TROOPS RESTING beside the narrow gauge Japanese railroad on Saipan (top); wounded cameraman with a speed graphic camera SC PH 104 (bottom). The strong resistance and heavy casualty rate made it necessary to commit reinforcements on D plus 1. By midday of the 19th troops had captured the airfield and driven to the east coast of the island.
PHILIPPINE SEA
JAPANESE DIVE BOMBER PLUNGING TOWARD THE SEA, downed by antiaircraft fire from a Navy carrier during the Battle of the Philippine Sea, which started on 19 June. Aircraft in the foreground are Grumman Avengers (TBF-1 torpedo bombers). A Japanese naval force approaching the Marianas caused U.S. ships at Saipan, except for those unloading the most necessary supplies, to withdraw to the east. Troops ashore were left without naval gunfire, air support, or sufficient supplies.
PHILIPPINE SEA
JAPANESE FLEET UNDER ATTACK by aircraft from carriers operating west of the Marianas. In the late afternoon of 20 June the enemy fleet was discovered at extreme range and shortly before sunset U.S. carrier planes took off. In this attack the Japanese lost one carrier and two tankers; four carriers, one battleship, one cruiser, and one tanker were severely damaged. The Battle of the Philippine Sea broke the enemy effort to reinforce the Marianas.
MARIANA ISLANDS
