general stood up after the screening and said, willy, what is this movie for? and he really had no answer ymore ab because the timeline of world war ii had just outraced him. >> it is a 42-minute film. and it's titled "thunderbolt" ike from director william wyler. mark harris, thanks for being mption with us. now a chance to see the film in its entirety. ♪ this picture was photographed in combat zones by cameronmen of the mediterranean allied forces and by pilots of the 12th air force who joined missions against the enemy, whprin rm operated automatic cameras in that plane. behind the pilot, shooting forward and back.y ha under the wing. in the wing. timed with the guns. in the wheel well.e in the instrument panel.iam wyle photographing the pilot himself.nqdyz

♪ this picture was photographed in combat zones by cameronmen of the mediterranean allied forces and by pilots of the 12th air force who joined missions against the enemy, operated automatic cameras in that plane. behind the pilot, shooting forward and back. under the wing. in the wing. timed with the guns. in the wheel well. in the instrument panel. photographing the pilot himself. >> the commander counter of the united states air force is general carl spots has asked me to tell you something about this picture. i don't think i can do any better than just to read from his telegram to me. thunderbolt was made in 1944. ancient history.

it was made about one fighter bomber group in the italian campaign. it happens to be an american group. the same story could well be told of the royal air force grouped which participated so gallantly in the same air offensive. as a matter of fact, the story belongs to all men who fought for freedom and did it a long way from home. signed spots. thank you. >> to the italian man in the street, or what's left of the street, this is the fulfillment of a promise.

the promise of the fascists to build a 20th century roman empire conceived in tyranny and dedicated to the proposition that some men were meant to be slaves of other men. special victims were the children. they saw things not meant for children's eyes. from the air, italy is more remote. the airmen never sees the face of the people, only the face of the country. from the air, you look down at the mountains. look down and wonder how our men

on the ground ever got through. mountains and rivers. a lot of american blood in that one. natural barriers made other campaigns tough, too. exhausted elephants, sesar's legions. for the air men, the ground war is remote. the only war you really understand is the air war. you can see a pattern to it. lots of the country never been touched. little towns that walked the ridges, like tightrope artists to keep from falling off. this one didn't matter. when something did matter, that was another story. this is how we changed the face of italy from the air.

they boasted italian trains ran on time. not these. this is what we did to the face of italy. there's a story behind why we did it and how we did it. the story starts on an island 60 miles off italy's coast. the island of corsica. >> corsica, rugged, primitive, mountainous, malaria. here, they still remember a local boy who put corsica on the map. 150 years ago. this island part of france is liberated by the french in september '43. but you can still find a few germans left by the wayside where they fell in the shadow of our air drones.

alto air base. sunday morning. here, sunday is like monday, and monday is like every other day in the week. a working day. the engines wake you at dawn. in your sack, you can hear the crew chiefs pre-flighting their planes. getting them ready for the day's missions. this is how you live when you're an airplane driver, fighting an air war. 20 minutes from the germans in italy. you're used to it. you have been washing out of your helmet since july of '42. and the holy land to africa,

across the desert, egypt, to libya and tunisia. 1500 miles. you move when the infantry moved. sicily and italy. 58 moves in two years. now, corsica. this is the best year you ever had, call it the country club. >> when you talk about air color, this is what you mean. you mean spanking manda of new mexico, squadron operations officer. not a desk job. over 170 missions working for 200.

he's 22. you mean captain howard hickok of ames, iowa. he's your flight leader. 30 days in the states, time to get married and come back. he's 23. or in his italian general's trailer, gill weimann, louisville, kentucky, hardly old enough to vote, but he's boss of a squadron. he signed his letters lieutenant air force commander, the old man. he's 24. sunday morning. for the 57th fighter group, three squadrons, 1,000 men, another day begins at alto air base. you can close your eyes and see it this way. spread out like a diagram.

home sweet home for some time. good steel map runway, 150 x 6,000 feet. tower call sign is break neck. lots of jokes about that. we share the view with a french fighter group. don't speak the same language, but we fly the same airplane against the same enemy. each lost men yesterday. we get along. group commander lieutenant colonel archie j. night, he's 27. first mission today is a 6-5 squadron show. briefing right after breakfast. informal, short, to the point. park yourself on a bomb crate and get your escape kit. enemy money, instructions to get you back through the lines, just in case. the s-2 tells you about your

target. he doesn't have to draw it for you. you do this every day, sometimes two or three times a day. gill will lead the show. so he lays out the job. that's the nurse's hat. his girl's. wears it for luck. you need all you can get. the brass upstairs plans the war. they want something done. they pick up the phone. you do it. don't always know why they send you out on a mission, but always care. but you know there's a reason, a good one. >> today, the missions are going out because the italy armies have been stopped cold at the gus toff line, across the narrowest and most mountainous part of the peninsula.

u.s. fit bombing, british 8 bombing, stopped for five months. 100,000 men sweating it out. we couldn't move. stalemated. march 15th, we bombed cassino, our immediate objective. good job of bombing. didn't work. our infantry didn't advance. it was the wrong use of air power. wrong because we were not taking advantage of the airplane's greatest asset, its ability to get behind the enemy. that's what the air planners wanted to do, get behind him. lieutenant general commanding all the air in the mediterranean, british, french, and american. major general john k. cannon, uncle joe, commanding the 12th air force, and brigadier general gordon p. civil, 12th contactical command. the brass upstairs who run the air wall. they said let's not hit them here. let's hit him here. let's isolate the battlefield. let's weaken the entire german front.

by depriving it of supplies, fuel, food, ammunition, re-enforcements. they call the plan operation strangle. this is what we want to do with airplanes. how? a lot of railroads in italy. this is the enemy. keep the trains from getting through. a lot of rivers in italy and over 700 major bridges. we figured if a train came to one and it wasn't there, it would be kind of tough to get across. medium bombers got many of the important ones, but bridges are long, narrow targets, difficult to hit and destroy.

took a lot of trips, bombs, planes, men. we started to use a special weapon, a fighter bomber, the p-47 thunderbolt. one engine, one man. one bomb on each wing. extra fuel tanks for range. 6-5's crew chief taxi from the dispersion points at the end of the runway. light up the squadron. all the pilots have to do is climb in and take them away. if you're a crew chief, you get your own p-47. sometimes you think of it as your personal airplane. but pilots are lended to every day. you let him fly around in it and you expect him to bring it back in good condition. no bullet holes or flack holes.

after you've been lending your airplane to one pilot for a long time, you get attached to him, too. if you're a pilot, no matter what your rank or how many hours you've had, what counts here is the combat flying you've done. unless you've done plenty, you're a beginner. you'll called a spraug, and you remain a sprog until you're wise to the tricks of the trade. after you have put a few missions behind you, you become a sport. and then with plenty of action, 50 or 60 missions, if you're still around, you're promoted. you become an old sport. a veteran. the big shots like gill wiminute are called wheels. no one knows exactly why. this fellow's a wheel, too. says so on his plane. major richard hunziger of tucson, arizona, had 279 missions. your crew chief can't go along,

so you always like to tell them what you're going to do. got a triple threat mission today. each section's going after a bridge. i'll come in on a course of about 40 degrees. same old thing. go out there and dodge around. dive bomb out of the left-hand turn, and then carry the bombs right on down. we're flying top cover on the other two sections while they bomb and then we go in ourselves. weather is supposed to be careful so maybe we'll have a good show. all set to go. but you don't. you wait. you wait for five minutes. that's the way it's planned. time to settle down. relax. you'll be busy later. so if you've got any thinking to do, and who hasn't? now is the time to do it. [ engines start ] >> here, lay it back. take-off is always rough.

thunderbolts are heavy airplanes. besides, you've decorated it like a christmas tree. >> here, lay it back. take-off is always rough. thunderbolts are heavy tank, rockets, guns. 500-pound bombs. cameras.

>> hello, break neck. clear to take the runway for a takeoff, over? >> roger, you're clear number one to take off. >> roger, breakneck, thank you. >> the mile of steel runway would shrink to nothing under you. halfway down, by the tower, you'll be committed. that means you can't slam on the brakes and stop. once you're committed, you usually go up. first pair, weimann and gustofson. >> first pair off. second pair taxis out.

klaas and bridges. made it okay. man and richardson. >> smith and atwood. come on. air up. hickok and mauro. last pair.

wells and hunzinger. the squadron is airborne. over corsica, then out to sea. on the deck. >> 60 miles east, to italy.

flying from corsica, you go only 60 miles and you're 150 miles behind the german front. turn again at that castle. now you're heading north. into the mountains. leader section. red section. black section. formation flying. a game of follow the leader. the squadron leader. he navigates. makes the decisions. doesn't tell you what to do. does it. you follow. wing tip to wing tip. he turns. you turn. he climbs. you climb.

>> climbing still to 10,000. through the clouds. >> getting close. start looking for the target. stuck down there in one of those ravines. all look alike. wingman, he's back. keep the formations spread out.

>> there's a checkpoint. that road, follow it down to the river. the first bridge should be down there somewhere. there it is. pass over it. come back and attack from the opposite direction. one of the tricks you've learned. leader section goes into loose string formation. one plane behind the other. then weimann peels off. the rest of the section follows at two-second intervals. last man goes in.

no bomb site of the p-47. pilot does his own aiming. bomb bursts from the planes ahead. a couple of misses. a direct hit. hope your aim is good. drop your bombs. pull out. they black you out for a second. blood drains from your head, but you're young. it comes back fast. you're all right now. leader section reforms. top cover.

watch his red section bomb. a miss. another miss. a hit. black section goes down. straddle the target. this should do the trick. no more bombs. still got plenty of gas, plenty of ammo. go on the prowl. ease down on the deck.

see what you can find. >> railroad tracks. follow the tracks. not a bad way to find a train. you spot one. kick her over. give it a few squirts. might kill somebody. bust the locomotive first. train can't move now. let's see what's in those boxcars. 12 of you. you'll all crisscross in.

everybody takes a few passes. try the cars one at a time. might be something interesting in them. usually is. got it burning nicely now. take another pass for luck. they spread the squadron over the sky. every man, his own general. looks like we're out of trains. lighthouse out there. wonder if i have any ammo left. yep.

radio station. blow out a few tubes. somebody in that field. don't know who they are. no friends of mine. see any vehicles parked in that farmyard. more in back. must be a headquarters. houses around here look kind of suspicious. might be something in them. nothing in that one. nothing in that one. could be wrong, but -- uh-oh, what do you know? back at alto, no one is sweating

out 6-5 squadron. 6-6 is taking off. no one will sweat them out, either. too many missions. nine for today. when you don't fly, you've got things to do, try to make some sort of life for yourself. in trying, you improvise an american community. step off the field, you're in corsica. step back on, you're in america. this is part of the war, too. the endless detail of living. the dust is a problem. dust is good for the laundry business. hand laundry. branches everywhere. community laundry.

three-day service. and for the rugged individualist, water supply, pump, heating unit, washing machine. the sergeant gives you salaries. he's keeping his hand in. the barber shop. and for the next customer, always something to read. never more than a year old. bus line, lunch time special. and for the intellectually minded, it's time for the most serious things like practicing your yo-yo. if there's anything you want,

don't ask for it. build it. build as though you'll be here forever, knowing you may get orders to move tomorrow. 6-6 found this canyon, made it their living area. nobody said they couldn't. nobody says you can't have a house. build it. nobody says your squadron can't have a beach club. build one. nobody says you can't dam up a river and make a swimming hole. this american community has everything. when you come off your shift and somebody else is carrying the ball, you try to relax, enjoy yourself. in danger a couple hours a day. the rest of the time, you're out of it. beach club's a busy place. so is the mediterranean. mussolini once called it our sea.

but that was yesterday. the yachtsman, a wind tank and a few odds and ends make quite a boat. the crew chiefs scrounge parts. scrounge is polite for steal. scrounging from wrecked planes, banged up italian cars, old parachutes for sails. alto is the best deal you ever had. the country club. they use only the best-quality junk. sometimes when you can get the

ration of beer, you drink it. then you look like this. alto is the best deal you ever had. the country club. a lot of land, a lot of sun. your american community has everything. except the things you really want. there are times you would rather be flying than waiting around, killing time. because when you're flying, you don't have that feeling of the day, a week, and months slipping by. slipping by and leaving you standing still. these are your years. years to get started, find yourself, your job, profession, get married, kids, home of your own. these are the years that count. so you have your pets, to give and receive affection. in return for affection, c reactions.

as always in affairs of the heart, some have peculiar tastes. 6-6 squadron heading out. 6-5 squadron heading home. a meeting in the air comes and goes fast. 6-5 leader section. one plane light. when you reform after scraping, you noticed it. nobody saw it happen. maybe he spun in, maybe he bailed out. you will think about it later. now you're waiting for that

first sight of home. that's the air base. that's bovinca. you're on your own street. alto's first turn, three fields down. keep your formation tight. when you fly over those other outfits, you want to look good, show them how it's done. alto, home. you come in low and peel up. you peel up to reduce speed, space the planes 20 seconds apart for landing.

second and third flights go on past the field. they'll circle back when the first flight is down. drop your gear. second flight peels up. third flight will circle again. this is all the flying the ground crews see. you like to give them a kick. sometimes you're tired, land them rough. it's embarrassing. the colonel's not happy about the flack holes. new airplane. his crew chief will be mighty sore. and how will you explain this away? then after the interrogation, you relax.

grab off some doughnuts and coffee. jive with the red cross girl who meets every mission and fly the show all over again on the ground. weimann goes back to work, at being a colonel. missing an action report to sign. a telegram from the war department has to start somewhere. >> by mid-april, every rail line in italy was blocked. we drew a line of interdiction across the country.

no train could move south of it. south of it, the railroad system was dead. but the german had to keep the supplies moving, still had highways. he took to the roads so we took to the roads. this is what ingermans fear most. we don't blame them. this is the way ronald got it. he isn't the only one. when you clobber a highway, you burn plenty of ammo. cyclic rate, 800 rounds a minute. you have eight guns, 106 bullets a second. rockets. those aren't just trucks and germans. you're stopping ammunition before it's piled on the fifth army front. and you're doing it 200 miles behind that front. in the weeks that follow, from corsica to italy was like a trip to the corner drugstore. you could do it in your sleep. >> we averaged eight, nine missions a day at the 57th. the french flew about as many. the 86th over in italy. the 79th next door. it was good to look up and watch them go by.

but there were other things. there were those pillars of smoke. never knew when you would see one. that's a wreck. a p-47 cooking, and there's a man in it. when they hit like this, there's nothing to do but let them burn and stay clear of the exploding ammo. keep on landing. you have to. no place to park up there. why did it happen? engine cut out for a second. 200 yards from the runway. 200 yards from home. flack damage might have caused it. you'll never know for sure. all you know is the sum of war is expensive. you wish that people back home could at least see it.

>> we kept up the pressure. and by the beginning of may, the roads were practically closed. if one man on a motorcycle appeared on a highway by day, he was a dead pitcher. the german took to the sea. two months after we started, the strangle was on. the germans had barely enough supplies for two weeks. that's when our ground forces attack. allied troops took cassino. we linked up with a beach head at anzio and in three weeks we're in rome.

♪ >> the men on the ground push north. and as they moved up, they saw what had been done to help them. 10,000 enemy vehicles destroyed or damaged. in every town they took, they mark the yard. how many german tanks went out of business because of the gasoline these trains never carried? they advanced, and they saw the bridges. how many german shells were never fired because they couldn't get across the river?

the ground forces exploited their breakthrough. in plain language, they sought and killed germans. and they ate up the country, almost 250 miles in one nonstop offensive. the ground forces won a battle, but they still had a war to fight, and you were still flying missions. up from first flight to last light. only the coming of darkness would stop you. only the coming of darkness would bring the last missions home to alto. then the long work day would end. some men hit the sack early. and some spend another quiet evening at the club, colonel

weimann's country club for airplane drivers. ♪ ♪ stay in bed till half past 9 ♪ ♪ at the club colonel weimann's country club ♪ ♪ you and me i love thee ♪ >> from director william wyler, the film released in 1947 titled "thunderbolt." joining us from new york is mark harris as we look at the directors from world war ii. as the war came to an end, what was next? >> well, wyler of the five directors i wrote about, was the only one to come back as a

disabled veteran. he received a disability check for the rest of his life. something he was very proud of. he poured all of his experience into what i think still stands as a true american masterpiece and the greatest movie about the aftermath of the war, which is the best jeer years of our lives. the best yearsf our lives is the story of three soldiers who are coming home. different classes, different ages, different ranks within the war. and it's about their adjustment to an america that had gone on without them. the extraordinary thing about this movie is that wyler put himself with the aid of his really brilliant screen writer robert sherwood into all three of these characters. one of the men was like wyler, a family man, who was middle aged and had left cushy and comfortable circumstances and

was now coming back to a wife and children that he really didn't know that well anymore. and trying to find his place back in his comfortable world. another of the soldiers was very angry, had seen horrible things in the war, and came back really not knowing what he was going to do. that tapped into the fact that wyler had a temper that sometimes got the better of him, and in fact, was almost court-martials during the war for throwing a punch at an anti-semitic civilian. and the third character in the movie, a young veteran who had hooks for hands, who had lost both of his hands during the war, an actor named harold russell played him, who himself was a veteran who had lost both hands during the war. and of course, wyler certainly identified with russell because he, too, was disabled.

and uncertain about how he would regain his place and his life. and you know, it's very hard to convey now what a seismic impact the best years of our lives had. this was the dawn of a new age of social realism in american movies when american movies started dealing in a more head-on fashion with the day-to-day realities of what people were going through, whether it was alcoholism or nervous breakdowns or in this case, something that all of america was exposed to, which was the readjustment issues faced by returning veterans and faced by the people they were returning to. by the end of its run, the movie, which swept the academy awards the year it came out, was, you know, the third or fourth highest grossing movie in

hollywood history. and wyler went on to an extraordinarily distinguished career throughout the 1950s and '60s making movies like the harris and detective story and benhur. in fact, his career goes all the way back to 1970 when he retired just before making the movie that he had really hoped to be able to make, which is the movie that became "patton." >> mark harris is the author of five came back, a story of hollywood and the second world war, and among the directors he features, william wyler. thank you very much for being here with us on c-span3's american history tv. >> thank you. you've been watching a special from reel america series. join us every sunday at 4:00. watch as these films take you on a journey through the 20th sempblry. again, that's reel america, every sunday at 4:00 p.m.

we want to tell you about some of our other american history programs. join us every sunday at 6:00 and 10:00 p.m. for a look at american artifacts. learn what artifacts reveal about american history. again, our show is american artifacts every sunday. and we'd like to hear from you. follow us on twitter, connect on facebook, where you can leave comments and check out upcoming programs on our website. >> each week, american history tv's reel america brings you archival films that help tell the story of the 20th century. in the last of a five part look at hollywood directors who made films for the u.s. government in

world war ii, we feature director john huston and the battle of san pietro, a 32-minute u.s. army film depicting the 1943 battle that destroyed the town of san pietro, italy. praised at the time for the battle that killed over 1,000 americans, the film was composed of almost entirely re-enacted scenes. we speak with film historian mark harris. >> the book is titled five came back, a story of hollywood and the second world war. joining us from new york is mark harris. as we look at some of the leading directors from this time period, including john huston, what can you tell us about him? >> well, huston was a really fascinating, larger than life figure. his career in hollywood was just starting when the war broke out. he had had a kind of never do well adolescence and early 20s. he had been involved in a few car crashes. he fled to paris at one point.

his reputation was really not great. and then he came back to hollywood, started to build a reputation as a screen writer, particularly with the help of william wyler, who was something of a mentor and very good friend to him. and then just before pearl harbor, had his breakthrough success with the first movie he directed, the maltese falcon. and you know, he had a chance to make about one and two thirds more movies. he had to leave for the war and his service in the war before completing a movie he was making which reunited the cast of the maltese falcon, called "across the pacific." >> so much focusing on the post traumatic stress of those returning from vietnam or more recently from iraq and afghanistan. i want to ask you about one of two films he put together. this one from 1945, let there be light.

what did he bring to the american audience about this condition and these servicemen, mostly men, who returned from

>> back here now. you're away from okinawa. you have forgotten it. but you remember who you are now. who are you? dominik. that is right. >> he did the propaganda job in that movie, but the first portion is an absolutely searing and non-propagandistic portrait of how just how shattered these men were by the war experiences. you see these young men in their intake interviews with army psychiatrist and they are just devastated, hollow eyed -- >> are you aware that you are not the same as when you went over? do you feel changed? how long were you overseas?

were you any combat at all? >> this would have been the most and honest look that any american audience had ever gotten at the psychological trauma caused by war. i say would have been because the army suppressed the film. the army did everything in its power to prevent its release and the movie was not shown publicly until 1981. john huston spent decades trying

to get it shown. finally, thanks to the intervention of walter mondale. >> the censorship he faced, was that unusual for directors? >> was that unusual for directors? >> it was the only movie to be suppressed over a long-term. while they were making films for the army, these directors constantly battled restrictions, accusations from the war department that they were going off message, that they could not include footage of american bodies. they had to show soldiers as brave and confident. very rarely -- those fights often resulted in changes. very rarely did they result in the movie being suppressed altogether. >> we will show the film, "the battle of san pietro." what can you tell us about this one? >> "the battle of san pietro" was shocked by john huston -- shot by john huston in italy. it was frank capra told john huston to go to italy in search of a town that the bride images

of things like joyful and grateful villagers emerging from their hiding places with rounds of cheese and loaves of bread to greet the victorious americans. john huston got to italy and found the right town, but the battle was already over. the town had been retaken.

there were no villagers in sight. what he did was, with the full knowledge and enthusiastic cooperation of the army to restage the battle, this is all reenactment. reenactments done on that location and with actual u.s. soldiers, but none of it is real. it was very successfully passed off to the american public as predominantly actual battle footage and the army put out press releases saying john huston and his men were so brave that they preceded the army on the front so that they could turn around and film the soldiers approaching, which is one way you always know that battle documentary has been faked. film makers do not go first. what is interesting is even though this was a big piece of fakery, only a minute or two of it is real footage, it also helped create a new visual for what the battlefield looked

like. john huston faked the movie because it was the only way he knew how to convey what he understood of the realities of ground combat and ground troops advancing. which is something that had not been successfully shown in an american documentary before. what he is going for in the movie is a kind of realism that was very influential on many film makers after the war in terms of creating an understanding of how to shoot battle footage. >> mark harris, thank you for that explanation. here is that film. from the mid-1940's by director john huston, "the battle of san pietro." >> in 1943, it was one of our strategic aims to draw as many german forces as possible away

from the russian front and french coastal areas and to contain them on the italian peninsula while liberating as much of italy as might be possible with the means at our disposal. as the bulk of our supplies was directed to england, for the forthcoming invasion, operations in italy had to be conducted on an extremely limited scale. it became about him during the winter months, the number of allied divisions in italy was reduced. so determined was there effort, they succeeded in holding in italy a very large number of german divisions. san pietro was the key to the valley.

we knew it and the enemy knew it. we had to take it even though the immediate cost would be high. by its very nature, the success worked bitter hardships upon each individual soldier, calling for his devotion. the response of the troops supply an inspiring page in our military history. to these individuals, living and dead, and to those who continue in their tradition, this picture is dedicated. ♪

>> the valley lies in the italian midlands 60 miles northwest of naples and 40 miles southeast of rome. a flat court or enclosed between four walls -- a flat corridor enclosed between four walls of mountains. the valley floor with ancient vines, crops of wheat and corn, it is green the year around. that is, it in normal times.

last year was a bad year for grapes and olives and the fall planting was late. many fields lay sallow. or are two ways from the south into the valley. -- there are two ways from the south into the valley. they converge before the site of the agent village of -- ancient village of san pietro. it is the threshold of the valley. the stones of its walls. population 1412 at the last census. a farming community. patron saint -- peter. point of interest, st. peter's, 1438. from the end about tober 1943 until the middle of december, san pietro and the surrounding grounds were some of the scenes

-- were the scenes of some of the most bitter fighting. oi i-' the italian campaign had entered the second phase. to push forward again. our battle lines were a hazard of the terrain itself. it twisted back and forth against our line. each river seemed like five. when there was no river to cross, a mountain blocked us. each new peak have to be fought for the hard, uphill way. the enemy had time to fortify and camouflage their position.

no amount of artillery fire could force them to withdraw. that was for the infantry to do, employing those weapons. it was up to the man with a rifle, the man under fire from all weapons, the man whose way all our weapons serve only to prepare. up to the foot soldiers to attack the hidden enemy. nowhere along the entire front were enemy preparations more massive band the --massive than that san pietro area. through the valley runs the most highly prized length of road south of rome. why early december, we were holding high ground.

an italian brigade had made a vain attempt to capture mount lungo. the italians were all but annihilated. further operations against the strategic heights were abandoned. it was decided to make a direct frontal assault on enemy positions. in and around san pietro. limits -- elements were rotated from position to position overlooking the valley so the troops might study the terrain ahead and compare viewpoints. patrol activity would continue.

day and night, units one out to take prisoners and draw fire, adding to our information about the enemy. high points, mount lundo and mount sammucro. the town itself was strongly garrisoned with numerous mortars, machine guns and heavy weapons. four in me battalions were dug into a line of connected -- in a battalions were dug into a line of connected trenches. northeast across the valley floor to the base. another battalion was organized to defend the high ground

northwest of san pietro. areas before these divisions were heavily mined and held the confusion of barb wire and booby-traps. on the afternoon before, information communicated to the battalion commanders. december 8, the first battalion of the 143rd infantry regiment to attack the summit of 1205. they had moved up the mountain

in the cover of darkness. the third ranger battalion to attack 950. the second battalion of the one 43rd to attack northeast -- 143rd to attack northeast of san pietro. the third battalion, acting in support of the second. the original force to establish the beachhead, the 143rd had spent all but a fortnight in action under extremely bitter weather conditions. in salerno, it had taken mortal punishment. the task ahead promised no less bloodshed. the first battalion began the long rugged climb. as night fell, the artillery opened up and tonight -- throughout the night hours, fire was laid down on the enemy's main line of resistance. it had rained most of the night and was raining at each of hour.

200 yards, then counted nine automatic -- they encountered nine automatic fire. artillery doubly accurate by reason of excellent enemy observation. it continued another 200-400 yards.

many men gave their lives in attempts to throw hand grenades. the third baa tall -- battalion was going to win. the advance never got more than

600 yards past the line of departure. our initial assault on san pietro, heavy casualties. the attack on 12 of five was a brilliant success. a strongly entrenched enemy knew that an assault was in progress. to the right of 1205, the third ranger battalion had also captured its objective, but only after costly casualties. the enemy was not taken unaware at 950.

counterattacks would be expected on both 1205 and 950. they were not long in developing. the first was launched during the early daylight hours. day and night, they followed, unremitting violence. the toll of enemy dead mounted with each new attempt. german prisoners captured 1205 and 950 and said they had been

ordered to retake those positions at all costs. in addition to defending 2105, the first battalion undertook the reduction of enemy defenses organized along the ridge running west. on the 12th of december, the first battalion was reinforced by the parachute battalion, which maintain the defenses of 1205 and 950, thereby enabling the first battalion to throw at strength along the ridge.

the first strength had dwindled and shrunk in the five days passed and there was now a question as to whether it's existing members were sufficient to prevail. reports during the night stated the in a me was offering -- enemy was offering bitter resistance and the issue was in grave doubt. meanwhile, below, the second and third battalions had attempted to reach their objective. both times they would come against a wall of automatic weapons and artillery fire. volunteer patrols made desperate attempts to reach enemy positions. not a single member of any such patrol ever came back alive. our attacking forces were

furnished excellent aerial cover by alive patrol. but now and then, in a me planes were able to sneak through. -- enemy planes were able to sneak through. to break the deadlock, orders were given for a coordinated divisional attack. the second and third battalions to proceed in the execution of the original orders. acting in conjunction, company a of the tank battalion to attack san pietro from the east. one battalion to attack over the flat valley floor. after nightfall on d-day, the

142nd infantry division to attack mount lungo. in preparation for the attack, all army artillery within range, including tanks, was directed against san pietro and the surrounding area.

1200 hrs, d-day, the 15th of december. the 141st infantry some 400 yards from the line of departure. held powerless under the weight of the enemy. the second and third battalions advance yards the on to their former positions to appoint a

most directly [inaudible] for the third time, they were forced to take such cover as the quaking earth could offer. orders were for the tanks to enter the town and locate and destroy the heavy weapons fire leveled against our foot soldiers. the high road into san pietro was a narrow mountain road and from the beginning of its winding descent, it was under

direct enemy observation. 16 tanks started down that road. three reached the outskirts of town. of these, two were destroyed and one was missing. five tanks were immobilized

behind enemy lines, their crews having to abandon them. five tanks get enemy mines and were destroyed by enemy gunfire. for tanks returned -- four tanks returned. after dark, one from the second and one from the third finally succeeded. they were forced to retire. company e having been reduced in strength and company l faring little better. on the ridge, the first battalion fought its way within a few hundred yards of the objective. it did not have strength to carry the fight any further forward. unmount lungo, however,

battalions of the 142nd kept pushing upward. until in the early daylight hours of the 16th of december, the foot soldiers gained the summit and were wiping out what remained of a stubborn enemy. that height proved to be a key position in the enemy plan of defense. the enemy throughout the san pietro area made preparations to withdraw. almost invariably, the enemy would counterattack. the first violent thrust was delivered in a few hours.

and thereafter, counterattacks came in waves, many companies lost all of their officers, enlisted men came forward as inspirational leaders to rally their battered companies.

our own artillery was with 100 yards of our frontline alleys -- allies. after five hours during which the earth never ceased to tremble, counterattacks ended, indicating the withdrawal of the enemy's main body. in an effort to maintain contact with the enemy, our patrols immediately pushed ahead. entering the town, they discovered san pietro was ours for the taking. the second and third battalions, weary, stumbled forward past san pietro to consolidate gains and

reestablish contact with the enemy. now taking up new positions five kilometers beyond. that is the broad shape of the battle of san pietro, the first of many battles in the valley. it was a very costly battle. after the battle, the 143rd infantry regiment required 1100 replacements. the lives lost were precious lives to their country, to their loved ones, and to the men themselves.

for the living, more than 100 decorations for acts of valor above and beyond the call of duty. many among these have since joined the ranks of their brothers in arms. more mountains, more towns, more san pietro, greater or lesser, 1000 more.

as the battle passed over and beyond san pietro westward, townspeople began to appear, coming out of their caves in the mountains where they had stayed in hiding during the enemy occupation. they were mostly old people and children. the townspeople were warned against enemy mines and booby traps, which were in the process of being cleared. children are able to forget quickly. yesterday, they wept. today, there are smiles. tomorrow, it will be as though the bad things have never happened.

living was resumed in san pietro our prime military aim being to engaged the defeated enemy that

the capture of the town and the liberation of its people. the people look upon as solely as their deliverers. behind our lines, southwest of the seas, the fields are green with growing crops planted after our coming. the earth was plowed and sewn. it should yield a good harvest this year.

and the people prayed to their patron saint to intercede with god on behalf of those who came and have passed on. ♪ >> john huston and "the battle

of san pietro." joining us from new york is author mark harris. what is your take away from this film? >> it is easy to look at this film and say, gotcha. if you watch the movie knowing that it is restaged, some of the restaging becomes obvious. i feel there are beautiful and remarkable things in this movie that we now take for granted. for instance, the way the camera jumps and shakes when a grenade goes off or when there is purported enemy fire. that is a technique we understand now to be part of the language of war movies. it was something that john

huston invented in. when john ford made "the battle of midway", he surprised people by leaving it in the movie. john huston understood realness, roughness, rawness, imperfection could be taken by audiences as a sign of truth. even though he fixed it -- faked it, it he faked it with a powerful understanding of what he felt more really looks like. you cannot watch san pietro

anymore and take it as truth. i went to the national archives and washed the outtakes -- watched the outtakes. he systematically discarded anything that looked to clean, too perfect, too hollywood. that is a mark of a very smart filmmaker and someone who really understood that war movies were going to have to look different than they had looked until that point. as a document of film making history, i think it is fascinating.

as a word document -- as a document the links to which the army would go, including stretching the truth, it is an important part of america's war so making history. >> john huston's. or is the award-winning actress angelica huston. >> john huston's daughter is the award-winning actress angelica huston. >> unlike many of the other directors, john huston directed vigorously until the very end of his life. not all of the movies he made were good. he ran into some financial problems and was very honest about the fact that he took certain jobs to get the paycheck. if you look at the movies he made, including, "under the volcano" and "the dead," they are some of the best movies he ever made. >> those who read the book "five came back: a story of hollywood and the second world war," what do you want the readers to take away from your research? >> i hope that i have conveyed to them something about what it was like to be a hollywood filmmaker in a world that is so different from the world we are

in now. it is inconceivable to imagine a war in which one third of hollywood's adult male workforce would drop their careers and go off to film overseas for three or four years. you know, all of the men i write about have their flaws as people and their complicated personal issues, but we understand in many ways what world war ii

looked like and felt like because of the work they did. it was all worked they had never done before. it was an extraordinary leap of effort and sacrifice and thought for every single one of them and what they left >> join us every sunday at 4:00 p.m. eastern with more films by government industry education, institutions. watch as these films take you on a journey to the 20th century. that's real america every sunday 4:00 p.m. eastern. every saturday at 4:00 p.m. you can join us for a look at the history bookshelf.

>> we would like to hear from you. follow us on twitter. you can leave comments and check out our upcoming programs at our website. >> and american history tv goes on the road to learn about history and literary life. >> when i say private, i do mean that. this is not part of a tour that is offered to the public.

it has never been opened to the public. you are seeing it because of c-span's special access. vips come into this space just as they did in johnson's day but it's not open to our visitors on a daily basis. my predecessors, myself and my successors say that nothing in this room can change. >> we are here at the 100 block of congress avenue. to my left just down the block is the river the colorado river. and this is an important historic site in the city's history because this is where austin's predecessor was.

this is where he and the rest of the men got wind of a big buffalo herd in the vicinity. it was not really the avenue. but in those days it was a muddy ravine in the north. firing and shouting and lamar shot this enormous buffalo. from there he went to the top of the hill and that's where he told everybody that this should be the seat of the future empire. >> watch all of our events saturday at noon eastern.

>> and now a journey through the 20th century. produced by frank capra the negro soldier is a documentary intended to encourage african-americans to enlist in the u.s. army. beginning with with the revolutionary war then showing their work as teachers judges scientists artists, musicians athletes and soldiers.

♪

♪ >> thank you soldier. my prepared text today was to have been make thy name be remembered in all generations. i think i'm going to depart from my prepared sermon. while i was listening to the sergeant's solo, i kept looking

up at our service flag. i was thinking of the men who serve us. i see some of them here this morning. >> private park, first class. >> first class is right. >> i was at the uso the other night and i met somebody i had not seen in a long time. a ticket to yankee stadium to see joe lewis.

in one minute and 49 seconds an american fist won a victory. but it wasn't the final victory. no that victory is going to take a little longer and a whole lot more american failures. now those two men that were matched in the ring tonight are matched again. this time in a far greater arena and for much greater stakes. max, a paratrooper in the