Saipan is about 14 miles long and up to six miles wide, a mountainous island fringed on its western side by a coral reef and a shallow lagoon. The landing beaches lay along that western shore, on either side of the sugar town of Charan Kanoa. Behind them the land rose through cane fields to Mount Tapotchau, 1,554 feet high, from whose slopes Japanese observers could see the whole landing area.

The morning of 15 June

Before dawn the transports and landing ships moved into position off the west coast while the battleships and cruisers opened their final bombardment and carrier aircraft strafed the beaches. To the north, off Tanapag, a demonstration force of the 2nd Marines and 24th Marines feigned a landing to draw Japanese attention away from the real beaches. The assault troops climbed down into amphibian tractors (LVTs), which could swim across the lagoon and crawl over the reef, led by armored amphibians mounting 37 mm and 75 mm guns.

The first waves crossed the line of departure at about 0812 and reached the beaches around 0840. The 2nd Marine Division landed on the Red and Green beaches north of Afetna Point; the 4th Marine Division landed on the Blue and Yellow beaches to the south, around Charan Kanoa. Hundreds of LVTs went in abreast in what was then the largest landing of its kind in the Pacific.

On the beaches

Japanese artillery, mortars and machine guns opened up as the tractors crossed the reef. A strong current pushed the 2nd Marine Division’s waves north of their assigned beaches, bunching them together and leaving a gap between the two divisions around Afetna Point. Many tractors were hit in the water or on the beach; others could not climb the steep ground behind the beach and unloaded their Marines at the water’s edge, where they were caught by fire from the hills.

By about 0900 some 8,000 Marines were ashore. The plan called for the tractors to carry them inland to a ridge about a mile behind the beaches, but few got that far. The beachhead at nightfall was only a few hundred yards deep in many places. The two divisions had suffered more than 2,000 casualties, and the beaches were crowded with wounded men, wrecked vehicles and supplies. About 20,000 Marines were ashore by dark.

The first nights

Saito ordered his troops to destroy the beachhead that night. Japanese infantry came down from the hills and along the coast in a series of counterattacks, the strongest against the 6th Marines on the northern flank of the 2nd Marine Division. Navy destroyers fired star shells to light the battlefield, and Marine riflemen, machine gunners and half-tracks broke the attacks. In the morning hundreds of Japanese dead lay in front of the Marine lines.

On 16 June the Marines closed the gap between the divisions and pushed inland. Artillery, which had come ashore on the first day under fire, was now firing in support. The decision was made to land the 27th Infantry Division’s reserve regiments, and the 165th Infantry came ashore that night, followed by the 105th Infantry.

Gallery · 6 photographs · select to enlarge

The Saipan beachhead

The tank attack

Before dawn on 17 June the Japanese 9th Tank Regiment and infantry of the 136th Infantry Regiment attacked the 2nd Marine Division’s positions near the radio station north of the beaches. Several dozen light and medium tanks took part, the largest Japanese tank attack of the Pacific war. Marine bazooka teams, 37 mm and 75 mm guns, Sherman tanks and artillery destroyed most of them in the dark. Burning tanks lit the battlefield, and by daylight the attack had failed completely.

Aslito airfield

The main Japanese airfield on Saipan, Aslito, lay on a plateau in the south of the island. The 4th Marine Division and the 27th Infantry Division pushed toward it from 16 June. On 18 June the 165th Infantry occupied the airfield, which Saito had abandoned, and the 4th Marine Division reached the east coast at Magicienne Bay, cutting the island in two. Seabees and Army engineers began work on the field at once. On 22 June the first Army Air Forces P-47 Thunderbolts flew in from escort carriers to support the troops. The field was renamed Isley Field, after Commander Robert H. Isely, a Navy pilot killed over Saipan, and it later became one of the first B-29 bases (Chapter 8).

The fleet sails

While the troops fought for the beachhead, the news everyone had expected arrived. On 15 June American submarines reported the Japanese Mobile Fleet coming out through San Bernardino Strait into the Philippine Sea. Spruance postponed the Guam landing, ordered the transports to withdraw east of Saipan once they had unloaded the most urgent cargo, and concentrated Task Force 58 west of the island to meet Ozawa. The Marines and soldiers ashore would fight on with what they had while the carriers fought what became the Battle of the Philippine Sea.

The first days on Saipan showed what the rest of the campaign would be like. The Japanese were well dug in, their artillery was skilfully handled, and the terrain inland, cut by ravines and caves, favored the defense. They also showed the growing power of the American amphibious machine: the ability to put two divisions ashore in a morning, keep them supplied across a reef, and support them with naval gunfire, carrier aircraft and artillery. The fight for the interior of the island is the subject of Chapter 4.

Gallery · 5 photographs · select to enlarge

More from the Saipan beaches

Sources and further reading

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