The Last Days of World War II February 18-February 24: The Battle for Iwo Jima (2005– ) Online

It's a decent documentary of the incremental fall of the Japanese in the Pacific theater of war, divided into two parts. The first, occupying somewhat more than half the running time, deals with the conquest of the island of Iwo Jima, needed as an air field that would make the bombing of Japan easier and safer fr the U.S. Air Force. It was a brutal battle. The Admiral in charge estimated it would take a few days; the Marine general guess perhaps ten days. In the event it took several weeks and cost hundreds of thousands of lives. Only seventeen of the quarter million Japanese troops survived.

But since it was expected to be a "good" battle in the propagandistic sense it was well covered by cameramen, both civilian and military, who shot mostly in color. The fact that there were high-ranking officials watching the proceedings from off shore, including the Secretary of the Navy, may have prompted more complete coverage than would otherwise have been likely. Perhaps the most iconic image to emerge from the entire war was the shot of nine men raising the flag atop Mt. Suribachi. Of the nine men hoisting the flag, fewer than half would survive. Several oversized statues have been modeled on those frozen stances. It may be worth noting, though not mentioned in the film, that a recent survey of journalists at a modern newspaper revealed that about half couldn't identify the photo. And these were journalists.

I don't see much point in going over the fight for Iwo Jima inch by inch. There was nothing dramatic about it -- no quick surrender, no breaking through the enemy lines, no banzai charges. There was nothing to do but slog your way through the powdery sand and take one small enemy position after another.

The Japanese had ample time to prepare for what they knew would be a suicidal mission. Literally miles of interconnected tunnels ran underground, carved out of rock. The hospital had room for 400 beds. The fighting never really stopped, even after the island was said to be secure. The crews of damaged bombers using Iwo Jima as an emergency field lived in tents and were attacked at night by sword-wielding Japanese. But it finally did stop, just as everything finally stops.

The second half deals with Douglas MacArthur's landings at Leyte Gulf and the subsequent conquest of Manila, an ancient and beautiful city called The Pearl of the Orient. The Japanese general in charge pulled his troops into the mountains, leaving Manila an open city. The Admiral in charge of Naval troops often called Japanese Marines, deliberately disobeyed the order to withdraw and had his men fight to the death in the streets of Manila and nearby cities. The cities were destroyed in the process. There were about 1,000 Americans KIA, about 10,000 Japanese, and about 100,000 Filipino civilians -- men, women, and children. A friend of mine from IloIlo described a river choked with dead bodies and severed heads.

This second section pays a lot of attention to General MacArthur. Not all of it turns him into a hero, although the Filipino interviewee considers him a savior. MacArthur famously waded through water to get ashore from his landing craft. In fact, he waded ashore four times to be certain the photos came out right.

No mention of his having been caught with his pants down at Clark Field on the same day as Pearl Harbor. For all his fortitude he simply disappeared for a few days after Clark Field, long enough for his staff to wonder if he was all right. Well, the history books are written by the winners and some of the behaviors of men we think of as heroes are properly absent from the usual biographical sketches.

But this documentary was produced by the Brits and they have their own paladins, so they can afford to be candid about America's. I admire that candor.