(5/5) Pacific The Lost Evidence Saipan Episode 5 World War II

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Seven American battleships and 11 destroyers shelled Saipan and Tinian for 2 days before the landings, firing 15,000 16-inch and 5-inch shells at the islands along with 165,000 other shells of other caliber. To even begin to comprehend the magnitude of this onslaught, one needs to realize that a single 16-inch round weighs slightly more than a Volkswagen Beetle, besides being packed with high explosives. On the second day of the bombardment, this force was joined by 8 more battleships, 6 heavy cruisers and 5 light cruisers. The islands were ringed by American warships with their guns blazing. Shells rained down on the island, its villages, inhabitants, and defenders, gouging huge craters in the sand and coral. The earth trembled under the tremendous explosions of naval bombardment and simultaneous air attacks.

The main invasion force landed along 4 miles of beach at Chalan Kanoa. Twenty-eight U. S. tanks were destroyed the first day alone. The Japanese positioned colored flags in the lagoon to mark the range of the landing force and to register their howitzers on the invaders from locations behind Mount Fina Susu, and their shell fire rained down on the advancing American force every 15 seconds in a deadly cauldron of exploding steel. By nightfall of the first day, the Second Marine Division had sustained 2,000 casualties. The fighting continued until July 9th, when organized resistance on Saipan ceased. When the fighting ended, American losses on Saipan were double those suffered on Guadalcanal. Of the 71,034 U. S. troops landed on Saipan, 3,100 were killed, 13,100 wounded or missing in action. Out of the 31,629 Japanese on Saipan, approximately 29,500 died as a result of the fighting, and only 2,100 prisoners survived. Fighting between the Japanese and the Americans was by no means completely mechanized; while ships, aircraft, artillery, and tanks inflicted the largest amount of damage to the combatants, a great deal of the fighting was hand-to-hand. Besides machine guns, flame throwers, rifles, and pistols, deadly skirmishes were fought with bayonets, swords, bamboo spears, clubs, stones and fists.

The ratio of battle dead was 9.5:1 during the 24 days of fighting. Place names given the rugged Saipan terrain such as Death Valley, Purple Heart Ridge and Harakiri Gulch testified to the bitter fighting. One of the most lamentable events of the battle for Saipan involved the mass suicide of hundreds of families, many of whom jumped to their deaths from the high cliffs at the island's northernmost point. This tragic event could not be stopped, despite efforts by Americans and indigenous Saipanese using loudspeakers to try to convince the Japanese that surrender would be. (Navy Site Online)

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[Nimadan]

Forty-five minutes about the Battle of Saipan and no mention of Guy Gabaldon?

The legendary "Pied Piper of Saipan" who talked 1500 Japanese into surrendering? What, that's not DRAMATIC enough? Or just not VIOLENT enough?

For a brief intro to this amazing story:

watch?v=ibrzxnMeNo0

[davidjradich]

They should have mentioned Guy Gabaldon. I live on Saipan and some of my friends got to know him and said he was a very interesting guy. I met his son a few times, he is part owner of the gym I go to.

[eastern2western]

@Marzaq87 however, the japanese bushido spirit is death in battle or suicide. What it means is that the japanese military would kill its citizens before they were captured.

[Marzaq87]

@eastern2western great britain made the same thing for the expected invasion of britain. i dont think its weird that a nation prepares the population for war at least not at that era. but i agree with you to an extent, i believe that one nuke would have been enough.

[Marzaq87]

@mountainstandardtime and that wouldnt have made Truman even worse than the axis leaders? is that what you would have liked? then you are indirectly saying that the way germany and japan treated people are ok

[Asrvn147014x]

@Arelak Lol i have alot to catch up in my world-war-english and btw,it would funny if some nazi got thrown out of no where into to the pacific as they sat down on saipan in a daze lookin at monkeys doing experience and oh yeah,do you know that the bugsbunny-tooth-special-editio­n-monkeys invaded russians too?You gotta know this man! The Japxzxers attack the saklin island and the russians fight them! cool huh?the stalin-lords always wins and the sun-monkeys got thrown out of soviet territory!

[Arelak]

@Asrvn147014x Appalled means you are disgusted and revolted by something. The nazis were inhuman in what they did to prisoners yet they themselves could not believe how horrific the japs were to their prisoners. Also the nazi's were in china documenting what was going on not the pacific.

[Asrvn147014x]

Man its time for us to go to the war to experience again,they did their job now its our turn,next stop,libya.

[Asrvn147014x]

@redbaron785 its like fighting a left 4 dead boss then going to sleep after that

[Asrvn147014x]

@Arelak why are the arch-hitler-mage there nowhere on the pacific and what does appalled means?

[nclfup]

i went through some of my grandfathers military photos that ive never seen, i found photos of him posing with shrines of jap skulls. pretty weird stuff

[nclfup]

my grandfather was at this battle. he told me once he had to guard jap prisoners, as he went to set his rifle down to have a cigarette a jap prisoner picked up his rifle for him and gave it to him and said to him in english "i dont trust these other guys you should hang onto this"