Battle of Saipan (1944)

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Saipan Island losses heaviest toll of war

USPACFLT HQ, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii (AP) –
U.S. forces drove through intensified Japanese resistance to new ridgetop lines today on Saipan Island, the Pacific War’s bloodiest battlefield where 9,725 Americans have already been killed or wounded, or are missing.

Disclosure of the general, though limited, Saipan advance was coupled today with the announcement from Chungking that China-based Liberators had bombed Takao, the Japanese shipping base on Formosa.

Formosa, 1,500 miles due west of the Mariana Islands and only 300 miles from the Philippines, was bombed by U.S. planes Thursday night. Formosa was perhaps the shelter to which units of the Japanese fleet fled after their clash with U.S. carrier planes west of Guam June 9.

On Saipan, Associated Press correspondent Rembert James reported that the Americans had captured one-fourth of Garapan, had patrolled most of the remaining portions of the west coast town, and had driven to a new line on ridges above Garapan from which they might launch an attack against enemy positions on the north end of the island.

Despite the heaviest losses yet inflicted upon Americans in the Pacific War, U.S. soldiers and Marines remained upon the offensive.

Adm. Chester W. Nimitz announced Friday that casualties for the first two weeks were: 1,474 killed, 7,400 wounded and 878 missing.

Japanese losses were several times higher – 4,951 bodies have been buried – but the defenders were fighting with increased tenacity.

New gains were reported in the center of the battle line and on the eastern flank as U.S. forces pushed through extremely difficult terrain.

From Saipan’s D-Day, June 14, through last Wednesday, U.S. losses far exceeded the bitter Tarawa fight or the six-month Guadalcanal campaign.

The Marine assault force, as at Tarawa, bore the heaviest loss on Saipan: 1,289 killed in action, 6,377 wounded and 827 missing.

The Army toll: 185 dead, 1,023 missing and 15 missing.

Tarawa – until now the costliest victory in Marine Corps history – claimed 1,026 dead and 2,557 wounded. Guadalcanal totaled 3,767.

Harris: Casualty figures run high as Japs fight fanatically

By Morris J. Harris

Washington (AP) –
The heavy U.S. casualties in the battle for Saipan Island reflect in chilling fashion the grim hand-clenched resolve of the Japanese to defend their empire.

Nine thousand seven hundred and fifty-two Americans killed, wounded and missing in two weeks’ fighting for but one half of that small but highly important island of the Marianas 1,500 miles from Tokyo is heavy going. But the Japanese said long ago that would be the case, and they say the price in American lives will be still heavier if we continue, determined to fight our way into Tokyo Bay.

In the eyes of the Japanese military, this is the first war for the United States in which we will have to expend our lives until it really hurts on a national scale. I spent three months in the hands of the Nippon warlords after Pearl Harbor and they told me so. “This is the first war for you Americans in which you are really going to have to put out,” was the way they put it.

The scene was a Japanese military prison in Shanghai a few months after Pearl Harbor. The tide of Japanese success was at its peak. I was a prisoner of war and my captors were confident and filled with hate for America.

The move for the first repatriation of Americans from Japanese hands was then taking form. They asked me if I would like to return home via the refugee steamer Gripsholm. I had learned to be cautious of what I said to them, but I indicated I would.

“Oh, you needn’t worry about getting away on the Gripsholm, we will fly you to San Francisco pretty spoon on a Japanese bomber,” was their reply, which revealed in stark reality their conviction that they would win.

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Japanese change fighting tactics

Display new strategy by resistance on Saipan

Washington (AP) –
The Japanese seem to have decided to fight harder – to have abandoned the tactics used in some instances of withdrawing from island bases with only minor resistance, or no resistance at all.

This is demonstrated emphatically in the disclosure by Adm. Chester W. Nimitz, Pacific Fleet Commander-in-Chief, that 9,752 U.S. troops have become casualties of war as a result of the enemy stand on Saipan.

And less than half of that 72-square-mile island in the Western Pacific Marianas groups is in American hands. Fighting – hard fighting – continues through the sugarcane fields and along the rolling hills of Saipan.

It is to the north that some even harder fighting may come than that already encountered by the 1,475 men who have died, 7,400 wounded and 878 missing in the battle for the island.

The Japanese have held Saipan for many years. In that time, they have prepared emplacements and defense positions that will be hard to take.

They can be expected to fight to the last. To lose the island – as they ultimately will – opens the Philippines, and more important, the Japanese homeland to attack by bombers based in the Marianas.

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U.S. Navy Department (July 2, 1944)

CINCPAC Communiqué No. 69

Marine and Army troops on Saipan Island have made small gains in the central sector, and on the right side of our lines advance patrols have forged ahead distances up to a mile. To June 30 (West Longitude Date), eighty enemy tanks have been destroyed or captured. Our troops have buried 6,015 enemy dead and have taken more than 200 prisoners of war.

Seventy tons of bombs were dropped on Truk Atoll by Liberators of the 7th Army Air Force on June 29. Several airborne enemy fighters made ineffective attempts to intercept our force. Meager anti-aircraft fire was encountered. On the same day Army, Navy, and Marine aircraft bombed Ponape and Nauru Islands and remaining enemy objectives in the Marshall Islands.

CINCPAC Communiqué No. 70

The 2nd and 4th Marine Divisions and the 27th Infantry Division have made gains ranging from 500 yards to a mile along their entire front on Saipan Island. The advance was made during July 1 (West Longitude Date) with the close support of aircraft, artillery, and naval gunfire. On the right flank, our troops are within 5½ miles of the northern tip of the island. On the left flank, our forces have penetrated further into Garapan, and have seized the heights overlooking the town and Tanapag Harbor. In the center, we have occupied the mountain village of Charan Tabute. Large quantities of enemy equipment, including food and ammunition, have fallen into our hands.

Before dawn, on July 1, several enemy aircraft attempted to attack our transports and screening vessels. These attacks did no damage. Two enemy aircraft were shot down.

Liberators of the 7th Army Air Force attacked Truk Atoll on the night of June 30‑July 1. Moderate anti-aircraft fire was encountered. Several enemy fighters made an ineffective attempt to attack our force. Army, Navy and Marine aircraft continued attacks against enemy positions in the Marshall islands on June 30. A Dauntless dive bomber of the 4th Marine Aircraft Wing was forced to land in the water near Maloelap Atoll, and the pilot VMS rescued by a Catalina search plane of Group One, Fleet Air Wing Two.

CINCPAC Press Release No. 465

For Immediate Release
July 2, 1944

The principal components of the expeditionary troops now fighting on Saipan consist of the 2nd Marine Division, the 4th Marine Division and the 27th Infantry Division, USA.

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The Brooklyn Eagle (July 2, 1944)

27th Division men fight on Saipan

Washington (UP) –
The Navy revealed that U.S. troops fighting the bloody battle for Saipan comprised the veteran Marine 2nd and 4th Divisions and the Army 27th Infantry Divisions.

The hard-fighting expeditionary force identified for the first time in a curt Pacific Fleet headquarters press release, has taken approximately half the Japanese-held island at a cost of more than 9,000 casualties – the highest toll yet paid by U.S. forces in the Pacific.

The 27th or New York Division of Army foot soldiers was mobilized in 1940 when the New York National Guard was mustered into federal service and was subsequently sent to the Pacific Theater.

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Yanks gain on Saipan despite death stand by Japs

Blast enemy from caves on island
By William F. Tyree

Pearl Harbor, Hawaii (UP) – (July 1)
Tired and dirty Marines and Army troops carrying on the bloody business of wiping out the stubborn Japanese defenders of Saipan Island, made new small gains Thursday and eliminated several pockets of resistance while carrier-based planes bombed Rota again, Adm. Chester W. Nimitz announced today.

U.S. planes, possibly flying from Isely Field on Saipan, and naval surface units meanwhile continued to pound Japanese gun positions on nearby Tinian Island as the bitter battle continued for control of the major Mariana Island.

Nimitz’s Pacific Fleet headquarters communiqué said that the Marines and soldiers, fighting in sultry tropical heat, made small gains in the central sector and consolidated their positions.

Several pockets of resistance bypassed in previous advances were wiped out.

But the matter-of-fact language of the communiqué failed to tell the story of the grim fighting in which front dispatches indicate that every Japanese must be personally accounted for. The enemy has dug into caves in the rugged Mount Tapochau area in a death stand against the advancing Americans, who must blast the Japs from each hole as they press forward.

Rembert James, representing the combined Allied press, reported from a flagship off Saipan today that the hardest battle of the Pacific War was moving toward its climax as the Americans pushed ahead to a new line on ridges above the enemy capital city of Garapan.

The grim struggle for Saipan has already cost the lives of 1,474 Americans and at least 4,951 Japanese.

The U.S. line now runs across the center of Saipan from Garapan Town and north of Mount Tapochau.

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Völkischer Beobachter (July 3, 1944)

US-Kreuzer torpediert

Eine direkten Torpedotreffer auf einen großen nordamerikanischen Kreuzer, der sich in den Marianen-gewässern befand, erzielten japanische Flieger am Morgen des 29. Juni. Der Kreuzer wurde schwer beschädigt.

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The Free Lance-Star (July 3, 1944)

Ridge positions taken on Saipan

Big battle imminent as Americans push advance

USPACFLT HQ, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii (AP) –
Grim Americans held strategic new ridge positions today above the town of Garapan and nearby Tanapag Harbor, on the northwestern coastal stretch of Saipan which may center a now-imminent showdown battle.

Gains of from 500 yards to a mile were made along the entire front Saturday, Adm. Chester W. Nimitz announced, bringing about 60 percent of Saipan under U.S. control. Garapan was surrounded on three sides. U.S. units on the east coast were five and a half miles from the island’s northern tip, where the Japanese have an airdrome at Marpi Point.

Earlier, Nimitz reported the burial of 6,015 Japanese dead, the capture of more than 200 prisoners, destruction or capture of 80 tanks, from June 14 through June 29.

Howard Handleman, representing the combined Allied press, said the Americans expected to meet large Japanese forces soon in a decisive battle somewhere near northern Garapan and Tanapag Harbor, which begins its upward swing a short distance beyond the town.

Saturday’s attack was made under aerial, naval and artillery bombardment. It was proceeded by a pre-dawn Japanese aerial thrust at transports and screening vessels, which was repulsed with “no damage.” Two of several Nipponese planes were shot down during this tenth Japanese aerial counterattack in the Saipan campaign.

Yanks storming heights east of Garapan added a third side to encirclement of that former capital; surrounded previously by land forces on the south and naval units on the west.

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Worden: Saipan battle like movie when seen from hilltop

By William L. Worden

Mount Tapochau, Saipan, Mariana Islands (AP via Navy radio) – (July 1, delayed)
From this mountain, the battle for Saipan, grinding into its third week, is like watching war on a vast movie screen.

Tanks lead painfully slow infantry assaults on the few remaining pockets of resistance south of the east-west line at Garapan’s southern edge.

Looking down today, it is possible to see on the island’s eastern shore the whole battle in miniature, with points of the American attack pushing northward through groves, across fields and around the shoulders of craggy hills.

Below the mountain top, Marines and soldier bivouac in a shelter of ruined barns and set up command posts behind rocks. They move solely across open spaces behind such concentrations of artillery fire as already have driven the Japanese from defense positions in more than half the island.

To look down on the battle is an awesome and at the same time a disappointing experience. You can see Americans everywhere below. You see some of them fall and not get up. You see bursts of shells and watch them tear down houses and barns. You see spurts from flamethrowers run along the ground searching trees and enemy soldiers. You see wounded coming back in laboring ambulances.

Behind you in the hills, artillery rattles and slams and shells whisper overhead.

Now and then, you can see civilians riding in trucks or walking.

But two things are missing to make the scene complete. The first is the odor of death. This makes it all the more like viewing motion pictures of war.

The second missing factor is live Japs. Enemy guns now and then answer our artillery. One knocks out a jeep on the road just below us with a single salvo. Another works up and down the highway hunting but not finding the huge vehicle park we can clearly see.

Others work in the woods against flamethrowers. Machine guns answer tanks, grenades meet foot soldiers but no Jap shows his head. In all-day watching by a half a dozen correspondents only two reporters saw any Japs at all those were running from an American charge up a hill.

With glasses, it is possible now and then to see a Japanese vehicle far to the rear.

Our casualties are high and the movement forward and below is bitterly slow. But from the mountain top, it seems to be war on a movie screen.

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U.S. Navy Department (July 4, 1944)

CINCPAC Communiqué No. 71

Garapan and Tanapag Towns on Saipan Island have been captured by our forces in a general advance along the entire front. Our line now extends inland from Tanapag on the west coast of the island, skirts the mountain village of Atchugau in the center, and is anchored on the east coast at a point within four miles of Inagsa Point at the northeast tip of Saipan. During the night of July 2‑3 (West Longitude Date), a small force of Japanese attacked our lines from the rear. Twenty‑five enemy troops were killed. We suffered no losses. Our troops have buried 7,312 enemy dead.

Carrier aircraft of a fast carrier task group attacked Iwo Jima Island on July 2 (West Longitude Date). Thirty‑nine enemy fighters which attempted to intercept our force were shot down, and 16 were probably shot down. Incomplete reports indicate 24 enemy aircraft were destroyed or damaged on the ground. Two small vessels were strafed, and bomb hits were obtained on a fuel dump.

Rota Island was bombed by carrier aircraft and shelled by light naval surface units on July 2. Runways and revetments were hit. A huge explosion was caused by a hit apparently in an ammunition dump.

Liberators of the 7th Army Air Force bombed Truk Atoll during daylight on July 1 and at night on July 2. In the attack on July 1, seven enemy fighters intercepted our force. Four enemy aircraft and two Liberators were damaged. All our planes returned. No effective opposition was encountered on July 2. Dauntless dive bombers and Corsair fighters of the 4th Marine Aircraft Wing attacked enemy positions in the Marshall Islands on July 1 and 2.

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The Evening Star (July 4, 1944)

U.S. troops invade Noemfoor and seize principal airfield

Landing represents 100-mile advance toward Philippines

Double threat to Philippines

sn83045462 1944-07-04 1 4 image 681x648 from 857x100 to 3422x2543
Solid arrows point to Noemfoor Island, off New Guinea, and Saipan, in the Marianas, where U.S. troops are fighting for strategic bases. The landing on Noemfoor was announced last night. Open arrows with distance indicators show how these advances form a double threat to the Jap-held Philippines. (AP)

Advanced Allied HQ, New Guinea (AP) –
U.S. troops have invaded Noemfoor Island off Dutch New Guinea and seized its principal airdrome in a 100-mile swoop toward the Philippines.

Headquarters announced today that units of the 6th Army, under Lt. Gen. Walter Krueger, landed on Noemfoor’s western coast at 8:00 a.m. Sunday.

Within two hours, the green-clad infantrymen overcame light enemy opposition and captured Kamiri Airstrip, a 5,000-foot landing field badly cratered by Allied bombs. The troops found 30 Japanese airplanes there, most of them damaged beyond repair.

At last reports, the invaders were pushing toward the island’s two remaining airdromes, one of them three miles away.

Murlin Spencer, Associated Press correspondent, said U.S. casualties were among the smallest suffered in any landing operation in the Southwest Pacific. Only 45 Japanese dead were counted in the first few hours of fighting.

Noemfoor is 1,400 miles southwest of the Marianas, where other U.S. soldiers and two divisions of Marines have taken almost two-thirds of Saipan Island and have killed more than 6,000 Japanese at a cost of more than 2,200 American dead or missing – the heaviest casualties of the Pacific War.

The Americans have surrounded Saipan’s principal city, Garapan, on three sides, and have squeezed the remaining Japanese defenders into the narrow northern end of the island.

There was no Pearl Harbor communiqué for the 24-hour period of July 3, Honolulu Time, indicating that the situation on Saipan had not changed considerably.

Gen, Douglas MacArthur, in an Independence Day communiqué referring to the Noemfoor operation, said:

Our forces landed with practically no loss, either ground, naval or air, and promptly secured the airfield, our main objective, without a struggle.

The seizure of this base will give added breadth and depth to our air deployment and will further dislocate the enemy’s South Seas defenses already seriously shaken by our previous advances.

Noemfoor, 100 miles west of the U.S.-occupied Schouten Islands where two airfields are already in operation, is only 50 miles from Manokwari, strongest remaining Japanese base in Dutch New Guinea. Guarding the entrance to Geelvink Bay, it is closer to the Philippines than either to Darwin, Australia, or Port Moresby, New Guinea. Timor, Celebes, Davao, Yap and Palau are all less than 1,000 miles away.

A dispatch filed yesterday from the flagship said that with the 2nd Marines holding the surrounding hills and advancing steadily in the center and northern part of the city, the fall of Garapan is imminent.

In the face of an American thrust, Japanese troops were declared rapidly abandoning the city and fleeing northward. Thousands of Japanese civilians preceded the troops in flight out of the battered and bombed city which was a mass of ruins.

The 27th Infantry Division pushed forward, bringing itself nearly parallel to more advanced positions of the 4th Marines who have made big strides along the eastern coast.

Gen. MacArthur’s headquarters also announced the capture last Friday of Maffin Bay airdrome on the Dutch New Guinea mainland 250 miles east of Noemfoor. Nearby Wake Island airstrip has been in Allied hands for six weeks. The Japanese still hold Sawar Drome near the Maffin Strip, but Allied planes have denied them the use of it.

New raids on Jap bases

New raids on Manokwari, Timor, Palau, Yap, Wewak, Rabaul, Havieng and other Japanese bases in the Southwest Pacific were listed in Gen. MacArthur’s communiqué.

The Noemfoor landing, Gen. MacArthur said, was made “through narrow, difficult coral reefs generally regarded as impractical for such a purpose. As a result, the attack was completely unexpected by the enemy and his defense preparations were outflanked.”

Cruisers and destroyers under the command of RAdm. William F. Fechteler started shelling Noemfoor’s west coast before dawn. Fighters and bombers of the Far Eastern Air Force joined the pre-invasion attack.

There was some Japanese mortar, and artillery fire at first, and enemy anti-aircraft guns were leveled briefly against the warship. By 10:00 a.m., all enemy mortar and artillery fire had been silenced.

Kamiri Drome had been captured, and the push to the other airfields was on.