The Waterbury Democrat., 1944-06-16
Troops Storm Soipon Beach
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lephoto from NEA Telephoto)

fighting was reported.
 Admiral Chester w. NimitZ, in his second communique on the Mari anas operations, said fighting was heavy but his troops were making good progress" in their drive through Saipan, lying strategically in the middle of Japan's central Pacific island chain 1449 miles south east of Tokyo.
 The Japanese were resisting fierce ly with artillery, mortar and machine-gun fire in desperate at- tempt to stop the American drive up the west coast of Saipan toward Garapan and Tanapag harbor, two miles farter north.
 Possession of Tanapag, as almost lang -lloaded harbor, would give the Pacific fleet one of its best staging bases between Pearl Harbor and the China coast, the immediate goal set by Nimitz to his drive to Tokyo.
 The invasion of Saipan, a vol- canic-peaked island IS 1-2 miles long and 4 1-2 miles wide, outhank- ed the eneny's important Caroline Islands and placed the American front line within five hours flying time of Japan.
 Near Guam The American troops, which land- ed on Saipan Wednesday following tremendous air and naval bom- bardment, came within virtual sight of Guam, the first U. s. territory captured by the Japanese in the war. The island, only III miles south of Saipan, fell four days after Pearl Harbor.
 The expedition into the Marianas 1150 miles west of American-held Eniwetok in the Marshalls, repre- sented one of the longest amphi- biouS operations in the Pacific and probably resulted from the confer ence of Nimitz and General Douglas MacArthur when they plotted new moves against the Japanese.
 That the two highest military men in the Pacific planned the deep est penetration yet into Japan's outer defenses was indicated in dispatch from Dan McGuire, Uni- ted Press correspondent aboard the flagship of the big carrier task force. In his dispatch, written last Sat- urday although not released until last night, McGuire said that while the task force was softening up the Marianas for the invasion, army bombers would pound Palau and Woleai in the western Carolines.
 MacArthur's long-range Libera- tors have been hitting the two bases, together with Truk, regularly for several months and only on last Monday and Tuesday carried out a record assault on Truk, hitting the Atolls two main islands of Dublon and Eten with 180 tons of bombs.
 The attacks by southwest Pacific bomberS rounded out the ninth straight day of raids on Truk and brought new bombings of Woleai, Satawan, south of Truk. and Yap, which is l,078 miles north of Amer ican bases in the Admiralty Islands. In assembling the greatest car- rier task force in history for the Marianas invasion, the Americans had prepared for the hardest fight thus far in the Pacific. Richard w. Johnston, United Press correspondent aboard the eX- peditionary flagship, wrote in a de- layed dispatch before the landing, that the Americans, for the first time will be carrying the war to the Japanese people and "it is most likely that Saipan will combine the worst features of the two most famous battles of the Pacific-Ta- rawa and Guadalcanal."
 However, the big guns of warships. cruisers and destroyers and bomberS from swarns of carrier borne planes virtually knocked out all the eneinys heavy coastal and anti aircraft batteries on Saipan, and the troops were meeting with initial success in the land drive from the beachheads.
 The thrust into the Charang- Kanoa, site of sugar refinery which the Japanese converted into fortress, represented a two-mile ad- vance from Agingan point, which the troops overran in the early fighting.
 Although the enemy forces were fighting furiously through the sugar can fields on the southwestern end of Saipan, Nimitz said that Amer ican losses thus far had been mod- crate.
 Other than the ground opposition. including futile tank-supported counter attacks, the communicate did not mention any other Japanese resistance-either from the air or sea.
 A Japanese communique last night said only that the two forces were engaged in battle" but gave no details of the fighting) May Come Out
 Unoficial sources speculated on the possibility that the Japanese fleet may come out in an attempt to parry the thrust against the de- fense line protecting Japan's home empire. However there were no re- ports of whether the enemy had decided to make this gamble, which if 1t resulted in an American vic- tory, would hasten the conclusion of. the war appreciably.
 It was believed possible that the enemy will attempt to attack the American beachhead aerially from bases farther north in the Marianas and the Bouin Islands, midway to