_D+16-D+19, 1-4 July_
Now Holland Smith turned his attention to operation plans to drive
through the northern third of Saipan and bring the campaign to a
successful, albeit a bloody, conclusion. His next objective line ran
from Garapan up the west coast to Tanapag and then eastward across the
island. Past Tanapag, near Flores Point, the 2d Marine Division would
be pinched out and become the corps reserve. That would leave the
27th Infantry Division and the 4th Marine Division to assault General
Saito’s final defenses.
The easiest assignment during this period fell to the 4th Marine
Division on the east coast. It advanced 3,500 yards against light
opposition, veering to its left, ending on 4 July with its left flank
some 2,000 yards north of Tanapag, right on the west coast.
As usual, what looked like “light opposition” to General Schmidt in his
divisional CP looked very different to that tired, tense lieutenant who
described a painfully typical rifle platoon situation on D+16:
I took the rest of my men and we proceeded--very cautiously--to
comb the area. It was a terrible place: the rocks and creepers were
so interwoven that they formed an almost impenetrable barrier;
visibility was limited to a few feet. After what had happened to
[my wounded sergeant], the atmosphere of the place was very tense.
We located some rock crevices we thought the Japs might be in, and
I tried calling to them in our Japanese combat phrases to come out
and surrender. This proved fruitless, and it let the Japs know
exactly where we were, while we had no idea of their location. Then
I tried to maneuver our flamethrower man into a position where he
could give the crevice a blast without becoming a sitting-duck
target himself. Because of the configuration of the ground, this
proved impossible.
Right about now, there was a shot off to our left. We started over
to investigate and all hell broke loose! A Jap automatic weapon
opened up right beside us. We all hit the deck automatically. No
one was hit (for a change), but we couldn’t spot the exact location
of the weapon (as usual). I called to the man who’d been over on
the left flank. No answer. What had happened to him?
At this point more enemy fire spattered around the small group
of Marines. The source seemed to be right on top of them, so the
lieutenant told two of his men to throw some grenades over into the
area he thought the fire was coming from--about 20 feet away. Under
cover of that, the Marines worked a rifleman forward a couple of yards
to try to get a bead on the Japanese, but he was unable to spot them
and the enemy fire seemed to grow heavier.
[Illustration: