On June 16, 1944, the Joint Command of the Saipan Japanese Army.

Lieutenant General Tadashi Nagamoto, commander of the Japanese Central Pacific Fleet and commander of the 14th Air Fleet, Major General Yano, Chief of Staff of the Fleet, Lieutenant General Saito Yoshiji, Chief of the 43rd Division, Major General Keiji of the 31st Army, and Colonel Tsuji, Director of the Northern Branch of the Nanyang Organization, were discussing the current war with a tense expression in the war room.

Saipan was ruled by Spain before the 19th century.

After the Spanish-American War in 1899, the United States only bought and occupied Guam and was not interested in islands such as Saipan.

Spain was no longer able to maintain islands in the Pacific Ocean and sold Saipan to Germany.

After Germany was defeated in World War I, Saipan was entrusted by Japan again, but it did not belong to Japanese territory.

From then on, Japan immigrated a large number of people to Saipan!

Starting from the 1830s, Japan believed that the Pacific War was likely to break out and began to build large quantities of fortifications on Saipan, with 30,000 troops stationed.

As a result, within 10 years, Saipan was gradually built into an important military base.

The Japanese army built three airports on Saipan Island. Aslilo Airport to the south was built in the 1930s. After expansion, it can now take off and land any type of aircraft and is the main airport on the island.

The nearby Cialanoa Airport is a simple airport, which can only take off and land small aircraft. The Mapi Airport to the north has a short runway and is an alternate airport for emergency landing for fighter jets.

While the Japanese army attacked Pearl Harbor, they sent troops from Saipan to attack the US military that was close to Guam.

Due to the huge disparity in strength, the US military in Guam only made symbolic resistance and announced its surrender.

But I will have to pay it back sooner or later. In June 1944, the Japanese army had already lost consecutive battles on the Pacific battlefield.

The Solomon Islands, Gilbert Islands, Marshall Islands, New Georgia Islands, Papua Peninsula in New Guinea, etc. have been successively occupied by the US military.

The Japanese army could only step by step to retreat to the Caroline Islands, Palau Islands and the Mariana Islands, including Saipan Island.

If this line of defense is occupied by the Allied forces, heavy bombers can directly bomb Japan's mainland and cut off Japan's overseas resource supply line.

Especially Saipan's military status is very important and is also the defense center of the entire Mariana Islands.

If Saipan is lost, the Japanese mainland, Okinawa Islands, Taiwan, and the Philippines will all be directly exposed to the Allied forces.

Next, the Allies can attack at any point, and the Japanese army's defense is completely passive, and failure is inevitable.

Therefore, the Japanese base camp ordered the defense of Saipan Island at all costs.

Saipan is the second largest island in the Mariana Islands, with a total area of ​​184 square kilometers, about 21 kilometers long, and a width ranging from 4 kilometers to 8 kilometers. The terrain is high and low in the surrounding area. The island has many mountains, hills, gullies, and caves. The commanding height is Tapocho Peak, which is 450 meters above sea level in the center of the island.

Generally speaking, it is suitable for combating in-depth defense wars, tank ambush wars, etc. It is not completely impossible to attack and defend and convert the Jedi island. Compared with Iwo Jima, the overall depth of the island of Saipan is more suitable for defense operations.

Since early 1944, the Japanese army has successively reinforced troops. Currently, the forces on Saipan include the 43rd Army Infantry Division, the 47th Infantry Independent Mixed Brigade, the 7th Independent Engineer Independent Regiment, the 9th Tank Division, the 3rd Mountain Artillery Independent Regiment, the 55th Navy Guard, the 1st Yokosuka Marine Corps and other units.

The total total force is 43,000, which is the largest force that the island's fortifications can accommodate.

In addition, the Japanese army also concentrated 560 artillery pieces, 289 tanks, 55 ships and 630 combat aircraft.

Logically speaking, Saipan's defense can be described as impeccable.

However, the devil is one foot taller than the road, and the Fifth Army of the US Marine Corps, which is responsible for attacking Saipan, is even stronger.

The US landing forces were the 2nd Marine Division, the 4th Marine Division and the 27th Infantry Division, a total of 71,000 people.

There are also 7 battleships, 11 escort aircraft carriers, 11 aircraft carriers, 11 cruisers, 67 fleet destroyers, 282 other ships and auxiliary ships with a huge fleet of nearly 2,000 aircraft responsible for maritime transport and cover support.

Starting from June 13, US fighter aircraft have vigorously bombed Saipan Airport to compete for Saipan air supremacy.

All Japanese shore-based combat aircraft groups took off to the air to meet the enemy and launched a life-and-death battle with the Allied combat aircraft groups.

After most of the fierce battle, the Japanese fighter fleet on Saipan was completely lost, and air supremacy fell into the hands of the Allies without any suspense.

Immediately afterwards, the powerful Allied fleet began to approach Saipan and violently bombarded the landing combat artillery fire.

15 old warships fired a total of 180,000 shells, and 7 new fast warships fired 2,700 406mm shells, opening the prelude to ground attacks.

However, in order to avoid possible minefields, bombardment was carried out in waters 3,000 meters or more from the coast.

Of course, this does not hinder the bombardment effect of the naval gun.

However, these shellings and bombings only destroyed some fortifications on the surface.

Most of the Japanese troops have built complete anti-aircraft artillery and air defense fortifications, and bombardment and artillery bombardment have little impact on the Japanese army.

The artillery fire lasted for two full days. At five o'clock this morning, the Allied Saipan landing operation officially began. 300 amphibious landing vehicles carried 8,000 Marines landing forces landed from Makichis Beach south of Saipan.

It is powered by 11 battleships and hundreds of bombers, providing overwhelming direct fire support.

There is a coral reef covering the entire beach on the west coast of Saipan. Cape Galapan divides it into two, forming a natural port to the north - Tanapan Port, and the flat Makichis Beach to the south, which is an ideal landing beach head.

Naturally, the Japanese army would not sit still and wait for death, and launched an extremely fierce counterattack.

The Japanese artillery, which had been prepared, violently bombarded the US military on the beach, destroyed 42 crawler-type amphibious landing vehicles, and laid dense and clever barbed wire mesh, artillery, machine gun positions and trenches, which greatly increased the casualties of US Marines.

But when the brave ones meet on a narrow road, the US Marine Corps has no way out and can only fight hard to attack at this time.

After more than 3,000 casualties, the 2nd and 4th Divisions of the Marine Corps established a bridgehead of 10                                                                                                             �

The Japanese army was not willing to lose the beachhead position so easily. Saito Yoshiji, who had little practical command experience, began to launch a counterattack in vain.

The first wave of counterattacks, more than 1,200 Japanese infantry and 50 tanks, just pulled out to charge, but was bombarded by heavy firepower by the US military, and lost more than 700 people and 12 tanks, retreating in a hurry;

The second wave of counterattack was almost the same recipe and the same taste. The desperate counterattack of more than 600 Japanese troops and 44 tanks was once again severely damaged under the coverage of the US military's strong firepower, and almost all the tanks were destroyed.

After two consecutive encounters, Saipan Japanese commander-in-chief of the 43rd Division, Saito Yoshiji, finally understood a fact that he could no longer be so head-on and reckless in the US military, because doing this is no different from killing him.

Saito Yoshiji had no choice but to order the Japanese army to be turned into defense.

In this way, the US military began to land continuously and advance towards the Japanese deep positions on Saipan. Now more than 40,000 US military landed on the island.

Saipan is already in danger.
Chapter completed!