SAIPAN---JUNE 15,1944. The doors of the LST's swung open at 0700 and the first Amtracs of four assault battalions of the 2nd Marine division began heading out to their line of departure.One Amtrac (#27) carrying members of Fox company 2nd battalion 8th Marines were to land on GREEN BEACH 1 with the first wave. [/img]
---When the command for the assault came,shortly after 0800, the amtanks led the way.At first there was little incomeing fire. For a long, cruel moment the Amtracs hung on the reef,silhouetted and almost out of the water,their treads clutching at the coral and then plunging down into the deeper,quieter pools inside the reef.White geysers suddenly plumed in the waters between the reef and the beach.The Japs were shooting back in earnest,now.From the flat,wooded tip of afetna point,on the right toward the old Japanese pier,orange tracers fanned toward the Amtracs,caroming and ricocheting off the water and coral.At 0845 the first Amtracs crawled up onto GREEN BEACH 2( the Jap atillery fire pushed the Amtracs of 2/8 to Green 2 and not the attended Green 1).Some of the amtracs had decks red with blood,and others were awash from shrapnel penetrations.But the MARINES were going ashore,and all the Japs in hell could not stop them. [url=http://imageshack.us][img]http://img147.imageshack.us/img147/8057/lvtpics162fh0.jpg[/url]
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The Marines of Fox co. 2/8 became confused from not landing on the right beach,the landmarks which once had set off the assigned landing area vanished in the smoke and haze of battle.The remaining Marines from Fox.co 2/8 surged forward,inshore through the brushy thickets and south down the beach toward Afetna point.[url=http://imageshack.us][img]http://img178.imageshack.us/img178/8540/lvtpics157dg7.jpg[/url]
---The men of Fox companys first platoon began to out-flank the pill-boxes that somehow had survived the pre-landing bombardment.With 2/8 Marines laying down cover-fire with M-1's,B.A.R.'s and tommy-guns,Fox co. flamethrower men began to knock-out pill boxes and other beach defences that were fireing on incomeing Marines in the 2nd and 3rd waves.[/img]
--- The rest of the day the Marines would fight and reinforce the land they had took from the iron grip of the Japanese,but nothing stopped the Jap artillery the first few days.By that afternoon the beachhead was some-what secure and every Marine on SAIPAN began to dig-in for the night and wait for the Japanese night attack which was sure to come.---RED---
---When the command for the assault came,shortly after 0800, the amtanks led the way.At first there was little incomeing fire. For a long, cruel moment the Amtracs hung on the reef,silhouetted and almost out of the water,their treads clutching at the coral and then plunging down into the deeper,quieter pools inside the reef.White geysers suddenly plumed in the waters between the reef and the beach.The Japs were shooting back in earnest,now.From the flat,wooded tip of afetna point,on the right toward the old Japanese pier,orange tracers fanned toward the Amtracs,caroming and ricocheting off the water and coral.At 0845 the first Amtracs crawled up onto GREEN BEACH 2( the Jap atillery fire pushed the Amtracs of 2/8 to Green 2 and not the attended Green 1).Some of the amtracs had decks red with blood,and others were awash from shrapnel penetrations.But the MARINES were going ashore,and all the Japs in hell could not stop them. [url=http://imageshack.us][img]http://img147.imageshack.us/img147/8057/lvtpics162fh0.jpg[/url]---[/img]
The Marines of Fox co. 2/8 became confused from not landing on the right beach,the landmarks which once had set off the assigned landing area vanished in the smoke and haze of battle.The remaining Marines from Fox.co 2/8 surged forward,inshore through the brushy thickets and south down the beach toward Afetna point.[url=http://imageshack.us][img]http://img178.imageshack.us/img178/8540/lvtpics157dg7.jpg[/url]
---The men of Fox companys first platoon began to out-flank the pill-boxes that somehow had survived the pre-landing bombardment.With 2/8 Marines laying down cover-fire with M-1's,B.A.R.'s and tommy-guns,Fox co. flamethrower men began to knock-out pill boxes and other beach defences that were fireing on incomeing Marines in the 2nd and 3rd waves.[/img]
--- The rest of the day the Marines would fight and reinforce the land they had took from the iron grip of the Japanese,but nothing stopped the Jap artillery the first few days.By that afternoon the beachhead was some-what secure and every Marine on SAIPAN began to dig-in for the night and wait for the Japanese night attack which was sure to come.---RED---
