Battle of Saipan (1944)

15

The Free Lance-Star (June 21, 1944)

U.S. AND JAP FLEETS LOCKED IN BATTLE
Full-scale naval engagement believed in progress off Philippine Islands

U.S. commanders eager to bring enemy to action

USPACFLT HQ, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii (AP) –
Giant battle fleets of the United States and Japan faced each other today in the 1,500 miles between the Philippines and Marianas amid indications that preliminary blows may have already opened a history-shaking naval engagement.

“Possibly the entire Japanese fleet” has entered the area, Adm. Chester W. Nimitz disclosed. It was the first report on the whereabouts of the long-sought Navy of Nippon since its crushing defeat at Midway in June 1942.

Eager and ready for battle is the Fifth Fleet with “enough muscle… to take care of everything” in the words of the confident Commander-in-Chief of the Pacific Fleet.

A Japanese naval spokesman was quoted in a Berlin broadcast today as saying Nippon’s air and naval forces “have successfully engaged an American fleet,” but Tokyo radio, in another broadcast to the homeland, quoted an Imperial Headquarters communiqué as acknowledging “we have suffered considerable losses of ships and planes.”

Hard land battle

On the embattled Saipan, in the Marianas 1,500 miles southeast of Tokyo, the going is still tough. The Yanks called on planes, artillery and guns of warships to help crack bitter resistance of an estimated 20,000 Japanese, a Nimitz communiqué last night reported.

The communiqué said:

Our troops now hold the entire southern portion of the island from the southern outskirts of Garapan [principal city of 10,000 six miles up the southwest shore] across to the center of the western shore of Magicienne Bay [three and a half miles up the island’s southeast side].

To the south of Saipan, enemy airfield on Tinian were shelled by warships and bombed by planes. Saipan was invaded June 14.

What may prove to have been the first preliminary blow of a showdown naval fight was struck Sunday from enemy aircraft carriers. Their planes, flying from the direction of the Philippines by way of Guam and Rota in the Marianas, paid a frightful cost of 300 aircraft in trying unsuccessfully to sunk U.S. carriers and battleships of the invasion fleet. Last night, Nimitz told a press conference that not one combat ship was sunk.

Then the admiral issued an electrifying hint that the enemy blow was paid back with success Monday. He said cryptically it was possible that damage was inflicted on elements of the enemy fleet that day.

Has abundant power

Nimitz assured a press conference the Fifth Fleet packs sufficient “power to be favorable to us in a decisive engagement,” even if it is massed more than 1,000 miles beyond the U.S. advance naval base in the Marshalls and 3,800 miles from Pearl Harbor.

He said:

We hope the Jap fleet will stay in that [Philippines] area. As long as they stay, we have a chance to get at them.

Ready to figure in a decisive naval engagement is an “unsinkable carrier,” the 3,600-foot Aslito Airdrome captured by Marines and soldiers.

Also ready to send land-based bombers into action is the air arm of Gen. Douglas MacArthur. His planes are poised within bombing range of the Philippines and adjacent ocean area at captured Mokmer Airfield on Biak in the Schouten Islands off North Dutch New Guinea. Today, he announced the capture of two more airfields on Biak.

600 planes destroyed

The destruction of the enemy’s 300 carrier planes, extremely costly because of the long training required for carrier pilots, raised to nearly 600 the total Japanese air losses in the Marianas since the U.S. carrier task force moved against that segment of Nippon’s inner defense perimeter.

Nimitz said:

If we lost 600 naval planes in two or three days, we’d be very unhappy, even with our plane production.

Nimitz emphasized that he had expected Japan’s violent reaction at Saipan because it is in the last island defense line before China and the Philippines.

The 72-square-mile island was invaded “on the assumption the Japanese would bring out everything they possible could.”

He expressed conviction Japan no longer possesses the naval strength to use the Marianas for an offensive, but “the Japs need to hold them to keep us from penetrating west of their island defense line.”

“And north, too,” interposed RAdm. C. H. McMorris, chief of staff, with an eye on the Japanese homeland.

Nimitz said the Aslito Airdrome will promote “control of the air in the immediate Marianas area.” But, considering all the angles, he noted the Japanese hold the advantage of land-based air reconnaissance west of the Marianas and that the first concern of the U.S. Fleet must be to safeguard the Saipan invaders. Even so, he was supremely confident.

He said:

I can’t control Japanese fleet movements. If I did, there definitely would be a naval engagement.

16

Americans seize Saipan airfield

300 enemy planes lost as Japanese are pushed back

Aboard joint expeditionary force flagship off Saipan, Mariana Islands (AP) –
Rolling back remnants of two Japanese divisions, U.S. forces have swept across Saipan Island to seize strong control of the southern part of the island and Aslito Airfield, its greatest prize.

This 3,600-foot field is necessary for protection against developing Japanese air attacks. U.S. land-based planes will soon operate from here, replacing carrier aircraft which so far have done a lone-handed job in keeping the skies clear.

The enemy lost 300 planes in a vain attempt to cripple the amphibious force which stormed ashore six days ago. They did not succeed in sinking a single ship.

The Americans expanded an 8,000-foot beachhead into nearly a third of the island, smashing across it clear to Magicienne Bay and to a short distance south of Garapan. The line from near Garapan skirts the strongly defended Mount Tapochau, the extinct volcano towering over the center of the island. Then the line extends toward Magicienne Bay, thence southwards along the coast, where a small body of Japanese are trapped on rocky Nafutan Point, Saipan’s southeastern extremity.

The landing of Army reinforcements and heavy artillery on the southern beaches in support of hard-pressed Marines, who have borne the brunt of the fighting, paved way for a general attack along the entire line. Supported by coordinated artillery and naval gunfire and powerful aerial strength, the Americans struck the Japs at many points.

The attack around Charan Kanoa, where the Americans were once compelled to withdraw almost to the beach, started in a heavy tropical downpour which drew a rain curtain over the opposing troops.

17

Japanese report big naval battle

Enemy makes fabulous claims of U.S. ships sunk

New York (AP) –
A Japanese broadcast said today that a “fierce naval battle” is raging in the Central Pacific off the Marianas.

The British radio said “a Japanese spokesman was quoted as saying that this battle would have far-reaching effects on the Pacific war situation.” CBS recorded the London report of the Japanese broadcast.

There was no confirmation from Pearl Harbor and no indication when Adm. Chester W. Nimitz might have more to say about the operations.

The Tokyo radio, meanwhile, asserted today than a U.S. battleship listed in a Japanese communiqué yesterday as sunk by planes off the Marianas June 16 was of the 45,000-ton Iowa class.

The enemy broadcast, entirely without confirmation, said another battleship claimed to have been heavily damaged was of the 35,000-ton North Carolina class “and went down to a watery grave the night of June 15 off the Marianas.”

The broadcast went on:

Two out of four United States aircraft carriers which were heavily damaged and set ablaze or left heavily listing the night of June 17 were of the 24,000-ton Essex type while another of the 10,000-ton Independence type which had been converted from a cruiser. A fourth appeared to be also of the Essex type.

Thanks Jap Navy for ‘cooperation’

Navy chief confident U.S. forces can deal with situation

Washington (AP) –
Adm. Ernest J. King, Navy commander-in-chief, declaring appreciation for the “long expected cooperation” of the Japanese Navy in apparently moving into battle position, expressed confidence today in the outcome of a prospective naval engagement in the Western Pacific.

King said:

The sooner the Japanese fleet fights, the better we’ll be satisfied.

He made his statement after Navy Secretary Forrestal had reported that despite strict radio silence from the Pacific there have been some indications that U.S. forces “may have succeeded in catching up with all or a part of the Japanese fleet yesterday.”

Forrestal added that there is, however, “no definite information” as to the prospective engagement.

Forrestal reported that the Japanese fleet has been sighted at “various times during the last few days, milling around from 500 to 800 miles to the westward of Saipan Island” in the Marianas east of the Philippines.

A Japanese broadcast recorded in London said today that a “fierce naval battle” is raging off the Marianas.

Attack from carriers

Forrestal said Japanese planes attacked U.S. naval units near Saipan Sunday and indicated that the planes apparently came from carriers which at that time were some 500 miles to the westward.

The Japanese plan, he continued, seems to have been to launch thew aircraft, with the idea that after attacking they would be able to land for refueling on Guam and Rota, Japanese-held bases in the Marianas.

He continued:

We have no other details of the resulting air battle other than the fact that our forces were ready for the attack.

Our carrier aircraft and ships’ anti-aircraft guns wiped out most of the Japanese planes.

At Pearl Harbor, Adm. Nimitz has reported that the Japanese have lost at least 600 planes since action began in the Marianas.

King, asked about the prospective engagement there, said that the communiqué from Nimitz speaks for itself and, combined with Forrestal’s report, covers the situation “as accurately as we know it.”

Shows no worry

“You are not worried about the outcome?” he was asked. “No,” he replied, shaking his head.

He added that in any major operation, losses must be expected, in fact, are allowed for in preparation and plans for the action. But, King continued, the losses to date in the Marianas “have been less than allowed for.” He said he referred to all types of action in the air, on the sea and among troops fighting on land.

King also disclosed that plans long under consideration had been reviewed again for close cooperation of the British with U.S. forces in the war against Japan when it is possible to swing strength to the Pacific and away from Europe.

18

Völkischer Beobachter (June 22, 1944)

Ein 45.000-Tonnen-Schlachtschiff!

Einzelheiten zu den Erfolgen der Japaner bei den Marianeninseln

Tokio, 21. Juni –
Zu der vom japanischen Hauptquartier am Dienstag gemeldeten Versenkung eines amerikanischen Schlachtschiffes bei den Marianeninseln werden folgende Einzelheiten bekannt:

Es handelt sich um ein 45.000 Tonnen großes modernes Schlachtschiff, das zur Iowa-Klasse gehörte. Die Versenkung erfolgte bei der Insel Guam.

Bei einem der schwerbeschädigten Schlachtschiffe handelt es sich um eines vom Typ Nordcarolina, dass 35.000 Tonnen groß ist. Dieses Kriegsschiff erhielt schwerste Treffer in den Gewässern der Marianen. Zwei der vier Flugzeugträger, die entweder schwer beschädigt oder in Brand geworfen wurden oder schwere Schlagseite aufweisen, gehören zu der 24.000 Tonnen großen Essex-Klasse; bei einem dritten handelt es sich um einen umgebauten 10.000-Tonnen-Kreuzer der Independence-Klasse. Von den beiden versenkten Kreuzern gehört einer zu einer großen Type, während sich unter den vier beschädigten drei schweren Kreuzern befinden.

Wie der Bericht besonders unterstreicht, handelt es steh bei diesen Angaben um sorgfältig überprüfte und bestätigte Einzelheiten.

19

Der Kampf um Saipan

Der Angriff auf Saipan begann am 11. Juni, als von Flugzeugträgern aufgestiegene Maschinen ein heftiges Bombardement der Insel vornahmen. Nachdem dieser Angriff vier Tage lang durchgeführt worden war, begann der Feind am 15. Juni mit Infanterie und Tanks zu landen. Trotz größter Verluste setzte der Feind dieses Unternehmen auch dann fort, als die beiden ersten Wellen seiner Landungseinheiten zurückgeschlagen worden waren. Unter Einsatz stärkster Menschen- und Materialkräfte gelang es dem Feind, auf einem Abschnitt der Insel Fuß zu fassen und weitere Verstärkungen zu landen. In erbitterten Gegenangriffen der japanischen Bodenbesatzung erleidet er dort weiterhin heftigste Verluste.

Wie entscheidend der Besitz von Saipan für den Feind wäre, geht daraus hervor, daß der Besitz eines Stützpunktes auf dieser Insel die Hauptstadt Tokio in einem Flugzeugradius von 2.200 Kilometer bringen würde, das heißt, daß moderne Bomber, die kürzlich auch gegen Nord-Kiuschiu eingesetzt wurden, die Strecke in 5½ Stunden zurücklegen könnten. Um dem Feind die Möglichkeit zu nehmen, seine Offensive bis in die Küstengewässer des japanischen Mutterlandes vorzutragen, kämpfen jetzt die tapferen japanischen Flieger und Bodenbesatzungen mit zäher Verbissenheit gegen die materielle Übermacht des Gegners, ehe dort die Verteidigung zu entscheidendem Gegenschlag ausholt.

20

US-Flugzeugträger schwer beschädigt

Neuer japanischer Erfolg vor den Marianen

Tokio, 22. Juni (DNB) –
Die kaiserlichen Luftstreitkräfte haben ihre Angriffe gegen die feindliche Flotte in den Gewässern der Marianen-Inseln fortgesetzt. Nach soeben eingetroffenen Berichten wurde am Dienstag ein weiterer feindlicher Flugzeugträger schwer beschädigt und in Brand geworfen. Damit erhöht sich die Zahl der in den Gewässern der Marianen-Inseln beschädigten amerikanischen Flugzeugträger auf vier.

21

U.S. Navy Department (June 22, 1944)

CINCPAC Communiqué No. 60

Our troops on Saipan Island have made further advances of more than a mile along the shoreline of Magicienne Bay to the town of Laulau and have advanced about a mile up Mount Tapochau. The pocket of enemy resistance at Nafutan Point has been reduced by one half, and our forces have gained the heights of Mount Nafutan on the east coast. Heavy pressure is being maintained night and day against enemy troop concentrations and defense works by our aircraft, Army and Marine artillery, and naval gunfire.

At night on June 20 (West Longitude Date), several enemy aircraft dropped bombs near our transports and along shore but did no damage. Sporadic fire has been directed against our ships by shore batteries but the enemy emplacements have been quickly knocked out.

22

The Free Lance-Star (June 22, 1944)

Army and Marines score decisive gains on Saipan

Aboard joint expeditionary force flagship off Saipan, Mariana Islands (AP) –
Japan’s fleet after a week of complex maneuvering is still avoiding surface battle with the powerful U.S. Fleet guarding the Saipan invasion.

The Aslito Airdrome on Saipan, the most valuable in the Marianas and only 1,500 miles from Japan and the Philippines, was ready for operation today after Seabees repaired and extended its 3,600-foot main runway.

Shielded by a great U.S. battle fleet standing off the Marianas, Marines and Army troops launched a major attack this morning to wipe out Japanese defending the island. The situation forced upon Japan’s elusive grand fleet the grimmest challenge yet presented it – to come in and fight.

The enemy fleet, still avoiding battle, had the bitter choice oi fighting or abandoning Saipan’s weakening garrison to destruction.

On Saipan, the U.S. attack began shortly after dawn with veteran forces pushing ahead along a four-mile front extending entirely, across the island from the outskirts of Garapan, main town on the western shore, ands eastward along the slopes of Mount Tapochau to Magicienne Bay on the east coast.

At one point, the Marines advanced one mile in the first three hours. In exactly one week of fighting, the Americans had effected a landing across reefs in the face of extremely heavy fire and had captured the southern third of the island, including two airfields.

One of these fields was Aslito, now ready for operation.

The Japanese, who numbered at least 20,000, fought with ferocity and the advantage of entrenched positions along steep ridges, and made the American advance slow during the first several days. They used batteries of mortars and considerable artillery and employed landmines and booby traps.

One hard-fought battle between Marines and Japanese occurred on a hill overlooking Magicienne Bay, where Japanese artillerymen ran their field pieces in and out of caves firing from outside and ducking back into the mountainside.

The Americans finally captured this and similar positions, killing 75 Japanese in one cave. Flamethrowers were used in destroying enemy mountain strongholds.

23

Völkischer Beobachter (June 23, 1944)

Zwischen Philippinen und Marianen –
Schlacht der Hochseeflotten

vb. Berlin, 22. Juni –
Wie aus Tokio und Washington übereinstimmend berichtet wird, ist im Gebiet zwischen den Philippinen und den Marianen eine große Seeschlacht zwischen Teilen der japanischen Hochseeflotte und der US-Pazifikflotte im Gang, über deren vorläufige Ergebnisse beide Seiten noch Stillschweigen bewahren, was bei dem frühen Stadium, in dem sich diese Auseinandersetzung befindet, verständlich ist. Der US-Marineminister Forrestal teilte mit, daß der Oberbefehlshaber der US-Pazifikflotte, Admiral Nimitz, „absolutes Funkschweigen“ bewahre. Es könne daher für einen gewissen Zeitraum nicht mit Einzelheiten gerechnet werden.

Soviel scheint festzustehen, daß diese Seeschlacht in engem Zusammenhang mit den Kämpfen auf der Marianeninsel Saipan steht. In die zurzeit dort zwischen den japanischen Garnisonstruppen und den amerikanischen Landungsstreitkräften heftig tobenden Kämpfe greift, nach einer japanischen Meldung, auch die auf der Tinianinsel stationierte Artillerie ein. Den amerikanischen Truppen gelang es, schwere Artillerie zu landen und aufzufahren. Unter dem Feuerschutz der Artillerie konnten die Alliierten dann am 17. Juni bis in die Nähe des Asreetflugplatzes vordringen, welcher an der südlichen Seite der Insel gelegen ist. Die japanischen Truppen halten auf der anderen Seite wichtige strategische Punkte in ihrem Besitz, von denen aus sie wiederholt heftige Nachtangriffe gegen die Amerikaner durchführen und ihnen im Nahkampf große Verluste zufügen konnten. Die alliierten Verluste scheinen dem Bericht nach zu urteilen, in Zukunft noch höher zu werden, nachdem es den Japanern gelang, weitere schwere Panzereinheiten gegen die feindlichen Landungspunkte einzusetzen.

24

The Free Lance-Star (June 23, 1944)

20,000 Japs seen doomed on Saipan

Men are left to fate by fleet routed in fight this week

USPACFLT HQ, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii (AP) –
Twenty thousand Japanese, apparently abandoned to their death by a routed Nipponese fleet, were hit high and low today on Saipan by a U.S. invasion army which now outnumbers the foe.

Sensing almost certain victory in the distant Marianas as the aftermath of a one-sided sea triumph, the reinforced Yanks scaled the heights and probed the flatlands of that island gateway to Japan, China and the Philippines.

The scales were tipped heavily in favor of the United States Monday by “Task Force 58,” a newly-disclosed fast and mighty armada with perhaps 20 of the nearly 100 U.S. carriers in action against Japan.

Saipan’s potential naval support was sent scurrying between Luzon and Formosa into the far China Sea by carrier planes of this specialized group which sank one Japanese carrier, heavily hit three others and damaged a battleship and cruiser. In all, four enemy ships were definitely sunk and 10 others hard hit.

Big assignment

Task Force 58, which Navy officials in Washington said has been assigned “the entire Pacific Ocean to the gates of Japan as its stamping ground,” thus paved the way for a stepped-up drive on Saipan itself. Last night, Adm. Chester W. Nimitz reported that the invasion of that island, 1,500 miles from Tokyo but 3,800 miles from Pearl Harbor, was going well.

Supported by planes operating off captured Aslito Airdrome and outgunning the Nipponese on the ground, the Yanks drove ahead more than a mile on the east side of the island at Magicienne Bay.

In the center, they were scaling 1,540-foot Mount Tapochau. In the southeast tip, they had wiped out half of an unspecified total of trapped Japanese and seized 500-foot Mount Nafutan.

Today Tokyo conceded in a dispatch heard over the German radio that the Yanks are pouring ashore, along with heavy guns, on Saipan.

Nimitz’s communiqué said:

Heavy pressure is being maintained night and day against enemy troop concentrations and defense works by our aircraft, Army, Marine artillery and naval gunfire.

Bombing fails

The only mention of enemy air action was an attempt to bomb U.S. transports but it “did no damage.”

Assessing Monday’s attack far to the west of Saipan on the Japanese fleet, Navy Secretary Forrestal said in Washington:

Our fleet did a magnificent job, but the Navy is not going to be satisfied until the Japanese fleet is wiped out.

He said the Japanese “never came very far to the eastward” and “we were able to send home but one air attack at very long range from our carriers just before dark.”

The dynamite punch of the task force was obviously a painful surprise for the Japanese whose carrier planes, at a cost of 353, superficially damaged two U.S. carriers and a battleship Sunday.

Japs alarmed by Saipan situation

By the Associated Press

Etsuzō Kurihara, chief of the Naval Press Section of Japanese Imperial Headquarters, declared in a formal statement broadcast by Tokyo today that the “battle situation in the Saipan area is the most critical one since the beginning of the war.”

The statement, recorded by the Office of War Information, said a major effort would be necessary to turn back advanced naval elements “centered around more than 20 aircraft carriers and more than a dozen battleships with more than 100 transport ships.”

Kurihara’s statement said:

The enemy’s plan of advance is the greatest since the beginning of the war in the strength of the main force and in the furiousness of the enemy’s fighting morale.

The statement broadcast on the Japanese home radio as well as abroad acknowledged the Saipan operation as an “advance of the enemy into our inner line.”

25

Japs on Saipan fighting thirst

Low water supply may finally break down enemy defenses

At a command post on Saipan, Mariana Islands (AP) – (June 22, delayed)
As the battle for Saipan enters its second week, it begins to appear that lack of drinking water may turn out to be the fatal weakness of this island’s strong defenses.

There is evidence that the water supply is critically low behind the Jap lines. Prisoners invariably beg for water when brought in and many have to be forcibly restrained from snatching the canteens of their American captors.

The naval artillery smashed big Jap water distilling apparatus and fresh water tanks before the first waves of Marines hit the beaches at Charan Kanoa. Since then, the Japan probably have existed on the island’s few wells and rainwater cisterns, most of the latter already empty because of the extremely light rainfall since the invasion.

Promises of plenty of drinking water proved an effective means of getting Japs to come out of their pillboxes and surrender – which they are doing here in large numbers.

“Why die of thirst?” says an American voice in Japanese language through loudspeakers near the frontlines.

You’ve fought as well as any soldier of the Emperor should do. Now come out with your hands up and have a drink of this good water so you’ll be alive to serve your country when the war is over.

U.S. forces are rationed two or three canteens of water daily but the supply on our side of the lines is increasing as more and more distilling plants are set up. Water has been given a number one priority – on a parallel with ammunition.

26

U.S. Navy Department (June 24, 1944)

CINCPAC Communiqué No. 62

Carrier aircraft of the fast carrier task force swept Iwo Jima in the Bonin Islands on June 23 (West Longitude Date). Sixty or more enemy air­craft of a force which attempted to intercept our fighters were shot down. Twelve of the enemy planes found our carriers and all of these were shot down by our combat air patrols. We lost four fighters. There was no damage to our surface ships.

Pagan Island in the northern Marianas was attacked by carrier air­craft on June 22. The following damage was inflicted on the enemy:

  • Four small cargo ships and one sampan, sunk.

  • Two small cargo ships and 12 sampans, damaged.

  • Four enemy aircraft destroyed and two probably destroyed on the ground.

  • A flight consisting of one twin‑engine bomber and five Zero fighters Inter­cepted some distance from our carrier force was shot down.

  • A wharf and fuel dumps at Pagan were destroyed and buildings and run­ways were damaged.

We lost one Hellcat fighter and one pilot.

U.S. Marines and Army troops are pushing ahead on Saipan Island and have made new gains along the northern shore of Magicienne Bay. Booby traps and land mines are being extensively employed by the enemy. Two enemy aircraft detected in the Saipan area were shot down by carrier aircraft of the fighter screen on June 21. Coastal guns on Tinian Island have intermittently shelled our ships at anchor of Saipan, but have done little damage. On June 23, the airfields on Tinian Island were heavily bombed and shelled.

The airstrip and buildings at Rota Island were attacked by carrier aircraft on June 22. A medium cargo ship at Rota was sunk by an aerial torpedo. Our planes received no damage.

Shumushu Island in the Kurils was attacked by Ventura search planes of Fleet Air Wing Four before dawn on June 23. In the Central Pacific, Army, Navy, and Marine aircraft continued neutralization raids on June 23 against enemy positions in the Marshall and Caroline Islands.

27

The Free Lance-Star (June 24, 1944)

2nd Jap carrier believed sunk

U.S. submarine rammed three torpedoes home in huge flattop

USPACFLT HQ, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii (AP) –
A new 28,000-ton Japanese aircraft carrier was believed today to be at the bottom of the Philippine Sea – the latest reported addition to the disaster which beset Nippon’s navy when it hesitantly tried to stay the impending doom of Saipan’s garrison.

A U.S. submarine rammed three torpedoes into the vitals of the costly Shōkaku-class flattop Sunday and the Navy, disclosing the action last night, conservatively stated “the Japanese carrier is regarded as probably sunk.” Sunday was the day Jap carriers loosed a costly, long-distance attack on the U.S. invasion fleet at Saipan.

Sank four ships

The Navy had already announced that U.S. carrier planes, giving chase to the enemy fleet Monday, sank four enemy ships, including a 19,000-ton carrier, and damaged 10 other ships, including a battleship, two 19,000-ton carriers, a light carrier and a cruiser. Last night’s communiqué added a fifth ship, a destroyer, to the carrier and three tankers previously listed as definitely sunk.

Increasing Japan’s shipping woes, Gen. Douglas MacArthur announced today his bombers probably sank an enemy merchantman and destroyed five coastal vessels off northwestern Dutch New Guinea. Yesterday, the Navy in Washington reported submarines recently sank 15 Japanese cargo vessels and a navy auxiliary.

Fighting continues

There was no official word Friday on the invasion of Saipan in the Marianas where steadily reinforced Yanks are striving to wipe out 20,000 Japanese. Howard Handleman, representing the combined Allied press, wrote yesterday aboard a flagship off Saipan that the enemy was believed withholding his best troops for a climax battle at Tanapag Harbor, north of Garapan, a city now under U.S. artillery and warship shelling.

28

Völkischer Beobachter (June 25, 1944)

Strategische Entscheidung im Pazifik –
Die Bedeutung der Seeschlacht bei Saipan

Tokio, 24. Juni –
Der Kampf um die Insel Saipan hat sich nach dem übereinstimmenden Urteil militärischer Kreise in Tokio zu der größten Seeschlacht des Ostasienkrieges entwickelt. Dies trifft zu für den beiderseitigen Aufmarsch an Flottenstreitkräften, wie auch für die Größe der amerikanischen strategischen Konzeption, welche die Entfernung von Pearl Harbour nach Tokio mit einem Schlag von der Marshall-Gruppe aus um ein Drittel des Weges verkleinert.

Wie Kapitän zur See Kuribara im Kaiserlichen Hauptquartier betont, würde ein starker Stützpunkt auf Saipan die feindlichen Großbomber zu einer dauernden Gefahr für Tokio wie für die Philippinen werden lassen. Daher war das japanische Oberkommando bereit, der feindlichen Absicht die Spitze zu bieten und setzte stärkste Land-, Luft- und Seestreitkräfte in diesen Gewässern ein. Die Zusammensetzung der feindlichen Flotte, welche seit dem 11. Juni in den Gewässern von Saipan operiert, wird angegeben mit 20 Flugzeugträgern, über 10 Schlachtschiffen und über 100 Transportern, von welchen aus am 16. Juni mehr als zwei Divisionen Truppen auf der Insel gelandet wurden. In Zusammenstößen mit der japanischen Luftwaffe und vor allem mit Einheiten der japanischen Hochseeflotte am 19. und 20. Juni erlitt der Feind, wie gemeldet, den Verlust von 28 beschädigten und versenkten Kriegsschiffen, weiterhin wurden über 400 feindliche Flugzeuge abgeschossen.

In Anbetracht der Größe der noch intakten feindlichen Schlachtflotte und der Hartnäckigkeit der weiteren Angriffe wird in Tokio jedoch wiederholt betont, daß die bisherigen Ergebnisse durchaus nicht entscheidend sind. Vielmehr verweist Kuribara darauf, daß nur ein Teil der Feindkräfte gestellt wurde und daß weitere heftige Kämpfe bevorstehen. Obwohl die Gefahr für Saipan nicht zu unterschätzen ist, wie Admiral Suetsugu, der frühere Oberkommandierende der japanischen Hochseeflotte, herausstellt, ist gleichfalls zu beachten, daß die Landung starker Kräfte auf der Insel nunmehr die feindliche Flotte in diesen Gewässern bindet. Trotz weiterer möglicher Ausfälle kann diese Schlachtflotte nicht nach Pearl Harbour zurückkehren und die gelandeten Truppen ihrem Schicksal überlassen. Daher müsse der Feind nach Suetsugus Ansicht auf eine Entscheidung drängen.

Anderseits verzeichnet die Presse auch ausländische Stimmen, welche hervorheben, daß Japan jetzt die Möglichkeit, den Feind zu vernichten, ausnutzen müsse. So wird die Meinung zitiert, daß die beiderseitigen Stärken an Schlachtschiffen ungefähr gleich seien, während der Feind trotz des Verlustes seines modernsten Flugzeugträgers Bunker Hill in dieser Waffe überlegen ist.

Dagegen besitzt Japan, wie die Meldungen feststellen, zahlreiche Landflugzeuge in diesen Gebieten. Weiterhin gleiche die ungünstige Verlängerung der amerikanischen Zufahrtstraße das Kräfteverhältnis weitgehend aus. Bei dieser kleinen Insel hat somit eine Schlacht begonnen, welche für den Ausgang des Ostasienkrieges eine wichtige Rolle zu spielen berufen scheint.

29

U.S. Navy Department (June 25, 1944)

CINCPAC Communiqué No. 63

On the basis of latest reports received tabulating damage inflicted upon the enemy during operations in the Mariana Islands, the following revisions are necessary:

  • During the attack by enemy carrier aircraft on our ships on June 18 (West Longitude Date), 402 enemy aircraft were destroyed, of which 369 were shot down by our carrier‑based fighters, 18 by anti-aircraft fire; and 15 were destroyed on the ground. We lost 18 pilots and 6 aircrewmen from 27 aircraft shot down by the enemy.

  • In the attack by our carrier aircraft upon units of the Japanese Fleet in the late afternoon of June 19, one heavy cruiser and one light cruiser, neither of which was previously reported, were damaged. One light carrier, not previously reported, received seven 500‑pound bomb hits. One of the three tankers previously reported sunk has been. transferred to the severely damaged category. 26 enemy aircraft were shot down, instead of the previously re­ported 17 to 22. We lost 22 pilots and 27 aircrewmen from 95 aircraft either shot down by the enemy or forced to land in the water.

  • In the fighter sweep over Iwo Jima in the Volcano Island on June 23, 116 enemy aircraft were shot down, and 11 were probably shot down. We lost five fighters instead of four.

On June 24, U.S. Marines and Army troops on Saipan launched an attack, preceded by intense artillery and naval gunfire preparation, which resulted in advances on our western flank around Mount Tapochau, ranging from 500 to 800 yards. Strong enemy opposition continues. Enemy aircraft dropped bombs among our transports off Saipan on June 23, doing minor dam­age to several landing craft. During the evening of June 23, a small fight of enemy planes dropped several bombs in the area occupied by our forces on Saipan. Casualties were very light.

On June 23, 7th Army Air Force Liberators bombed Truk Atoll, and Army, Navy and Marine aircraft continued their reduction of enemy defenses in the Marshall and Caroline Islands.

30

The Brooklyn Eagle (June 25, 1944)

NAVY TASK FORCE BAGS 82 JAP PLANES
Airmen rip 19 enemy cargo ships

Bonin Isle attacked 753 miles from Tokyo; U.S. gains on Saipan
By William F. Tyree

USPACFLT HQ, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii (UP) – (June 24)
A powerful U.S. carrier task force, striking within 753 miles of Tokyo, destroyed at least 82 Japanese planes and sank or damaged 19 small cargo vessels and sampans in assaults Thursday and Friday, Adm. Chester W. Nimitz announced today.

The deadly carrier-based aerial fleets attacked Iwo Jima Island in the Bonins, 753 miles south of Tokyo, on Friday in the war’s second raid on that stronghold in Japan’s inner defense arc. They shot down 60 planes in air combat and destroyed 12 which tried to attack the carrier force. We lost four planes.

On Thursday, the Americans attacked Pagan Island, 712 miles below Iwo Jima, sinking four small cargo ships and a sampan and damaging two cargo ships and 12 sampans. Four Japanese planes were destroyed on the ground and six were shot down while trying to attack the surface ships.

Believed to be Mitscher’s force

The force was believed to have been VAdm. Marc A. Mitscher’s Task Force 58 which on Sunday and Monday shot down 375 Japanese planes and sank or damaged 15 ships in a one-sided battle against units of the Japanese Fleet between the Marianas and the Philippines.

The latest U.S. triumphs in the battle of the Central Pacific raised to 447 the number of Japanese planes destroyed in six days and to 34 the number of enemy ships sunk, probably sunk or damaged in the same period.

Nimitz also announced that veteran U.S. Marines and soldiers who invaded Saipan Island on the Marianas on June 14 had made new but unspecified gains along the northern shore of Magicienne Bay on the southwestern side of that island, 1,465 miles from Tokyo.

Patrols enter Garapan

A dispatch from Richard W. Johnston, United Press war correspondent aboard a flagship off Saipan, reported that U.S. patrols had entered the suburbs of Garapan, capital city of the Marianas on the west-central coast. He said the entry was made almost unopposed while other U.S. forces fought their way up the jungle-covered slope guarding Mount Tapochau in the center of the island.

On Friday, U.S. bombers hammered airfields in Tinian and American artillery on Saipan joined what Nimitz called “a heavy attack.”

The communiqué revealed that with hardly a pause after its triumph earlier in the week over the Japanese Navy, the U.S. naval battle line had returned to action on the broad western front and also attacked Rota Island in the southern Marianas, while land-based bombers, presumably based in the Aleutians, lashed Shumushu in the Kuril Islands north of Japan.

Still other warplanes – Army, Navy and Marine – continued neutralization raids Friday on enemy positions in the Marshall and Caroline Islands below the Marianas.

31

Völkischer Beobachter (June 26, 1944)

Die Kämpfe im Pazifik –
Zwei Flugzeugträger versenkt

Tokio, 25. Juni –
Japanische Luftstreitkräfte führen seit Samstagmorgen wiederholte Angriffe auf feindliche Marinestreitkräfte in den Gewässern südöstlich von Iwoojina Ogasawara (Boningruppe). Als Ergebnis der kühnen Torpedoangriffe wurden zwei feindliche Flugzeugträger versenkt. Die Angriffe werden fortgesetzt. Japanische Störflugzeuge haben in den Luftkämpfen mit ungefähr 60 feindlichen von Flugzeugträgern gestarteten Bombern über Iwoojina Ogasawara am Samstagmorgen mindestens 37 feindliche Flugzeuge abgeschossen.

Die gegen Saipan eingesetzten starken feindlichen Schlachtschiffformationen setzten ihre Operationen trotz ihrer Verluste auch weiterhin östlich und westlich der Marianengruppe fort. Die hartnäckigen japanischen Abwehrkämpfe werden vor allem von der Luftwaffe unterstützt, die in ununterbrochenen Angriffen den feindlichen Landekopf auf Saipan, Munitionslager und Ansammlungen von Landungsbooten mit Bomben belegte.

In den Gewässern westlich von Saipan haben japanische Fliegereinheiten einen 10.000 BRT großen feindlichen Transporter versenkt. Sämtliche Flugzeuge sind wohlbehalten zurückgekehrt.

Die Minimalverluste der bei Saipan eingesetzten nordamerikanischen Flottenstreitkräfte werden unter Zugrundelegung der Verlustziffern, die von Marinefachleuten bei versenkten Kriegsschiffen auf 40 Prozent, bei schwerbeschädigten auf 10 Prozent und bei leichtbeschädigten auf 5 Prozent der Offiziere und Mannschaften geschätzt werden, auf mindestens 7.000 Offiziere und Mannschaften beziffert. Bei dieser Errechnung ist die Besatzung eines Schlachtschiffes auf durchschnittlich 1.500 Offiziere und Mannschaften, eines schweren Kreuzers auf 900, eines leichten Kreuzers auf 400, eines Zerstörers auf 300, eines großen Flugzeugträgers auf 2.000 und eines mittleren Transporters auf 500 angesetzt.

32

The New York Times (June 26, 1944)

Japanese losses in Marianas soar

Nimitz checkup adds three warships to damaged list and 109 planes downed
By George F. Horne

USPACFLT HQ, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii – (June 25)
One hundred and nine aircraft and several damaged ships have been added to the enemy’s losses in the Marianas campaign as a result of a more complete checkup.

Adm. Chester W. Nimitz stated in a communiqué this afternoon that the latest reports on actions in the Marianas and Philippine Sea areas last Sunday and Monday brought enemy plane losses up considerably and added a heavy cruiser, a light cruiser and a light aircraft carrier to the roster of enemy fleet units damaged by our aircraft.

Our own losses have now been completely tabulated for the first time and they have been fairly severe in aircraft and fliers, although not at all large when viewed in the light of enemy losses and the magnitude of the actions involved.

The official score of the Marianas campaign from June 10 to June 23 follows:

Japan U.S.
Ships sunk 30 0
Probably sunk 2 0
Ships damaged 51 4
Barges sunk 13 0
Planes lost 747 151
Fliers lost ? 98

In addition, our forces damaged four aircraft and probably destroyed 16.

Our greatest plane loss occurred in the battle in the Philippine Sea last Monday, when our fliers attacked the Japanese task force. The damage to four of our ships, including two carriers, was reported minor.

Adm. Nimitz reported that U.S. Marine and Army forces had launched an attack against enemy ground forces on Saipan and had forged ahead against continuing stiff resistance. Advances on the western U.S. flank and around Mount Tapochau range from 500 to 800 yards.

This attack, preceded by intense naval gunfire and ground artillery preparation, occurred yesterday.

Enemy aircraft twice attacked us on Friday, dropping bombs among our transports off Saipan that did minor damage to several landing craft. That evening, a small flight of enemy planes dropped several bombs among our ground forces on Saipan Island, but casualties were very light.

The admiral’s recapitulation of damage and losses inflicted on the enemy disclosed that a week ago in the Sunday attack on our big fleet by swarms of enemy aircraft, we destroyed 402 planes, of these 369 were shot down by our carrier-based fighter planes in one of the great victories of the war for this category of warplane.

Eighteen enemy planes were brought down by anti-aircraft fire and 15 were destroyed on the ground in corollary engagements.

In this battle, we lost 27 aircraft, 18 pilots and six aircrewmen.

The communiqué said:

In the attack by our carrier aircraft upon units of the Japanese Fleet in the late afternoon of June 19 [Monday], one heavy cruiser and one light cruiser, neither of which was previously reported, were damaged.

One light carrier, not previously reported, received seven 500‑pound bomb hits. One of the three tankers previously reported sunk has been. transferred to the severely damaged category.

Twenty-six enemy aircraft were shot down, instead of the previously reported 17 to 22. We lost 22 pilots and 27 aircrewmen from 95 aircraft either shot down by the enemy or forced to land in the water.

Adm. Nimitz said the fighter sweep over Iwo Jima in the Volcano group on Friday cost the enemy 116 craft instead of 60 and said 11 more were probably shot down. We lost five fighters instead of four.

Fleet headquarters today made public the text of a message to Adm. Nimitz and the fleet from Adm. King, Commander-in-Chief, who said U.S. aircrews had established a new high in performance and that the damage done to the enemy was “unequaled in all seagoing aviation.”

Japanese claim 11 carriers

In a Dōmei broadcast from Tokyo, the Japanese claimed yesterday that thus far in the Mariana naval-air battle, U.S. losses included eleven aircraft carriers, four battleships and six cruisers sunk or damaged and more than 400 planes destroyed, the Associated Press said.

The broadcast said 70 U.S. fighters and bombers appeared over the Bonin Islands, north of the Marianas, on Saturday and claimed Japanese fighters shot down 37.

A Berlin broadcast, quoting a Dōmei dispatch, said that since Saturday morning the Japanese Air Force had sunk two carriers southeast of the Bonin Island group and a 10,000-ton transport east of Saipan.

33

MacArthur fliers aid Saipan fight

Liberators pound Yap, Truk and Palau to pin down Japanese planes on bases

Allied HQ, New Guinea, (AP) –
Maintaining their intense pressure against Japanese flank air bases which might menace the Saipan invasion, Gen. Douglas MacArthur’s bombers smashed again at Yap Island, 650 miles southwest of the Marianas, and hit 14 other objectives in widespread raids, headquarters announced today.

Forty-five tons of bombs were rained on the Yap Airdrome during the assaults Friday which blanketed the major Japanese airfields between New Guinea and flaming Saipan. The bombers also lashed at Truk, Woleai and Palau in the Caroline Islands, and airstrips on New Guinea, Timor and New Britain.

Several parked planes were destroyed during the midday attack on Yap. Ten Japanese planes were intercepted, and one of the assaulting Liberators was missing. It was the second consecutive strike at Yap by land-based planes. The previous day, Liberators destroyed 12 and damaged 10 grounded Japanese aircraft.

A spokesman for Gen. MacArthur said the operations were designed to pin down planes that the Japanese might attempt to use for interfering with the Saipan battle.

A number of aircraft were also destroyed during a strike at Sorong, at the northwestern extremity of Dutch New Guinea, described as the last effective Japanese air base on that land mass. The communiqué added “there was no interception” when Liberators bombed Jefman Field. Fires and explosions were observed.

One U.S. plane was lost over New Britain.

Mitchell bombers again ranged far westward of New Guinea over the Banda Sea, damaging a 1,500-ton freight in the Watu Bela Islands. Bostons damaged a 1,000-ton ship and a coastal craft in MacCluer Gulf, in northwestern Dutch New Guinea.

Headquarters announced 345 Japanese were killed during mopping-up operations on U.S.-invaded Biak Island, off northern Dutch New Guinea, June 22 and 23. They are included in the total of 2,333 Japanese dead and captured, which a spokesman announced Sunday for the period between May 27 and June 23.

34

The New York Times (June 27, 1944)

U.S. troops scale lofty Saipan peak

Tapochau, dominating island, is reported won – carrier planes batter Guam and Rota
By George F. Horne

Campaign in Marianas pressed forward

map.62744.saipan.ap
map.62744.saipan.ap
On Saipan Island, U.S. troops occupied part of the town of Garapan (1). They reached the top of Mount Tapochau (2) and to the east captured the Kagman Peninsula (3). Meanwhile, U.S. carrier planes smashed at Guam and Rota. On Guam, they attacked an airfield on the Orote Peninsula (A), nearby Port Apra and an airfield near Agana (B). Inset shows position of the islands.

USPACFLT HQ, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii – (June 26)
Mount Tapochau on Saipan Island has been scaled by U.S. Marines who are now established in positions near the summit. Marines and Army troops have made substantial gains on both the eastern and western shores of the island.

A front dispatch said that Tapochau which dominated the island and has been the goal of our men ever since they landed on Saipan, had been captured by troops who held it against a before-dawn Japanese counterattack Sunday.

Adm. Chester W. Nimitz stated that the Kagman Peninsula, forming the upper arm of Magicienne Bay, was now entirely in our hands and that troops had penetrated farther northward in the lower part of Garapan Town, capital of the Marianas. It is the first fighting between U.S. and Japanese troops in a Japanese town of its size.

Enemy forces were still holding tenaciously to positions on Nafutan Point to the extreme southeast, but we have made small gains there nevertheless.

Thirty-six tanks destroyed

Our forces, to date, have destroyed 36 tanks and captured 40 more from the enemy.

A fast carrier task force attached to the Fifth Fleet under Adm. Raymond A. Spruance raided both Guam and Rota on Saturday, destroying six enemy planes on the Orote Peninsula airfield on Guam and probably destroying two more. Runways and revetments were bombed and a large cargo vessel in Port Apra at Guam, which had been damaged in a previous strike, was again attacked.

Tons of bombs were dropped on the airstrip near Agana Town on Guam and one enemy plane was destroyed on the ground, eight to ten others receiving damage.

At Rota Island, revetments and buildings were bombed and air crews reported starting fires. Two more planes were destroyed on the ground, bringing the plane losses of the enemy in the Marianas campaign to 756 craft by the scoreboard posted at Fleet headquarters.

The Japanese have been fighting bitterly on Saipan. In the center of the line, they slowed our progress by firing from caves in cliffs overlooking U.S. positions, but our forces bypassed these pockets, went beyond them and then closed in, leaving the caves surrounded.

Our artillery then moved to close range and started pounding the cave areas into submission.

Adm. Nimitz said that the troops pushing into the Kagman Peninsula had captured three coastal defense guns.

Half of Saipan now held

From the western end of the front at Garapan Town, our line now runs a jagged course across the island to a point above Kagman, roughly bisecting the island. We now hold about half of Saipan’s 75 square miles, with the two surrounded resistance pockets in the cliffs of Tapochau and to the south on Nafutan Point. They are being squeezed relentlessly from all sides.

Activities on Aslito Airfield have not been mentioned for several days, but it can be presumed that it is now being used by U.S. planes and our forces can henceforth expect even closer air support in pushing northward into the upper half of the island.

The lower end has been principally sugarcane terrain relatively flat. The north half is higher with plateaus, more cliffs and generally more rugged territory on which to fight. There is another cane plantation in the north and another airfield. It was last reported under construction at the very northern edge of the island and may not have been finished.

Elsewhere in the Pacific, we continue to pound away at enemy bases. Paramushiru and Shumushu in the Kurils were bombed by Liberators of the 11th Army Air Force and Ventura search planes of Fleet Air Wing Four before dawn Saturday starting large fires. All of our planes returned although anti-aircraft fire was intense.

Marine and Navy planes continued to keep enemy bases in the Marshalls neutralized.