BREACHING THE MARIANAS: The Battle for Saipan
by Captain John C. Chapin U.S. Marine Corps Reserve (Ret)
D+4-D+7, 19-22 June
The most critical event of 19 June (and perhaps the
most important of the whole Saipan campaign) took place at sea, well out
of sight of the infantrymen ashore. The opposing carrier task forces
clashed in a gigantic air battle. When it was over that night, the
Japanese had suffered the catastrophic loss of 330 out of 430 planes
they had launched. Exultant U.S. Navy fliers labelled it "The Great
Marianas Turkey Shoot." With the help of American submarines and
additional carrier plane attacks the next day, the Japanese attempt to
relieve Saipan by a decisive naval victory was smashed. As an official
account summarized the impact ashore, "the eventual doom of the enemy
garrison was assured." And the American supply ships were able to return
offshore to unload their vital cargoes.
During the four-day span of D+4 to D+7, the 105th
Infantry moved slowly along the south coast and then joined the 165th
Infantry in sealing off the die-hard Japanese survivors in Nafutan
Point, in the southeastern corner of the island. Once the enemy was
penned in, the 105th was assigned to eliminate him. The rest of the 27th
Division, now including the 106th Infantry, was ordered north to be the
Corps reserve.
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This period, 19-22 June, marked a total shift in
direction for the American troops. Pivoting on the 2d Marines on the far
left flank along the western shore, the other Marine regiments swung
around from their drive which had reached the east coast to face north,
with their right flank on Magicienne Bay
On 20 June, the 4th Division confronted a key
objective. Lieutenant Chapin had a ringside seat:
We had a perfect chance to watch a battalion of the
25th making an attack .... It was in action about a quarter of a mile
from us, and the whole panorama was spread out before us. They were
assaulting Hill 500, the dominant terrain feature of the whole area, and
it was apparent that they were running into a solid wall of Jap fire.
But, using [artillery] timed fire, smoke, and tanks, they finally
stormed the top and took it. The use of those supporting arms provided a
magnificent spectacle. From our vantage point, we could see the timed
fire bursting in cave entrances, and moving down the face of the hill as
precisely as if .... it were going down a stepladder. On the lower
levels, the flame thrower tanks were spouting their napalm jets upward
into other caves. It was quite a sight!
Marine Artillery Regiments
The 10th Marines and the 14th Marines supported the
2d and 4th Marine Divisions respectively. They had each had a
significant reorganization before Saipan. In early spring, the 5th
Battalion in each changed its designation. They were redesignated the 2d
and 4th 155mm Artillery Battalions, Corps Artillery, but
administratively attached to the 10th and 14th Marines. Thus the 10th
and 14th Marines each contained two 75mm pack howitzer battalions (1st
and 2d), two 105mm howitzer battalions (3d and 4th), and a 155mm
artillery battalion, armed with the new M1 155mm howitzers, the first to
be received by the Marine Corps in the Pacific.
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Friendly artillery fire was a major asset for the
American troops, both in supporting their attacks and smothering
Japanese sorties. This camouflaged emplacement holds a Marine 105mm
howitzer. Department of Defense Photo (USMC) 82550
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Over in the area of the 2d Division, the 8th Marines
wheeled from facing east to attack northward into the foot hills leading
to Mount Tapotchau.
The Marine divisions were now facing two major
problems. First, their drive north was confronted by General Saito's
main line of defense, running west to east across the island. Secondly,
the terrain into which the attack had to go was a nightmare of ravines,
caves, hills, valleys, and cliffsall fortified and defended to the
death by the Japanese.
June 21 brought a respite for the front line troops:
"D+6 was enjoyed by allfor a change! We rested on our positions;
caught up on sorely needed sleep; got some water (which had been
conspicuous by its absence); and even had a good hot meal. For we got
our first 10-in-1 rations. Did they ever taste good to our hungry
palates, surfeited as they were with K rations!"
Simultaneously, intensive preparations were made for
a coordinated attack by both Marine divisions the next morning. A total
of 18 artillery battalions were massed for supporting fire. Combat
efficiency was officially rated as "very satisfactory," in spite of a
sobering total of 6,165 casualties.
The following day saw the Marines attack all along
the line. The 6th Marines overran parts of Mount Tipo Pali, while the
8th Marines worked its painful way into the maze of ridges and gullies
that formed the foothills of Mount Tapotchau. On the right, the 24th
Marines was forced into the messy business of blasting caves honey
combed along Magicienne Bay. In one of the mortar platoons, a weird
encounter took place, as de scribed at the time to this author by the
participant, First Lieutenant Joseph J. Cushing:
[I] was bending over one of [my] mortars, checking
the lay of it, when [I] felt a tap on my shoulder, and a guy asked [me],
"Hey, Mac, are you a Marine?" [I] turned around and there was a Jap
officer standing about a foot from [me]. [I] dropped to the ground,
speechless with amazement, and [my] men riddled the Jap from head to
toe.
On the left of the 4th Division, the 25th Marines
made a major advance of 2,400 yards. The forward lines were now reaching
an area where the Kagman Peninsula jutted out to the east. This resulted
in a substantially increased frontage that the two Marine divisions
could not properly cover. To deal with this, Holland Smith decided to
commit his reserve, the 27th Infantry Division, to the center of the
line, leaving just one battalion of the 105th Infantry way back in the
rear to continue its long drawn-out attempt to eliminate the Japanese
pocket on by-passed Nafutan Point.
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Still another cane field, with its hidden Japanese
defenders lying in wait, confronts these Marine riflemen. Department of Defense
Photo (USMC) 83918
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This day (D+7) was also marked by the arrival of P-47
Thunderbolts of the 19th Fighter Squadron, U.S. Army Air Forces, which
landed at Aslito Field. They had been launched from Navy escort
carriers. When landed, they were fitted with launching racks for rockets
by ground crews who had come in earlier. Later that day, eight planes
took off on their first support mission of the Saipan campaign. (Only
two Marine observation squadrons, VMO-2 and VMO-4, were involved in the
battle for Saipan, but they provided invaluable artillery spotting for
the two Marine divisions.)
While these developments were taking place in the
upper echelons, down in the rock-bottom basic life of infantry platoons,
the days of relentless combat pressure were exemplified by their impact
on the constant duties and high stress levels on a platoon
commander:
I made a final inspection of the platoon position and
then sacked inexhausted. When it came my turn to stand watch, it
took every last reserve of willpower and strength to get up and go on
duty. Then for hours I alternated between fighting off my sleepiness and
sweating out the noises and movements that were all around us.
After a while, I spotted a shape, darker than the
rest of the surrounding shadows. It was the size of a man's head. I
watched it for a long time, nerves on edge, finger on my carbine
trigger. Finally it seemed to move. I fired a shot. Nothing happened. It
would've been suicide to go over and investigate. In that darkness and
jungle my own men would've shot me in a second. So when it came time for
my relief, I pointed out the suspicious object to the next man, told him
to watch it closely, and collapsed into a dead-tired sleep.
When dawn came on D+8, I was awakened, and the first
thing I did was to look over where I'd shot on the night before. There,
lying on top of a rock, was the gas mask of one of my men! The owner had
been sleeping right beside it. It was a miracle he hadn't been hit. The
tremendous strain of the previous night did funny things to your mind
....
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