Battle of Saipan (1944)

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The Free Lance-Star (June 15, 1944)

Japs claim Yanks landing on Saipan

No confirmation given by U.S. task force roving in area; islands shelled

London, England (AP) –
A powerful U.S. task force, which has been harassing Japanese strongholds in the Mariana Islands since last Saturday, is now attempting to land troops on Saipan Island, the Tokyo radio declared today – a daring operation which, if successful, would give the United States an ocean base within 1,500 miles of Tokyo.

The OWI said a Japanese Imperial Headquarters communiqué announced that a landing attempt was also being made at Tinian Island in the Marianas and that “heavy fighting is in progress between Japanese units and enemy forces.”

While there was no immediate confirmation of the reported landing operation, Adm. Chester W. Nimitz disclosed yesterday in his latest communiqué that the U.S. task force was still operating off the Marianas Tuesday.

It was conceivable that the force – already credited with inflicting grievous losses on Japanese shipping and airpower – might still be operating in that area.

Ambitious venture

The first reports of U.S. offensive operations in the past have come from the Japanese on more than one occasion.

An attempt to land in the Marianas would be the most ambitious venture yet undertaken by U.S. forces in their leapfrogging progress in the Pacific, during which they have moved steadily closer to the Japanese home islands in recent months with the capture of bases in the Gilberts and Marshalls.

The landing attempt followed a series of raids carried out against Saipan and other Japanese bases in the Mariana area by a powerful Allied task force, said the broadcast.

Today’s broadcast said that attempted landings were made from a force of 20 transports which appeared off Saipan about 6:30 a.m. (local time).

About 70 landing barges and 20 or more special craft were employed in the actual landing operations, Tokyo said.

Task force assault is most sustained

USPACFLT HQ, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii (AP) –
The most sustained task force assault of the Pacific War by bombarding battleships, cruisers and destroyers and by repeated waves of carrier planes focused attention today on the Japanese-held Mariana Islands, including the former U.S. outpost of Guam.

The Marianas were the fiery core of action ranging along more than 3,000 miles from the Kurils, where another task force shelled the enemy within 500 miles of Japan, south of Palau, gateway to the Philippines.

The latest reports:

  • Extended through the fourth straight day the shelling and bombing attack on the Marianas, 1,500 miles southeast of Tokyo.

  • Disclosed a two-day task force raid on Kurils bases 1,060 miles northeast of Tokyo.

  • Made clear that Central and Southwest Pacific bombers are ganging up on Truk and Southwest Pacific planes are hammering steadily at Palau in order to prevent those two Carolines naval and air bases from interfering with the Marianas operation.

Adm. Chester W. Nimitz, in his third communiqué this week on the Marianas, said that warships, including big battlewagons, opened up their guns on Tinian and Saipan Monday and that carrier planes Tuesday prolonged the attacks they began Saturday. He gave no inkling that the operation has ended.

The warships, which had to sail more than 500 miles west of Truk and more than 1,000 miles beyond their nearest big base at Kwajalein lagoon in the Marshalls, started fires with their shells at Tanapag Harbor, the town of Garapan and the sugar mill center of Charan Kanoa on Saipan.

The communiqué said:

Our ships suffered no damage.

Also on Monday, planes from the flattops spread their attack 175 miles north of Saipan to Pagan Island where three enemy planes were downed, bringing the four-day toll to at least 144. The sinking of 13 Japanese ships, including four warships, and damaging 16 others was previously announced.

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U.S. Navy Department (June 16, 1944)

CINCPAC Communiqué No. 52

U.S. assault troops are engaged in bitter fighting against defend­ing forces on Saipan Island.

On June 14 (West Longitude Date) and during the night of June 14‑15, our troops were withdrawn a short distance toward the beach in some sectors in the face of intense mortar and artillery fire. Positions were consolidated and during the night our naval forces carried out a heavy bombardment of enemy strongpoints.

On the morning of June 15, enemy resistance in the strongly held sector north of Charan Kanoa was broken. At midday a major element of our forces commenced an attack which advanced our line nearly one-half mile in the southern sector of the island. Lesser advances were made in other sectors.

Our assumption that Saipan Island would be strongly held because of its strategic location in the Japanese defensive system has been proven correct. Preliminary estimates indicate there are upwards of two divisions of enemy troops defending Saipan.

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The Free Lance-Star (June 16, 1944)

Yanks advancing on Saipan Island

Push against Japanese tanks, artillery and soldiers; Navy gives cover

USPACFLT HQ, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii (AP) –
U.S. troops, landed by the most experienced invasion fleet in the world, advanced against Japanese tanks, artillery and soldiers today 1,500 miles southeast of Tokyo at Saipan in the Marianas – potential base for the B-29s which raided Japan Thursday.

Covered by battleship guns and rocket-firing carrier planes, the Yanks secured beachheads Wednesday, moving in from behind Saipan, 72-square-mile island 3,800 miles southwest of Pearl Harbor, the starting point of the war.

They captured Agingan Point, a headland on the southwest coast. They battled two miles north across cane fields to the sugar mill community of Charan Kanoa. They were placed in reports covering action through Thursday within five miles of Garapan, Saipan’s major town of 10,000 population.

Supported by shells of offshore warships and bombs of planes from aircraft carriers, they beat off a series of stiff counterattacks by Japanese tanks.

Strongly defended

“In general, fighting is heavy but good progress is being made against well-organized defenses,” Adm. Chester W. Nimitz announced last night in his second communiqué on the operation. He first announced the invasion, but supplied no confirmation of a Tokyo radio report that an attempt had also been made to invade nearby Tinian.

Battleships and cruisers, opening up with their guns after carrier planes knocked out Japan’s Southern Marianas Air Force Saturday and Sunday, silenced most of the Saipan coastal batteries and anti-aircraft positions.

Shells of the warships and rockets fired by planes and infantry landing craft effectively curtained the troops moving ashore.

“Initial reports indicate our casualties are moderate,” Adm. Nimitz said. Tokyo radio claimed, without confirmation, the invaders sustained 1,800 casualties and lost 40 landing barges.

Suitable for bombers

Saipan is relatively flat, adaptable for the Superfortresses which loosed their destruction Thursday on Japan’s industrial areas. But the same flatness prompted the invasion commander, VAdm. Richard Kelly Turner, to expect opposition for the first time in the Pacific amphibious campaign by mobile artillery. He warned that lightning victories in the Marshalls may not be duplicated at Saipan.

Saipan’s invaders leapfrogged 1,100 miles west of Nimitz’s previous forward base in the Marshalls.

They also sailed more than 600 miles past Truk, air and naval base fortified for a quarter of a century by Japan – and now bypassed.

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U.S. Navy Department (June 17, 1944)

CINCPAC Communiqué No. 53

U.S. Marines supported by elements of an Army infantry divi­sion have improved their positions on Saipan Island, and are driving forward toward Aslito Airdrome. Harassment of our beachheads by enemy mortar fire has been considerably reduced.

On the night of June 14 (West Longitude Date), enemy torpedo planes launched an attack against our carrier force, but were repulsed without damage to our ships.

Our heavy surface units bombarded Guam Island on June 15.

Liberators of the 11th Army Air Force bombed Matsuwa, Paramu­shiru and Shimushiru on June 14. Five enemy aircraft were airborne near Matsuwa but only one attempted to attack our force, and did no damage. Fourteen enemy fighters appeared over Paramushiru and several made attacks causing damage to one of our planes. One enemy fighter was probably shot down and an enemy medium bomber was damaged. Ventura search planes of Fleet Air Wing Four also bombed Paramushiru and Shumushu on June 14. Fifteen enemy fighters attacked our force, causing minor damage to several of our aircraft. Shimushiru was again attacked by 11th Army Air Force Liberators on June 15.

Army, Navy and Marine aircraft of Central Pacific Air Forces bombed objectives in the Marshall Islands and Eastern Caroline Islands on June 13 and 15 (West Longitude Date).

CINCPAC Communiqué No. 54

U.S. Marines and Army troops advancing east across the south­ern portion of Saipan Island, made gains averaging 1,500 yards during the night of June 15‑16 and on June 16 (West Longitude Date). The area now held by our forces extends from a point just south of Garapan for a distance of approximately five and a half miles to Agingan and extends inland two miles at the point of deepest penetration. Our forces have captured Hinashisu due east of Lake Susupe.

Our positions were under sustained enemy fire during the night of June 15‑16, and before dawn on June 16 the enemy launched a determined counter­attack. This attack, which was broken up, cost the enemy heavily in lives and destroyed more than 25 enemy tanks.

Early in the morning of June 16, our troops launched the offensive which resulted in general advances. Some of our forward echelons penetrated the naval air base at Aslito Airdrome, but were later withdrawn under severe enemy fire.

During the action on June 16, our aircraft bombed and strafed enemy positions, and during the night of June 15‑16, enemy strongpoints were shelled by our ships.

On June 15, one of our destroyer transports encountered five enemy coastal cargo ships and sank them. Twenty‑nine survivors were rescued and made prisoners of war.

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The Free Lance-Star (June 17, 1944)

Yanks drive ahead in Saipan invasion

Street fighting in progress in town; task force hits Bonin and Kazan

USPACFLT HQ, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii (AP) –
Grimly fighting Yank invaders, after street-by-street seizure of a coastal town and captured of its airstrip, punched slowly inland today on Saipan in the Marianas – unlocking bombed Japan’s inner defense perimeter.

Official sources also disclosed that a task force had made the war’s first attack on the Bonin and Kazan Islands, destroying 47 planes, sinking two ships and damaging 10. This completed the dramatic picture of a grand-scale air and naval operation which smashed Japan’s steel industry and every base for 3,000 miles along a defense line from Paramushiru to Palau. The Bonins were the last link.

The first eyewitness reports from Saipan, where U.S. forces which landed Wednesday along a two-mile beachhead have won the town of Charan Kanoa, supported official accounts of a bitter battle.

Civilians evacuated

After the intense battleship bombardment and the 100-ton bombing by carrier planes had forced the Japs back from the beaches, the Yanks landed on both sides of Charan Kanoa on Saipan’s southwest coast, 1,500 miles from Tokyo. The enemy evacuated Charan Kanoa’s 3,000 civilians, but Richard W. Johnston, representing combined Allied press, said they left behind a strong rearguard which had to be “cleaned out in the first Pacific fighting comparable to Europe’s house-to-house encounters.”

Summarizing the situation, he reported the Charan Kanoa Airstrip has been won but still is under enemy mortar fire; on the south end of the beachhead, Yanks opened “a powerful attack today which carried them close to the Aslito Airdrome;” on the north end, less than five miles below Garapan, that main town of Saipan was subjected to daylong American artillery fire.

No air opposition

Johnston wrote:

Thanks to the preparatory strikes against dozens of Japanese bases in the Carolines, Nippon was unable to send aloft a single plane to interfere with landing operations.

Adm. Chester W. Nimitz announced last night that the Yanks recoiled from an earlier reverse to score their hard-won success at Charan Kanoa. Then he added this cautious note:

Our assumption that Saipan Island would be strongly held because of its strategic location in the Japanese defense system has been proven correct. Preliminary estimates indicate there are upwards of two divisions of enemy troops defending Saipan.

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U.S. Navy Department (June 18, 1944)

CINCPAC Communiqué No. 55

In the early morning of June 17 (West Longitude Date), the enemy launched an amphibious counterattack against our forces on Saipan. A group of troop‑carrying barges attempted a landing south of Garapan, but were re­pulsed by our armed landing craft. Thirteen enemy barges were sunk.

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The Brooklyn Eagle (June 18, 1944)

Marines, Army troops near Saipan airfield

Battle 20,000 veteran Japanese on island – strong U.S. naval force bombards Guam
By William F. Tyree

Pearl Harbor, Hawaii (UP) – (June 17)
U.S. Marines and Army doughboys, battling across the cane fields of Saipan against veteran Japanese divisions, have improved their positions and are driving toward Aslito Airfield, only four hours’ flying time from Tokyo, Adm. Chester W. Nimitz today.

While the Leathernecks and Army troops moved forward against 20,000 to 30,000 enemy troops defending the island, battleships and cruisers of one of Adm. Nimitz’s great naval task forces bombarded Guam, the Japanese-held American island 111 miles to the south.

U.S. aircraft carriers at the same time repulsed a Japanese torpedo attack in the spreading battle of the Marianas. No damage was caused to U.S. ships in this enemy raid.

Marines, Doughboys attack together

For the first time, Nimitz disclosed that leathernecks and doughboys had stormed the beaches together. The invasion forces were described in frontline dispatches as “veteran Jap fighters.” Nimitz formally referred to them as “U.S. Marines and elements of an Army division.”

The invaders were now firmly established on Saipan after a bitter opening seesaw battle.

Aslito Airfield is two miles east of Agingan Point at the extreme southern end of Saipan. The field obviously was one of the primary objectives of the drive and the communiqué indicated that assault waves were fighting their way toward the 3,600-foot runway.

New blows at Kurils

New aerial attacks were delivered against the Kurile Islands north of Japan. Eleventh Army Air Force Liberators bombed Matsuwa, Paramushiru and Shimushiru Wednesday.

Heavy naval surface units, some of which had been laying down a protective barrage on Saipan, turned their attention to Guam, shelling the island where the U.S. Navy and Pan American Airways maintained a peacetime station. Guam was the first American territory to fall to the Japanese.

Frontline dispatches indicated our beachhead on Saipan spread over a two-mile front on either side of Charan Kanoa, a sugar mill town, captured by the Americans in street-to-street fighting. Other forces consolidated their positions below the capital city of Garapan.

In another communiqué, the Pacific Fleet Commander-in-Chief announced that a big U.S. carrier task force thrust within 615 miles of the Japanese capital Wednesday to blast the Bonin and Volcano Islands, midway to the Marianas, in support of the invasion forces.

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U.S. Navy Department (June 18, 1944)

CINCPAC Communiqué No. 56

Our assault troops on Saipan Island have captured Aslito Airdrome and have driven eastward across the island to Magicienne Bay, where we hold the western shore. Two pockets of enemy resistance remain east of Lake Susupe. The enemy continues to counterattack, but all attacks have been suc­cessfully repulsed.

Seabees are at work on the airstrips at Aslito Airdrome.

On June 18 (West Longitude Date), our carrier task force providing cover and support for our amphibious force was subjected to a severe aerial attack which continued for several hours.

The attack was successfully repulsed by our carrier aircraft and anti-air­craft fire. Information presently available indicates that only one of our surface units was damaged, and this damage was minor.

It is believed a portion of the enemy planes were carrier‑based, and used nearby shore bases as shuttle points. However, the effectiveness of this pro­cedure was sharply limited by our systematic bombing and strafing of the airfields at Guam and Rota.

It is estimated that more than 300 enemy aircraft were destroyed by our forces during this engagement. No estimate is yet available of our own air­craft losses.

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The Free Lance-Star (June 19, 1944)

Japs repulsed in assault on Saipan

Powerful blows being struck over wide area of South Pacific

USPACFLT HQ, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii (AP) –
U.S. soldiers and Marines, fighting their way through hot cane fields halfway across Saipan Island in the Marianas after repelling Japanese assaults by tanks and by landing craft, drove down toward the island’s principal harbor and naval base at Magicienne Bay today.

Slightly more than 100 miles southward, U.S. warships bombarded Guam heavily for the first time in the war. Adm. Chester W. Nimitz, in announcing that this former American base had been shelled last Thursday, gave no indication as to whether an invasion was in prospect.

Fifteen hundred miles to the south, just below the equator, Mitchell medium bombers and escorting P-38 fighters temporarily neutralized Japan’s last remaining effective air base in New Guinea. They destroyed 50 enemy planes at Sorong and sank five enemy merchantmen and half a dozen smaller vessels.

Nimitz also announced that Army Liberators and Navy Venturas bombed Matsuwa, Paramushiru, Shimushiru and Shumushu Islands in the Kuril chain Wednesday and Thursday and shot down one of 34 intercepting planes.

Hit other islands

Radio Tokyo reported that hundreds of bombers and fighters attacked two islands in the Kazan group, 750 miles northwest of Saipan, Friday. U.S. planes raided the Kazan and Bonin Islands for the first time on Wednesday, destroying 47 Japanese planes and sinking or damaging more than a dozen ships or small watercraft.

The Saipan beachhead established by Marines, with the support of Army infantry units, at last reports extended from Agingan Point on the southwestern tip, where the Americans landed last Wednesday, five and a half miles up the west coast almost to Garapan, the island’s largest town.

Japanese units strongly counterattacked with tanks before dawn Friday, after the Yanks had pushed north and east for two miles and captured the coastal village and airstrip of Charan Kanoa and the inland town of Hinashisu, more than halfway across the island.

Holding staunchly, the Americans forced the enemy back, inflicting heavy casualties and knocking out 25 Nipponese tanks.

Early Saturday, the Japanese attempted new tactics, a landing assault south of Garapan.

Troop barges sunk

Headquarters said the attempt was smashed and 13 troop-laden enemy barges destroyed. There was no indication whether the barges came from Saipan (where an estimated 30,000 Japanese are entrenched) or from Tinian Island three miles to the south.

U.S. warships shelled the island in support of the invasion. The fighting line at last reports skirted the western edge of the 3,600-foot Aslito Airstrip and was less than three miles from Magicienne Bay on the east coast.

Among the warships protecting the U.S. force on Saipan was a World War I destroyer converted into a destroyer transport. Nimitz said this warship, unaided, sank five enemy coastal freighters. Twenty-nine survivors were captured.

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U.S. Navy Department (June 20, 1944)

CINCPAC Communiqué No. 57

U.S. Marines and Army infantrymen are continuing to advance on Saipan Island closely supported by aircraft bombing by Army and Marine artillery and naval gunfire against severe enemy artillery fire. Our troops now hold the entire southern portion of the island from the southern out­skirts of Garapan across to the center of the western shore of Magicienne Bay. Several strong pockets of enemy resistance within this area are being heavily attacked by our forces.

During June 19 (West Longitude Date), the airfields on Tinian Island were bombed by our aircraft and shelled by our surface units.

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The Free Lance-Star (June 20, 1944)

Destroy 300 Jap planes at Saipan

Enemy hit in biggest Pacific air battle since Midway

USPACFLT HQ, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii (AP) –
U.S. carrier pilots and warship guns have destroyed an estimated 300 Japanese planes off Saipan to win the biggest Pacific air battle since Midway, while a land surge captured a vital airstrip and sealed off the southern end of the island.

In a vicious battle lasting several hours, the offshore task force smashed a sustained Japanese aerial assault Sunday. Adm. Chester W. Nimitz said the first information reported only one U.S. vessel damaged.

Imperial Japanese Headquarters declared, without confirmation, that 300 U.S. planes were destroyed and one battleship, two cruisers, a destroyer and one submarine were sunk during the battle. A broadcast enemy communiqué also said Japanese airmen were still attacking U.S. ships.

With the land battle still raging to their north and southwest, Seabees began preparing the newly-captured Aslito Airstrip, on Saipan’s Central Pacific middle defense arc. Its capture climaxed the long drive toward air bases strategically dominating the oceanic approaches to Tokyo.

Forces cut off

Pushing through tangled cane fields and swamps, U.S. Marines and Army troops traversed the island on a wide front to reach Magicienne Bay on the east coast, three and a half miles from the western landing beach. In this mile-and-a-half advance since Friday, some Japanese forces were cut off in the arrowhead of Nafutan Point, Saipan’s southeastern extremity.

The Japanese aerial thrust – their biggest since Midway – included some planes apparently based on distant carriers and using nearby shore bases for shuttle landings, the U.S. communiqué said.

It added that systematic U.S. bombing and strafing of airfields on Guam and Rota “sharply limited” the effectiveness of the Japanese shuttle land fields. Designation of these two islands, approximately 100 miles south of Saipan, indicated enemy carriers were some distance from the Marianas.

A Tokyo radio broadcast said “it has been announced in Tokyo that the Japanese Navy in the near future will win a great naval victory in the Central Pacific. We are all waiting for the news.” Probably intended solely for domestic propaganda, this announcement might be a hint that now-distant Japanese surface units would close in for action.

U.S. forces hold a five-mile-long coastal strip on the western shoreline, where they have expanded from their original beachhead at Agingan Point.

Japs call Saipan situation grave

By the Associated Press

Japanese fears that Saipan Island, where U.S. invasion forces are now engaging enemy forces, will be used as a base for shuttle bombing missions over Tokyo by B-29 Superfortresses flying from the island to China were expressed in a Berlin broadcast of a Tokyo dispatch today.

The dispatch said:

Competent Japanese sources are fully conscious of the seriousness of the situation. American heavy bombers, especially those of the B-29 type operating from Saipan air bases, would have no difficult in launching systematic attacks on Tokyo only 2,500 kilometers (1,550 miles) away.

In view of these facts, it is safely assumed that both sides will fight bitterly for possession of Saipan.

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Völkischer Beobachter (June 21, 1944)

Vor den Marianen –
Schwere feindliche Schiffsverluste

Tokio, 20. Juni –
Das japanische Hauptquartier gab in einer Sondermeldung bekannt:

  • Die die Marianeninseln angreifenden feindlichen Verbände errichteten am 15. Juni einen Brückenkopf und verstärkten ihre Truppen nach und nach. Japanische Besatzungstruppen stellten sich zum Kampf und versetzten ihnen immer größere Schläge.

  • Der Feind zog bei den Marianeninseln zahlreiche Flottenstreitkräfte, bestehend aus Flugzeugträgern und Schlachtschiffen, zusammen, so daß der größte Teil der Pazifikflotte vor den Marianeninseln versammelt war. Gegen diese Flottenstreitkräfte führen japanische Flieger tagtäglich Angriffe.

Soweit bisher bekannt, wurden versenkt: 1 Schlachtschiff, 2 Kreuzer, 1 Zerstörer und 1 Unterseeboot.

4 Flugzeugträger, 2 Schlachtschiffe, 4 Kreuzer, 6 Transporter sowie 1 Kriegsschiff unbekannten Typs wurden beschädigt.

Über 300 feindliche Flugzeuge wurden abgeschossen. Auf japanischer Seite entstanden einige Verluste an Schiffen und Flugzeugen.

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U.S. Navy Department (June 21, 1944)

CINCPAC Communiqué No. 58

In the afternoon of June 19 (West Longitude Date), carrier-based reconnaissance planes of the Fifth Fleet sighted a Japanese fleet, which included carriers and battleships, approximately midway between the Mariana Islands and Luzon. Aircraft of our fast carrier task force were immediately ordered to attack and made contact with the enemy fleet before dusk. Enemy losses and our own losses have not yet been assessed. Additional details will be made known as they become available.

In the ground fighting on Saipan Island, our assault troops made advances in a northly direction along the western shore of Magicienne Bay and made progress against an enemy strongpoint at Nafutan Point. Severe fighting continues.

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The Free Lance-Star (June 21, 1944)

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

U.S. commanders eager to bring enemy to action

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

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

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

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

Hard land battle

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

The communiqué said:

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

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

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

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

Has abundant power

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

He said:

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

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

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

600 planes destroyed

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

Nimitz said:

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

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

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

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

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

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

He said:

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

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Americans seize Saipan airfield

300 enemy planes lost as Japanese are pushed back

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Japanese report big naval battle

Enemy makes fabulous claims of U.S. ships sunk

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

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

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

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

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

The broadcast went on:

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

Thanks Jap Navy for ‘cooperation’

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

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

King said:

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

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

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

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

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

Attack from carriers

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

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

He continued:

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

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

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

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

Shows no worry

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

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

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

18

Völkischer Beobachter (June 22, 1944)

Ein 45.000-Tonnen-Schlachtschiff!

Einzelheiten zu den Erfolgen der Japaner bei den Marianeninseln

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

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

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

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

19

Der Kampf um Saipan

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

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

20

US-Flugzeugträger schwer beschädigt

Neuer japanischer Erfolg vor den Marianen

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

21

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

CINCPAC Communiqué No. 60

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

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