This prevents Yarrow from springing a carefully devised trap that would have wiped out the invaders in a murderous machine gun crossfire, with minimal American losses.

As a result of this tragedy, Yarrow finally convinces the Navy to form Construction Battalions (CBs, or the more familiar "Seabees") with Donovan's assistance, despite their mutual romantic interest in war correspondent Constance Chesley.

The Japanese launch a major attack, which the Seabees barely manage to hold off, sometimes using heavy construction machinery such as bulldozers and a clamshell bucket.

The plan works, sending a cascade of burning liquid into the path of the Japanese, who retreat in panic, right into the sights of waiting machine guns.

Palm trees were brought in to transform Iverson's rocky Western landscape into a version of the Pacific islands where the film's action was set.

Japanese atrocities including the Rape of Nanking, the Bataan Death March, and the kamikaze pilots were partly to blame for these attitudes, but other aspects such as the Attack on Pearl Harbor were also at work.

The films climactic scene shows Wayne as he punctures and ignites a large fuel tank, flooding the advancing enemy with burning oil.