Evening star., 1944-10-22
BY WILLIAM L. WORDEN,

amphibious organization develope.
by the Navy, Marines and Army TO
the great battles of the Pacific, ant
there thrown for the first tim
against Japanese land forces il
strength.
Two nests of rumor have marret
the victory. They concern the re
lief during the battle of the Army
Maj. Gen. Ralph Smith by tn
Marines 1t. Gen. Holland Smith
and the last-minute 'banzai
counterattack by 1000 doomed
japanese which resulted in reports
that American soldiers had broker
and run. Both grew from a Navy
decision against permitting the full
stories to be told from the scene.
was there. This is what hap.
pened:
Saipan is an island some Is miles
long, north and south, five miles
wide, a coastal plain on the west
and an extremely rugged hogback
running full length down the mid
die, about 1900 feet high at the
center.
27th Division in Reserve.
After a pulverizing aerial and sur
face bombardment, the amphibious
forces struck the west beaches-four
Marine regiments abreast with the
town of Charan-Kanoa dividing the
territory assigned to the I'd Division
on the left, or north. and to the 4th
Division on the right. The 9th
Army Division, under Gen. Ralph
Smith, remained in floating reserve.
Gen. Holland Smith commanded
the entire landing operation.
Everybody had trouble. At the
end Of the first day the marines had
paid heavily for a toe-hold on the
beaches. On the morning of the
second day, units ashore were
battling for their lives. Some units
of the 4th Division had been so
badly cut up that they had to be
combined.
Finally, Naval guns found most of
the japanese artillery which was
causing the trouble. A couple of
dozen Sherman tanks met and de-
feated japanese tank counter
attack. More marine and Army
artillery units got ashore.
Before nightfall, however, the
marines obviously needed help, ano
the first units of the 9th Division
were rushed ashore. These went
through the marines on the right
and took up part of the line origin
ally established by the 4th. The
4th and End Divisions both
shortened their lines.
Glad to See" Soldiers.
A marine enlisted man put il
succinctly: Il never was any
gladder to see anybody than them
soldiers"
BY noon of the third day the sit
uatlon was clarified, and all Ameri-
can units began advancing eastward
to a predetermined line near the
summit OF the hogback, roughly
halfway across the island. The
2nd Division Marines, still on the
western coastal plain, pivoted and
the American front, again by pre-
arrangement, began to swing to-
ward the north. The 4th Division
then in the center, swung toward
the high ground, east and north.
The 9th Division, on the right,
moved clear across the island to the
east (some units of the 4th also
reached the eastern shore) and
drove a wedge between the main
japanese forces to the north and
some isolated units on the penin-
sula which extends eastward below
Magicienne Bay on the east side of
the island.
An army battalion was detached
to throw line across the neck of
this peninsula to cut off the Japa-
nese there. The remainder of the
division went into temporary reserve
backing the 4th Division Marines,
who now held the eastern half of an
American line across the island fac
Ing north.
On the west the End regiment of
the 2nd Marines remained on the
fairly easy going of the flatlands,
while the 9Th and 9th regiments
moved into the foothills and across
them laterally. The 4th Division
butted into the vicious hogback,
which at that point reaches down
to the eastern shore.
Here occurred the first contro-
versy. Whether Gen. Ralph Smith
was informed of the detachment of
one battalion has never been an
nounced. But at corps headouar-
ters there was freely expressed crit
icism of the Army's tactics at the
peninsula. Critics contended an ag-
gressive attack could have finished
the cutoff japanese there quickly.
Army adherents claimed resistance
was very heavy and the terrain diff
fcult. Critics estimated the enemy
strength at few hundred, the Army
at thousands. The detached bat
talon made little progress, waited
for artillery and tank preparation
of almost every Japanese position.
Meanwhile the rest of the 9th
was llcipliiS Illc 1lll MoluleS' WIN
were having very heavy going in
the mountains. On the west, the
I'd Marines, mostly in fiat land,
were advancing rapidly and reached
the outskirts Of Garapan before the
potential flank danger on the Pc
ninsula was removed.
The peninsula resistance finally
ended when 400 Japanese died in a
counterattack.
27th Moves Into Center.
The 9th Division then moved into
the center of the American line
across the island, relieving the weary
4th Marines of part of their re-
sponsibility. The 4th Division took
the eastern shore. This included
very rough country at first, but, as
the line moved northward, the 4th
Division worked gradually into a
flatter country-never as fiat and
open as the territory of the I'd Ma
rine lines but generally speaking
less rough than that vicious hog
back in the center.
At this period the American lines
ran northwest southeast. The 2d
Marines had their feet in Garapan