Operation Forager: The Pacific War's Decisive Campaign: Guam, Saipan and Tinian, 1944

The Marianas campaign reshaped the Pacific war as Saipan, Guam, and Tinian became pivotal battlegrounds that determined Japan’s fate.

Deep in the central Pacific sits a cluster of small islands, the Marianas, an archipelago that is just 900 miles from Japan. In 1944, that placed the main Marian Islands of Guam, Saipan and Tinian within range of the Boeing B-29 Superfortress. Under Operation Forager, the capture of these islands became a key objective of US strategy in the Pacific.

On 15 June ...