Island of Destiny (July, 1990)

The article talks about the Marianas campaign in the early summer of 1944. It would commit some 535 ships and 125,000 troops.

The article deals with the attacks on Saipan and Tinian, and says over 11,000 shells were fired by warships into Tinian in the preparation, this not counting bombs dropped by plane. Another 25,000 shells were fired at Tinian from guns on Saipan.

On July 24 the Marines attacked Saipan, landing 15,000 Marines and establishing a beachhead one mile in depth by nighttime. The Japanese counter-attacked early in the morning on the 25th, but didn't defeat the Marines and lost some 1,200 of their own number.

The Marines soon controlled about 80% of Tinian. Late in July the Japanese launched banzai attacks. As on Saipan, many Japanese soldiers and civilians chose suicide rather than surrender to the US troops. 5,000 Japanese were killed in the invasion, but another 4,000 committed suicide. The Marines lost 389 killed.

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