Measured by American lives, Saipan was the most costly campaign of the Pacific war up to the summer of 1944, more costly than Tarawa, Kwajalein and the Gilberts combined. Tinian was cheap by comparison; Guam cost more than 1,700 American dead. For the Japanese defenders the campaign was a near-total loss of life. For the civilians of Saipan and Tinian, and the Chamorro people of Guam, it was a catastrophe.

The cost

The American casualty figures for the three islands are reasonably well documented. On Saipan, the Marine Corps’ history gives 3,225 killed in action, 326 missing and 13,061 wounded; some accounts round the dead and missing to about 3,400. On Tinian, 389 Americans were killed and 1,816 wounded. On Guam, 1,769 Americans died. At sea, the Battle of the Philippine Sea cost the Americans 123 aircraft and about 109 men. Altogether the campaign cost more than 5,000 American dead and more than 20,000 wounded.

Japanese military losses are less exact but were overwhelming. On Saipan almost the entire garrison of about 30,000 died; 23,811 bodies were counted, not including those sealed in caves. On Tinian more than 5,000 bodies were counted. On Guam 23,303 Japanese died between July and September 1944. Fewer than 3,000 Japanese soldiers and sailors were taken prisoner in the three islands. At sea, the Japanese navy lost three carriers, about 476 aircraft and about 3,000 men.

The civilians

The civilian toll was highest on Saipan, where an estimated 22,000 civilians died, killed in the fighting, by Japanese soldiers, or by their own hands at the northern cliffs. On Tinian up to 4,000 civilians died. On Guam the dead were Chamorros killed during the occupation, in the massacres of July 1944, and in the fighting. American internment camps on Saipan and Tinian eventually held tens of thousands of Japanese, Okinawan and Korean civilians, most of whom were repatriated after the war; the Chamorro and Carolinian people of the northern islands came under American administration.

What the campaign changed

The Marianas campaign was a turning point. The Battle of the Philippine Sea destroyed Japanese naval aviation; the loss of Saipan brought down Tojo’s government; and the islands gave the United States the bases from which it bombed Japan and from which the atomic bombs were carried. The campaign also showed what lay ahead. The defense of Saipan, the civilian suicides and the gyokusai attack foreshadowed the battles of Iwo Jima and Okinawa, and they weighed heavily on American planners estimating the cost of invading Japan itself.

Remembering on Saipan

Saipan is now part of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, a United States territory. American Memorial Park, a unit of the National Park System established in 1978 near Garapan, honors the Americans and Marianas people who died in the campaign; its Court of Honor lists the names of the Americans killed. At the northern tip of the island, Banzai Cliff and Suicide Cliff are lined with Japanese, Okinawan and Korean memorials, and Japanese visitors come every year to pray for the dead. Tanks, guns and the wreckage of the battle still lie in the lagoon and the jungle.

Remembering on Guam

The War in the Pacific National Historical Park, also established in 1978, preserves the invasion beaches at Asan and Agat, the Ga’an Point blockhouse and guns, the Fonte Plateau and Mount Tenjo, and tells both the story of the battle and that of the occupation. Liberation Day on 21 July is Guam’s largest civic holiday. Memorials across the island remember the Chamorro victims of Manenggon, Tinta, Faha and Fena.

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The Marianas today

Tinian today

Much of Tinian’s North Field survives, its runways overgrown but still visible. The two bomb-loading pits from which Little Boy and Fat Man were hoisted into the Enola Gay and Bockscar are marked and covered with glass, with plaques telling their story. The airfield is part of a National Historic Landmark.

1944–45Today

A North Carolina connection

One of the Marine divisions that fought in the Marianas has a lasting North Carolina connection. The 2nd Marine Division, which fought on Saipan and Tinian, has been based at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, since after the war, and the 2nd Marine Division Association and Camp Lejeune hold memorial events for its veterans. Many of the Marines who fought on Saipan had trained at Camp Lejeune, which opened in 1941. For Marine units and their stories across the war, see Special Units of World War II, and for the Navajo Marines who served on Saipan and Guam, the Navajo Code Talkers section.

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Remembering the Marianas

Sources and further reading

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