To the Shores of Iwo Jima (1945)

By now, these wartime features relied much less on the preparatory rhetoric of war and could now show the citizens of the USA just how effective their troops were at engaging and defeating their battle-hardened foes across the Pacific. This short feature uses an impressive collection of colour photography to show the invasion of the island of Iwo Jima in the face of formidable and relentless defence. From offshore bombardment to rapid onshore rocket-fire, snipers, mines and barbed wire the advancing soldiers are constantly at risk and although this doesn’t go into gory details of the losses suffered, it still doesn’t pretend that there are not casualties incurred on their side too. The narration, in retrospect, is a little jingoistic but it serves it’s purpose in telling the folks at home that the war is being won by courage, innovation and perseverance and that their tax dollars are paying for the best materiel to support their brave efforts. It also showcases well the courage of the cameramen and journalists who risk life and limb to create some frankly quite astonishing imagery, and this is definitely one of the more objective pieces of WWII propaganda.