Battle of Saipan

Saipan, in the Mariana Islands, mattered because its airfields could put B-29 bombers within reach of the Japanese home islands. US forces invaded on June 15, 1944, and the island was declared secure on July 9 after some of the hardest fighting of the war. By most counts the Americans lost more than 3,000 killed and about 13,000 wounded. Of about 30,000 Japanese defenders, fewer than 1,000 were alive at the end. The battle closed with a mass suicide at Marpi Point at the northern end of the island, where civilians died alongside soldiers, a warning of what an invasion of Japan itself might bring. Prime Minister Tojo and his cabinet resigned on July 18, and B-29s were soon flying from Saipan against Japan.