Frontline books cover a small but vital part of the War in the Pacific in “The Battle of Tinian”.

This is another offering in the Images of War series of books. The book is 175 pages long with over 200 photographs and illustrations.

The book starts with the Battle of the Philippine Sea (occurred just before the Saipan operation began) and the great Marianas Turkey Shoot.

Afterwards, the book looks at how both sides approached the upcoming battles. The Japanese High Command was looking for a final battle to defeat the Allied Forces, and stop their advance. The A-Go battle plan. The Japanese initially thought the next allied attack would happen in the Carolinas Island chain, until air attacks on the Marianas Island chain convinced them (correctly) that the next allied attack would occur there.

The Japanese plan was for a coordinated attack on the US Fleet from carrier-based aircraft and aircraft based in the Marianas Islands. American attacks on the Marianas at the onset of the battle meant the Japanese Fleet was now on its own.

At sea, American Submarines and carrier-based aircraft sank three carriers, two oilers and damaged six other ships. Japanese hopes for a decisive battle sank along with their fleet.

Allied forces were now freed up for operations in the Marianas.

But why the Marianas? Guam, Tinian, and Saipan were vital to the allied war effort as B-29 bases.B-29’s could not hit targets in Japan from islands that were farther away. The Japanese Command correctly determined the Marianas as the next target to be attacked by the allies, the moved Naval Forces and notified the affected garrisons to be ready for the allied attack. The islands were also defended by more than 31, 000 troops.

Guam and Tinian were American Territories conquered by Japan, and considered friendly to an allied invasion; whereas Saipan was an island inhabited by Japanese Nationals. The decision was made to conquer Saipan first, then move onto Guam and Tinian.

Countering this was a heavy pre-landing bombardment from allied ships off-shore and carrier-based aircraft that started on 11, June and ended as the first wave of Marines landed. This pre-invasion bombardment was offset by Allied Intelligence under estimated the defending force, not knowing that the Japanese Garrison was 31,000 strong, but knowing that the Japanese Fleet was moving in to attack the Allied Fleet.

20,000 Marines were ashore at the end of the first day, with 3,500 casualties on the American side.

The Marines dug in knowing that the Japanese strategy was to allow a beachhead, but stage a strong counter attack during the first night.The expected counter-attack came and was repulsed, with a second and final counter-attack coming during the night of 31 July. The island was declared secure by August 3, and mopping up against hold-out forces continued until January 1945.

Other books I have read end with the island being secure.This book continues the story of the Tinian campaign with the U.S.S. Indianapolis tragedy, the expansion of the Tinian airbases into two large B-29 super bases and the arrival of the 509^th Composite Group.

The final chapter covers the two Atomic Bomb missions flown by the 509^th.

This book was an easy read, my wife grabbed it before I was finished and read it (telling me she enjoyed it) in a few hours. I highly recommend this book for someone interested in the Pacific Campaign of World War II. I will also be looking at other books in the Images of War series.

In closing, I would like to thank Casemate books for providing IPMS with this book for review.