Battle of Saipan

Battle of Saipan, capture of the island of Saipan during World War II by U.S. Marine and Army units from June 15 to July 9, 1944. The U.S. was then able to use Saipan as a strategic bomber base from which to attack Japan directly.

In mid-1944, the next stage in the U.S. plan for the Pacific was to breach Japan’s defensive perimeter in the Mariana Islands and build bases there for the new long-range B-29 Superfortress bomber to strike the Japanese homeland.

Two U.S. Marine divisions began landings in the southwest of the island on June 15; they were joined two days later by an Army division. The joint Japanese army and navy garrison had some 27,000 men. They had prepared effective beach defenses, which caused the attacking Marines significant casualties, but the U.S. troops still managed to fight their way ashore. General Yoshitsugo Saito had hoped to win the battle on the beaches but was forced to switch tactics and withdraw with his troops into the rugged interior of Saipan.

The Japanese fought ferociously, holding out in caves and other fortified positions. Slow progress led to a quarrel between the U.S. Marine commander, General “Howlin’ Mad” Holland Smith, and the army divisional commander, but gradually the Japanese were confined in a small area in the north of the island. From there, several thousand troops carried out a suicidal night charge on July 6–7, killing many Americans but also being wiped out themselves. Organized Japanese resistance ended on July 9. Saipan had a significant Japanese civilian population. Many were killed in the fighting, but thousands more committed suicide, along with many soldiers, rather than come under the control of the Americans. U.S. casualties totaled 3,400 dead, and Japanese deaths were 27,000 troops and 15,000 civilians.