted and beat up, waiting for the bell to ring. One side got a massive steroid injection, the other, determined not to lose.
what about doing a series about just the PT boats in the solomons. and what about PT 109 and JFK??
20:40 MacArthur was more of a liability than an asset. Change my mind.
He was a moron