United States 4th Marine Division in Tinian, Mariana Islands during World War II. Marine Corps officers walk forward. Marines standing nearby. United States Marine Corps Major General Clifton Bledsoe Cates salutes. USMC Lieutenant General Holland Smith and U.S. Navy Admiral Raymond Spruance also salute. The officers converse.
Opening scene shows an M8A1 75mm Howitzer motor carriage (variant of M8, using M5A1 Stuart tank chassis). It moves slowly toward the camera along a dirt road on Saipan during World War 2. Closeup shows short gun barrel and driver in turret above, speaking on radio. Bodies of many Japanese soldiers are seen, recently killed in final attacks culminating in their organized suicide assault (AKA "the Tanapag Plain banzai attack") on July 6th and 7th, 1944. A marine throws a hand grenade at a clump of foliage. (Note: Principal American defenders included units of the 105th Infantry, that bore the brunt of the assault, together with 165th Infantry; 23rd Marines; 24th Marines; 25th Marines; 20th Marine,Engineers; and 10th Marines, plus supporting artillery units.
U.S. Marines on Saipan, Mariana Islands during World War 2. A shirtless U.S. marine poses in front of a truck. A wounded marine carried on a litter to a dock. Marines and vehicles seen at base of so-called "Suicide Cliff" on Saipan. Marines gathered on and around a U.S. M3 Gun Motor Carriage (75mm). Two marines carry a fallen comrade (completely covered on a litter). View of marines gathered on the beach, around several Japanese prisoners seated beneath some sort of Japanese structure supporting a scale.
Scene opens showing American troops assenbled in a clearing on Saipan for a formal flag raising ceremony, following the defeat of Japanese forces defending the island in World War 2. Camera pans over the assembled officers and troops. All salute as the flag is raised by military police. View of the American flag atop the flag pole. After the ceremony, Some of the senior American officers present stand about conversing. Admiral Raymond Spruance, Commander of the U.S. 5th Fleet, is seen wearing a pith helmet. Close to him is Lieutenant General Holland M. Smith, Commander, V Amphibious Corps. Also seen, in fatigues, is Major General Sanderford Jarman, Commanding General, U.S. Army 27th Infantry Division. The remainder of the film shows them and other senior officers mingling and conversing with one another.
Camera follows American troops as they comb through hiding places at the end of the battle for Saipan in World War 2. Small children hiding among some boulders. Next a Japanese woman and four small children are seen seated on the ground. A U.S. soldier bandages the arm of one child. A group of American soldiers searches for Japanese soldiers near a cave. Two soldiers seen firing at a suspected Japanese enemy position. Next, they search the underbrush and retrieve a box of canned goods next to the body of a dead Japanese soldier. A dead Japanese soldier floating in a stream. U.S. infantrymen continuing their search for Japanese holdouts. One retrieves an abandoned Japanese rifle. Another holds a Japanese grenade. One GI displays a Japanese long Arisaka Type 38 rifle with a Type 30 bayonet. (The rifle is 4 feet, 2 inches long and the bayonet 20 inches, making it almost 5-feet in overall length.) Camera pans across misty landscape near the shore, with so-called "suicide cliff" in background. A woman and small girl sitting beneath a rough shelter.
A native Chamorro man walking slowly along a path on Saipan after the American defeat of Japanese forces there in World War 2 Small boats maneuvering near the shore. Several American soldiers search a Japanese youth in uniform. A number of Japanese women and children being assembled and tended to by U.S. infantrymen, who pour them water from a large can. Japanese prisoners and civilians fill an open truck, to overflowing, as an American military photographer takes pictures.
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