The Pacific - Season 1 Episode 4 - Patreon Version
Added 2024-05-12 13:00:07 +0000 UTC
Comments
Band of Brothers didn't really delve into the psychological toll the War took on the men fighting it, other than a few individual cases like Blythe and Buck. General William T. Sherman told a reunion of the Grand Army of the Republic after the Civil War, "War is hell," and the Pacific War really highlights the horror and hardship, and what it did to the men outside of combat. Friendly fire was an unfortunate reality of the War. For instance, a number of American aircraft from Enterprise were shot down by anxious air defenses when they were flyingthe night of the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Gloucester would be pronounced "Gloster." English is weird. Marines are all riflemen first, regardless of their actual training and specialties. During Guadalcanal there were many cases the Marine pilots would grab a rifle to help hold the line when they were unable to fly (such as during the Battle of Henderson Field). ETO = European Theater of Operations. The Pacific was the PTO. Mediterranean was MTO, etc. AWOL = Absent Without Leave. Japan's warrior ethos in the 1940s was heavily influenced by a nationalistic and extreme interpretation of Bushido, which viewed surrender as deeply dishonorable and shameful. Japan treated their prisoners with disdain, and is the impetus behind the suicidal "Banzai" charges, and later the Kamikazes; they would rather die in battle than face the ignominy of capture. The sense of humor is probably the only thing keeping the men remotely sane. Remember what Dick Winters told Buck about taking from the men? And that was just gambling during downtime. Skivvies = Underwear. They take the razor blades and belts as a suicide prevention measure. War trophies like Nambu pistols and swords were incredibly valuable, much like the Lugers in Europe. You can cover the European Theater, or at least the Western Front, without delving too much into the outside factors like the environment and conditions — other than places like Bastogne, where the cold and weather directly impacted the fighting — and still adequately convey the experiences of the men who fought there. That's impossible in any discussion of the Pacific Theater, except perhaps the fleet actions (and even then, the survivors of sunk ships or downed aircraft faced a whole new type of hell when left adrift alone in the massive Pacific Ocean).
DE Wyatt
2024-05-12 15:02:06 +0000 UTCFav time of the week! This is the episode that truly sets the tone for how bad the Pacific theater was. Marines were fighting two wars, the war with the Japanese and the war with the jungle itself. It was brutal and poor Leckie just taking a mentally and physical beating here.
Thats MR. Baldamort
2024-05-12 13:10:10 +0000 UTC
