The Battle of Saipan: Green Beach

Source: The U.S. Marine Corps

     The Battle of Saipan commenced on June 15, 1944 where the U.S. Marine V Amphibious Corps squared off against elements of the Imperial Japanese Army's 31st. Army situated on the island. The combat raged across the 12 mile long and 5.6 mile wide island for a little over three weeks in one of the bloodiest and costliest battles of the Pacific War. The defenders of Saipan, namely the 43rd. Infantry Division and the 47th. Independent Mixed Brigade (among other assorted units), were commanded by Lieutenant General Yoshitsugu Saito. Saito was a skilled commander and prepared the defenses of the beaches well by pre-sighting artillery, emplacing many dug-in machine-gun positions, setting up beach obstacles, and digging trench lines to protect his troops. Despite a long ship to shore bombardment, the Japanese were able to inflict heavy casualties upon the 2nd. and 4th. Marine Divisions which conducted the landings in four locations. Despite the Japanese fire, it was not enough to repulse the Marines who secured a 6 mile wide and nearly 1 mile deep beachhead by nightfall. The photograph here is, perhaps, one of the more famous of the many which came out of the Battle of Saipan. 

     It was taken by Marine Corps Sergeant James Burns and showed a man from the 2nd. Marine Division coming ashore after his LVT (Landing Vehicle Tracked) was struck by a Japanese mortar round. The 2nd. Marine Division landed on Red and Green Beaches in the Northern Sector of the island. It is not known what beach Burns took the picture on however, it is possible it is Green Beach. On Red Beach, the 2nd. Marine Tank Battalion went in before the 2nd. Amphibian Tractor Battalion, the latter of which was equipped with LVTs. However, on Green Beach, it was the U.S. Army's 715th. Amphibian Tractor Battalion that brought in Marines. This unit was also equipped with LVTs and in this photograph, we can see two LVT(A) 4 models that were fitted with the turret off the M8 Gun Motor Carriage and thus had a short-barrel M2 or M3 75mm howitzer with which to provide close-support high-explosive firepower against fortified positions. The landings were to be conducted in waves but high embankments and thick tree lines made it impossible for the LVTs and Marine tanks to get off the beach and so the LVTs typically disembarked their troops, conducted support fire, then went back out to sea to their support ships so as not to congest the landing zones and risk being destroyed by Japanese artillery and mortar fire. Often, the LVTs carried the wounded off the beaches to waiting hospital ships when they departed. 

     It isn't known for certain who the crawling man is though some believe that it is PFC Clement William and if so, he was likely one of the crew of the LVT as his helmet lacks the camouflage cover as used by the Marines. The identity of the Marine behind him is also not known and given his uniform does not appear soaked, he may have left his position to help the men from the stricken LVT come ashore. 

     As for Saito, his tactics would draw out the battle for weeks but on July 7, 1944, he conducted the largest banzai charge of the war with over 4,000 men which lasted for fifteen hours and ended with the death of nearly every one of his men. All told, the Japanese lost 29,000 men while the U.S. suffered 2,949 dead with 10,464 wounded. As a note, despite the near destruction of the Japanese forces in the charge, Captain Sakae Oba and 46 other soldiers survived and refused to surrender, conducting guerrilla warfare against occupying U.S. forces until finally giving up on December 1, 1945.