Battle of the Mariana Islands
During the Pacific War was Operation Forager the codename for the conquest of of Japan occupied Mariana Islands Guam , Saipan and Tinian by the Allies . The strategic location in the center of what was then the theater of war in the Pacific was ideal for launching air raids on Japan with the new long-range bomber Boeing B-29 Superfortress .
The United States Armed Forces opened the battle on June 15, 1944 by landing on Saipan . The Japanese leadership then mobilized all available ships ( aircraft carriers , battleships, etc.) to repel the Americans. Japanese naval aviation had never recovered since the Battle of Midway , and the mostly young and inexperienced Japanese pilots were clearly inferior to the now experienced American naval aviators, who were equipped with significantly superior equipment. That battle in the Philippine Sea ended for Japan with three sunk aircraft carriers and over 400 aircraft destroyed. This air / sea battle went down in military history under the name Great Marianas Turkey Shoot .
On July 21st, US Marines landed on Guam and three days later on Tinian . At the end of August 1944, the Marianas were in Allied hands. The capture of the Mariana Islands was the key to the opening of the strategic bombing war against the main Japanese islands by the bombers of the Twentieth Air Force of the USA, which in the following year led to the almost complete destruction of the Japanese war economy.
Operation Forager was part of the Granite and Granite II operations .
