June, 1944. The US's 2nd and 4th Marine Divisions and the Army's 27th Infantry
Division hit the beaches of Saipan. Just over a week ago the Allies made landfall in Europe,
and Operation Overlord has been a major success. On June 15th, the D-Day of the Pacific begins-
and Americans will face one of the toughest battles of their young nation's history.
The beaches have been thoroughly cratered by shore bombardments,
and on the horizon 300 American landing vehicles are steadily streaming towards the beach.
On other islands, the Japanese have allowed the Americans to make landfall almost unopposed,
preferring to fight them at close quarters in the thick jungles where a bevy of booby
traps and ambushes awaited them. Saipan is too important, if the Americans capture it they'll
have a key location to build airbases from which they can use to strike at Japan and vital Japanese
trade routes. Today, the Japanese meet the Americans bullet for bullet on the beaches.
The Japanese defenders have been carefully preparing for this attack, and have sighted
several key positions for their artillery. As the American landing craft steam towards the beaches,
sporadic and random artillery fire reaches out to them, causing minor damage to a few LVTs. However,
as they near the beach, the fire becomes much more accurate. Once the landing ramps
come crashing down on the first set of LVTs, the artillery fire is downright murderous.
Flags set along the beach give precise range information to Japanese artillery and machine
gunners, and the American marines run into a wall of steel. Mines and barbed wire are waiting
for the lucky few who escape the vicious rain of steel and shrapnel. Amphibious tanks are just now
starting to make landfall, but to the infantry's dismay the tanks are eviscerated by a round of
highly precise artillery fire. Offshore, the ships supporting the invasion fleet try to respond with
their own counter-fire, but the crews are largely inexperienced in shore bombardment. Only the crew
of a few older, post-WWI era battleships have much training in shore bombardment,
and their accurate fire is much appreciated by the men dying on the beach by the dozens.
Despite the horrible losses, the Marines manage to secure a beachhead six (10 km) miles wide
and half a mile (1 km) deep. A steady stream of reinforcements swells the American beachheads,
and if the Japanese are to have any hope of preventing the fall of Saipan, they must throw
the invaders back out to sea. The invasion has been a surprise to the Japanese high command,
which expected an invasion elsewhere, and an emergency relief force is quickly assembled.
However, the Imperial Japanese Navy must sink the American navy to have any hope of reinforcing
its besieged troops. Sensing an opportunity to deal a decisive blow to the Americans, Admiral
Soemu Toyoda, Commander-In-Chief of the IJN, orders an attack on the US ships around Saipan.
If he wins the battle, Saipan can be saved, if he loses it, the island will fall to the Americans.
For now though the 32,000 Japanese soldiers on Saipan have no hope of reinforcement,
and are facing an invasion force of over 72,000 Americans.
The night of the invasion Japanese forces muster for a massive night time counter-attack. Most of
the Japanese soldiers are battle hardened from battles across the South Pacific and in China,
while the Americans are fielding an even mix of veterans and fresh
recruits. US forces should be overwhelmed by the ferocity of a nighttime attack,
something thousands of fresh American conscripts have never experienced before.
With a mighty roar several thousand Japanese rush at the American beachheads. Artillery
covers their attack at first, but US planes have significantly reduced their number
during daytime counterattacks. As the two sides meet in brutal close quarters combat,
the Japanese artillery goes quiet for fear of blowing up their own men.
They don't give an inch.
The Japanese infantry runs into the teeth of hastily assembled American defenses. The
thick jungle gives plenty of cover to the rushing Japanese, seriously diminishing the effectiveness
of American machine guns. Nonetheless, American machine guns strafe out into the dark, now being
illuminated by parachute flares, repaying the Japanese attackers for the hell the Americans
endured from the enemy's machine guns earlier in the day. The Marines are exhausted from a full day
of fighting, but if they fail now the beachhead will collapse and the invasion will fail.
The two sides clash together like armies of old, but the American defense is resolute.
With a desperate bugle call, the Japanese call for a retreat. After several hours of fighting
the Americans are bloodied, exhausted, and have taken massive casualties- but the beaches have
held. For their trouble, the Japanese have suffered crippling losses. It is now clear
that the invasion cannot be stopped, Saipan will fall if the Japanese garrison is not reinforced.
Four days later, the fate of the Japanese defenders is sealed.
The Japanese attack group, steaming towards Saipan, has run straight into a US submarine
picket, who waits until nightfall to radio in the sighting. In the morning,
the USS Albacore sneaks right into the midst of the Japanese force and launches a spread of six
torpedoes against the Taiho, the IJN's flagship and one of its few remaining carriers. Heroically,
one of the Japanese pilots, just launched off the Taiho, spots the torpedoes streaming
towards his ship and dives his plane down on top of one, destroying it and himself.
Of six torpedoes launched, only one hits, causing minor damage to the Taiho.
However, the hit on the Taiho exploded several storage tanks of aviation fuel,
and while the damage has been contained dangerous fumes have begun building up inside the Taiho.
At noon, the USS Cavalla launches a devastating attack against the carrier Shokaku.
Three torpedoes hit home, with one detonating the forward aviation fuel tanks. The Shokaku shudders
from the explosion, and planes on her deck in the middle of being refueled erupt in flames. The
ship shudders as fires spread out of control- ten minutes later the order to abandon ship is given.
Suddenly though, the bow of the carrier begins to sink, and within minutes she's slipping beneath
the waves, taking 75% of her crew with her. Hours after taking what was a glancing blow,
an inexperienced damage control officer aboard the Taiho decides to run the ship’s
venting system at full strength in order to vent out the explosive fuel fumes. Instead,
the fumes spread throughout the ship, where they eventually come in contact with an electrical
spark. A massive explosion rocks the ship, and the carrier is quickly engulfed in flames.
The Taiho joins the Shokaku at the bottom of the Pacific ocean.
The next day, American planes search the Philippine Sea for the Japanese forces. If
they slip past the American carriers they'll be able to reach the landing forces at Saipan.
Despite having lost two carriers already, the Japanese fleet would easily devastate the small
American force defending the landings, mostly made up of post-World War I ships.
Then at around 3:40 pm, an American scout finds the Japanese forces. The battle
group is at the very limit of the American carrier forces' max range, but despite this,
a two-wave attack is launched. The Japanese must not be allowed to slip
past or the landings will be doomed, and to add to the incentive- the Japanese have
few carriers left. Sinking the remaining carriers will hasten an end to the war.
An attack wave of 95 Hellcat fighters, 54 Avenger torpedo bombers, and 77 dive bombers
roars off the flight decks of the American carriers. As the last plane takes to the sky,
the second wave is already being fueled and armed. However, a new sighting report puts the Japanese
forces 60 miles further than originally thought. This places them at the very
maximum limits of the American planes, and with it already being so late in the day,
the planes will have to land at night- an extremely dangerous proposition. The second
attack wave is canceled. Better to risk only part of the carrier's planes on the attack.
Hours later, as the sun is setting over the Philippine sea, the American pilots finally
sight the Japanese forces. Japanese oilers are struck first by planes from the Wasp,
which are concerned over their low fuel levels. The rest of the attack waves throw caution to
the wind and press the attack, knowing they might not have enough fuel to make it back.
74,000 American Marines and soldiers are counting on them.
As the sun slips past the horizon, the American planes spot the main Japanese force and begin a
brutal attack. Japanese defenders hastily take to the skies, and anti-aircraft fire from the
ships is intense. Despite this, the attack is pressed, and the planes land several direct
hits on the carrier Hiyo. The carriers Zuikaku, Junyo, and Chiyoda are also damaged- but not
seriously enough to be knocked out of commission. The Hiyo however slips beneath the waves in hours.
As the American forces return home, having lost only 20 planes in the attack,
the Japanese battlegroup takes stock. It is no longer mission effective,
and reluctantly, the order to withdraw is given.
The fate of the 32,000 Japanese on Saipan has been sealed,
but they will not go without a hell of a fight.
Back on the island, American forces have pushed the Japanese steadily northwards.
Japanese bunkers litter the jungle, forcing American soldiers to destroy them with the use
of flame throwers and high explosives. Sadly, the civilian bunkers housing the population of
25,000 Japanese residents look exactly like the military bunkers, and many are incinerated or
exploded by accident by attacking American forces. A large civilian holding camp is quickly erected,
with the lights left on at night in order to lure in other Japanese civilians on the island.
After three weeks, American forces have taken two thirds of the island,
and the Japanese are being steadily pushed back. There is no hope of reinforcement,
and the Japanese know it- even if the IJN was capable of braving the resupply run to the island
against withering American naval firepower, there are few suitable harbors to offload supplies and
reinforcements left available to the retreating Japanese. This is now a battle to the death,
and the Japanese Bushido code demands nothing less than total sacrifice.
Surrender is not an option.
On July 6th, Lieutenant General Yoshitsugu Saito,
commander of the 4,000 remaining Japanese troops on Saipan, orders all surviving soldiers and
civilians to prepare for a final attack. They have been pushed right to the northern beaches,
with only the Pacific ocean at their backs. There is nowhere to go now but forward, into the teeth
of the American invaders. As the sun sets, General Saito draws his sword and gives off a mighty roar,
“Tennōheika Banzai !” The shout is echoed by thousands of Japanese, jolting the Americans to
alertness. The final battle of Saipan is about to begin, and it will be hell for both sides.
The Americans are shocked at what they see. A group of 12 men carrying a large Japanese
flag charge ahead of a massive formation of ferociously shouting Japanese soldiers.
Incredibly, behind the Japanese infantry is a steady stream of the wounded,
wrapped in bandages and on crutches, some of them only carrying sabers or pistols.
Amongst the wounded is a horde of civilians armed with nothing more than sharpened bamboo spears.
It is a sight no American soldier has ever seen before, or since.
The attackers crash into the American defenders with unbridled ferocity. A large gap exists
between the first and second battalions of the 105th Infantry Regiment, 27th Infantry Division,
which has been plugged with anti-tank weapons. The anti-tank guns blow holes in the human
tsunami rushing at them, but are inevitably overwhelmed. This has split the Americans in two,
and quick-thinking Japanese commanders exploit the situation to surround and overwhelm
individual American forces. American soldiers and marines are swamped on
all sides by Japanese attackers, and the fighting soon turns into hand-to-hand combat
as rifles are discarded for knives or pistols, or used as clubs. The violence is extreme,
and the Americans are being slowly overwhelmed, one defensive position at a time.
Lt. Colonel William O'Brien however refuses to let his men be encircled. He brandishes
dual pistols as he shouts encouragement at his men. He's severely wounded in the
shoulder by a rifle round, but refuses to seek medical attention. As the human wave
turns and begins to encircle his position, he orders his men to fall back as he rushes
to a jeep and jumps behind the vehicle's .50 caliber machine gun. The steady roar of the ma'
deuce covers the retreating Americans, until it's finally silenced. Later, when the battle is over,
O'Brien's body will be found at the .50, surrounded by 30 dead Japanese soldiers.
Elsewhere, Private Tom Baker has long ago run out of ammunition, and now uses his rifle as
a club. He smashes the rifle to pieces fending off Japanese, and finally he and his squad are
forced to retreat. As they pull back, Baker is wounded and one of his squadmates picks him up,
refusing to leave him behind. The soldier carrying him is killed by Japanese fire though,
and Baker demands that the rest of his squad leave him behind and not
risk their lives for him. They leave him with a pistol and eight rounds,
and prop him up against a tree. Later, he'll be found dead with eight Japanese bodies before him.
However, the Japanese Banzai charge would break on one man who would refuse to budge.
Captain Benjamin Salomon was a dentist, assigned as a field surgeon. As he treats
the wounded inside a medical tent, he spots a Japanese soldier trying to sneak inside
under the canvas wall. Salomon throws a surgical pan at the man, then grabs the
rifle from a wounded soldier and shoots. Realizing that US forces can't stem the tide of the attack,
Salomon orders the aid station be evacuated- and he will personally cover their withdrawal.
Salomon jumps behind a .30 caliber machine gun and begins to lay down withering fire
on the advancing Japanese. The steady thumping of the .30 cal rings out as
the wounded soldiers and staff make their retreat through the dark jungle. Suddenly,
it stops. When US forces return after the battle they discover Salomon's body pierced through
with dozens of bullet and bayonet wounds, and surrounded by ninety eight dead enemy soldiers.
The attack completely overwhelms American forces, and crashes down on the 10th Marine
Artillery Battery. The artillerymen are forced to drop their howitzer's barrels and fire line
of sight directly into the incoming human wave. Massive explosions tear through the enemy forces,
but still the attack continues. The Marines are forced to destroy their
own howitzers to keep them from falling into enemy hands and hastily retreat.
Elsewhere, men from the 105th are completely cut off from the rest of US forces and are
left with only one option. Ditching their rifle and boots, the men jump into the
ocean under enemy fire and begin to swim to US destroyers sitting just off shore.
For 12 hours the Banzai charge continues, until finally, the human wave is fully and completely
expended. The Japanese have advanced 1,000 yards into US lines before finally being repelled,
fighting to a man and refusing surrender. US losses are high, with 406 killed and 512
wounded. Japanese losses are catastrophic- the entire banzai attack has been destroyed, with
4,311 dead. In a cave on the beach a mile away, General Saito and his staff commit ritual suicide.
The attack will be the largest Banzai charge of the war, and despite the pointless sacrifice Japan
would still lose the war- while the Emperor who's name thousands of Japanese soldiers chanted in
their final, fatal charge would go on to live a comfortable life before dying of old age.
Want more brutal WW2 action? Check out Insane story of the navy battle that changed wwII,
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