9 July 2021 Garand Picture of the Day - The First Battalion, 24th Marines

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Operation Forager: The Battle of Saipan

15 June–9 July 1944

Saipan cost the United States 16,525 casualties including 3,426 killed in action but it provided the first B-29 base in the Pacific. Japanese losses were over 29,000. A Japanese Admiral said, "Our war was lost with the loss of Saipan. I feel it was a decisive battle." General Holland Smith considered Saipan the decisive battle of the Pacific offensives.

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B-29 Superfortress bombers lined up at Isley Field, Saipan, Mariana Islands, mid-1945