Pacific Frontiers

Series

Series Name

The March of Time 11th Year

Issue

Issue No.

1

Date Released

3 Dec 1945

Length of issue (in feet)

1528

Stories in this Issue:

1. 1Pacific Frontiers

Story

Story No. within this Issue

1 / 1

Summary

The March of Time synopsis: In "Pacific Frontiers" the March of Time deals with the Allied achievements in the Far East, and shows the vital importance of the South Sea Islands as bases in the final assault on Japan.

From these islands, says the film, the Allies were able to blanket all areas of Japanese war power. Long-range planes, in a triple threat, are shown fanning out from bases in Guam, the Philippines and Okinawa, to bomb and blockade Japan’s home islands and the China coast. Of paramount importance was Guam, largest of the Marianas group. Long a neglected U.S. naval outpost, recaptured from the Japanese in July 1944, it served as the greatest naval base in the Pacific, from which Admiral Chester Nimitz directed the immense striking power of the U.S. Navy, augmented by strong units of the British Royal Navy, against the tottering Japanese empire. Within a year of its recapture, U.S. Navy construction battalions and Army engineers had remade the face of Guam, and the film shows the gigantic task accomplished in establishing this island as the headquarters and main supply centre for Pacific operations.

To make Port Apra into a first-class harbour, able to handle more cargo than any other forward area port in the world, strings of explosives were used to blast loose millions of cubic yards of coral to clear an anchorage, while dredges deepened the shallow channel to make way for a new breakwater. A modern asphalt plant, its machinery brought from the United States, went into round-the-clock operation, enabling the building of hundreds of miles of roads, and the construction of enormous airfields, designed to accommodate the giant B-29’s used in the vast raids over Japan. To Guam were brought the wounded from the sea, air and land battles which raged to the West and North, for here was established one of the principal hospital and convalescent centres of the Pacific area. As many as four thousand casualties were admitted in a single day to the island’s four Army and four Navy hospitals, where the wounded and sick were able to get expert medical treatment. The defeat of Japan finds the United States with new commitments as a Pacific Power, responsible for the peace and well-being of thousands of natives, slowly recovering from the tragic effects of a war in which they became involved through no fault of theirs. Already provisions have been made for the rehousing of many islanders, making it possible for them to pick up the threads of their interrupted lives, but there still lies ahead the task of furnishing them with the means of some measure of economic security.

Researcher Comments

This story was included in Vol.11 No.13 of the US edition.

Keywords

War and conflict

Written sources

The March of Time Promotional Material   Lobby Card, Used for synopsis

Credits:

Production Co.

Time Inc.