HC Lost Evidence - The Pacific: Hell on Earth (2005)

Individual stories of heroism and courage are explored in the exact spots where the Pacific theatre of war took place as young American soldiers took on the seemingly invincible and increasingly desperate Japanese army in a series of bitter and hard-fought battles. From Pearl Harbor, Guadalcanal, Tarawa, Saipan, Guam, Leyte, Okinawa to Iwo Jima, the stories of WWII's most ferocious attacks, climactic battles, and ultimate victories vividly come to life.
Aerial photographs taken during the war have now been layered over a 3-D contour map to create a CGI model of the battlefield. These original, high-resolution images allow the viewer to track the battle step-by-step. Individual stories of courage and heroism are placed in the exact spot where they took place. Using cutting-edge techniques, unique archive film, reenactments, and extraordinary interviews, PACIFIC: THE LOST EVIDENCE sheds new light on one of the most important battles of World War II.

Part 1: Pearl Harbor
December 7, 1941–"a date which will live in infamy." The unprovoked attack on the U.S. Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor is a turning point in history. It propelled the United States into World War II and ultimately led to America's emergence as a military superpower. THE LOST EVIDENCE offers an unprecedented view of the attack. Aerial photographs taken of Pearl Harbor and the Hawaiian Island of Oahu are layered over a 3-D contour map to create an extraordinarily accurate CGI model, and interviews with men who were there help tell the tale.


Part 2: Guadalcanal
The first U.S. offensive of the Pacific War saw inexperienced U.S. troops facing an entrenched and experienced enemy. On August 7, 1942, more than 19,000 Marines invaded Guadalcanal with orders to seize and hold the tropical island. In the first US offensive of the Pacific War, these young Americans took on the seemingly invincible Japanese and fought a series of bitter battles.


Part 3: Tarawa
On November 20, 1943, one of the most ferocious battles in U.S. history began. The target was the tiny island called Tarawa, which had an strategically vital airfield. PACIFIC: THE LOST EVIDENCE reveals how Japanese troops boasted that a million Americans couldn't take the island in a hundred years, and the battle showed why: snipers hid in trees, the enemy buried themselves underground, and Banzai attacks came in the dead of night. TARAWA tells the story of this overlooked but extraordinary battle.


Part 4: Saipan
Just over a week after the D-Day, on the other side of the world, 70,000 U.S. Marines stormed ashore on the Pacific island of Saipan. For the first time in the war, American fighting men stood on Japanese soil. Facing them were 30,000 Japanese soldiers, with massed tanks and artillery, determined to defend the island to the death.


Part 5: Guam
On 21st July 1944, American Marines and GIs invaded the island of Guam. Over the next 21 days, this Japanese stronghold in the Mariana islands would become a bitter and bloody battlefield as American forces fought to expel nearly 19,000 Japanese troops from their heavily defended positions.


Part 6: Leyte Gulf
On October 20, 1944 US troops stormed ashore on the island of Leyte – beginning the liberation of the Philippines after two years of Japanese occupation. The invasion triggered the Japanese Navy's last-ditch attempt to stop the American advance in the Pacific. But, after three days of desperate combat, the Americans finally beat back the Japanese attacks to write one of the most glorious pages in U.S. Naval history.


Part 7: Iwo Jima
On February 19, 1945, the U.S. Marine Corps invaded Iwo Jima. Over the next 36 days, the island became the site of a titanic struggle–a test of sheer bloody will and determination. The Marines had to expel over 21,000 tenacious Japanese troops from a labyrinth of fortifications dug into the very bowels of this sulphurous island.


Part 8: Okinawa
As U.S. forces approached their ultimate goal, Japanese defenders tried desperately to stop their advance at the last great battle. It was the final stanza of a brutal campaign in which over a quarter of a million people lost their lives. It was a conflict that pit a vast, modern war machine against an increasingly desperate enemy. As the Allied juggernaut closed in on Japan's home islands, Okinawa's defenders relied on suicide tactics and banzai charges to stall the invasion force.