#infantry

U.S. Marines with 2d Reconnaissance Battalion, 2d Marine Division maneuver during a platoon attack on range 410A during Service Level Training Exercise 4-25, on Marine Corps Air-Ground Combat Center, Twentynine Palms, California, Aug. 6, 2025.

SLTE 4-25 is designed to be a challenging, realistic training environment that produces combat-ready forces capable of operating as an integrated Marine Air Ground Task Force across all domains of military operations.

On June 15, 1944, the Battle of Saipan began.

With smoke billowing in the background, U.S. Marines of the 2nd Marine Division are photographed as they crawl under intense enemy fire to their assigned positions. One of the Marines is seen soaking wet after the landing craft he came in on was hit by Japanese mortar fire.

The landings began at 07:00 on 15th June 1944. More than 300 LVTs landed 8,000 Marines on the west coast of Saipan by about 09:00. Eleven fire support ships covered the Marine landings. The naval force consisted of the battleships Tennessee and California. The cruisers were Birmingham and Indianapolis. The destroyers were Norman Scott, Monssen, Colahan, Halsey Powell, Bailey, Robinson and Albert W. Grant.

Careful Japanese artillery preparation — placing flags in the lagoon to indicate the range — allowed them to destroy about 20 amphibious tanks, and the Japanese strategically placed barbed wire, artillery, machine gun emplacements, and trenches to maximize American casualties. However, by nightfall the 2nd and 4th Marine Divisions had a beachhead about 6 miles wide and half a mile deep.