BITTER STRUGGLE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25565, 19 June 1944, Page 5

BITTER STRUGGLE

BATTLE ON SAIPAN DEADLY JAPANESE FIRE WASHINGTON, (Rec. 10.5 p.m.) June 17. United States assault troops are engaged in bitter fighting against the defending forces on Saipan Island, says a Pacific Fleet communique. Yesterday and during Thursday night our troops were withdrawn a short distance towards the beach in some sectors in the face of intense mortar and artillery fire. Positions were consolidated, and during the night our naval forces carried out a heavy bombardment of enemy strongpoints.

On Thursday morning, enemy resistance in the strongly-held sector north of Charankanoa was broken and a major element of our forces commenced an attack at mid-day which advanced our lines nearly half a mile in the southern sector of the island. Lesser advances were made in other sectors.

Our assumption that Saipan would be strongly held because of its strategic location in the Japanese defence system proved correct. Preliminary estimates indicate that upwards of two divisions of troops are defending Saipan. The press, correspondent with the United States Expeditionary Force says the first assault waves from loaded “ alligators ” battled a way inshore under a shower of Japanese long-range mortar and artillery fire from the hills rising towards the 1500-foot Mount Potchau. The battle casualties in the Saipan invasion, which is the first Pacific fighting comparable with the house-to-house encounters in Europe, are not expected to equal the Tarawa figures, although the assault troops suffered material losses. The heaviest fighting developed behind Kanoa in a swampy lake area where the Japanese mounted tank-supported counterattacks which the Americans turned back, thus securing a small airstrip, which, however, is not yet out of range of Japanese mortars. The air preparations prevented the Japanese from sending up a single plane to interfere with tne Allied landing. Naval forces patrolled the two-and-a-half-mile channel separating Saipan and Tinian Islands, effectively preventing an artillery enfilade during the assault by knocking out the Tinian batteries. Enemy Well Organised The greatest battle of the Pacific war' is expected as the fighting progresses into the more mountainous regions m the centre and north of the island. The large Japanese garrison is well organised. The bitterly-resisting Saipan defenders yielded ground slowly to-day, and used deadly mortar and artillery fire against the American invaders, says the Pearl Harbour correspondent of

the American Associated Press. The Americans were forced to withdraw in some sectors in the initial phases of the fighting near the beach-heads, but they finally consolidated their positions, and aided by naval and air bombardments, they advanced northwards. The Americans took a sugar mill in the town of Charankanoa and an airstrip, after street fighting had brought Garapna, the chief town of Saipan, under American, artillery fire. The Saipan action may turn out the most important Pacific operation, and the opening scene of actions transcending anything previously seen in this area for their drama and critical bearing on the war, says the Pearl Harbour correspondent of the New York Times.

There is a possibility of a major fleet action in the Marianas or in their vicinity. There has not been a single mention of enemy surface units since the battle opened, but the enemy is gaining time and getting them to the scene. American Navy officials have been warned privately that, as the offensive reaches closer to the enemy’s home empire, we must expect counter-actions representing the greatest strength tne Japanese can muster, and that we cannot conduct operations of such magnitude and daring without expecting losses. Experienced Force

The force which landed on Saipan, is described by Admiral R. K. Turner, the expeditionary force leader, as the most experienced amphibious war fleet in the world, says the Associated Press Pearl Harbour correspondent. Training for the move began at Attu, and has continued ever since. American battleships and cruisers opened up with guns after carrier planes had knocked out the Southern Marianas air force and had silenced most of Saipan’s coastal batteries, and flak positions. Shells from warships and rockets from planes and landing craft effectively curtained the troops moving towards the shore. The Americans moved from the beaches against mortar, machine-gun, and artillery fire.

The latest Domei Agency version of the Saipan landing claims that about one division is involved.