Island Assault pt. ll _ U.S. Marines from the 2nd Marine Division scramble onto the beaches of Saipan from their LVT's, while coming under enemy fire on June 15th 1944. The Marine in the middle of the photo is soaked because he was thrown into the water when his LVT was hit by mortar fire while approaching the beach. _ The invasion of Saipan, on June 15th, was the beginning of the Battle of Saipan which would last just over three weeks and end in a U.S. military victory. The battle would involve over 70,000 U.S. military personnel from V Amphibious Corps, which contained 2 Marine Divisions, 1 U.S. Army Infantry Division, and 1 Artillery Corps. The Japanese defense force was made of the Japanese 31st Army which contained 3 Infantry Divisions and 5 Infantry Brigades, totaling 32,000 troops. The battle for the Japanese was a disaster from the beginning, due to being unprepared for an invasion. The Japanese were determined to fight to the very last man, including local civilians on the island. Two days before the battles end, on July 7th, a massive banzai charge that contained over 4,000 able bodied and wounded Japanese soldiers and sympathizers, charged American held positions with what ever could be used as a weapon. 650 American infantrymen were wounded or killed during the charge, however almost every enemy soldier or civilian in the sucide charge were killed by the surviving American troops defending thier positions. In just over 3 weeks nearly 24,000 Japanese soldiers were killed. Another nearly 5,000 Japanese soldiers and civilian sympathizers commited suicide, rather than surrender to American forces. Nearly 3,500 American military personnel were killed during the campaign, and another 10,000 were left wounded. It is estimated that over 20,000 civilians were killed during the campaign, due to it being almost impossible to tell difference between the Japanese soldiers and the civilians. Many of the civilains living on Siapan were actually Japanese or of Japanese decent, therefore many of them sided with the Japanese and aided them in any way they could. _ Photo colorized by Paul Reynolds. https://www.instagram.com/p/B5-gbWKJYRC/?igshid=1295ough2bls4
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