1941-1945: At The Heart of The War In The Pacific

On December 7, 1941, Japan went all out and bombed the American Pacific Fleet stationed at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Over the following months, Japanese forces rampaged across Asia, humiliating America and its allies. The Empire of the Rising Sun then seems unbeatable. But America is fighting back. The conflict in the Pacific introduced a new form of naval warfare.

This episode chronicles how America ousted the Japanese Empire from the Pacific during World War II. It is a bloody and brutal war of attrition on land, in the air and at sea. In the spring of 1945, the loss of human life was enormous on both sides, but Japan refused to bow. The US military is scrambling to find a way to end this war.

The balance seems to be tilting in favor of the United States. Yet Japan remains determined to fight to the end in a war of attrition. The Americans, meanwhile, are doing their utmost to break Japanese will, including launching the most ruthless aerial bombing campaign in history. Will they have to go so far as to use their new secret weapon to end the war?