MarianasSAIPANThe 105th RCT, 27th Division, lands but is not committed to action. The 2nd Battalion is attached to the 4th Marine Division and the 1st to the 165th Infantry. The NTLF (Northern Troops Landing Force) commander, Gen Holland Smith, and the XXIV Corps Artillery commander, Brig-Gen Arthur M. Harper, set up command posts ashore. After an intense preparatory bombardment, the marines begine an attack that gains immediate objectives except in the center, where heavy enemy fire is directed from a 600-yard gap existing between the 2nd and 4th Marine Divisions in difficult terrain around Lake Susupe. On the northern flank of the beachhead, the 2nd Marine Division's 2nd and 6th Marines press to the northeast and the 8th Marines, reinforced by elements of the 29th Marines, advances due east. The enemy holds out stubbornly in a coconut grove in the 8th Marines sector. In the 4th Marine Division zone, the Japanese soon pin down the left flank of the 23rd Marines, causing a gap to develop between the assault battalions that is filled after dark by the 3rd Battalion of the 24th Marines. The 24th Marines, in the 4th Division center, and 25th Marines, on the right, reach the O-2 line, the 24th against strong resistance. The 25th Marines, from the northern part of the ridge west of the Aslito airfield, penetrates to the building area north of the airfield proper. The 165th Infantry of the 27th Division, attacked to the 4th Marine Division, is closely supported by artillery and naval gunfire as it fights for the Aslito airfield and the heights commanding it. Because of the threat of a naval battle, the planes of TF 58 are diverted from support duties to conduct searches and to neutralize Guam and Rota. |