The Pacific - Season 1 Episode 6 - Patreon Version
Added 2024-05-26 13:00:08 +0000 UTC
Comments
Maybe it's my artist OCD, but when I see that charcoal split and go all over the paper, I cringe.
Mark Rude
2024-05-28 04:40:44 +0000 UTC"Hopefully this episode is a bit brighter..." Come now, Dasha, you must know better by now. ;-) There was nothing more terrifying for the people on the Homefront who had loved ones overseas than the sight of a man in a military uniform approaching their door, because more often than not it meant only one thing. The flag with the stars in the Sledge's window indicates how many members of the family were in service. If one of those stars was gold you knew someone wasn't coming home (and is the source of the term "Gold Star Families" in the US). Part of the problem faced by the Marines was that many of the islands in the Pacific were riddled with caves, which the Japanese then fortified. This meant that many of the Japanese positions were well-protected from aerial and naval bombardment. Even then big 16" guns on the American battleships couldn't punch through. Even worse, these caves were often interconnected, allowing the Japanese to move men around completely unobserved, or to reoccupy positions that the Americans THOUGHT had been neutralized. The same would happen again to an even more lethal extent on Iwo Jima. They do have air support, the problems are twofold: First, as noted above, many of those positions simply couldn't be hit because they were buried too deep under the rock. Second, it's dangerous to bomb too close to the front of your own advance. Marine fighter and bomber squadrons were very good at the close air support role and were often requested over Army and Navy squadrons, but there's still only so close you can get before the risk of friendly fire becomes too great. The scene of Leckie running back was used quite effectively in the opening credits by reversing the direction of movement. It's common visual shorthand in Western cinema to show forward movement by having people move from left to right (for example, in the Lord of the Rings they always move left to right on their way to Mordor, then when they return to the Shire at the very end of the film they move from right to left). So in the credits when they show Leckie moving from left to right while everyone else moves right to left, it makes it look like one man is charging while the others are in retreat. Aiming mortars is ultimately a matter of geometry and trigonometry, and adjusting based on the fall of the rounds. Moments like with the amphibious vehicle crew and handling Daniels, or running back to get their orders changed are why the men had immense respect for Ack Ack Haldane. Sledge actually received the nickname Sledgehammer in Basic Training, not on Peleliu. Though it was a nice way to show Sledge and Leyden being accepted by Snafu and the other veterans. Gunny Haney really was that crazy. "Woof." The ship Leckie and Runner are evacuated on is a real ship, USS Relief. She was launched in 1919, and had been in service since 1920, and earned five battle stars for her service in WWII, even coming under fire when she was attacked by Japanese bombers in April, 1945. She survived the War and was scrapped in 1948. The nearby destroyer in the final scene, DD-802, is the USS Gregory. Gregory was not at Peleliu. Her first combat actions would actually be at Iwo Jima.
DE Wyatt
2024-05-26 15:24:33 +0000 UTC
