WW2 - OverSimplified (Part 2) REACTION!! | OFFICE BLOKES REACT!! 

Ira Hayes was the only Native American of a Marine Infantry squad who placed the flag on Mount Surabachi on Iwo Jima. A second staged flag raising was done later with a bigger flag that could be more easily seen across the island. No racial overtones at all. Ira Hayes is an American hero who battled alcoholism for the rest of his life due the traumas he faced on Iwo Jima. Unfortunately for him he could walk into any bar and get a free drink due to his fame and he received thousands of letters a year from fans and people would drive across the country just to meet him.. He appears in the John Wayne Movie the Sands of Iwo Jima with the other 2 surviving members of the squad to reenact the flag raising.

The U.S. didn’t stage a second flag raising. The first flag was really small and it was taken down to be presented to the Secretary of the Navy. This was replaced by a second bigger flag. This 2nd flag raising was captured by photographer Joe Rosenthal and became the flag raising everyone now knows. Three of the six men who raised the second flag were killed in action over the course of the next few days. Harlon Block - KIA Franklin Sousley - KIA Michael Strank - KIA Harold Keller, Harold Schultz, and Ira Hayes (Native American) are the flag raisers who survived. Interestingly, nine years after Ira Hayes died of alcoholism, Johnny Cash wrote a song in his honor.

We did in fact bypass many of those islands only grabbing the strategically important ones!!!!

The bit with the Battle of the Bulge, where the reply was "NUTS" is no joke. That was his actual reply.

We did bypass many of the islands. It was called island hopping.

The Pearl Harbor conspiracy is ridiculous. First, it didn't matter if the U.S. declared war on Japan, because the Japanese had declared war anyway. You'd be in a war whether you declared it or not. Secondly, letting the Japanese attack is one thing, not taking any defensive measures is another. The leadership could have easily had all ships at general quarters, all crews at their battle stations, ships sorteeing to get some out of the harbor, have your own fighter planes up for air cover, and let the Japanese attack, and STILL could have easily made the case for going to war, especially after the official Japanese declaration arrived an hour after the battle, which outraged many. Don't believe this conspiracy theory.

The reason we didn't bypass the islands is 1) We did bypass the vast majority of the islands 2) This was in the 1940s, not 2000s. The US was not capable of sending air raids on mainland Japan all the way from Hawaii, which meant places like Guam and Iwo Jima were essential

The reason the US did not bypass the islands in the Pacific was because they needed airbase that were in range of the Japanese home island. Okinawa was the key island because it was closest to Japan. Leaving the smaller islands to the south of Okinawa would leave the Americans rear unprotected. There were several hundred thousand troops on islands like Tarawa, Iwo Jima and others. So as costly as it was it had to be done to.keep the US flanks and rear protected.

No, American politicians didn't let Pearl Harbor happen on purpose. And yes, while there was indeed another flag raised on Iowa Jima other than the famous photograph. However, the picture of the second flag-raising wasn't staged to cover up a Native American victory. It was because the first flag was deemed too small and couldn't be seen from afar... not to mention it was raised on a water pipe.

You know when you are a conspiracy guy when you state I'm not a conspiracy guy:)

They did skip Islands they called it the "Island hopping strategy"

The island hopping campaign was planned for air cover. They bypassed as many islands as they could with their air cover in order to establish their next air field to then extend the air cover and repeat. My grandfather was a crane operator building those fields. His stories were awesome.

The first flag raising took place at about 10:30 in the morning on 23/2/45 by members of 2BN/ 28th Reg/ 5th Marine Div. The second flag was placed on Mt Suribachi later in the day, because the first flag was considered too small. Ira Hayes was a native American who was part of the second flag raising. So there was no racial overtones to the raising of a second flag

Pearl Harbor was not a false flag. Watch the video on Pearl Harbor and America did NOT want to get involved. We were making money off of supplying England without having to get involved so why would we make a reason to get involved? I think you don’t know enough about the tragedy at Pearl Harbor and it’s insulting to suggest that

US naval strategy before the war revolved entirely around their Battleships, there's pretty much no way they would have been sacrificed purely to start the war. Roosevelt did have some evidence the Japanese were planning a surprise attack, but he and most of his advisors figured the opening strike would be against the far east fleet in the Philippines, which was a motley collection of outdated ships. Oh and the Iwo jima photo wasn't staged, it was however the second larger flag they were putting on the island because the first one couldn't be seen easily from shore hence why the photographer was ready for it. You want to see a staged flag posting lookup the Soviet Union placing the flag in Berlin.

"I'm not a conspiracy theorist guy" is a conspiracy theorist guy.

The U.S. command really didn't know about the Pearl Harbor attack in advance. They knew war was very likely, but they didn't expect Japan to attack without first formally declaring war, nor did they know exactly where or when Japan would attack first. The Japanese government was still involved in diplomatic negotiations with the U.S. when the attack happened. Also, they thought that Hawaii was too far from Japan for such an attack to be possible (they thought an initial attack would happen somewhere farther west). Finally, the U.S. forces at Pearl Harbor were caught completely flat-footed, and it's luck that kept the entire Pacific fleet from being destroyed - something you wouldn't expect if the U.S. had known what was coming. The famous photo at Iwo Jima was not staged. What happened was that someone had put up a smaller flag at the peak of Mt. Suribachi when it was first captured. Secretary of the Navy James Forrestal was on-site, and wanted a larger flag raised. Associated Press photographer Joe Rosenthal took the famous picture after the first flag had been taken down and as the second flag was being put up. Rosenthal wasn't really ready, and he took the shot without even looking through the viewfinder. He sent the film off to Guam to be developed, and was surprised to learn that he'd taken such a great picture. Many people don't realize that the raising of the flag on Iwo Jima didn't happen at the end of the battle. Mt. Suribachi was at the south end of the island, and U.S. Marines took it near the beginning. It took about a month for them to capture the rest of Iwo Jima. By the end of the battle, three of the six soldiers in the picture were dead.

The flag photo was not staged. That was a different photo called the "Gung Ho". Just one of the six was Native American.

Iwo Jima flag raising staged? Yes and no. The first flag raising was not staged by the press. A commander ordered a team up the hill to raise a flag to inspire the troops. When that flag raising happened, the film guy wasn't ready (but there is a still photo of it). The commander wanted the flag to be larger so that more troops could see it (and the smaller flag was his personal flag), so a larger flag was acquired and sent up the hill to be raised in the place of the small one. This time the film and still guys were ready and went up with them. So the raising of the bigger flag was "staged" in a sense, because they waited to make sure the film and still photographers were ready. It was a frame from the second raising's film that was used for the statue in the US Capital. But both raisings were done while fighting was still intense and all of the men in the photos/film were actual combatants (many never came home).

I was going to debunk all of the conspiracies and questions one of you raised, but seems everyone already has lol

One of the arguments for the Pearl Harbor conspiracy theory is that the three US carriers in the Pacific happened to all be away from Pearl Harbor on the day of the attack, but it doesn't really hold water. Before the Pacific Campaign, aside from a few visionaries like Billy Mitchell, everyone still thought of the battleship as the primary naval weapon, and ours got wrecked. Plus we had no way of knowing the Japanese would end up not destroying the harbor facilities. Meaning you'd have to believe we were willing to cripple our own Navy and force it to start all the way back at California when fighting the biggest naval war ever.

The US did bypass several islands in the war, but we took several larger islands to ensure a supply chain between the navy and air force to ensure we could attack the Japan.

Lol Redhead is such a conspiracy nut it's wild.

The infamous flag on Iwo Jima was not a reenactment there was another flag that was raised earlier when they found mount seribachi undefended. But there was still fighting elsewhere on the island and later they raised a larger flag that becomes the infamous flag raising none of this was because of the color of the soldiers

For "Not being a conspiracy guy" he seems to believe in a lot of conspiracies

Had to capture some of those islands. We needed the airfields.

A key fact about the War in the Pacific that the video missed: when Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, the US aircraft carriers were out to sea on training maneuvers. Thus, they were available several months later for the Battle of the Coral Sea and the Battle of Midway a month after that. This was key as Midway stopped any further eastward movement towards the US mainland.

Yeah the Americans didn’t stage the flag raising in fact three of the soldiers in that video were killed in combat in the following weeks

There were people other than the Japanese on those islands and they were all being terrorized.

You had to have islands for the supply chain. The ships and planes did not have the range that they have today.

There were two photographs of the flag-raising in Iwo Jima. The first had a smaller flag. The second had a much larger one, and that one was staged. Also, only one Native American soldier helped raise it, Ira Hayes.

My grandfather's where at Pearl respectivly one (mom's pop was in the Navy, dad's pop in the Army at Schofield Barracks) on that faithful day in Dec. nearly 80 years ago. Survived and fought the war with great resolve. Proud of my Grand Pap's

Great reaction. Two things: The US did actually bypass many islands en route to Japan but as you said the distances were great and they needed airfields. Regarding the flag raising in Iwo Jima: No, it was not raised by a group of Native Americans but the photo on which the statue is based was staged. There was a smaller flag raised by the soldiers who took the hill, but an imbedded photographer wanted a photo so they gathered a group to raise a bigger one. That group included Ira Hayes, a Native American from Arizona.

Some of the Islands couldn't be 'bypassed' because either their ports were needed (and until late 44 often held significantly sized Japanese naval units) but also many were airbases. You don't leave the equivalent (or more ) of a carrier on your flank, plus those islands could also be repurposed for American air power. And even so we did bypass the vast majority of Islands but altogether there were still a few dozen or so that needed to be taken or otherwise neutralized. By the way, the largest (and last) Island we took - Okinawa - was technically part of Japan though not the mainland and was close enough and big enough that we needed it as a main base for our anticipated Invasion of Japan.

Ira Hayes was in that picture. He was American Indian. His story is sad.

America also was one of the smallest armies in the world at the start of WW2 it was just after pearl harbor we went from one of the smallest to one of the largest over several months

It would make no sense for the US military command to allow that attack on Pearl Harbor to happen just to enter the war. It would potentially have left them seriously weakened, in the middle of WW2. They couldn't have predicted that the Japanese attack wouldn't have been far more damaging. It would have been an insane gamble. The Japanese forces could have taken out everything and crippled the US almost completely. Public opinion would have been changed either way, whether the US was taken by surprise or not. Just seeing Japan attack PH like that, even in a failed raid (which it wouldn't have been, they would have still managed to do a lot of damage) would have galvanized public opinion and the US would have entered the war either way. There is no conspiracy there.

why not bypass the islands? because of logistics and air cover! let alone japanese airfields, that could attack your flanks.

The first flag was small and the Marine commander wanted the flag. So, he sent a runner to the top to raise another, larger flag. By that time, the photographer, Joe Rosenthal, had made it to the top. He snapped a pic of the second flag. The Pima Native, Ira Hayes, was actually in the iconic picture.

They did in fact bypass many islands. They even came up with a term for it, "Island Hopping"

My grandfather was a WWII vet in the Pacific, he said not only did you have to deal with Japanese forces but major heat and storms. Ocean waves would toss the PT boats all over jumping from island to island in storms. He watched as all of his platoon mates were picked off one by one and always wondered how and why he survived. But yes, it was all about fortification and strategy. By clearing out those islands, it gave the US a better foothold and helped supply chains run more smoothly.

My Grandfather was one of the first men on the beaches of Iwo Jima. He said how they would describe what it was like running up the beach: "So many bullets where hitting everywhere around you that it looked like it was raining but you weren't getting wet"

They thought the first flag was too small. Then they brought up a bigger flag and staged the second way bigger flag, but no one really noticed.The men who raised the first flag, according to the Marine Corps’ statement Wednesday, were Bradley, 1st Lt. Harold G. Schrier, Plt. Sgt. Ernest I. Thomas Jr., Sgt. Henry O. Hansen, Cpl. Charles W. Lindberg and Pvt. Philip L. Ward. You are talking about Ira Hayes who helped raised the second famous flag. Nobody was insecure that he was an Indian. He and the other two Marines, the only three that survived Iwo Jima, were put on War Bond Fundraising trip across the entire country to raise money for the war effort. They were famous in America, but Ira was having severe PTSD and became an sadly an alcoholic. His alcoholism got so bad that he was unable to continue the war bond drive. He just couldn't deal with being famous, while the other four Marines in the picture died on Iwo, which he was close friends with all four. It's a tragic story, but it's also tragic that the first Marines who put up the first flag we're not given any attention at all, but when they raised the first flag, as small as it was, got a great roar of cheers and ship horns from the Marines and Sailors who were in battle at the time. But the men from a 30-man patrol from Echo Company, 2nd Battalion, 28th Marine Regiment should also be remembered, because the put the first American flag up on Mt. Suribachi. Here's where the whole story. Just wanted to clarify what really happened at Iwo Jima. www.washingtonpost.com/news/checkpoint/wp/2016/08/24/there-were-two-flags-raised-at-iwo-jima-the-marine-corps-now-says-it-misidentified-men-at-both-of-them/

Sad he glossed over Midway so quickly. One of the most remarkable battles in the whole war.

Tora! Tora! Tora! is a masterpiece of film that covers exactly how Pearl Harbor happened without Roosevelt deliberately looking the other way.

Amazing !!! Todays kids have prolly never heard this most important moment in western history. The reason for island hopping in the south Pacific was supply chain ....the key to any war.

Dave: "I'm not a conspiracy theorist." Dave: "I think it was a conspiracy." haha

To speak on what you said about it happening again, my 6th grade teacher always said, “history forgotten is doomed to repeat itself” this was when we had a holocaust survivor speak at our school. I think about it everyday

even if they knew pearl harbor was going to happen, that would still would have given the president no choice but to declare war. also the US only declared war on Japan and not Germany, it was Hitler that dragged the US into Europe by declaring war

Strategic military bases and you don't want to get attacked from behind.

Ginger War Strategy In The Pacific: I'm smarter than the American generals. People: Um ... no.

Island hopping was a McArthur idea. Nimitz wanted a more direct approach. Roosevelt settled on both. MacArthur wanted to take in the Japanese one block at a time to eliminate them. He was partially correct in doing so. The US had a difficult time cutting the supply line and it took time. That easily could have been Japan withdrawing troops back to the mainland for a massive all out battle. One that would have been more ferocious than any battle that took place. Meanwhile Nimitz engaged the imperial navy head on and made attacks on the mainland.

Should watch “the insane American plan to invade Japan in 1945” and “the Fallen of WWII”

The *Pykrete* aircraft carrier was a real possibility they built a small demonstration ship which is now at the bottom of a cold Canadian lake they quit the research & building of a possible *Pykrete* aircraft carrier because by that time they'd overcome the U-Boat threat with better weapons Intel Etc.

Back then saying "nuts" in US was akin to saying "F off!" now. My uncle fought in the Battle of the Bulge and earned 2 bronze stars and purple heart (wounded in battle). He came back in good shape and worked at the J&L steel mill in Aliquippa PA--big tough ol' guy--about 5'11'' 220lbs with forearms the size of your lower leg. Those mills, and others in the Ohio Valley, the Monongahela valley around Pittsburgh and mills in Gary Indiana, etc. were called then "the arsenal of Democracy" because the steel was used to create the tanks, planes, etc. in huge numbers for the war.

Trivial tidbit: Some of the canned meat sent by the U.S. to the Soviets during WWII was still being eaten by some Soviet soldiers into the 1970s.

Yes, there are conspiracy theories that the Roosevelt administration knew about the Pearl Harbor attack and let it happen anyway but the evidence is weak at best. They knew an attack was coming but not when or where. They thought most likely the Philippines would be attacked. You have to put yourself in their shoes. At this point in the war most naval leaders don't think of the aircraft carrier as a first strike weapon. Even after the British success at Taranto, the battleship is still considered the main naval weapon. The idea that a large fleet of Japanese battleships sailing across the Pacific to attack Hawaii was considered a remote possibility. Did the US Military get warnings hours before the attack that something might be happening they most certainly did. Multiple ships sighted a submarine around the entrance to Pearl Harbor where no submarine should be. The US Ward attacked that sub and reported to higher ups who disregarded it. Radar picked up the Japanese planes coming in but because there was also a flight of B-17 bombers coming in that morning from the mainland this opportunity was also lost.

So about the Pearl Harbor question, US intelligence was given warnings that something was going to happen eventually. A few hours prior to the attack, radar stations did pick up a large mass of planes but they ignored it, thinking it was a early-morning training.

Marines raised the flag at Iowa Jima. The first photo taken was of the marines after they had taken the hill from the Japanese. After a politician informed the marine command that he wanted the raised flag so he could hang it on his wall the flag was lowered and given to the politician. Immediately afterward a second flag was raised in place of the old one which is the one that the famous flag raising photo is taken from. Among the men who raised the second flag was a marine by the name of Ira Hayes who was a Native American of the Pima tribe.

You guys are great. I love WWII docs. Much love from across the pond!

Pearl Harbor wasn’t staged, Japan wanted to able to run free around the pacific and capture important islands without conflict

The blokes need to reacted to two movies about iwo Jima. Flags of our Fathers and letters from iwo Jima. They give both points of views and are great

You guys are the best. Happy New Year to you from the USA!!

thing is Churchill actually did painting as a hobby to distract him from his depression

The Iwo Jima flag thing is not true.

If your curious about the Iwo Jima flag planting they cover it in the film series The Pacific. It fantastic

I never understood why people question why experts do certain things. If ignoring the islands made the most sense ,they people who've dedicated their lives to the military wouöd've done it lol.

I subscribed so I could see the Office Blokes become the Studio Lads lmao, no but seriously I hope to see you guys succeed greatly in life, and I look forward to your future videos. Cheers!

Y'all need to react to the American Civil War.

My man in the wool cap, please be careful spreading conspiracies. The Iwo Jima remark and the Pearl Harbor theory have both been debunked. Clint Eastwood directed two films about Iwo Jima and WWII that touch on what you said. Flags of Our Fathers and Letters to Iwo Jima are the two films. Check em out.

we had an Italian camp in my city of Rochester, NY, and everyday Italian people would show up with food and clothes for the prisoners and sit outside the fence and chat, not one ever tried to escape, and many came back after the war to live

Hey boys. Just signed up for Patreon. Love your guys videos

A sad YT recommendation: Neil Halloran's "The Fallen of World War II." A fun YT recommendation: Jack Rackam's "America's Manliest President - TheLife & Times of *Theodore* Roosevelt."

3 pissed guys watch a video

Oh and you guys are awesome. I'm loving your videos.

Also, the flag raising was not staged, and one of the marines in the photo, Ira Hayes, was a Native American. He toured The United States after the battle as a hero. He could not take the pressure, and died of alcoholism. The story of the photo being staged was started by another photographer who had a camera malfunction and was unable to get a shot of the raising. He said that the photo was too perfect not to have been staged. He later recanted after meeting the photographer.

downvoted for conspiracy theorys about pearl harbor. "they let their own guys die for the greater good". its clear that he never read anything on the topic. otherwise great reaction just like part 1. respect from germany.

Also, the famous picture of the US soldier kissing the girl on the street when coming home is kind of a funny story. That was not a couple. The soldier just grabbed a girl and kissed her in excitement. That's why she's gone limp in the photo. She has told the story publicly and said she did not appreciate it. Lol

happy new year, blokes :'-)

Bypassing the islands was not an option because of distances. Remember, ships didn't have the ability to launch aircraft from the distance they do today. And the Japanese aircraft could reach the carriers from those islands when they got close enough to the Japanese mainland. The alies wanted to use the airfields too.

The Ginger bloke was wrong in just about everything he said. I think you need to watch the Fallen of WWII, in it you will learn twice as many Americans died in the European Theater than the Pacific Theater.

Japan's greatest strategic mistake was their attack on Pearl Harbor. The six Japanese carriers (Akagi, Kaga, Soriyu, Hiriyu, Shokaku, Zuikaku) would have been better used in supporting the initial southern island offensive, or in strikes supporting occupations of Wake and/or Midway, because there would be been a much different public reaction to Japanese forces attacking advanced military bases in the Philippines or some small islands in the middle of the ocean, compared to the main base at Pearl Harbor. The result would be a declaration of war with the American Pacific fleet sailing out of Hawaii to be sunk in the deep waters of the Pacific in the following year. At that point, the Japanese goal of a negotiated peace treaty while America turns against the fascists in Europe might have been possible. But the attack on Pearl Harbor made it personal for the Americans, and it was all over for Japan from there.

@17:30 Great Question. The answer is, those were the ones that were deemed strategic, many others were infact bypassed and hopped over due to logistics. Also land Bomber range.

Just ran across your channel and I'm an instant fan! I'm a U.S. Southern woman who joined the Army at 18. I wanted to see the world and my station was in Frankfurt, GE. This was late 70,s early 80,s. I had a blast- jumped on trains and made so many trips across Europe. My grandmother was born in Dundee Scotland and our family still holds to the traditions passed down. I must say that the worst experience I had with another person was a British woman in London who heard me tell of my heritage, said, Oh, your one of those porridge eaters! Guess there must be prejudice against the Scots but she was an asshole and got away and continued to have a great time in London. Way off topic but I love you guys!

Regarding the a-bombs: First you have to remember, the high casualty rate at the time of the decision to drop the bombs. At that time the allies had lost 4 million soldiers in the Pacific theater. Japan 2,5 million, mainly against the Americans. And American planners projected an invasion of Japan would cost up to a million lives, soldiers and civilians. And on top of that Japan refused to surrender and stop the war, multiple times. Despite the heavy military losses, and American bombings of Japan. These were the main reasons for dropping the bombs. You can argue the use of the bombs to the end of days, but probably the bombs saved a lot of lives. After the second bomb President Truman said: "The only language they seem to understand is the one we have been using to bombard them. When you have to deal with a beast you have to treat him like a beast. It is most regrettable but nevertheless true" That quote seem to me, a bit too "brutal". But it kind of shows how the Americans saw them.

If you've never listened to anything by Sabaton - they're awesome. Sort of "I came for the heavy metal and got an awesome history lesson, too!" I don't even *like* heavy metal generally and I think they're awesome.

I’m American and I can say that no the government didn’t know Japan was going to take them but that was clear signs that something was coming On radar they saw the planes but because the technology was so new they thought it was birds and didn’t warn anyone

They had to capture the islands in the pacific to set up bases of operations. So it then became easier to invade the main land which ended up not happening because the Bomb that was developed.

You should apologize

The young Buck "bloke " you have with you doesn't know too much other than what might have been rumor ! Iwo Jima did happen , And yes they did photo opt it as historical factual event . + keep the channel running ! I'm Japanese and do know without U.S. you would be talking German right now !

They did skip islands, but they needed the land for bases...the distanced were so great, we needed the ones we conquered.

My grandpa was part of the Army Air Corps, but he was involved in building air fields on the islands that were island hopping. The point was get closer, so they could launch bombers from island air fields, and not just depend upon aircraft carriers. Midway showed that islands could be the equivalent of an aircraft carrier. Covered in another channel, about the Battle of Midway, the US only had 3 aircraft carriers available at the time, but they used the Midway as the "fourth", to counter the four Japanese aircraft carriers. Eventually, they would get close enough that heavy bombers could fly from the islands away from Japanese main islands, that could reach Japan.

You said trying to invade the Soviet Union was Hitler's dumbest mistake that was his goal the whole time his dumbest mistake was attacking the UK lost many bombers and qualified pilots that could have been used on the Eastern front in the UK probably would have sued for peace had the blockade continued because the people were just suffering not fighting until bombers started attacking and then the UK Air Force responded in kind how do you put all of this focus towards the Soviet Union rather than these constant bombings of Londonthe UK would have still had its worldwide empire Germany would have conquered Russia

The chain of islands were used for ground based heavy bombers, refitting subs, and supplies. Also to prevent Japanese force from launching attacks in Australia. The second picture was taken because the first raising wasn’t caught on film. There was Native Americans in the first raising, but they couldn’t find all the guys who were there the first time. Some of them had died.

Alan Turing - it's unfortunate how the Brits treated him after the war. This was a great person.

I watched a video of a japanese explaining ww2 and he said the japanese delivered their declaration of war 30 minutes after pearl harbor so they didnt know about it before

As far as I know we had no clue pearl harbor attack was to happen.

This is way late but the Daniel Craig movie, Defiance, was based in the father and uncles of a friend of mine. He would answer the door and a random person would be crying and telling him how his father saved their life. I got to go to a private screening of the movie in Tampa. It was incredibly emotional.

I think it's universally accepted that the US military didn't know there would be an attack on Pearl Harbor, but I think they probably were on high alert for Japanese aggression in general. The fact none of our carriers were actually at Pearl Harbor attests to our readiness but the sheer number of large ships available to bomb there also attests to a lack of knowledge of the attack beforehand. We suffered some very bad losses in that attack, just not a loss of carriers.

Why not bypass the islands? Almost all of them had airstrips, leaving them intact would have left American supply lines vulnerable. The US also wanted to use those airstrips to launch bombers against the Japanese home islands.