On This Day - June 15, 1944, following a massive bombardment in which more than 165,000
On This Day - June 15, 1944, following a massive bombardment in which more than 165,000 shells were fired, American troops began landing on the Japanese held island of Saipan. Saipan was a part of the strategically located Marianas Island chain. The United States’ seizure of it would sever Japanese communications with many of their other island bases farther in the Pacific, as well as provide a base for B-29 bombers heading for the Japanese mainland. Beginning at 7:00 am on June 15, more than 8,000 Marines landed on the western coast of the island, running into carefully prepared Japanese defenses laden with barb wire, artillery, and machine gun emplacements. All were placed to inflict maximum American casualties. At the end of the day the Americans had established a beach head and were able to hold off a large counterattack, inflicting horrendous casualties on the Japanese. The next day, June 16, soldiers from the Army’s 27th Infantry Division began landing on the other side of Sa...