The battle of Saipan spanned the period between June 15 through July 9, 1944. Here is an eyewitness account of the three week battle:
"Reveille for the Japanese garrison on Saipan sounded abruptly at five-forty that morning of D-Day minus one, with a salvo from the 14-inch rifles of one of our battleships. Other guns, big and small, joined the opening chorus and from than on we realized why we had stuffed the cotton in our ears. The bass drum jam session was to continue for hours."
"At exactly eight-forty the first Leathernecks splashed through the shallow blue water lapping the Saipan shore line and charged across the white sand toward the Jap lines. It wasn't easy going. Machine-gun emplacements just beyond the beach line slashed at them, mortar fire from father inland dropped high explosives on men and landing boats - but it takes more than that to slow down a landing of Marines."
Saipan was the first piece of genuine Japanese real-estate to be on close, personal terms with American infantry; Iwo Jima and Okinawa would soon follow.
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