View of Angaur island at sunrise at start of Battle of Angaur in World War II. Aerial view of aircraft carrier. Conning tower on USS Essex. Crew member speaking on on radio headset. Pilot in cockpit of Grumman F6F Hellcat. Fighter planes gathered on deck of the USS Essex (CV-9) near the Palau Islands. Grumman F6F fighters on board start after signal from crew in conning tower. Fighters take off from flight deck. Another Grumman F6F fighter is raised to deck using aircraft lift and takes off. Fighters in formation in the air. Battleship USS Tennessee (BB-43) and four cruisers bombard Japanese positions in Angaur. Explosion on top of a hill. Trees destroyed on the coast as seen from a United States Navy ship. Naval artillery firing at Angaur. Landing craft being deployed from ships to land on Angaur.
U.S. Navy Task Force Maneuvers prior to invasion of Peleliu in World War 2. Ships of invasion task force making simultaneous turns as Navy TBF airplanes fly overhead in formation. Escort Carrier USS Marcus Island (CVE-77) cruising in calm waters. Aerial views from above of Grumman TBF Avenger aircraft landing on the Marcus Island.
A U.S. Navy F6F Hellcat airplane is seen parked on a ramp, with a bomb slung under its fuselage. The narrator identifies it as a "fire bomb," containing gel gasoline. Scene shifts to an F6F dropping one from several thousand feet, in a demonstration. The incendiary bomb creates a swath of fire along the ground, in the direction of flight. A flight of two F6Fs repeat the demonstration, dropping their bombs simultaneously, from a formation. Another drops a bomb on a pier at a waterfront. View to the rear from an airplane that just dropped a bomb in a wooded area. Views of actual U.S. 1st Marine Division operations on Peleliu, Palau Islands, during World War 2, showing F4U Corsair aircraft, flying low and slow, with gear down, dropping napalm incendiary bombs on Japanese troops dug in on a ridge. View of smoke rising from bomb strikes at targets near a river.
U.S. Marines of the 1st Tank Battalion aboard the USS Gunston Hall (LSD-5) headed toward Peleliu in the Palau Islands during World War 2. Marines work on their M4A2 Sherman tanks aboard ship. They use tar and tape to seal places on the tanks as they prepare them for amphibious assault.They clean a hatch on one. A Marine points out water proofing points on tank. A slate reads "motor trouble" on September 12th. Another reads: "Passing Army Convoy." Then a long line of ships is seen on the horizon in the distance.
The USS Gunston Hall (LSD-5) in the waters off Peleliu, Palau Islands, during World War 2. Officers reading orders and briefing Marines on deck. Closeups of marines and officer reading the orders. Sailors shooting the sun with sextants. Other invasion task force ships seen from the Gunston Hall
United States soldiers perform a dry run of the Angaur landing in Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands during World War II. Animated map shows the Solomon Islands, Guadalcanal, New Guinea and Palau Islands. An anchor being dropped from ship. Landing craft sailing to the coast during a dry run of Angaur landing in Guadalcanal. United States 81st ("Wildcat") Infantry Division troops on LVT-4 and LVT(A)-2 Water Buffalo (Landing Vehicles, Tracked) drive onto beach. Soldiers rush to the beach after the Higgins boat door opens. Troops landing on Guadalcanal beach. Soldiers advance through jungle. Soldiers firing with M 1917 machine guns and bazookas. Soldier wearing flame thrower tanks on his back. A soldier digging in. Soldier aiming his rifle. Ships sailing after dry run exercise in Guadalcanal. Soldiers leaning over side of ship watch the ship wake.