After the astonishing Japanese successes of 1941 and early 1942,
the Allies began to fight back. After victories at Guadalcanal,
Coral Sea, Midway and other islands in the Pacific, by 1944, the
Japanese had been pushed back onto the defensive. Yet there was no
sign of an end to the war, as the Japanese mainland was beyond the
reach of land-based heavy bombers. So, in the spring of 1944, the
focus of attention turned to the Mariana Islands - Guam, Saipan and
Tinian - which were close enough to Tokyo to place the Japanese
capital within the operational range of the new Boeing B-29
Superfortress. The attack upon Saipan, the most heavily-defended of
the Marianas, took the Japanese by surprise, but over the course of
more than three weeks, the 29,000 Japanese defenders defied the
might of 71,000 US Marines and infantry, supported by fifteen
battleships and eleven cruisers. The storming of the beaches and
the mountainous interior cost the US troops dearly, in what was the
most-costly battle to date in the Pacific War. Eventually, after
three weeks of savage fighting, which saw the Japanese who refused
to surrender being burned to death in their caves, the enemy
commander, Lieutenant General Saito, was left with just 3,000
able-bodied men and he ordered them to deliver a final suicide
banzai charge. With the wounded limping behind, along with numbers
of civilians, the Japanese overran two US battalions, before the
4,500 men were wiped out. It was the largest banzai attack of the
Pacific War. As well as placing the Americans within striking
distance of Tokyo, the capture of Saipan also opened the way for
General MacArthur to mount his invasion of the Philippines and
resulted in the resignation of the Japanese Prime Minister Tojo.
One Japanese admiral admitted that 'Our war was lost with the loss
of Saipan'. This is a highly illustrated story of what US General
Holland Smith called 'the decisive battle of the Pacific
offensive'. It was, he added, the offensive that 'opened the way to
the Japanese home islands'.
General
Is the information for this product incomplete, wrong or inappropriate?
Let us know about it.
Does this product have an incorrect or missing image?
Send us a new image.
Is this product missing categories?
Add more categories.
Review This Product
No reviews yet - be the first to create one!
Welcome to Loot.co.za!
Sign in / Register |Wishlists & Gift Vouchers |Help | Advanced search
