Hell in the Pacific: Rare World War II photographs show American soldiers' fight for survival in brutal Battle of Saipan
By Lydia Warren
It is the little-known battle that claimed the lives of thousands of Americans during World War II.
But
now black-and-white photographs, captured by Life magazine photographer
W. Eugene Smith, show the everyday horrors for the U.S. soldiers
fighting against Japanese forces on the Mariana Island of Saipan between
June 15 and July 9, 1944.
Faces
etched with the pain of their experiences, war-weary men are captured
transporting their wounded comrades or forcing Japanese civilians from
their hiding places.
Long
journey: U.S. soldiers drive the wounded from the front lines during
the fight to take Saipan, Northern Marianas Islands, June 1944. In the
first jeep, one soldier drives while a second holds up IV bags attached
to two injured men strapped to the vehicle's hood
The photographs were taken during a battle that claimed the lives of 22,000 Japanese civilians - many by suicide - and nearly all 30,000 Japanese troops on the island. Of the 71,000 American troops who landed on Saipan, 3,426 perished, while more than 13,000 were wounded.
The
battle was a turning point for the American battle against Japan's
forces. The Japanese situation became so desperate that commanders
pleaded with civilians to 'pick up their spears' and join the fight.
The
destruction of the Pacific island is captured in the Life photographs,
with bleak landscapes bearing the detritus of bombings and gunfire.
Many
of the men in the photographs are faceless - their backs turned to the
camera or faces obscured - highlighting the stark loneliness and
anonymity of fighting on the front lines.
Helping
hand:
A U.S soldier offers his hand to a woman leaving a cave where she had
hidden with her child during the battle between Japanese and American
forces
Fight
for survival: In a July 1944 photograph, an American Marine lifts a
nearly dead infant from a cave where native islanders had been hiding
during the battle for Saipan
Desperation:
Saipan civilians commit suicide rather than surrendering to American
troops. Around 1,000 civilians perished this way
Medics
tenderly patch together their wounded
comrades as they lay in debris-scattered fields. In one photograph,
soldiers show similar touching tenderness towards a wounded dog.
Another casualty of the war in the Pacific lies on a cot in a cathedral
on Leyte, in the Philippines, waiting for treatment for the bullet wound in his stomach.
Smith also documents the struggles of the Japanese. A
U.S. Marine cradles a near-dead infant he found face down under a rock
while moving along Japanese soldiers hiding in caves on Saipan.
In
another picture, Japanese civilians are shown jumping to their deaths
from cliffs. Around 1,000 civilians killed themselves in this manner,
jumping from 'Suicide Cliff' or 'Banzai Cliff' after propaganda led them
to fear occupation under Americans.
Brothers
in arms: On the Marianas Islands, an American soldier comforts a
wounded comrade during the fight. More than 3,000 U.S. troops perished
in the battle
Wounded:
An American soldier, a casualty of the war in the Pacific, lies on a
cot in a cathedral on Leyte, the Philippines, waiting for treatment for a
bullet wound in his stomach. U.S. medics show tenderness towards a dog
harmed in the crossfire
Care:
A
U.S medic applies a field dressing to the neck of an injured soldier in
Tanapag, Saipan in June 1944. In the distance behind them, a soldier is
visible in a foxhole
Got his back: While under fire, U.S. Marines advance on occupying Japanese forces in Tanapag, Saipan in June 1944
Debris:
In another fight against Japanese forces, Smith captures aircraft
wreckage on a beach. The photographs, taken following Marines' fierce
battle against Japanese for Iwo Jima, capture one man sleeping under the
debris, while American forces scour the beach
Hoisted to safety: In a photograph taken in a separate battle against Japanese troops in Guam, Smith captures the moment a
wounded American Marine is loaded onto an 'alligator' tracked amphibious vehicle for evacuation
Aerial view: A Grumman TBF-1 Avenger flies over fields bombed by U.S. soldiers on the Japanese-occupied island on June 30, 1944
War-weary: Marine
PFC T. E. Underwood, is captured on Saipan during the fight to wrest the island from Japanese troops
Alone:
A Marine, pictured in July 1944, looks at the bodies of Japanese
soldiers killed during the battle for control of Saipan. Nearly 30,000
Japanese troops died
Battle fields:
American aircraft in flight during battle against Japanese for Iwo Jima,and during the struggle for Leyte Island.
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