The Defenders of Saipan were isolated and badly outnumbered, but determined to make the Americans pay a dear price for victory.

Welcome to the history of the 20th century.

Music tree....you know,...and... Episode 437. Where do we go from here?

Last week, I told you about the U.S. invasion of Saipan in the Mariana Islands, which

began on June 15, 1944, just nine days after the Normandy landings in Europe.

The American island hopping strategy was working well for them, but as we've seen, Admiral Toyota,

commander-in-chief of the Imperial Japanese Navy, anticipated that eventually the U.S. fleet would

have to venture into the Philippine Sea, where it would lack ground-based air cover because

there were no island chains in the Philippine Sea.

Once that happened, when the Americans struck in the Philippines or Western New Guinea or Taiwan

or the Mariana Islands, they would be within reach of Japanese ground-based planes,

but would have no ground-based aircraft of their own to counter them.

In this way, the Japanese could overcome the American advantage in aircraft carriers,

and to deliver at last the decisive blow the Japanese have been yearning to land for over two years now.

When the Americans struck, they struck at Saipan, because they wanted an air base from which

their new B-29 bombers could reach Japanese cities. Japan's main battle fleet moved to intercept

the Americans, which led to the Battle of the Philippine Sea, a defeat that cost Japan almost 90%

of its carrier air force.

But I ended last week without finishing the story of what happened on the ground on Saipan,

so that's the thread I want to pick up today.

I described the initial landings, which went pretty well,

but the Japanese fought back with their usual

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