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Battles in the HBO Miniseries ‘The Pacific’ – A SynopsisCol. Jerry Morelock and Gerald D. Swick | March 08, 2010 | Single Page | 6 comments | Print | E-mail  Locations of battles depicted in The Pacific miniseries. Map copyright Home Box Office, Inc. All rights reserved. The Pacific, the much-anticipated miniseries from HBO that follows the stories of several US Marines through some of the heaviest fighting in some of the worst conditions of World War II, debuts March 14 at 9:00 p.m Eastern Time. To give viewers historical background on the five military campaigns covered in this 10-part miniseries—Guadalcanal, New Britain, Peleliu, Iwo Jima and Okinawa— Armchair General presents the following synopses. Comments on scenes from the miniseries are based on a screener HBO provided to Armchair General. Guadalcanal  September 1942: A Marine patrol crosses the Matanikau River on Guadalcanal. Click on photos for larger images. (National Archives) The departure of the American fleet opened a door for the Japanese to heavily reinforce Guadalcanal, but they failed to exploit it sufficiently, although some additional troops and supplies were landed at night during the campaign. The Marines ashore lived on two meals daily for six weeks; captured Japanese fish and rice helped extend their rations. They also made use of captured Japanese equipment to supplement what they had managed to offload and finished the airfield, which they named Henderson Field after a Marine aviator killed in the Battle of Midway. Japanese counterattacks centered on recapturing the airfield, and their nighttime banzai charges were terrifying but ineffective and costly. On the following mornings, Marines would find bodies thick in front of their defensive lines. On Sept. 18, the first American supply convoy arrived, along with the 7th Marine Regiment and other elements of the division. On October 13, the 164th Division, US Army, came ashore. Strategy switched from defensive to offensive operations. At sea, the Navy got revenge for Savo Island during the four-day naval battle of Guadalcanal and kept 60 percent of a large Japanese reinforcement force from reaching the island. The long, bloody battle for Guadalcanal ended when, between Feb. 1–7, 1943, Japanese destroyers evacuated 10,630 land troops. Pages: 1 2 3 4 5
Tags: Marines, Pacific War, Television, World War II
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6 Comments to “Battles in the HBO Miniseries ‘The Pacific’ – A Synopsis”
3/10/2010
Hello,
Because of the growing interest in HBO’s The Pacific, I thought you might be interest in the following.
Kenwood Productions’ award-winning documentary film, Peleliu 1944: Horror in the Pacific, is being released in DVD (produced in 1991, it has been long unavailable). Against a backdrop of rare archival film footage and photographs, the story of the Battle of Peleliu is told as never before by E. B. Sledge (author of With the Old Breed at Peleliu and Okinawa and featured in Ken Burns’ film The War, seen on PBS, and the upcoming HBO mini-series The Pacific), Bill Leyden, R. V. Burgin, and Jay de l’Eau (who are also characterized in The Pacific.) HBO licensed portions of Kenwoods’ exclusive Eugene Sledge interview to support their production of the The Pacific.
Peleliu 1944: Horror in the Pacific tells the true story of the men of Company K, 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment and the ferocious Battle of Peleliu, “an island on fire.” In conditions that tested the sanity of each man, 9,000 Marines attacked 10,000 battle-hardened Japanese soldiers dug into hundreds of fortified and reinforced coral and limestone caves. Twenty-eight days of unrelenting battle with no quarter asked or given.
The Battle of Peleliu is as harrowing as any in the history of modern warfare. A battle of total annihilation fought in inhuman conditions.
To see film clips and get more information on this, and other Kenwood Productions’ films, go to http://www.americanherofilm.com.
After viewing the clips, we hope you’ll agree with the viewers who said the film “should be required viewing by every veteran or enthusiast” and “hearing the veterans speak and tell their stories was so powerful, it was all woven together with excellent narration and footage. Just hearing Eugene Sledge tell his stories is priceless.” Historian Paul Fussel wrote “One of the cassettes [of Peleliu 1944] I’m donating to the Imperial War Museum here so that the British will have some idea of the costs of the Pacific war. The other I’ll treasure forever, and with thanks always to you and to Gene Sledge.”
If you have questions or would like more information contact us at mail@americanherofilm.com.
Thank you.
Jeff Hohman
Producer
Kenwood Productions, Inc.
By Jeff Hohman on Mar 9, 2010 at 10:46 pm
Having made BILLIONS upon BILLIONS these past decades catering to the dumb-down
franchise-slum denial needs of history’s MOST awesomely genocidal regime —ACROSS the Pacific
Hollywood continues to run for moral cover in the form of ad nauseum, anachronistic, PC WWII retreads
—-EVEN ON THIS —the once again ‘mysteriously overlooked’ 60th Anniversary of the epic,
relevant —indeed STILL unfolding —-KOREAN WAR!
—STOP buying into the set-up boys! —It’s DANGEROUS!
By pilgrim twentyten on Apr 2, 2010 at 4:10 am
I was concerned when I saw the episode guide. It does have Iwo Jima and Okinawa, battles that should be covered. Guadacanal and New Britian are a bit lesser known, but that is a good reason to feature them. My concern is that three of the ten episodes deal with Peleliu. While the battle is considered a strategic error it does not diminish the actual history. I am wondering how the producers are going to deal with aftermath? After all, they are making this the feature battle of the whole series. Are they going to to harp on this being a mistake as in “look at all of the mistakes the military has made and continues to make even today”. I hope not, but this is Hollywood.
By Mark Birmingham on Apr 6, 2010 at 7:39 pm
Please note that the only battle depicted on New Britain (Episode 4) is actually the Battle of Coffin Corner, which was the only engagement to involve the 2nd Battalion (Leckie’s battalion) during the Cape Gloucester Campaign. It took place on December 30, 1943 during a driving monsoon at 2:00 am and was characterized by repeated banzai charges by a group of only 100 japanese against the line held primarily by G Company, as well as H Company of the 2nd Battalion. The battle concentrated on a very corner of the line where two ridges converged (the “Coffin Corner”). The enemy overran at least two of the american machine gun pits before they were overwhelmed. 89 Japanese were killed and 6 marines lost their lives, including my great-uncle, who was a Sgt. with G Company. The battle is described in detail in both Leckie’s “Helmet for My Pillow” and the USMC history of the campaign on New Britain, which contains photos of the aftermath. The USMC history is available on the internet as part of its “Hyperwar” series. Sid Philips, who is a character in “The Pacific” also describes the battle on his website, MarineSidPhillips.com.
By John Grogan on Apr 6, 2010 at 9:14 pm
Personally, i would rather see a remake of naval warfare classics like Midway and At dawn we slept. Wouldn’t it be amazing to see a full naval battle with amazing graphics, historically accurate aircraft and ships? The pacific is an amazing show but come ON guys, someone has to pick up the naval genre again.
By JJ on May 2, 2010 at 5:42 pm