Battle of Saipan (1944)

45

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.

46

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.

47

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.

48

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.

49

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.

50

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.

51

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.

52

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.

53

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.

54

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.

55

U.S. Navy Department (July 5, 1944)

Remarks by Secretary of the Navy at Press Conference

For Immediate Release
July 5, 1944

You have the news review for this week. I would like to make these further observations:

The Navy’s desire is to present the news of the war so far as naval action is concerned as realistically as is humanly possible. It is desired that news be angled neither optimistically nor pessimistically; any such attempt carries the implication that the people of the country are not able to place proper evaluation upon events of the war. The Navy does not believe that to be the case.

At the conclusion of a recital of news such as has been related today, I am always struck by the fact that the net impression left is a distinctly favorable one; the cumulative effect of such impressions cannot but lead subconsciously to the conclusion that the war is relatively close to being over.

That is not the case. I am saying that as much to myself as to you. What is happening now is that, logistically speaking, we are getting close to the place where we can force the enemy in the Pacific to stand up and fight; but I have no illusions but that the fighting which the enemy will do when he is cornered will be bitter and costly. In battering down the outer rim of Japanese defenses we have been successful, and that work has gone at a somewhat faster pace than had been hoped for. The main battles, however, which will be necessary before Japanese power can be destroyed are still to come. It is likely that these final battles will occur on land, and that means the application of infantry power with all of the accompanying elements of assault over vast areas.

The war in the Pacific goes well, but it is a long war.

56

The Free Lance-Star (July 5, 1944)

U.S. warships and planes blast Jap bases on Fourth

USPACFLT HQ, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii (AP) –
Guns of U.S. warships and rockets of carrier planes shattered Japanese bases on the Fourth of July 700 miles south of Tokyo.

Saipan, on the invasion route to Japan, is seven-eighths in the hands of still advancing U.S. Marines and soldiers.

Noemfoor, on the invasion route to the Philippines, is falling in a lightning operation to infantrymen, reinforced by paratroopers.

The latest task force thrust toward Nippon, aimed at the Volcano (Kazan) and Bonin Islands, resulting in the sinking or beaching of three Jap destroyers, the sinking of two other ships and the destruction in sky battles of 64-80 planes at a cost of nine U.S. carrier aircraft.

These fast-breaking developments along a Western Pacific war front of more than 2,000 miles – from the Bonins to Dutch New Guinea’s Geelvink Bay – were reported in a series of communiqués last night and today.

Reports Guam attack

Tokyo radio added to the flaming action the unconfirmed report that carrier-based U.S. planes raided Guam, south of Saipan, Monday.

The enemy air base of Rota, between Guam and Saipan, was shelled by warships and bombed by carrier planes Sunday.

The Volcano-Bonin attack was a two-day operation which raised to 36 the number of Nipponese ships sunk and to 826 the total of enemy planes destroyed since the Western Pacific offensive opened June 10. U.S. losses for the same period were listed as 160 planes – and four warships damaged, but none sunk.

Adm. Chester W. Nimitz said the Fourth of July attack also left an enemy destroyer dead in the water and burning, damaged several small cargo ships and set fire to harbor installations and warehouses.

Carrier planes opened the operation the day before, blasting Iwo Jima in the Volcano group, shooting down 39 interceptors for certain, probably bagging 16 more and destroying or damaging 24 on the ground. Three raiders were lost.

Second day’s blow

On the second day, cruisers and destroyers moved in to shell Iwo Jima while rocket-firing planes attacked both it and Hahajima in the Bonins. In that attack, 25 enemy planes were downed and six raiders were lost.

On Saipan, invaded June 14, Marine heroes of Tarawa and the Marshalls and infantry veterans of Central Pacific invasions left the worst terrain behind them as they squeezed the Japanese into the northeast corner. More than 7,000 of the enemy have been slain.

In the Southwest Pacific, Gen. Douglas MacArthur’s 6th Army troops which quickly won an airfield on Noemfoor opened a powerhouse push Monday toward a second drome, backed by reinforcements parachuted to the beachhead.

57

Völkischer Beobachter (July 6, 1944)

Der Lage im Pazifik

Tokio, 5. Juli –
Wie das Kaiserlich japanische Hauptquartier zur Gefechtslage auf Saipan meldet, sind die an Zahl weit überlegenen feindlichen Truppen unter Einsatz von Flugzeugen und Schiffsgeschützen mit zahlreichen Panzern in die japanischen Stellungen auf dem nordöstlichen Teil der Insel eingebrochen. Es finden gegenwärtig heftige Kämpfe statt.

Starke feindliche Bomberverbände griffen die 2.000 Kilometer von Tokio entfernt liegenden Ogasawara-(Bonin)-Inseln an. Die Angriffe, die sich vor allem gegen die Inseln Tschitschijima und Iwojima richteten, wurden von Flugzeugen der in der Nähe kreuzenden feindlichen Flugzeugträger ausgeführt. 18 Bomber wurden mit Bestimmtheit abgeschossen.

An dem Angriff gegen die Insel Tschitschijima beteiligten sich auch feindliche Kreuzer und Zerstörer. Schwere Kämpfe mit den Kriegsschiffen sind noch im Gange.

58

U.S. Navy Department (July 6, 1944)

CINCPAC Communiqué No. 73

Reports from a fast carrier task group which attacked Chichijima in the Bonin Islands on July 3 (West Longitude Date) and participated in the attack on Hahajima the same day indicate the following additional damage to the enemy.

A group of several enemy ships located 80 miles northwest of Chichijima was attacked, resulting in the sinking of two destroyer escort type vessels and damage to a medium cargo ship. At Chichijima, the following results were obtained:

One small oiler, one medium ammunition ship and one medium cargo ship, sunk. One minelayer, one trawler and four luggers probably sunk. One large cargo ship, three medium cargo ships, one small cargo ship, two small oilers, one minelayer and one destroyer damaged. Several were beached.

At Hahajima, two small cargo ships and nine luggers were damaged. Buildings and defense installations were bombed at both objectives. Nine enemy aircraft were shot down, and three were damaged on the ground. In these strikes, we lost five pilots and four aircrewmen from seven of our aircraft which failed to return.

Pagan Island in the Marianas was attacked by carrier aircraft on July 4 (West Longitude Date). The runway at the airfield and adjacent buildings were bombed and strafed.

Barracks and supply facilities at Guam Island were bombed by carrier aircraft on July 4, starting large fires. We lost one plane from intense anti­-aircraft fire.

Search planes of Fleet Air Wing Two, Group One, bombed gun positions at Marpi Point on Saipan Island on July 4, strafed the airfields at Tinian Island and bombed defense installations.

Forty tons of bombs were dropped on Truk Atoll by 7th Army Air Force Liberators on July 4, hitting anti-aircraft positions and objectives near the airfield. Five enemy aircraft were in the air but did not attempt to intercept our force. Corsair fighters and Dauntless dive bombers on the 4th Marine Aircraft Wing continued to neutralize enemy positions in the Marshalls on July 4.

59

The Free Lance-Star (July 6, 1944)

Enemy on Saipan make final stand

Nimitz: We’re moving westward rapidly as possible

USPACFLT HQ, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii (AP) –
Impending slaughter of Japanese, massed body to body for a last-ditch stand on Saipan, and the swift seizure of a second enemy airfield 800 miles southeast of the Philippines added emphasis today to a highly significant prediction by Adm. Chester W. Nimitz.

“What we learn on Saipan we will use in assault on other Japanese positions,” he said at a press conference in which he pointed out that Saipan’s larger land mass afforded valuable lessons of future operations.

The admiral assured:

We are moving westward across the Pacific as rapidly as we can. And we continued to view the future with confidence.

Howard Handleman, representing the combined Allied press, reported today from aboard a flagship off Saipan that thousands of Japs, squeezed into the northeastern eighth of the island, awaited the inevitable.

He said:

The Japs, resigned to death and defeat, lay body to body in caves and pillboxes for a final, frantic gesture against Americans they know they can’t halt.

Massed with them were many of the island’s 25,000 Japanese civilians, whose role in the bloody showdown was a source of conjecture.

At Noemfoor in Dutch New Guinea’s Geelvink Bay, where Southwest Pacific ground forces are 1,000 miles closer to the Philippines than they were a year ago, the capture of Kornasoren Airfield was announced today by Gen. Douglas MacArthur.

Paratroops, dropped in force on two successive days, helped win it on the Fourth of July. On Sunday, 6th Army troops opened the invasion of Noemfoor, investing Kamiri Airfield in the first hours. Kornasoren’s advantage over Kamiri is that it can be enlarged into a heavy bomber base from which the Philippines can be pounded.

60

U.S. Navy Department (July 7, 1944)

CINCPAC Communiqué No. 74

Our ground forces on Saipan have continued advancing against strong opposition. On the eastern side of the island our line has reached a point less than two miles from Inagsa Point on the northeast tip of Saipan, and extends laterally across the island to a western anchor slightly more than four miles from Marpi Point on the northwest tip. A force of approximately 200 of the enemy attempted to evacuate from the northwest coast of Saipan in barges on the night of July 4‑5 (West Longitude Date). The formation was broken up by artillery fire. Our troops have buried 8,914 enemy dead.

Aircraft of our fast carrier task force attacked Guam and Rota on July 5 and 6 (West Longitude Date). Airstrips and other ground installations were worked over with bombs, rockets, and machine-gun fire. At Rota one enemy plane was destroyed on the ground, and two were damaged. There was no enemy interception at either objective. We lost two fighters. The pilot of one was rescued.

During July 5, 7th Army Air Force Liberators attacked Moen, in the Truk group, with 30 tons of bombs. On the same day Corsairs and Dauntless dive bombers of Group One, 4th Marine Aircraft Wing attacked Wotje, Jaluit, and Taroa in the Marshall Islands. We lost no planes.

61

The Pittsburgh Press (July 7, 1944)

10,000 Jap civilians warned to surrender to Yanks on Saipan

Enemy remnants bottled up by Americans on northern tip of Marianas Island
By Rembert James, representing combined Allied press

Aboard joint expeditionary force flagship off Saipan (UP) –
U.S. military commanders today designated a road to surrender for the 10,000 to 15,00 civilians still hiding out on Saipan Island, while the victorious Yanks surged forward to deliver the death blow to the battered Jap garrison bottled up at the northern tip of the island.

A single highway was designated as the road to surrender for civilians, almost 7,000 of whom have already been interned.

The rest, including Saipan business owners, insular government officials and white-collar workers with their families, have cowered in hiding places in the hills and canebrakes on northern Saipan.

Pamphlets dropped

By word of mouth, and by pamphlets dropped from airplanes and shot from mortars, the Americans offered water, food and complete safety to those who accept.

Meanwhile, Marines and Army forces pushed in to destroy the remnants of the defending forces under circumstances in which no one could doubt that the end of military operations was in sight.

The Japs were penned into a space extending roughly two miles in each direction except for a slim area from Marpi Point at the northern end down the western coast toward Tanapag Harbor.

Hold only airfield

The Japs had already lost everything of value on Saipan except the Marpi Point airfield, where most of their troops have apparently chosen to die at the base of a sheer cliff 600 feet high.

They still held an entrenched pocket on the west coast, but were under heavy attack by the Army’s 27th Infantry Division troops there, while Marines pushed on northward.

The Americans on the other hand held approximately nine-tenths of the island, including the important Isely Airport (formerly Aslito), the town of Garapan and the harbor of Tanapag, as well as the island’s highest peak – Mt. Tapochau.

62

‘Gung Ho’ Raider chief wounded in Saipan battle

Col. Carlson hit while aiding Marine
By Mac R. Johnson, United Press staff writer

With U.S. Marines, Saipan, Mariana Islands – (July 23, delayed)
Lt. Col. Evans F. Carlson, 48-year-old founder and leader of the famed “Gung Ho” Marine Raiders, was wounded in one leg and one arm by Jap machine-gun bullets on the eighth day of the Saipan campaign and has been evacuated by transport plane.

Col. Carlson’s wounds, received while he tried to help a wounded private to safety, were not serious.

The Marine leader, plans officer for the 4th Marine Division, went to a forward observation post as a frontline observer June 22 while the Marines were assaulting the important Hill 500 on the southeastern slope of Mt. Tapochau, west of Magicienne Bay.

With him were Lt. Col. Justice M. Chambers of Washington, and Pvt. Vito A. Cassaro of Brooklyn, a radio operator.

Hit while aiding private

Japs spotted their observation post and sprayed the area with hundreds of rounds of machine-gun bullets, one of which hit Pvt. Cassaro in the leg.

Col. Carlson picked up the wounded radio operator and attempted to remove him from the area of fire but was hit himself in the leg and arm.

Meanwhile, Marines turned rifles, Browning automatic rifles and machine guns against the enemy positions and Col. Chambers, under cover or the protective fire, removed Col. Carlson.

Spurns help

When stretcher-bearers appeared on the scene, they attempted to get Col. Carlson out first, but the Raider chief turned down the offer on his prerogative as the ranking officer and refused to be removed, saying: “Vic Cassaro was wounded first. Take him back first.”

Col. Carlson organized his “Gung Ho” Raiders in San Diego, California, living up to the slogan which means work in harmony. Officers and men exchanged ideas at weekly meetings in which enlisted men had as much right of expression as their officers.

He led the Makin raid in August 1942, with then Lt. Col. Jimmy Roosevelt as second in command. His raiders killed all but two of Makin’s Japs in a 36-hour fight.

Fought on Guam

Another achievement of the hardened Marine leader was 20 days spent behind Jap lines on Guadalcanal, living off the land and captured stores while the raiders killed 500 of the enemy and gained valuable information.

An inspiration leader, Col. Carlson never took cover when he led his men through Jap snipers, defensive positions and machine-gun nests. He can be called the most beloved officer by the enlisted men of the Marine Corps.

Col. Carlson wears three Navy Crosses, a Purple Heart from a previous wound and two Presidential Unit Citation ribbons.

63

U.S. Navy Department (July 8, 1944)

CINCPAC Communiqué No. 75

Before dawn on July 6 (West Longitude Date), several thousand Japanese troops launched a desperate counterattack directed against the left flank of our line on Saipan Island. In this attack, our lines along the western shore were penetrated up to 2,000 yards, and the enemy reached the outskirts of Tanapag Town. The counterattack was halted before noon, and our troops began to push the enemy back. In this assault, the fighting was very severe and numerous casualties were incurred. It is estimated 1,500 Japanese troops were killed. Meanwhile, on the right flank, our forces continued their advance and are now a little more than a mile from the airfield at Marpi Point.

Small groups of enemy planes raided our positions on Saipan before dawn on July 6 and on the night of July 6‑7. Bombs were also dropped near some of our ships but did no damage. One enemy plane was shot down. Isely Field on Saipan was shelled by shore batteries on Tinian Island before dawn on July 6, but the enemy batteries were quickly silenced by destroyer and artillery fire.

Supplementing Communiqué No. 72, it has been determined that 32 enemy aircraft were destroyed and 96 damaged on the ground by our carrier aircraft in attacks on Chichijima and Hahajima on July 3.

Nineteen of the aircraft destroyed and 34 of those damaged were two-engine bombers.

Some of this total may have been damaged in previous strikes by our aircraft.

Liberators of the 7th Army Air Force dropped 43 tons of bombs at the Dublon Island Naval Base in Truk Atoll on July 6. Five of approximately 12 enemy fighters which attempted to intercept our force were shot down. Three of our aircraft received minor damage.

Nauru Island was bombed by Liberator and Mitchell bombers of the 7th Army Air Force on July 6. Incendiary bombs started fires visible for 30 miles.

Dauntless dive bombers and Corsair fighters of the 4th Marine Aircraft Wing attacked Wotje and Maloelap Atolls on July 6, bombing and strafing remaining enemy defense installations.

64

The Pittsburgh Press (July 8, 1944)

Jap force pinned in Saipan pocket

Enemy squeezed in 6-square-mile area
By William F. Tyree, United Press staff writer

Pearl Harbor, Hawaii –
U.S. Marines and Army troops continued their drive today against the Japs squeezed into a six-square-mile area on the northern edge of Saipan, where the enemy defenses were cut off from escape or rescue.

Artillery along the American line across the island was trained on the northern coast, behind the Jap rear. It has already frustrated one enemy attempt to evacuate some of its forces from Saipan.

A communiqué from Adm. Chester W. Nimitz said that about 200 Japs tried to flee the island Tuesday night but either were killed, drowned or swam ashore when artillery shattered their barges.

8,914 Japs buried

Adm. Nimitz also reported that a total of 8,914 Japs had been buried by the Americans, or nearly half the estimated enemy forces on Saipan when it was invaded.

In the campaign to neutralize Japan’s other defenses in the Marianas, carried-based planes raided he airstrips and ground installations on Rota and Guam, south of Saipan, Wednesday and Thursday.

A Tokyo radio broadcast said 60 U.S. bombers and fighters also raided Guam yesterday.

Two U.S. planes lost

The Japs on the two islands failed to put up aerial opposition, but two U.S. planes were lost, apparently to anti-aircraft fire.

Army Liberators raided Truk Atoll; in the Carolines Wednesday, hitting Moen Island with 32 tons of bombs, while other bombers and fighters attacked Wotje, Jaluit and Taroa in the Marshalls, all without loss.