80 years ago today, June 7, 1944

Don A. Farrell is an educator, local historian, and author based on Tinian. He is known for his research and publications on the history of the Mariana Islands with an emphasis on World War II.

Eighty years ago today, June 7, 1944 in the Marianas, it was June 6 in Europe. General Dwight D. Eisenhower ordered the Allied troops to land at German-held Normandy for the long-awaited invasion of Europe. It was a shore-to-shore invasion from England across the English Channel to beaches in France—less than 100 miles.

Unknown to the Japanese, the Americans had also gathered a huge armada in the Pacific. Admiral Raymond Spruance, in command of the U.S. 5th Fleet, had moved hundreds of ships from the West Coast and Pearl Harbor to Majuro and Kwajalein in the Marshall Islands in preparation for Operation Forager: The Campaign for the Mariana Islands. On June 6, 1944, Chamorro Standard Time, Spruance ordered his fleet to begin leaving for the Mariana Islands, slower ships first. Pacific distances—about 2,600 miles from San Francisco to Pearl, 2,100 miles from Pearl to Kwajalein, and 1,500 from Kwajalein to Saipan. Total logistical train: Over 6,000 miles.

To ensure the safety of his troop carriers and battlefleet, Admiral Spruance ordered Admiral Marc Mitscher to attack the Marianas on June 11 with the fast carrier fleet and establish air superiority. At the same time, Admiral Chester Nimitz ordered Vice Admiral Charles Lockwood to establish a submarine blockade north of the Marianas to sink any Japanese ships trying to reinforce the Marianas, or run away from the fight.

The sudden air attack against the Mariana Islands trapped General Hideyoshi Obata, commander of the 31st Imperial Japanese Army in Guam. This left the defense of Saipan to General Yoshitsugu Saito, commander of the IJA 43rd Division. Also stationed on Saipan, was Admiral Chūichi Nagumo, the man who had conducted the raid on Pearl Harbor, then lost the Battle of Midway (June 4, 1942). He was now assigned to a desk job on Saipan as commander of the Central Pacific Area Fleet.

By June 12, Admiral Mitscher’s veteran naval aviators had destroyed all the Japanese aircraft they could find, in the air or on the ground on Guam, Rota, Tinian, Saipan and Pagan. It was safe for the battlefleet to advance.

On June 13, America’s new battlefleet arrived at Saipan to begin the ship-to-shore bombardment. This was testament to the new military-industrial-scientific complex created by President Franklin D. Roosevelt and all the “Rosie the Riveters” who worked in the factories while their men fought the war. In just two years, they had built a navy second to none, with better equipment and better-trained crews, sufficient to fight two major battles, virtually simultaneously, in two separate oceans.

Then, just before dawn on June 14, Rear Admiral Jesse Oldendorf rounded Marpi Point on northern Saipan in command of Task Force 58.17 with the battleships Tennessee, California, Maryland, and Colorado. At the same time, Rear Admiral Walden I. Ailsworth led another group around Naftan Point in the south, including the battleships Pennsylvania, New Mexico and Idaho. Sunk during the first two raids on Pearl Harbor, raised from the watery graves, and now seeking revenge.

Much to his chagrin, Admiral Chuichi Nagumo awoke atop Mt. Tapochau with the “Ghosts of Pearl Harbor” shooting at him with a vengeance.

According to Admiral Nimitz, Nagumo brought demise upon himself at Pearl Harbor. “. . . had the Japanese [Nagumo] returned for more strikes against our naval installations, surface oil storage, and our submarine base installation Nagumo—the commander of the P. H. Attack Force—missed a great chance by not following up his attack.”

Indeed, had Nagumo approved the third strike and taken out America’s fuel reserves and dry dock facilities at Pearl on December 7, America’s Pacific War would have been pushed back to the West Coast. Had that happened and Japan sued for peace, offering to leave Hawaii to the Americans in return for the Americans leaving Asia for Japan, there is a good possibility the American public would have supported the offer, being more concerned about Hitler in Europe.

While the new and old battleships pounded away at targets throughout Saipan and Tinian, three UDT teams moved into action on Saipan, clearing dangerous obstacles from the reef while under fire.

When Admiral Ernest King, commander, U.S. Fleet, first suggested an invasion of the Mariana Islands, he anticipated it would draw out the Japanese fleet for a showdown. Now, on the other side of the Philippines Sea, the American submarine Redfin sighted Admiral Jisaburō Ozawa, commander of the Imperial Japanese Navy 1st Mobile Fleet, leaving Tawi-Tawi, Philippines in an unexpected hurry. When the message got to Spruance, he recognized that Ozawa was coming out to fight and they would have to meet somewhere in the Philippine Sea, but not yet. He estimated that Ozawa could not arrive in the neighborhood of the Marianas before June 17. Spruance ordered as many men and supplies unloaded as fast as possible, beginning the following morning—June 15, 1944—D-Day, Saipan.

Meanwhile, Spruance and his staff began preparing for a fleet engagement to include submarine search nets, air rescue services, a patrol plane squadron, and the destruction of air bases on Iwo Jima. History was about to be made.

References: Ernest Arroyo and Stan Cohen., Raising the Fleet: The Pearl Harbor Salvage Operation, 1941-1944. Missoula, Montana: Mountain Press Publishing, p. ix; Don A. Farrell. Seabees and Superforts at War: Tinian’s Critical Role in the Ultimate Defeat of Japan: Tinian, CNMI: Micronesian Productions. 2024, Chapter 5; Janes D. Hornfischer. The Fleet at Flood Tide: America at Total War in the Pacific 1944-1945. New York: Bantam Books, 2016, p. 89.)