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
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.