The Price of Rendova, Solomon Islands 1943 US Army (From WWII Film Communique, First Issue)

more at http://quickfound.net/

Originally a public domain film from the US Army, slightly cropped to remove uneven edges, with the aspect ratio corrected, and one-pass brightness-contrast-color correction & mild video noise reduction applied.

The soundtrack was also processed with volume normalization, noise reduction, clipping reduction, and/or equalization (the resulting sound, though not perfect, is far less noisy than the original).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Landings_on_Rendova

Wikipedia license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

The Landings on Rendova were amphibious military assaults by United States Army, Marine Corps and Navy forces on Rendova Island in the Solomon Islands on 30 June 1943. The landings were some of the first Allied landings during the New Georgia Campaign of the Pacific War and were successful in securing the island and providing a base from which the Allies could support the subsequent invasion of New Georgia and the eventual capture of Munda Air Field...

June 30 landings

The Allied landing force, Task Force 31, was hampered by rain and fog but in the pre-dawn hours (approximately 02:25 hours) the American destroyers USS Talbot and USS Zane landed Fijian and Tongan commandos and companies A and B of the American 169th Infantry Regiment on Sasavele Island and Baraulu Island which were quickly secured. These islands were strategically important because they are located just off the coast of New Georgia and control the entrance to Roviana Lagoon from the Blanche Channel.

By 06:00 hours, the main Allied landings on Rendova had begun and in the chaotic assault (the U.S. Marine Corps' official history describes the initial landing as "hurried", "[having] all the appearance of a regatta rather than a coordinated landing" and "chaotic in the extreme"[9]) the Americans secured the beach but were hampered by sporadic sniper fire. The appearance of a Japanese "Betty" bomber which circled the landing zone but did not attack also slowed progress.

As the invasion progressed American supplies crowded the beaches as infantry pushed the Japanese defenders inland. The Marine Defense battalion, in addition to skirmishing with Japanese forces, began securing and clearing their predefined artillery position objectives and the Seabees began clearing an encampment for a medical aid station.

The assault, although initially chaotic, successfully landed thousands of American forces on Rendova. These forces overwhelmed the island's small Japanese garrison of about 200 men while taking only minimal casualties.

In the afternoon of June 30, Japanese air attacks against the landing zone were successfully beaten off by American fighter planes as well as land and sea-based anti-aircraft defense guns...

The Allied forces fought off continuous Japanese air-raids in the months following the landings. These raids caused human and material losses but never seriously threatened the American foothold and bases on the island. As a result, Rendova was successfully used as an artillery base during the subsequent stages of the New Georgia campaign leading up to the recapture of Munda Point on New Georgia during the Drive on Munda Point offensive..