Post-Ve Day, Pre-Vj Day World War Ii Movie "On to Tokyo" 27994 (1945)

Synopsis

Produced in 1945, "On to Tokyo" is a cautionary film made by the U.S. Army Pictorial Service. Featuring Chief of Staff George Marshall, the film speaks to the troops who won the war against Germany about the absolute necessity to defeat the Japanese. "They think we will grow tired of war," says Marshall, "and call it quits...our purpose is to crush Japan just as quickly as we can." To do this, Allied forces must be redeployed as soon as possible, and sent to Asia to defeat the remaining Japanese forces. The film is fascinating in that it paints a portrait of the many scenarios that could have unfolded in the wake of the German collapse, all of them set against the assumption that for the war to come to an end, will involve a massive invasion of Japan. That of course would have occurred had the USA not dropped the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.. As the film shows, a massive effort was in the works to shift those U.S. forces in Europe not needed as occupation forces, and re-direct them to Asia. At 3:30, a series of questions that might have been asked by battle weary forces in Europe are directed at General Dwight Eisenhower, General Joseph Stilwell, General Somervell, and others. Apparently few of the troops would have been given furloughs on the way to fight the Japanese. At 9:12, Secretary of War Stimson speaks about the logistics of moving troops across the Atlantic and the nature of the war economy. At 10:00, General Hap Arnold speaks about the idea of shipping…

Uploader's description on archive.org

Details

Running time

16 minutes

Language

English

Collection

Ephemeral Films

Subjects on the Internet Archive

• Stock Footage