Remains of War
Duration: 3 x 48'
Play Trailer Play Screener Contact SalesThis unique series with incredible footage, looks at the fascinating history of war – told through todays tangible remains, on land, in the jungle and below the ocean. Uncovering the debris of the merciless battles of World War 2 throughout the remote islands of the Pacific.
Filmed across Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Palau and Truk, the series provides a unique history of yesterday’s war using new colourised stills, and video archive shot in the heat of the original battles which will give relevance to the rusting remains.
Artillery pieces still aim where they last fired over 80 years ago, and abandoned tanks lie rusting in the jungle. Subterranean Japanese hospitals and tunnel complexes, vehicles and weapons all make up this military scrapyard, and the full story behind the recently discovered remains of Admiral Yamamoto’s plane, is finally revealed….
Under the ocean lie all types of aircraft, from large bombers to small fighter planes; often intact and with tragic tales to tell. More obscure and intriguing remains, such as a line of one-man Japanese tanks sitting perfectly upright on the sea floor, submarines, barges in caves… Shipwrecks, still containing their cargoes, are partly beached where invasion forces landed supplies, or lie deep below the waves where they were sunk by air attack or in sea battle.
Coinciding with the 80th anniversary of the end of the Pacific War, this series follows the original path of the American naval advance northwards towards Japan. From battle-ravaged Guadalcanal to former Japanese stronghold of Truk, the jungles and islands of Papua New Guinea and the savage fight for the tiny island of Peleliu, we reveal some of the fascinating and forgotten tales of the conflict, and the people involved.
Episode 1: Stopping the Advance
As the Japanese Empire expanded across the Pacific Ocean, it’s ultimate aim was conquest of Australia. And key to that campaign was the now sleepy volcano dominated town of Rabaul in Papua New Guinea.
Having established a huge military base, it was natural that their campaign should be directed from here by their foremost military genius Admiral Yamamoto whose command bunker is still intact today. The wreckage of ships, planes and even tanks underwater, plus the land-based wartime infrastructure and tunnel systems, shows the strategic significance of the town to both sides.
The vicious, costly and protracted Guadalcanal campaign in the Solomon Islands was a turning point of the Pacific war. The channel between the islands is today known as Iron Bottom Sound because of the number of wrecked ships here – witnessing today the intensity of the battle. Here, Japanese code books were captured resulting in the killing of Admiral Yamamoto in one of the most incredible aerial interception missions of the war.
This episode ends off the tiny island nation of Vanuatu with one of the planet’s greatest shipwrecks, sunk by so called friendly mines sown by the Americans themselves.
Episode 2 Turning the Tide
Only recently discovered, the remains of Yamamoto’s plane lie deep in the jungle on Bougainville Island.
US marines land on New Britain island and after sinking a large part of Japan’s fleet effectively neutralise Rabaul for the rest of the war. Today’s remains tell fascinating stories – of huge tunnel systems, mystery shipwrecks, supply barges far inland, and even two tanks underwater in perfect battle formation.
The Japanese fleet had retreated to the remote Truk Lagoon, but even here it was not safe. Over two days in February 1944, American aircraft sunk around 40 Japanese ships and destroyed hundreds of warplanes. The American payback for the attack on Pearl Harbour.
The “Ghost Fleet” is one of the most comprehensive sunken museums of the weapons of war. Ships still contain their cargoes, many different crashed planes litter the sea floor, and even human remains are still found. And some of the sunken ships have intriguing tales to tell.
Episode 3: The Road to Tokyo
As island after island fell to the unstoppable American advance, Palau had become a stronghold in what the Japanese viewed as the last line of defence of their homeland.
As in Truk, the Japanese fleet had nowhere to escape to. In just 2 days the attackers downed around 125 Japanese aircraft and critically damaged more than 40 ships - and at the cost of just 18 American lives.
It’s hard to believe that the tiny island of Peleliu, population today just 700, was the scene of one of the bloodiest and most protracted battles of the Pacific campaign.
Dug into thousands of feet of tunnels, the Japanese fought to virtually the last man. The island is still littered with the evidence of that bloody battle. The last Japanese survivors emerged from the tunnels and surrendered some 2 years after the end of the war. The final road to Tokyo.
When the US military departed from their principal supply base on Vanuatu, their oddest legacy is found offshore at “Million Dollar Point”, where they literally bulldozed tens of millions of dollars’ worth of military equipment into the sea.
