US Air Raid on the Japanese Held Truk Island | 1944 | World War 2 Newsreel

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Amazing vintage newsreel of an air raid as America takes the Truk Island (today Chuuk Island) from the Japanese on February 16-17, 1944.
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND / CONTEXT

Operation Hailstone was a massive naval air and surface raid launched on February 16–17, 1944, during World War 2 by the United States Navy against the Japanese naval and air base at Truk in the Caroline Islands.

The Truk Island was a major Japanese logistical base as well as the operating "home" base for the Imperial Japanese Navy's Combined Fleet. Some have described it as the Japanese equivalent of the US Navy's Pearl Harbor. The Truk was the only major Japanese airbase within range of the Marshall Islands and was a significant source of support for Japanese garrisons located on islands and atolls throughout the central and south Pacific. The base was the key logistical and operational hub supporting Japan's perimeter defenses in the central and south Pacific.

To ensure air and naval superiority for the upcoming invasion of Eniwetok U.S. Admiral Raymond Spruance ordered a raid on Truk. Vice Admiral Marc A. Mitscher's Task Force 58 had five fleet carriers (USS Enterprise, USS Yorktown, USS Essex, USS Intrepid, and USS Bunker Hill and four light carriers), embarking more than 500 planes. Supporting the carriers was a large fleet of seven battleships, and numerous cruisers, destroyers, submarines, and other support ships.

Fearing that the base was becoming too vulnerable, the Japanese had relocated the aircraft carriers, battleships, and heavy cruisers of the Combined Fleet to Palau a week earlier. However, numerous smaller warships and merchant ships remained in and around the anchorage and several hundred aircraft were stationed at the island's airfields.

Operation Hailstone involved a combination of air raids, surface ship actions, and submarine activities over two days and appeared to take the Japanese completely by surprise. During the two-day operation, the F6F Hellcat and P-47 Thunderbolt fighters raid on Japanese airfields, aircraft, shore installations, and ships in and around the Truk anchorage. A force of U.S. surface ships and submarines guarded possible exit routes from the island's harbor to catch any Japanese ships that tried to escape.

Over 250 Japanese aircraft were eliminated, mostly on the ground. Many of the aircraft were in various states of assembly, having just arrived from Japan in disassembled form aboard cargo ships. Very few of the assembled aircraft were able to take off in response to the U.S. action. The U.S. lost twenty-five aircraft, mainly due to the intense anti-aircraft fire from Truk's defenses.

The action for the most part ended Truk as a major threat to Allied operations in the central Pacific; the Japanese garrison on Eniwetok was denied any realistic hope of reinforcement and support during the invasion that began on February 18, 1944, greatly assisting U.S. forces in their conquest of that island. Truk was isolated by Allied (primarily U.S.) forces as they continued their advance towards Japan by invading other Pacific islands such as Guam, Saipan, Palau, and Iwo Jima.
Today:
The Truk Island (トラック諸島) today called Chuuk Island (チューク諸島). In 1969, William A. Brown and French oceanographer Jacques Cousteau and his team explored Truk Lagoon. Following Cousteau's 1971 television documentary about the lagoon and its ghostly remains, the place became a scuba diving paradise, drawing wreck diving enthusiasts from around the world to see its numerous, virtually intact sunken ships. The shipwrecks and remains are sometimes referred to as the "Ghost Fleet of Truk Lagoon".

US Air Raid on the Japanese Held Truk Island | 1944 | World War 2 Newsreel
NOTE: THE VIDEO DOCUMENTS HISTORICAL EVENTS. SINCE IT WAS PRODUCED DECADES AGO, IT HAS HISTORICAL VALUES AND CAN BE CONSIDERED AS A VALUABLE HISTORICAL DOCUMENT. THE VIDEO HAS BEEN UPLOADED WITH EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES. ITS TOPIC IS REPRESENTED WITHIN HISTORICAL CONTEXT. THE VIDEO DOES NOT CONTAIN SENSITIVE SCENES AT ALL!

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