The Pacific War in Color

The Pacific Ocean is also known as "The Peaceful Sea," and color footage of some of its remote American outposts taken in the late-1930s captures a world of fun and sun. But a wave of war will soon replace these serene scenes with images of cataclysmic horror. Through rarely seen color home movies and combat footage, we detail Japan's violent blitz of the Pacific-from its raid on China to its attacks on Pearl Harbor and Australia-and show how America's military raced to ready itself for battle.

Six months after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the shockwaves of war have flooded into every corner of the Pacific, from Alaska to parts of China to New Guinea. U.S. soldiers head into unfamiliar worlds thousands of miles from home, encountering steamy island jungles, bitter arctic cold, and an unrelenting enemy. Through rare personal films and color combat footage, witness early Allied victories-in the Coral Sea, Guadalcanal, and at Midway-that turned the tide of the war.

Under the command of Admiral Nimitz in 1943, America advances towards Japan, engaging in a new series of island-hopping invasions through the Central Pacific. But a ferocious and inauspicious start at the Tarawa atoll forces war strategists to redesign their plan from top to bottom, sparking new innovations and breaking new barriers. With color combat footage and accounts from those who experienced the fight firsthand, this is an intimate look at some of the costliest and most critical battles of World War II.