dawn June 13 1944 in the waters off
Saipan in the Mariana Islands aircraft
carrier USS Enterprise clears for action
her massive flight deck is alive with
revving engines as the TBF Avengers of
torpedo squadron 10 and prepared to hit
enemy positions on Saipan
their target is a Japanese flak battery
on the southern tip of the island where
in just a few days u.s. ground troops
will be slogging ashore the enemy's
stronghold is covered with anti-aircraft
artillery and it's enterprise's job to
wipe them out if the US can capture
Saipan the island will offer an ideal
base for US Army b-29 Superfortress
bombers from here
the massive warplanes can begin
strategic bombing of the whole highlands
we would be able to contribute to the
battle a major strategic air campaign
against the Japanese home islands and it
was thought that by subjecting the
Japanese home islands protracted
strategic air campaign the likes of
which we were doing through the Germans
in Europe would accelerate the end of
the war
targets on Saipan objective sees the
heavily defended enemy island crush the
Japanese garrison strategy carriers like
enterprise will hammer the island with
warplanes battleships will pummel it
from the sea and US Marines and soldiers
will battle the enemy on land
as Allied forces push in on the Empire
from all sides the Japanese Army and
Navy will be divided faced with fighting
a multi-front war by 1944 the Axis
powers are on the defensive as the
Allies prepare for massive invasions in
the Pacific in France and in Italy do
you consider that American forces are
heavily engaged in combat in Italy that
American forces are also about to
conduct the opposed amphibious landing
in Normandy on June 6th so the United
States military it's demonstrating that
is capable of engaging in broad
offensive operations on opposite sides
of the world simultaneously
Sipan will be one of the most important
invasions of the war a Normandy of the
Pacific and d-day is set for June 15th
June 15th 1944 d-day in the invasion of
Saipan Enterprise launches a major air
strike of SBD dive bombers Hellcat
fighters and Avenger torpedo planes it's
part of a massive support mission as the
American airmen batter the Japanese
positions with round after round of
bombs and bullets 20,000 US Marines way
to shore and face the Japanese defenders
in hellish combat in one single day of
battle 2,000 Americans are killed or
wounded on Saipan 2,000 men for less
than a half a mile of Japanese real
estate a gruesome start to one of the
biggest battles in the Pacific War
seven PM carriers Enterprise Lexington
and Bunker Hill cruised the waters off
Saipan as the Sun begins to set on d-day
the ships prepare for another night in
the hostile Central Pacific
suddenly the main search radar on the
enterprise picks something up is an
incoming air assault 22 miles away seven
land-based Fran torpedo farmers head
right for enterprise and carrier
Lexington within minutes the enemy
planes will be within striking distance
ten miles ahead of the friends spotters
on enterprise can now clearly see the
incoming assault seconds later the guns
of the task board roar into action
5-inch thirty-eight caliber rifles from
Enterprise in Lexington thump out a
volley of explosive projectiles forty
millimeter and 20-millimeter
anti-aircraft gun spray red-hot streams
of fire into the air wave after wave of
enemy planes are wiped out by the
fighter planes of enterprise and the
other carriers the killing goes on for
hours the Japanese air attack is a
complete failure
nearly 400 enemy aircraft are blown out
of the sky by American Hellcats and the
guns of USS Enterprise in the US fleet
it's one of the greatest victories in
the American Navy and a horrific defeat
for the Japanese the porti trained enemy
Flyers are no match for the biggie
a young American pilot will later
compare it to an old fashioned turkey
shoot the name sticks I forget how many
we down nearly all of them and the
pilots came back laughing that it was to
the turkey shoot if I'm not mistaken the
enterprise was credited with downing
around 74 all those planes that day the
great Marianas turkey shoot completely
devastates Japan's naval air forces my
fighters just completely annihilated the
biggest real air battle of the war there
were a tremendous day for carrier
aircraft carrier aviation
you