Victory at Sea, a 26-episode series on World War II, premiered on the last Sunday of October 1952, and subsequent episodes played each Sunday afternoon (with two exceptions) through May 1953. Each half-hour installment dealt with some aspect of World War II naval warfare and highlighted each of the sea war's major campaigns: the Battle of the North Atlantic, the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Battle of Midway, antisubmarine patrol in the South Atlantic, the Leyte Gulf campaign, etc. Each episode was composed of archival footage originally accumulated by the U.S., British, Japanese or German navies. The footage was originally shot mostly in color but was carefully edited and organized to ameliorate the viciousness of war. The drama of the production was enhanced by the Leonard Graves driving voice-over narration and by Richard Rodgers's musical score.(score was arranged by Robert Russell Bennett who also was the conductor of the NBC Symphony Orchestra for this production)
Compiled from over 60 million feet of combat and newsreel footage, Victory at Sea won instant praise and loyal viewers. Television critics greeted it as a breakthrough for the young television industry. An entertaining documentary series that still provided a vivid record of recent history. The New York Times praised the series for its "rare power"; The New Yorker pronounced the combat footage "beyond compare"; and Harper's proclaimed that "Victory at Sea created a new art form." It eventually garnered 13 industry awards, including a Peabody and a special Emmy. (the series has been criticized for some of it's historical accuracy and objectivity, but remembering that it is from the 50's, only seven years after the end of the war, you can give it a little leeway on that issue, Most of it still plays very well after all these years)
This release comes from my rip of the Embassy Home Entertainment VHS tapes, second release (1986 6 tape set. Very few people paid 20.00 per tape for the 1982 first 26 tape release). It is coded in x264 and AAC sound at 960x720p (4x3) resolution. It is duotone B&W just like the original TV broadcast back in 1952 and I have done no alteration to the video or sound except for removing the Embassy VHS headers and trailers and converting the Mono soundtrack to Stereo..
Episode 19: The Battle for Leyte Gulf
Aired on March 15 1953
Episode Nineteen covers the Landing and Sea Battle of Leyte Gulf, the Largest Sea Battle in history. The Japanese fleet at this point in the war is a severely degraded force, it's carrier striking power was all but eliminated earlier in the war but it still had a potent surface force. once the Landing at Leyte were confirmed, the Japanese launched its last major naval operation of the war. It ends in debacle. The Japanese split their forces into three groups two surface groups and one air group. The idea was to use the remaining carriers of the air group under Admiral Ozawa to lure Admiral Halsey's fleet north so the first striking group under Admiral Kurita could pass through San Bernadino Straight and descend on the invasion group from the north. At the same time, a second group under Vice Admiral Nishimura would form south of Surigao Straight (made up of Nishimura's force "C" and Vice Admiral Shima's Second Striking Force) and proceed up the straight to occupy Admiral Kincade's Fleet so Kurita and the First Striking Group could reach and destroy the beachhead. It did not go completely according to plan.
The Japanese Navy ceased to be an effective fighting force after this battle. The remaining surface units returned to Japan to languish at anchor without sufficient oil to even move, until sunk at their berths, except for the Yamato, which died a suicide death off Okinawa.
The US Navy had won complete control of the sea.
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