June 12, 1944

As the transports carrying A/1/24 sailed ever closer to Saipan, the carrier planes struck Saipan and Tinian again. This raid was stronger than the previous day's attack, and caused a great deal of consternation among the Japanese.

12 June--With daybreak enemy planes (even more than yesterday) made a sudden attack. The all day strafing and bombing was much heavier. It must have caused great damage at Garapan and Aslito Airfield.

- Tokuzo Matsuya, tank NCO on Saipan, personal diary.


Of all the tens of Japanese planes one can't see even one during a raid. The planes which cover the sky are all the enemy's. They are far and away more skillful than Japanese planes. Now begins our cave life. Enemy planes overhead all day long--some 230 in number. They completely plastered our airfields. . . . Where are our planes? Not one was sent up. Our AA guns spread black smoke where the enemy planes weren't. Not one hit out of a thousand shots. The Naval Air Group has taken to its heels

- unidentified Japanese NCO on Tinian, personal diary.

(The tradition of keeping diaries was exceptionally strong in Japanese culture; members of the Imperial armed forces were actively encouraged to write down their experiences. Since the diaries were uncensored, much valuable information was gained from notebooks taken from the corpses of the dead).



A Grumman F6F Hellcat warms up on the deck of the USS Yorktown, June 1944. As part of Admiral Mitscher's task force, planes from the Yorktown participated in the preliminary airstrikes against Saipan.