June 14, 1944

Ships of Rear Admiral Jesse Oldendorf's Northern and Southern Task Forces arrived off the coast of Saipan and joined in the bombardment. The accuracy improved markedly overall; the crews of the old battleships joining the attack had a great deal of experience with hitting shore targets. Some had fired in support of the landings at Tarawa earlier in the year, and they knew their business well. Unfortunately, a single day of highly-accurate gunfire would not be sufficient to neutralize all the intended targets. Poorly trained seaplane observers inadvertently caused more inefficiency by again directing fire onto large targets which were not necessarily of any military virtue. Also, in an effort to better coordinate their fire, the Navy was instructed not to target anything further than 1,000 yards inland. Those emplacements were left to the air force, though in many instances naval gunnery was what was needed.

The bombardment would continue throughout the day. The Americans did not escape untouched; fire from Japanese shore batteries scored hits on Pearl Harbor veterans California and Texas, and destroyer Braine, inflicting 62 casualties.

A far more dangerous task was being undertaken in the water between the fleet and the island. Navy frogmen in a series of Underwater Demolitions Teams moved out in small boats to preselected areas off the invasion beaches. There, they continued in the water, measuring distances between submerged obstacles and searching for mines and other nasty surprises. Slightly before sunset, the UDTs blasted entry channels for amphibious vehicles, and were immediately taken under fire by Japanese shore troops. Helpless to defend themselves, the frogmen dodged as best they could while waiting to be collected by the Navy. Several were hit, but they provided valuable information about the conditions to be expected in the morning.

The invasion fleet, with its hundreds of ships, lay in wait to the west of Saipan; the thousands of sailors and Marines wondered what would befall them within the next 24 hours.

In our little "clubhouse" of a landing craft high up on the transport we slept in comfort, save for occasional rain squalls which usually saturated before we awakened and arranged protection. On the night of June 14 we slept as soundly as ever, but were up with the first light as the ships slowly rounded the northern tip of an island. For June 15 was D-day on Saipan!

We had been aboard ship too often previously for the routine to seem unusual or different. Our schooling for the operation was fully as complete as it had been six months earlier when we first saw action in the Kwajalein campaign. We possessed the new advantage of having already faced combat, and therefore a knowledge of how each of us reacted personally. In addition, a rehearsal maneuver had thoroughly demonstrated to all personnel that our striking power for the assault consisted of the greatest amphibious force ever gathered. And so, essentially there was no chance in our feelings over this approaching conflict. No one thought of failure.

- Captain Frederic Stott, 1/24, "Saipan Under Fire."

The Japanese wondered, too.

Where are our planes? Are they letting us die without making any effort to save us? If it were for the security of the Empire, we would not hesitate to lay down our lives but wouldn't it be a great loss to the "Land of the Gods" for us all to die on this island? It would be easy for me to die but for the sake of Japan's future I feel obligated to stay alive.

- Tokuzo Matsuya, 9th Tank Regiment