Victory at Sea, Melanesian Nightmare

New Guinea campaign. The Allies are victorious in New Guinea as they repel the Japanese. They thus bring the fight through a series of “island-hopping” offensives using a new ship—the slow but vital LST. The price paid is great on both sides, but as Japanese casualties increase in their never-ending losing battle against the Allied onslaught, their homeland only hears news of their victory being broadcast by radio. We see also just how Japan’s people are suffering in defeat through a very touching scene of a massive funeral at the conclusion of this segment, providing a balance of how universal grief truly is.

Victory at Sea is a documentary television series about naval warfare during World War II that was originally broadcast by NBC in the USA in 1952–1953. It was condensed into a film in 1954. Excerpts from the music soundtrack, by Richard Rodgers and Robert Russell Bennett, were re-recorded and sold as record albums. The original TV broadcasts comprised 26 half-hour segments—Sunday afternoons at 3pm (EST) in most markets—starting October 26, 1952 and ending May 3, 1953. The series, which won an Emmy award in 1954 as “best public affairs program”, played an important part in establishing historic documentaries as a viable television genre.