page_title: Landing Beaches; Aslito/Isely Field; & Marpi Point, Saipan Island
section_title: Marpi Point
hierarchical_section_title: Landing Beaches; Aslito/Isely Field; & Marpi Point, Saipan Island / Marpi Point
caption_attribution_description: English: Airfield Operations, 500th Bomb Group, Saipan, 1945
context_page_description: Landing Beaches; Aslito/Isely Field & Marpi Point, Saipan Island is a National Historic Landmark District consisting of several discontiguous areas of the island of Saipan in the Northern Mariana Islands. The sites were designated for their association with the Japanese defense of Saipan during World War II, the 1944 Battle of Saipan in which Allied forces captured the island, and the subsequent campaigns which used Saipan as a base. The district includes the landing beaches where the Allies landed, the remnants of Japanese airfields Aslito and Marpi Point, and Isely Field, the Allied airfield built over much of Aslito from which B-29 bombers were used to bomb the Japanese home islands. Included in the Marpi Point area are Suicide Cliff and Banzai Cliff, two locations where significant numbers of Japanese military and civilians jumped to their deaths rather than surrender to advancing forces. The loss of Saipan was a major blow to the Japanese war effort, leading to the resignation of Prime Minister Hideki Tojo, The landmark designation was made in 1985.
context_section_description: Marpi Point is the northernmost part of the island.  At the north-facing Suicide Cliff, an unknown but large number of civilians and soldiers jumped to their deaths rather than surrendering to the advancing Allied forces.  The area is now marked by memorials at the top and base of the cliff.  Nearby is a Japanese cave fortification known locally as the "last command post".  Below this is a plain where the Japanese had built a small airfield, and the Allies later built Marpi Point Field, of which only remnants survive.  At the very northernmost point of the island is Banzai Cliff, where more people jumped to their deaths.  There is also a well-concealed pillbox whose position commands most of the island's north coast.
caption: Base Operations, Isely Field, 1945
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