"This is one of the all time classic documentaries to come out of World War 2 -- an action packed epic! I digitally restored the audio & video." Zeno, Zeno's Warbird Video Drive-In
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Rabaul, a large natural harbor on the eastern end of the huge Island of New Britain (located northeast of New Guinea in the Southwest Pacific) was an essential strategic linchpin for the Japanese from which they could project their forces throughout the region. They poured tens of thousands of troops, hundreds of airplanes, and thousands of tons of supplies and material into this base to make it a mighty fortress. The Allies' brilliant solution to the Rabaul conundrum was to isolate it, slowly starve it, and bypass it -- rather than assault it directly.
This dramatic, high impact documentary film shows some of the most memorable, exciting, and extensive footage of 5th Air Force B-25G bombers conducting tree top level attacks with machine guns and delayed action bombs to come out of World War 2 .The first step in the reduction of Rabaul was the seizure of a string of Japanese bases along the Northeast coast of New Guinea.
The film focuses on the decisive and revolutionary impact of the air component in the strategy, including high & low level attacks, parachute drops, and resupply, accompanied by a magnificent musical score drawn from Holst's "The Planets." You're literally sitting in the cockpit or in the tail gunners seat watching amazing low level attack runs. You'll also see P-38s, A-20s, B-25s and B-24 cooperating with US Australian and New Zealand Forces securing forward air bases to strike against Rabaul and for the invasion of New Britain. "Mission to Rabaul" shows how each piece of this classic strategy culminated inevitably in the first escorted, massed bomber strike on Rabaul on 12th October, 1943 an essential goal in the reduction of Japanese defenses.
