Luzon

Description

The fear, the heat, the valor: a critical battle and a daring rescue in the Philippine jungle come alive in this compelling DVD. A cutting-edge combination of CGI animation and aerial photography. Each episode offers an unforgettable profile of a pivotal engagement. A mission of mercy as much as a strategic advance, Luzon marked a critical moment in the Pacific Theater. The material sat for decades, its unique view of important encounters unseen. Shot from aircraft high above the Pacific, it captures the intense action as American forces battled Japanese defenders in the fabled Island-Hopping campaign that led to Japans doorstep. Enriched with cutting-edge CGI graphics which create detailed contour maps of the islands, PACIFIC: THE LOST EVIDENCE sheds new light on some of WWIIs most important engagements. Review: Battle for Luzon. - This History Channel product, "Pacific: The Lost Evidence - Luzon" is only 50 minutes long. That is the end of the negatives for this DVD! The impetus behind "The Lost Evidence" series is to digitize WWII-era aerial reconnaissance photography and create interactive and, sometimes, 3D maps of the battlefields. In this case, the City of Manila, the island fotress of Corregidor and the Cabanatuan area where one of the prison camps with Americans was located. I thought it worked well and gave a better idea of both the distances and the topography of the battle areas. The DVD has very good reenactments and uses period film footage very well. The DVD uses interviews with men who fought in the battles to give the viewer an idea of the kind of combat American soldiers had to endure at the hands of the Japanese. Their recollections are very helpful in understanding what battle is like at the "sharp end of the stick". The DVD covers the battle for Luzon from a strategic standpoint and focuses in on several battles: the "Blitz" to Manila, the raid by Rangers on Cabanatuan prison camp, the airborne/seaborne assault on "The Rock" (the island of Corregidor) and the battle for the city of Manila. The viewer gets a sense of the American attempt to liberate Manila with as little damage to the city and its civilian population as possible while also seeing the Japanese desire not only to make the urban landscape a deathtrap for US soldiers but also to kill Filipinos by the thousands as they began to lose the battle. This is a relatively short DVD but, having said that, it packs a lot of information into a very short package. The price seems very reasonable and is certainly worth it. I recommend this DVD with five stars. Review: Interesting information on the fight for Luzon - I got this for myself and my half sister because our father was a veteran of the Invasion of Leyte Gulf and he was with the U.S. Army Signal Corps. I'm not sure if my father participated in the invasion and fight for Luzon but this was the closest dvd I could find to get for my sister to show what he might have went through as a soldier in the Phillipines Campaign under General McArthur. This dvd delivers and has quite a few first hand accounts of the fighting to liberate Corregidor for example as well as the fighting to liberate Manilla. This dvd is a powerful testimony to brave American soldiers like my and my sister's father who fought with McArthur in the Phillipines.