D-Day, June 15, 1944

[CCB]

At 0840 on June 15, 1944, initial waves of the 2nd and 4th U.S. Marine Divisions stormed onto a narrow beachhead on Saipan. The enemy guns were ranged-in on the beaches and shells rained down with deadly effect. Marine units, supported by Naval and Army Air Corps bombardment, and joined by the U.S. Army's 27th Infantry Division, waged savage warfare. For most of the soldiers, seamen, and airmen it was yet another invasion. For many it would be their last. For the world it was the beginning of the end of the Pacific War.

It was called Operation Forager, the assault on the Marianas, specifically Saipan and Tinian. The invasion also included the capture of the island of Guam. The total invasion force for Operation Forager only numbered 22,500 less than the Normandy invasion force.

Admiral Nagumo, the Japanese admiral charged with the attack on Pearl Harbor and later Midway, was on Saipan at the time of the invasion. After Midway he was given command of a flotilla of small vessels based in the Marianas. He committed suicide on July 6 in his bunker (a cave on the northern part of Saipan) as the US Marines closed in on him.

After the islands were secured, American B-29s began bombing Japanese cities from airbases on the Marianas. The Enola Gay and Bock's Car took off from Tinian to drop the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945, a year after the islands had been captured.

[Jeremy Pritchard]

Typical for the Americans to forget the Canadian and British contributions...

3rd Canadian Division, 3rd British Division, 50th British Division and 6th British Airborne Division.

Oh well....

[orabera]

I forget, did the Brits land on the left flank, or the right flank at Saipan?

All I remeber is the memorable story of the OxBucs Light Inf (Glider) holding the vital bridge until relieved, by the Soviet Guards Armor if my memory serves me right.

[Dean Robb]

Um...was the comment about the Allied participation in the invasion of Saipan intended humorously?

'Cause I can't find *anywhere* mention of troops other than the 2d & 4th MarDivs and 27th Inf? Not even in the Brit and Canuck histories?

[Sam-I-am]

Hmmm.....


Now that is odd, I don't remember seeing any British or Canadians

[Howling H R Bryars]

Jeremy,
Aren't you thinking of June 6th at Normandy?

[Dean Robb]

France, Saipan...they're close, aren't they?!?!?!

(Well....Saipan *sounds* sorta French-ish...)