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SPOTLIGHT ON MARINE HEROES #7
IV. SAIPAN After Tarawa, the 2nd Marine Division was sent to a barren spot of land on the big island of Hawaii. In honor of their fallen buddies from Operation GALVANIC the Marines christened their new home "Camp Tarawa." It was a desolate place that autumn of 1943. No facilities had been prepared before the division's arrival. Christmas came and went with little fanfare as Marines endured cold nights and dusty days of training. Field exercises, hikes and weapons firing filled the training schedule. New replacements streamed in from stateside and the wounds healed. The Regiment became restless—ready for the next mission. On Guadalcanal it had done the dirty job of mopping up the end of the campaign. On Tarawa it had finished securing the island, but missed the initial assault on D-Day. A saying passed through the ranks: "That's us—always a bridesmaid, never a bride." The Sixth wanted a beachhead. Meanwhile, the war moved relentlessly forward, tightening the iron ring around the Empire of Japan. In April 1944, plans came down for the invasion of the Marianas in the central Pacific. The operation, codenamed FORAGER, had the bold objective of securing the entire Mariana Island group. D-Day for Saipan was set for 15 June 1944. J-Day on Tinian was scheduled to be on order after Saipan was secured. In late May 1944, the Sixth, now under the command of Col. James Riseley, again loaded transports. Its assignment for D-Day was the left flank of the Marine beaches. Its landing sites were codenamed Red 1, 2, and 3. H-hour was set for 0843.
On D-Day, under a powerful umbrella of naval gunfire support and air cover, the assault waves hit the beach on schedule. Strong tides pushed the Sixth much closer than intended to the Japanese garrison at Garapan, about a mile north of Beach Red 1. Reacting violently from well-prepared defensive emplacements, the enemy showered the exposed Marines with a rain of steel. Mortar barrages, artillery concentrations and machine gun fire poured into the exposed Marines.
Suffering 35 percent casualties in just a few hours, including two battalion commanders, the Sixth never stopped its attack. By 1100 it had advanced 400 yards, short of the O-1 line, but far enough under the hellish conditions of the battle. The Marines dug in deep for the night. The Japanese struck back after dark in one of the largest tank attacks of the Pacific war. Moving southward along the coast road from Garapan, the first attack crashed against the Sixth at about 2200. With swords flashing and bugles blowing, the Japanese pushed hard against the outposts of 2/6. An urgent call went out to the USS California for naval gunfire support. Its batteries began firing nonstop at the Japanese assembly areas. The Marine lines held, but the night had a long way to go before dawn. At about 0300 the Japanese again launched an attack, this time against the lines of 3/6. With tank support and intense machine gun fire, the enemy forced a breach of about 50 yards. The Marines held on to the shoulders of the penetration and the call went out for Marine tanks. Soon a platoon of M4s arrived. The Marine tanks worked with the rifle companies to utterly destroy the attacking Japanese. When the sun rose on D+1, the Sixth looked out on a scene of desolation, They had beaten back the main Japanese attack intended to destroy the American beachhead. Over 700 enemy dead were strewn in the immediate vicinity. Many more had been killed by the faithful California and Marine artillery. But in repulsing the attacks, the Sixth had suffered heavily in men and equipment.
On 16 June, the Regiment consolidated its positions and reorganized. Before darkness, aerial observers spotted Japanese tanks moving inland. At about 0330 on 17 June, Marines of 1/6 reported hearing enemy tank engines. Soon, about 30 Japanese tanks with strong infantry support rumbled forward. Screaming "Banzai!" and "Marines, you die!" the enemy surged forward with complete disregard for their own lives. Halftracks of the Regimental Weapons Company poured 75mm fire into the Japanese ranks. M4 mediums engaged the enemy tanks under the light of star shells in a desperate melee. Marine riflemen with fixed bayonets held their ground as tanks rolled over their positions. The fight quickly turned into a maelstrom of sight and sound. As the attack spilled into the lines of adjacent units, bazooka teams hunted for enemy tanks that seemed to be everywhere. One bazooka team in B 1/6, Pfc Herbert Hodges and Pfc Charlie Merritt, destroyed seven tanks in less than 45 minutes. Both Marines later received the Navy Cross for their heroic actions. Other Marines moved in with satchel charges and phosphorous grenades to knock out the rampaging enemy armor. Major James Donovan, Jr., XO of 1/6, later wrote, "The battle evolved itself into a madhouse of noise, tracers and flashing light. As tanks were hit and set afire, they silhouetted other tanks coming out of the flickering shadows to the front or already on top of the squads." Artillerymen of the 10th Marines fired over 1,000 rounds against the Japanese attackers. 75mm halftracks, 37mm antitank guns and M4 medium tanks also provided critical support. But the key to victory, as always, was the infantry Marines of the Sixth, who stood like a rock in the sea. But they had suffered almost 100 casualties in stopping the enemy assaults. When the sun rose that morning, at least 24 enemy tanks sat burning in front of the 6th Marines' positions. Though an accurate body count was never obtained, at least 500 Japanese infantrymen were killed in the fighting. Observing the scene, MajGen Watson, 2nd MarDiv CG, said, "I don't think we have to fear Jap tanks anymore on Saipan. We've got their number." But the campaign had barely started. The battle moved into its next phase as the landing forces broke out of the beachhead. In brutal heat, they struggled forward across brush strewn ridges, into trackless jungles, up the steep slopes of Mount Tipo Pale and Mount Topatchau. Casualties were high, especially among leaders. Among them was Tarawa veteran LtCol Kenneth McLeod, XO of the Sixth, who was killed by a sniper on 25 June while traversing the side of Tipo Pale.
Pushing his Marines up Mount Topatchau, a sergeant was reputed to have yelled, "Goddamn it, Mac, let's go up and get those bastards." Securing Observatory Hill, the Sixth ground forward, now surviving more on will than anything else. Every Marine in the Regiment kept going somehow. As June turned to July, the Regiment came down from the hills toward its final objectives on Saipan. On 2 July the Sixth was on the beach near Tanapag Harbor. The next day, the Regiment, along with most of the 2nd MarDiv, was withdrawn into reserve. On 7 July the Japanese lauched a furious banzai attack that penetrated the lines of two US Army battalions of the 27th Infantry Division. The enemy forced his way deep into American lines and several supporting artillery batteries of the 10th Marines were overrun. On 7 July , the Sixth was alerted for recall from reserve and moved up in close support of frontline Army infantry. The next day, the Regiment kicked off the attack pushing up the eastern coast. Supported by M4 medium tanks of Co. B, 2nd Tank Bn, 2/6 spearheaded the assault. In fierce combat, fanatical enemy troops showered the advancing Marines with grenades.
Tank-infantry teams fought through the day and recaptured the lost artillery positions. By 1800 most of the ground lost in the banzai charge was back in American hands. On D+24, the Sixth was again pulled into reserve. It began preparing for its next combat assignment, even while mop-up continued on Saipan. One final mission remained in the Saipan campaign—the capture of tiny Maniagassa Island in Tanapag Harbor. 3/6, under the command of LtCol John Easley, assaulted in amtracs after a 20 minute artillery barrage by the 10th Marines. In less the an hour lightly defended Maniagassa was secured at the cost of one Marine casualty.
SOURCES USED FOR THIS PAGE: Follow Me! The Story of the 2nd Marine Division in World War II by Richard W. Johnston
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In the predawn hours of 25 June, a small Japanese force launched a local attack against 1/6 on the slope of Tipo Pale. Machine gunner 
One of the Marine tanks was commanded by 
