Synopsis
This film is about the battle for Saipan in the Mariana Islands campaign during WWII. The Mariana Islands were a strategic location as American capture of the area severed the Japanese supply line with the Caroline Island territories and opened Japanese homeland for aerial assault. It opens with a map pointing to New Guinea, Tokyo and the Mariana Islands (:16). After the Pearl Harbor attack, Japanese forces occupied islands as far south as New Guinea in 1942 (:20). The plan to recapture these areas was set into motion in 1944 (:31). Saipan was the administrative center of the Maraiana Islands and was the first objective (:49) invaded on June 15th. Footage of carrier planes of task force 58 taking off for softening up attacks on February 22nd (:56) and of the first wave of attacks which hit 70 Japanese aircrafts (1:09) follows. The 27th infantry division in Hawaii is seen preparing to sail to Saipan (1:59) with Major General Smith in command (2:04). The 2nd and 4th Marine divisions headed to make the first landings on the island (2:19). Convoys also began moving towards Saipan (2:28) and soldiers aboard ship are seen doing physical trainings to prepare for combat (2:33). Garapan is pointed to on the map (2:47) as well as the second biggest city in which air strips and air fields would be targeted, which was Chalan Kanoa. Footage of D-Day follows with the 2nd and 4th Divisions loading into Higgins Boats (3:39) and then into Alligator Boats, awaiting the start signal (3:43)…
Uploader's description on archive.org
Details
- Running time
- 20 minutes
- Collection
- Ephemeral Films
- Internet Archive item
- 28734-mariana-islands-part-1-saipan
Subjects on the Internet Archive
- Stock Footage