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Because the Battle of Saipan began just over a week after the 6 June landings for Overlord, its importance has often been overlooked, but just as Overlord was a major step in contributing to the fall of the Third Reich, Saipan marked a major step in the collapse of the Empire of Japan.
On 15 June 1944, United States Marine forces landed on the southwest coast of the island of Saipan in the central Marianas chain; these were followed a day later by US Army forces. This invasion was part of Operation Forager , an effort to recapture the entire Marianas chain from the Empire of Japan .
The invasion force, commanded by Vice Admiral Richmond K. Turner, consisted of 56 attack transports, 84 landing craft and over 127,000 troops. [3] Beginning the offensive, United States Marine Corps and United States Army forces, with support from the United States Navy, executed landings on Saipan in June 1944.
United States forces recaptured Guam and captured Saipan and Tinian in the Mariana Islands between June and August 1944, as part of the Mariana and Palau Islands campaign. [1] These islands were needed to provide bases for USAAF Twentieth Air Force B-29 Superfortress heavy bombers to attack the Japanese home islands. [2]
On 15 June 1944, United States Marine and Army forces landed on the southwest coast of the island of Saipan in the central Marianas chain. US forces declared Saipan secure on 9 July. US forces declared Saipan secure on 9 July.
The landings on Saipan began at 07:00 on June 15, 1944, and more than 300 LVTs landed 8,000 United States Marines on the west coast of the island. However the liberation of the island was a sad chapter of the tenacious fighting that lie ahead for the Allied forces, with the Japanese mounting a fanatical military defense and the fighting causing ...
The invasion of Saipan was scheduled for 15 June 1944, with landings on Guam tentatively set for 18 June. [2]: 22 The original timetable was optimistic, however. A large Japanese carrier attack and stubborn resistance by the unexpectedly large Japanese garrison on Saipan led to the invasion of Guam being postponed for a month. [2]: 25
In August 1944, Major General Haywood S. Hansell, Jr was directed to take over command of the organization. [2] Serious planning for the movement of the XXI Bomber Command's B-29s from their Second Air Force training bases in Kansas to newly constructed combat airfields on Saipan, Tinian and Guam began in April 1944.