June 15 – July 9, 1944
American marines take cover behind an M4 Sherman tank while clearing Japanese forces from the northern end of Saipan, July 8, 1944.
Courageous fighting by American and Allied forces led to the capture of large areas of the Pacific Ocean, including the Solomon Islands, Gilbert Islands, Marshall Islands, and the Papuan Peninsula of New Guinea.
But Japan still controlled the Philippine Islands, the Caroline Islands, Palau Islands, and Mariana Islands. Below, the map shows where these islands are located. Some of them are coral atolls; others are volcanic outcroppings. But even these "bumps in the water" allowed Japan to create barriers around its homeland to the north.
Saipan (pronounced "sigh-pan") was one of these Japanese-controlled islands. Though only seven miles across at its widest point and fifteen miles long, Saipan was big enough for an airfield. And it was close enough to Japan that American planes launch from it and attack the Japanese homeland, especially with a new long-range bomber, the Boeing B-29 Super Fortress.
If America could capture Saipan, the Allies could disrupt Japanese supply lanes that ran through the Central Pacific from the Philippines to the west and the Caroline Islands to the south.
Island chains of the Central Pacific. See Midway to the northeast
Japan already had 30,000 troops on Saipan, and were using the island’s airfield under the command of Lt. General Yoshitugu Saito.
The American plan was for Lieutenant General Holland “Howlin Mad” Smith to attack Saipan with 127,000 men from the 2nd and 4th Marine divisions, and the Army’s 27th Division.
That meant the Americans would outnumber the Japanese 3 to 1.
But the Japanese soldiers had a critical advantage: geography.
A volcanic island, Saipan has high cliffs and deep gullies smothered with thick jungle forests. In the water, dangerous coral reefs blocked every beach entrance, except one.
The Americans figured that Saito would expect them to land on that one coral-free beach. It was located on the eastern side. So the Americans cleverly shifted the landing to Saipan's western side. The 2nd Marines would also take the northern beaches, while the 4th Marines took the island’s southern end.
On June 13th, 1944, the Americans bombarded the island. Fifteen battleships fired 165,000 shells. Another seven ships shot an additional 2,000 sixteen-inch shells. The attack continued for three days.
On June 15th, as gunfire covered them from the ships, the marines drove 300 LVTs over the coral reefs, carrying 8,000 men to the beaches. The Japanese were hidden in the cliffs with machine gun and artillery positions. They fired on the Americans and inflicted heavy casualties. The Japanese also had placed flags out in the lagoon so they could calculate range, increasing the killing and destroying twenty amphibious tanks. To further maximize American casualties, the Japanese had strung barbed wire across the island and dug hidden trenches.
In one day, the marines suffered about 2,000 casualties.
By nightfall, however, the 2nd and 4th divisions managed to establish a beachhead six miles across and a half-mile deep.
The following day, the Japanese moved to wipe out the 4th Marines who landed to the south. Cunningly, the Japanese soliders placed civilians in front so that the marines saw women and children approaching and assumed this was a civilian surrender. But the attack back-fired. The marines took out the Japanese soldiers, and preserved their own ranks.
Meanwhile, Saito was holding back most of his forces because he still expected the main attack to come at that coral-free beach.
On June 16th, the army’s 27th Division landed--not on that coral-free beach--and joined up with the other marines. Together, they captured the island’s airfield.
Saito now realized his tactical error. He ordered his first major attack. On June 17th, under cover of darkness, he sent out forty-four light tanks. But the American artillery managed to destroy three-quarters of the tanks. Worse for Saito, that attack drew the marines into new territory that put them in even better positions to attack more Japanese defenses. The following day, Saito abandoned that attack and regrouped his forces.
The marines kept pushing. They helped the army soldiers secured Nafutan Point, a short peninsula that runs on the east coast of the island. They also took Mount Nafutan. Its which 400-foot ridges gave the Americans some high ground.
American General Smith now ordered the army to move to the center of the island, cutting the Japanese territory in half. Meanwhile the marines continued attacking the coastlines while overhead, Marine Corsairs and Navy Hellcats bombarded enemy positions.
But the Japanese soldiers had dug caves in the volcanic cliffs, protecting from most of the American firepower.
The island's geography also hindered parts of the American assault. Among the worst fighting was in an area called Death Valley. It was south of Mount Tapotchau, which was the island’s highest point at about 1,500 feet, with another nearby cliff nearby named Purple Heart Ridge. More than 10,000 Japanese troops were garrisoned on these two lookout points. Whenever the Americans managed to thrash through thick jungle forests, they came to this open valley, only to find the Japanese stationed on the high mounts. The gunfire from above wiped out Americans.
But eventually, the Americans figured out different ways to clear the Japanese from these mountain caves using flamethrowers with extra firepower cover from artillery and machine guns.
The Japanese also had challenges. Their navy had just suffered tremendous losses in the Philippine Sea, and now those ships would not be coming to Saipan with help, reinforcements, or supplies.
However, Saito and his men were determined to fight to the death.
On June 27th, the marines broke through Death Valley. Despite heavy fire and casualties, they climbed the steep slopes of Mount Tapotchau and captured the island’s highest point. Now the Americans had an ideal lookout point to track the enemy’s movements.
By early July, the army and marines were marching toward the last section of Saipan that Saito and his men had managed to hold.
Realizing the situation, Saito called Imperial Headquarters in Japan. He asked permission for a “gyokusai,” or Bansai suicide, to preserve national honor, because he and his men were facing defeat. Saito planned the suicide charge for July 7th.
But the night before, he gathered his soldiers and ordered them to “take seven lives to repay our country.”
Saito then committed suicide by Hari Kari—stabbing a knife into stomach, killing himself.
When the sun rose the following day, twelve soldiers carried Japan's red-and-white flag, leading what remained of the force: about 3,000 able-bodied men with thousands more limping on crutches, wounded heads and limbs bandaged.
They ambushed on the Americans.
This Banzai charge lasted twelve hours. It was the largest Banzai attack of the entire Pacific War.
One American who survived this attack, Major Edward McCarthy, described it like this: “It reminded me of one of those old cattle-stampede scenes of the movies. The camera is in a hole in the ground, you see the herd coming, and they leap up and over you and are gone. Only the Japanese just kept coming and coming. I didn’t think they’d ever stop.”
The suicide charge killed or wounded many Americans but it also destroyed the remaining Japanese troops.
By August, the entire island was secured. And 30,000 Japanese soldiers were dead—most from fighting, but some by suicide.
Tragically, in the final days of battle, Japanese civilians started climbing Saipan’s high cliffs and leaping to their deaths. They were choosing suicide over capture because the Japanese government told them that the Americans were barbarians, even cannibals, who would treat them very badly.
With the capture of Saipan, the American military was only 1,300 miles from the Japanese home islands.
Soon about one-hundred American B-29 long-range bombers were landing on Saipan’s airfield, preparing to attack the Japanese mainland.
WHO FOUGHT?
The American soldiers on Saipan fought with valor and bravery, evidenced by the many medals won. Here are some examples:
Lieutenant Colonel William J. O’Brien stood in the front lines with his men on Saipan, ordering them to hold the line. Armed with a .45 in each hand, O'Brien was badly wounded but refused to be evacuated because it might risk more lives. He stayed to encourage his men.
As the Japanese moved closer, O’Brien grabbed a rifle from another wounded soldier, climbed into a foxhole and fired until he ran out of ammunition. He then spotted an abandoned jeep with a .50-caliber machine gun. He fired that until it also ran out of ammunition. The Japanese kept coming. The last his men saw of him, O’Brien’s was surrounded by saber-wielding Japanese. His last words were shouted: “Don’t give them a damned inch!”
Sergeant Thomas A. Baker also was seriously wounded, and also refused to leave his men, knowing that by carrying him to the rear they would risk their lives. Instead, Baker asked them to set him against a pole, armed with a pistol containing eight bullets. When Baker’s body was found days after the battle, eight Japanese soldiers lay dead around him.
Captain Ben L. Salomon was a surgeon with the 27th Infantry Division. He helped evacuate wounded soldiers and defended his patients from four Japanese soldiers by manning a machine gun post. When Salomon’s body was recovered after the battle, ninety-eight dead Japanese soldiers lay in front of his position. Salomon was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor in 2002, the third Jewish service member to receive the Medal during WWII.
Lt. Robert B. Sheeks, who served as an Intelligence and Japanese Language Officer, speaks with a civilian woman and her children on Saipan, trying to persuade them to seek refuge. His wartime experience is documented in the books “Pacific Legacy” and “One Marine’s War.” This photograph was first published in National Geographic magazine, October 1944.
FIND OUT MORE
BOOKS
Warriors in the Crossfire by Nancy Bo Flood.
Set in WWII Saipan, this novel is highly rated by readers and reviewers. “An afterword describes the real-life account of what happened on Saipan, where almost all of the Japanese soldiers were killed, and duty-bound Japanese civilians were rounded up to take their own lives by jumping off what is now known as Suicide Cliff. Intense and powerful reading that avoids bleakness by celebrating family, culture, and a longing for peace. Grades 6-9.” — Booklist, starred review.
INTERNET
History.com offers a concentrated source for digital footage on the Battle of Saipan.
For a detailed recounting of the fight for Mount Tapotchau, read this story from World War II magazine.
MOVIES
Crusade in the Pacific: Battle for the Marianas. Part 15. Six Marine Corps cameramen were killed during the filming of this WWII documentary.