As with every other aspect of the HBO miniseries The Pacific, attention to detail was crucial in creating realistic weaponry for the production.
It fell to armorer Simon Atherton, a veteran of previous World War II productions such as Saving Private Ryan and HBO's Band of Brothers, to ensure the authenticity of the weapons, ammunition and webbing (the belts and bags that hold a Marine's gear).
For THE PACIFIC, he faced new challenges, both from the climate on set and in finding appropriate weaponry for the actors playing Japanese soldiers.
The production used a combination of real and prop weapons, some much easier to obtain than others. Atherton had retained much of the American forces' weaponry from Saving Private Ryan and Band of Brothers, but had to rely on collectors and prop houses around the world to equip Japanese troops.
Atherton notes that the Japanese weapons "weren't highly desirable at the end of the Second World War. People didn't gather them up and look after them; they didn't go on to other armies to be used. So
there was a much smaller amount of them retained."
On set in Australia's Far North Queensland and Victoria, Atherton had a chance to compare notes with former Marines working on The Pacific, learning how they viewed the differences between the European and Pacific campaigns.
He recalls, "We were saying that if you did have the choice - not that you would, as a soldier - every one of them would have served in Europe, because you were really fighting two enemies out here [in the Pacific]. You're fighting the elements, plus the Japanese."
The forces of nature were unrelenting during filming, with frequent rain, salt water and jungle humidity
among Atherton's greatest challenges. "Weapons were getting covered in soil and rained on," he notes.
"So we were constantly spraying the weapons and oiling them." Atherton also devoted a significant amount of time to devising webbing, the combination of belts and bags linked together by straps and worn over fatigues that hold ammunition, weapons, tools, canteens, food and anything else a Marine would need
close at hand.
In The Pacific, actors are seen "gathering bits of material and wrapping webbing around their hands so their hands don't get burned," explains Atherton, because the barrels could get quite hot after firing.
While Atherton worked mainly with small arms on The Pacific, he teamed up with the special effects department for larger weapons. "We'd work with the bazookas, we'd work with the mortars, and we'd fit machine guns into tanks. If it's a tank firing, it's an explosion set up in the barrel," he explains.
Most important to Atherton was maintaining authenticity, in one instance, he worked with the 37-millimeter guns, which he got to recoil after some struggle. "It's something that bugs me in films you know,
you'll see this great piece of artillery firing and it won't go backwards, but I think we perfected it on The Pacific."
He continues, "It's funny, after Saving Private Ryan,' I thought, 'This is it, now nobody will ever make a Second World War film again.' And then, just as I was about to sell all the equipment, up comes Band of Brothers.' Then you do Band of Brothers' and you think, 'That's it,' and then this came up.
"I was talking to [senior military advisor] Capt. Dale Dye the other day and I said, 'I will retire them,' and he said 'You shouldn't do that.' And you think, 'These weapons will never survive!'"
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