

With the Marines at Tarawa (1943 documentary) - mcenedella
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a1VPdIRqOek&feature=youtu.be

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mcenedella
Terrific first-person footage of the battle of Tarawa in 1943.

According to Wikipedia:

"The film is in full color and uses no actors, making it a valuable historical
document. The documentary showed more gruesome scenes of battle than other war
films to date.

Since the pictures were far too graphic to meet the standards of Hollywood
producers and distributors, only the President could grant permission for its
release to the general public. President Roosevelt consulted the only man who
was present at the Battle of Tarawa that he personally knew and trusted, Time-
Life photographer Robert Sherrod. Quoting Sherrod, "I tell the President the
truth. Our soldiers on the front want people back home to know that they don't
knock the hell out of them every day of every battle. They want people to
understand that war is a horrible, nasty business, and to say otherwise is to
do a disservice to those who died." Based on Sherrod's prompting, FDR agreed
to release the film, uncensored."

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/With_the_Marines_at_Tarawa](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/With_the_Marines_at_Tarawa)

Far more detail about the battle here:
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Tarawa](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Tarawa)

