The Battle for Tinian

This vivid history chronicles the decisive US naval campaign that secured the Japanese island of Tinian—the site that would launch the end of WWII.

 


In July 1944, the United States Navy and Marine Corps, Army, and Air Corps descended on the Pacific island of Saipan, just three miles away from the Japanese stronghold on the island of Tinian. There had been 20,000 Japanese troops on Saipan before the US unleashed a horrific all-arms campaign. The sudden silence indicated it was now Tinian's turn.


 


When the battle for Tinian finally took place, the US acted with great skill. Historian Samuel Elliot Morrison called it "the most perfectly executed amphibious operation of the entire war." Nevertheless, the Japanese shore batteries riddled the battleship Colorado, killing scores, and made multiple hits on a destroyer, killing its captain. On the island itself, the United States used napalm for the first time, paving the way for Marines rooting out strongpoints. One last banzai attack signaled the end to enemy resistance, as Marines fought toe-to-toe with their antagonists in the dark.


 


After Tinian was secured, the United States built the biggest airport in the world there—home to hundreds of B-29 Superfortresses. Among these, just over a year later, were the Enola Gay and Bockscar, which, with their atomic bombs, would quickly bring the Japanese conflict, and the Second World War, to an end.