Battle of Saipan (1944)

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.

35

Editorial: Air victory at Saipan

As time passes, the extent of our victory in the great air battle over the Marianas will be more fully realized. The dramatic pursuit of the task force which brought the enemy planes to action, and the escape of the force with four ships lost and 13 damaged, have obscured the decisive nature of the Japanese defeat in the air off Saipan the day before. This defeat broke Japan’s hold on her inner line of defense and seems bound to affect the course of naval warfare in the Pacific for some time to come.

We now have Adm. Nimitz’s final figures on this furious conflict. They are almost incredible. On that memorable Sunday, our forces destroyed 402 enemy planes – 369 in aerial combat, 18 by anti-aircraft fire and 15 on the ground after they had landed to refuel. This is the greatest number of planes ever brought down in a single action anywhere, either over land or sea. It is safe to assume that most of these planes were naval craft based on enemy carriers, for airfields on the Marianas had been pretty well cleared of land-based planes in previous fighting. So far as we know, the largest Japanese carriers do not exceed the capacity of our own Enterprise, which accommodates about 85 planes. The average enemy carrier will barely accommodate 50. Thus at least seven or eight Japanese carriers were stripped of their fighting craft. Such a loss in material and personnel is not easily replaced. The Japanese fleet at Midway lost 275 planes, and it took Japan five months to restore her naval aviation to a point where it could again offer battle. The overwhelming loss in the Marianas will affect not merely the task force engaged in this disastrous venture, but all the task forces Japan has at sea.

The immediate effect of our victory was to speed the conquest of Saipan virtually without interference from enemy planes. That conquest now seems assured with the capture of Mount Tapochau, the island’s central volcanic peak. The broader effects of the victory cannot yet be gauged. Obviously, however, Japan’s control of her vital home waters has been seriously shaken.

36

U.S. Navy Department (June 28, 1944)

Naval advance to the westward

For Immediate Release
June 28, 1944

The advance of our naval forces to the westward began with the reoccupa­tion of Attu and Kiska in the far north, and the capture of the most important islands in the Solomons group in the far south.

From our far northern bases we began attacking the Japanese Kurils from the air. We have also made several surface vessel bombardments against the enemy’s shore installations in the Kuril chain.

In the south, the successful termination of the Solomons campaign made possible air and surface raids against Japanese garrisons in the Bismarck Archipelago and along the northern New Guinea Coast.

With our positions in the far north and in the south firmly established, the next step was the squeeze made in the middle of the enemy’s perimeter. This resulted in the capture of the Gilbert Islands. Following that, the Marshall campaign then gave us Kwajalein, Majuro and Eniwetok. Farther to the south we took the Admiralty Islands and also important positions on New Britain. Then strategic areas along the northern New Guinea coast fell to us with the result that we were then able to launch air and surface attacks against Truk, Ponape, Kusaie and other islands in the Caroline group, from several directions. We also were able to strike from Australia in the far south against Japanese positions in Java. But it was the capture of certain of the Marshalls group that permitted us to launch our surface and air attacks as far west as Palau, Guam, Saipan, Rota and the Bonin Islands.

Our last offensive blow, aimed in the ultimate capture of Saipan, has already permitted our air and surface fleets to strike still farther westward. The final occupation of Saipan will enable us to project surface and air operations that will include the mainland of Japan, the Philippines and a greater part of the Dutch East Indies.

CINCPAC Communiqué No. 65

U.S. Marine and Army troops have made further gains on Saipan Island, pushing north nearly two miles along the east coast, passing the villages of Donnay and Hashigoru: On the west coast, further penetra­tions have been made into Garapan Town. Enemy troops broke through our lines containing them on Nafutan Point on the night of June 26 (West Longi­tude Date), and attempted to drive northward. Two hundred enemy troops were killed in this counterattack. The next day, further attacks were launched by our forces against Nafutan Point and the enemy now holds only the extreme tip of the point.

Close support is now being given our troops by shore‑based aircraft operat­ing from Aslito Airdrome. Tinian Island has been subjected to protracted daily bombardment to neutralize enemy positions there.

On the night of June 25, several enemy torpedo planes attacked a carrier group screening our transports. Several torpedoes were launched, but no hits were obtained. One enemy plane was shot down, and another probably shot down. During the night of June 26‑27, enemy aircraft again attacked our transports, but all bombs landed in the water. One near miss on a transport injured a member of the crew.

Surface units of the Pacific Fleet bombarded Kurabu Zaki at the southern tip of Paramushiru in the Kurils on the night of June 25‑26.

Paramushiru and Shumushu Islands were bombed by Liberators of the 11th Army Air Force and Ventura search planes of Fleet Air Wing Four before dawn on June 25 and 26. Several fires were started in these raids. Anti-aircraft fire was intense. Eleven enemy fighters attacked a single Ventura of Fleet Air Wing Four near the airfield at Paramushiru before dawn on June 26. Two of the attacking planes were damaged, and one disappeared into a fog bank trailing smoke. The Ventura returned with superficial damage.

Carrier aircraft swept Guam and Rota Islands in the Marianas on June 26. Fuel reservoirs and coastal defense gun positions were bombed. three small craft in Apra Harbor at Guam were destroyed. The cargo vessel damaged in previous strikes was observed to have sunk. At Rota, the airstrip was strafed and buildings were set afire. There was no enemy air opposition during these attacks.

Truk Atoll was bombed by 7th Army Air Force Liberators on June 25. One of five enemy fighters which intercepted our force was shot down. We suffered no damage. Army and Marine aircraft attacked enemy objectives in the Marshalls on June 25.

An enemy twin‑engine bomber was shot down south of the Hall Islands by a search plane of Fleet Air Wing Two, Group One, on June 26. The same day, an enemy torpedo plane was damaged by another search plane northwest of Truk.

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The New York Times (June 28, 1944)

Japanese stiffen all across Saipan

Bypassed pockets in mountain caves harass U.S. soldiers and Marines
By Howard Handleman, International News Service

Aboard joint expeditionary force flagship, Saipan, Mariana Islands – (June 27)
Japanese infantry resistance stiffened all along the island-wide front this morning as Marine and Army forces reached a sector possibly chosen for the beginning of Japan’s last-ditch defense of Saipan.

Five heavily defended Japanese pockets have already been bypassed on Mount Tapochau, from whose peak the American line pivots to the beaches on the eastern and western sides of the island. The pocketed Japanese are defending caves from which they harass and slow the U.S. advance.

U.S. Marines and soldiers have destroyed 36 Japanese tanks and captured 40, the United Press said. Though the Japanese are employing mobile artillery and tanks in numbers never seen before in the Central Pacific, there has not yet been an actual tank battle.

The Japanese defense line bends from the north slopes of Tapochau down into Garapan on the west and through Donnay Village on the east shore. Snipers and machine-gunners hiding in Garapan houses and cellars fought patrols venturing beyond U.S. lines into the southern outskirts of the town.

The U.S. advance was spilling over lightly defended areas and slowing against the heavily resisting sectors to conform to enemy defense lines.

This line roughly cuts inland to the center, indicting a Japanese defense in depth and possibly presaging a battle phase even more bloody than that of the first two weeks of the Saipan invasion, during which the Japanese retreated, avoiding infantry clashes, but pounding the Americans with mortars and artillery.

Saipan, already ranking with the roughest Pacific battles, threatens to develop into a terrible campaign of bloodletting, with fighting in streets, houses, mountains, forests and cane fields, combining the worst terrain features of all the Pacific battlefronts. The Japanese still hold about half the island, giving both forces room for maneuvering, although U.S. Marines and soldiers hold every speed advantage because of superior mechanization. Their roadways are greatly improved over the Japanese-held roads.

The Americans continue to hold complete sea and air superiority. The enemy is still making light night raids.

Japanese ground opposition is a different thing. Mountain pockets are holding up the advance in spots that are almost impregnable. One was a blind ravine, a huge hole in the mountain, lined with caves, each of which carried a death threat for Marines probing cautiously over the ravine floor. Litter evidenced recent occupation of the ravine by the Japanese, who left clothing, rations, cigarettes and ammunition.

It was this kind of pockets behind and the mountain and mortar and small-arms fire ahead that slowed the progress. Pocketed caves had to be hit head-on by guns exposed to counterfire from the caves. Each pocket became a deadly small-scale battlefield for the men assigned to clean out the caves with small artillery and flamethrowers.

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U.S. Navy Department (June 29, 1944)

CINCPAC Communiqué No. 66

Organized resistance at Nafutan Point on Saipan Island ceased on June 27 (West Longitude Date). The entire point has been occupied by our forces. Small gains were made along the western shore into Garapan Town, and in the center of the island. Our advance northward is being made against severe enemy resistance. On the night of June 27, enemy aircraft dropped bombs in the area occupied by our forces. Two of the attacking planes were shot down by antiaircraft batteries.

Carrier aircraft attacked Pagan Island on June 27. Barracks and a water reservoir were hit. Only one plane was seen on the ground, and it appeared unserviceable. Several small craft badly damaged in previous strikes were hit by rocket fire.

Truk Atoll was bombed by 7th Army Air Force Liberators on June 27, and neutralization raids were made against objectives in the Marshall and Caroline Islands on June 26 and 27.

CINCPAC Press Release No. 464

For Immediate Release
June 29, 1944

Aslito Airfield on Saipan Island today was renamed Isely Field in honor of Cdr. Robert Henry Isely, USN, commander of VT-16, who was shot down June 12 by Japanese anti-aircraft fire as he was leading a bombing attack on the field.

The change in name was recommended by VAdm. Marc A. Mitscher, Commander, Fast Carrier Task Force, USPACFLT, and was made by Adm. Chester W. Nimitz, CINCPACPOA. Aslito Airdrome was first attacked by carrier aircraft of Adm. Mitscher’s task force in February of this year.

A naval aviator since 1937, Cdr. Isely had taken part in attacks at Tarawa and other Gilbert Islands, at Kwajalein, Palau, Woleai and Truk. He flew aerial cover for Gen. MacArthur’s troops when they landed in Hollandia in New Guinea. Adm. Mitscher’s recommendation was based on Cdr. Isely’s gallant performance of duty during all of these Pacific actions.

39

The Free Lance-Star (June 29, 1944)

Japs declare war at ‘serious stage’

New York (AP) –
The Tokyo radio told the Japanese people today that the U.S. thrust into Saipan Island in the Marianas, coupled with other U.S. offensive gestures over a wide area in the Pacific had brought the war to “a very serious stage.”

The broadcast, reported by the Office of War Information, said:

We, the 100,000,000 people of Japan, must realize now, if ever, that the outcome of the battle of the Marianas will exert a very serious influence upon the future war situation.

This is an offensive in which the enemy is prepared to make sacrifices, and even though there are times when there is no strategy whatever behind his actions as regards tactics, the seriousness lying deep in the heart of the enemy, the fierceness of the enemy’s fighting spirit, the enormous number of his ground troops, all are at their highest since the beginning of the war.

40

Gains are scored on Saipan Island

Assaults on Japanese mainland declared pending

USPACFLT HQ, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii (AP) –
While U.S. warships and planes attacked half a dozen Japanese bases along a 3,300-mile ocean-spanning arc, U.S. forces on Saipan Island scored gains of up to two miles, headquarters announced.

From Washington came the promise of impending blows at Japan itself. Secretary of the Navy James Forrestal said at a press conference:

The final occupation of Saipan will enable us to protect surface and air operations that will include the mainland of Japan, the Philippines and a greater part of the Dutch East Indies.

One Pacific fleet task force ventured amongst the Kuril Islands to shell Kurabu Zaki, main air base on southern Paramushiru.

Another gave Tinian Island, next door to Saipan in the Marianas, its daily working-over.

Carrier planes swept Guam and Rota, south of Tinian. Land-based Army bombers struck at Paramushiru and Shumushu in the Kurils, and at Yap and Truk, in the distant Carolines.

Japanese hurled torpedo planes and bombers against Allied carriers and transports near the Marianas. The attacks were unsuccessful.

U.S. Marines and infantrymen, already possessing the southern half of Saipan, occupied two villages in a two-mile push up the east coast. On the west coast, they blasted the Japanese street by street, block by block, from Garapan, Saipan’s largest town.

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U.S. Navy Department (June 30, 1944)

CINCPAC Communiqué No. 67

Our troops on Saipan Island have made new gains both in the center and on the right flank of our lines, pushing ahead through difficult terrain and intensified enemy resistance. High ground occupied near the town of Charan Danshii places our forces in a commanding position over the area held by the enemy. Strongpoints in the Tanapag area are being subjected to aircraft bombing and shelling by naval surface vessels. Air attacks and naval gunfire continue against enemy defenses on Tinian Island.

Our casualties in the ground fighting on Saipan Island through June 28 (West Longitude Date) are as follows:

Marines Army TOTAL
KIA 1,289 185 1,474
WIA 6,377 1,023 7,400
MIA 827 51 878

No accurate estimate of enemy casualties is possible. A great many Japanese dead and wounded have been carried back by the retreating enemy troops. However, our troops have buried 4,951 enemy dead.

Rota Island was attacked by carrier aircraft on June 28 (West Longitude Date). Fires were started, and revetments and runways were bombed and strafed. No enemy aircraft attempted to intercept our forces.

Army, Navy, and Marine aircraft continued neutralization raids against enemy objectives in the Marshall and Caroline Islands on June 28.

42

The Free Lance-Star (June 30, 1944)

Half of Saipan in U.S. hands

Invading forces push on to wrest island from Japanese garrison

USPACFLT HQ, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii (AP) –
Bearded Yanks, after crushing the last organized Japanese resistance on the south half of Saipan, battled north step by step today while enemy broadcasts hinted of new U.S. battleship and aerial attacks on Guam, Tinian and Rota.

Seven hundred miles southwest of the Marianas invasion scene, Gen. Douglas MacArthur’s bombers supported the Saipan operation by dealing the Nipponese air base of yap its fifth blow in a week during which more than 50 Jap planes have been destroyed – better than one every two hours – by U.S. airmen since Pearl Harbor was attacked. U.S. losses were 2,276 planes.

On Saipan, a pocket of Japanese which had been holding out on the southeast tip since the invasion began June 14 was overwhelmed Tuesday, Adm. Chester W. Nimitz in a communiqué Thursday.

Six miles up the west coast, cautious Yanks probed deeper into shell-shattered Garapan, administrative center of the Marianas. In the mountainous center of the island, other small gains were made.

The communiqué said:

Our advance northward is being made against severe resistance.

The Yanks underwent another night air attack, during which anti-aircraft guns shot down two raiders.

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U.S. Navy Department (July 1, 1944)

CINCPAC Communiqué No. 68

Our troops are consolidating their positions on Saipan Island and have wiped out several pockets of resistance bypassed in previous advances. Small gains were made during June 29 (West Longitude Date) in the central sector of our lines. During the night of June 29‑30, several enemy planes dropped bombs in the area occupied by our forces. One enemy plane was shot down. Aircraft bombing and naval shelling intended to neutralize enemy gun posi­tions on Tinian Island continues.

Buildings and runways on Rota Island were bombed by carrier aircraft on June 29. No enemy aircraft attempted to intercept our force.

Paramushiru and Shumushu in the Kuril Islands were bombed before dawn on June 29 by Ventura search planes of Fleet Air Wing Four. No at­tempt was made to intercept our force and anti-aircraft fire was meager. All of our aircraft returned.

44

The Free Lance-Star (July 1, 1944)

WAR NEWS IN BRIEF

By the Associated Press

PACIFIC: U.S. Army and Marine forces press forward on Saipan, where 9,752 U.S. casualties already suffered since the landings. Yap and other Jap-held islands bombed by MacArthur’s fliers.