Transcripts For CSPAN3 World War II Marianas Campaign Of 1944 20240713

Michael odonnell, who would missing in action during the vietnam war. Sunday night 8 00 eastern on cspans q a. The campaign played a major role in ensuring a u. S. Victory in the world war ii pacific theater. Next, to historians who are authors of books on the historic war give talks about two key events on the campaign. The battle of the Philippine Sea and the battle of saipan. This was part of the National World war ii museums annual conference. Some fantastic presentations for this afternoon. Beginning with our next panel, entitled, dominance, the mariana s campaign. Will hitchcock shared with us last night the reality that many different campaigns were going on in june 1944. Dday being primary amongst them. We are going to hear more later on and tomorrow morning in particular about the eastern fronts. As our next panelists will discuss, some of the most important actions of this global war were taking place in the pacific and in the marianas. By anext panel is led doctor who is the author of a superb book called specific blitzkrieg. One of you might many remember her from 2014 and we look forward to continuing our dialogue. Ladies and gentlemen, the marianas campaign. [applause] thank you. My father would never forgive me if i did not corrected. No problem. When Rick Atkinson said this morning about mark clark asking why dday could not give him one day if headlines, there was one other person in the u. S. Metairie who could understand how we felt that was hollen smith in saipan. It was his day to command and it was buried by the news about the day. Our next to historians have mixed feelings when i read their books. I read their books with great pleasure and joy because they are so wellwritten and in the back of my head i am thinking, why cant i write this while . Brilliant booka on the civil war. He came over to world war ii, where he has written equally brilliant books on dday and a global history of world war ii at sea, which is magnificent. This author broke onto the scene and starts to write a trilogy about the Pacific Naval battles. We are looking forward to the third book of the trilogy. Storiessten to their about saipan, i am reminded whenever i read anything about saipan, there was a diary recovered of a japanese soldier who fought at the battle, he saw the American Fleet coming in and said i have come to the place where i will die. This was a brutal battle for both sides and one that is every bit as important for what was happening in europe as dday was. The battle of saipan and the battle of the marianas were equally important for the battle of the pacific. Without further ado, craig symonds. [applause] craig thank you, i appreciate that very much. For two decades at least, before the event we are going to talk about on this panel this afternoon, naval officers in both japan and the United States planned for a potential conflict, each assumed that the other would be the next opponent in any future confrontation and each made plans based on what they expected to happen, and both sides expected much the same thing. That was somewhere in the western pacific, American Battle fleet having fought its way through a web of japanese defenses, with submarines and airplanes from the japanese basis, would arrive at a point somewhere in the Philippine Sea linesnt one another of battleships slugging it out with one another. The outcome of which would decide the victor in the war. That vision shared by both sides did not quite come to fruition. It was not a line of battleships. But it was a confrontation in the Philippine Sea. Both sides for years, for decades had assumed would be the decisive moment. Of controversy, as i assume everyone in this room knows, about that battle. Andenters around two men, you see their pictures on the wall up there. Admiral and a vice admiral. Do with myd like to time here this afternoon is to summarize and outline the principal elements of that controversy, offer some conclusions about it and then we could get into some freeforall in the q a. The naval battle in the Philippine Sea was triggered by the American Invasion of saipan, the northern most of the mariana s islands. Apparently i cannot get this to move on. As the fifth fleet commander, he amphibiousof the element of the force. A coveringluded force of battleships and heavy force. S and covering in my doing this backwards . Where are we going here . 14yearold to figure out how to work technology. Do we have a 14yearold in the audience . There we go. Began theirs preliminary bombardment of the targeted islands on june 13, one week after the dday invasion, reminding us of the simultaneous nature of these invasions that took place almost literally on opposite sides of the world. They were there in the first japanese, who the knew they had to respond to this invasion because this was the existential moment for the navy. They began the war in the first place to gain the assets, particularly oil, of the South Pacific reason. For that reason, their main Surface Fleet was located south of the philippines. There on the lefthand side of this map, that put them near the oil fields of the former dutch east indies, the possession of which had been there principal objective of the war. Commanderanese expected to approach in secrecy in order to ambush this American Invasion fleet, the prospect ended immediately because an american submarine, the redfin, had been watching for weeks. Evenported his departure, as it was underway. That the man who he was coming. 15, the later on june day that the marines went ashore on saipan, he got an update. This time from another submarine, the flying fish. Watching the exit from the San Bernardino spritz. Fleet had left the sea and was heading to the Philippine Sea. He was approaching from the west. However, spruance got a report from the submarine seahorse. There was another Japanese Force involving surface ships and both of japanese super ships coming up from the south. Here at numeral number 2 spruance who had commanded at the battle of midway, knew the japanese had a tendency to divide their forces for battle. Apparently they were doing it again. That on the 17th of june, spruance got another report from a submarine. Submarines were everywhere in the western pacific. The skipper reported an enemy fleet was about halfway across the Philippine Sea, still headed eastward at the number 4 on the map. Was the skipper reported seeing at least 15 enemy combat ships. 15. Where were the rest . In particular, where was the second fleet that had been reported coming up from the south . Did not know it, but as we can see on the map, the two fleets had rendezvoused in the middle of the Philippine Sea and were approaching as a single, unified task force. Triede of that, spruance to put himself in the mind of his opponent. Secretary, that if he were ozawa, he would threaten the american covering force off of saipan with his main fleet principally with the carriers to draw that fleet away from the Landing Beach and then he would send the Surface Force in with a long right hook behind the american covering force to attack and sink the transports and support ships, leaving the invaders stranded on the beach without reinforcement, ammunition or supplies. Spruance did not know this is what the japanese were planning, he merely thought that given the circumstances and the report he received from american submarines that it was possible. Spruance went to see richmond him, turner and he asked could the transports and supply ships leave and get out of the way during the forthcoming naval battle . Turner told him, no. They had to stay there. They had to supply the men on the beach. They were not yet empty. We need to stay where we are. Spruance assured him that was fine. Words,ised him and his according to turners memory, they will not and run us. Promise,l that spruance ordered the commander of the Carrier Force to keep his carriers within 200 miles of the beach. That would allow his plans to overfly the beach and the transports and supply ships, turners fleet, and still allow them to conduct searches out 200 miles to the west. That was not what he wanted to hear. He wanted to take his Carrier Force and head west and take on ozawas approaching carriers in a fullscale carrier battle in the middle of the Philippine Sea, the kind of divide the kind of decisive engagement the japanese and americans had been thinking about and planning for 20 years. Spruances quarters to cover the beachhead smashed that vision. Carriers were fundamentally offense of weapons. In his view, they should not be used to guard beaches. They should seek out and enjoy enemy combat force. Him he could steam westward during the daylight hours. At night, he was to turn around saipan toack toward make sure no enemy force got behind him in the dark. End run. He protested but spruance was firm. He said we will proceed with my original orders. On the japanese side, ozawa and the forthcoming battle would have a few advantages, one of which was the longerrange of his airplanes. Lacked armor and selfsealing fuel tanks. That made them much more vulnerable but it also gave them a lighter weight and greater range. Indeed they could attack from beyond the range of american attack aircraft. Saw thatthis, mitscher ozawa could keep his carriers out of harms way altogether. While he attacked the americans with relative impunity. Advantage, or at least advantage that he thought he had, was after bombing the american ships, his plans could continue past them. If you look at the map fly past the american covering fleet on saipan, land on guam, refuel and then bomb the american carriers again on the way back to their own carriers. All the while, while this shuttle bombing took place, ozawas carriers would remain safely out of range. It was a good plan. Forceshe disparity of and japans growing desperation, it was probably the best plan ozawa could have come up with. There weressured him 450 japanese airplanes on guam and saipan. That is as many as he had on his carriers, doubling his strength. Those planes would sink one third of the american carriers before the battle even began. That would even the odds. All of that proved a vain hope. Mitschers carrier planes carried out a series of devastating preinvasion attacks on guam and saipan, hitting the fields and airplanes parked on them so that instead of the 450 friendly aircraft ozawa expected, by the time the battle began, there were fewer than 50 of them left. Undeterred, ozawa launched his first airstrike from 350 miles away, well beyond the strike range of american aircraft. Instead of launching everything had, he decided to attack in a series of assaults composed of 50 to 80 plans each. The initial assault by 69 aircraft, was intended to smash the american carriers and battleships that were screening the transports so that subsequent waves could attack the transports themselves. Orders, thanks to spruances orders, mitscher had to stay where he was and take it. Put 140 fighter planes 69the air to meet the inbound japanese aircraft, just over double. Just as important as the numbers was the fact the american pilots who flew those planes were more experienced than the mostly novice japanese pilots they were confront. Having lost so many of their veteran pilots in earlier combats from midway onward, the japanese were reduced to sending out pilots with relatively little battle experience. As the two groups of plans met, the result was a confused, swirling mass of aircraft spread out over a wide expanse of the Clear Blue Sky. Contrails, airplane do not appear below 30,000 feet. June 19,me reason, some atmospheric condition made them distantly visible and sailors standing on the decks of the american cruisers could watch the air battle unfold above them. Day, the 19th of june, a tremendous storm came charging up the english channel, smashing up the mulberry off the beach. Halfway around the world and the Philippine Sea was a Clear Blue Sky with only a few puffy white clouds. The outcome of the air battle was never seriously in doubt. American superiority in numbers and experience began to tell almost immediately. Japanese bombers and torpedo plans broke up and fell into the sea. When the surviving japanese planes came within range of the American Fleet, the held cats, everycan fighters vessel opened up with rapidfire, antiair ordinance. More japanese planes fell from the sky. Wave, 69 in the first only one got close enough to release its bomb near an american ship. It was the battleship south dakota, which suffered minor damage. None of the attackers got through to the carriers or even within visual distance of the support chips. Most of you no doubt know that to become an ace in the u. S. Navy, a pilot had to shoot down five or more enemy planes during his career. That morning, to american pilots , david and alex, became aces 30 minutes after they took off. The american pilots returned to their carriers to report, refuel, rearm because this was not the end of the battle, there was a Second Attack letter that morning, and a third, and a fourth. Indeed, the air battle lasted all day, with the japanese attacking and swarms and the waiting americans swatting them down. I the time the day was over, the japanese had lost 358 airplanes and in most cases, the air crews , as well. Counting the planes destroyed on or near saipan and guam in the prebattle attacks, the japanese lost between 400 and 500 aircraft. The americans lost 33. The air battle was so onesided, that one pilot from the carrier lexington, who was an avid hunter in civilian life, landed and told his Squadron Commander, it was just like a turkey shoot. The Squadron Commander put it in his report and it stuck. To the aviators who fought it, the battle of the Philippine Sea would be known as the great marianas turkey shoot. The onesided outcome of the air battle, mitscher remained unhappy. Chance ton denied a go after the enemy carriers, themselves. Though he did not know it, the japanese Carrier Force had already suffered a heavy blow. Two hours before the air battle even began, commander blanchard in the american submarine on aore, lined up brandnew Japanese Carrier. It fired a spread of torpedoes. Carrier, the japanese had invested a lot of their infrastructure into the production of this new carrier, which they hoped would reassert the balance of power. Only one of those torpedoes from the albacore struck the ship and the ship, which was well armored, seemed to shrug it off, barely slowing down. What few do with the time was deep inside the ship, gasoline vapors from a ruptured fuel tanks began to seep silently. Meanwhile, another american got a pearl harbor veteran in his sights and he fired a spread of torpedoes. Three of them hit. This time the consequences were immediately evident. The torpedoes triggered a series of secondary explosions and by 1 30, even as the air battle continued by saipan, the fires were out of control and the captain ordered to abandon ship. Just one halfhour after that, the gasoline fumes released by the earlier hit ignited a massive explosion on that ship, and she to sunk. Though mitscher had been denied the opportunity to strike at the Japanese Carriers, the american submarine force sent to of ozawa was biggest and most efficient carriers to the bottom without a single american airplane coming within range. Mitscher, however, remained frustrated. He was shackled the word he used to saipan and not until the next day with the air battle over and the japanese in retreat and clearly no second japanese fleet in the area, did spruance finally tell mitscher he could go get the carriers. Doing so took longer than mitscher hoped. Because carriers have to turn into the wind to launch and recover aircraft, altering the air battle of the 19th, mitscher head2head mostly west. 100 miles away from the japanese then he was when the battle began. Knotts, it took him time to recover that loss difference. He received a report from one of his plans. The pilot reported the japanese miles away. E 275 that is just beyond the desired range of american bombers but mitscher decided he had to seize the opportunity. He figured it was just possible to attack. Air, the first was in the he received an updated report from a pilot. Me, our 330, excuse miles away. That greatly reduced the chances they can reach the enemy, deliver their bombs and mitscher mitscher get back safely. Canceled mitscher the attack. Those american pilots caught up with the japanese at dusk. The pilots attack, sinking a another. Nd damaging now, but had to get back to their own carriers and given the distance they had flown, it was problematic. The american pilots who survived headed eastward as their fuel gauges settled lower. Drytorpedo bombers ran first. One by one, the pilots announced the circumstances and landed in the water. They scrambled out of their cockpits, inflated their tiny rafts and watched as their squadron mates continued eastward. After all the torpedo planes went down, the bombers began to run dry. There propellers went silent as their engines died and they too landed in the water. Waiteds time, mitscher on the bridge of the lexington, chainsmoking and occasionally rubbing his chin as the daylight faded. He knew when he gave the order to launch that the pilots would have trouble getting back and it was very likely some would not get all. Those who made it back would be low on fuel and would have no time to circle and look for the task force in the growing darkness. The american ships were running blacked out under fundamental caution. Nevertheless, when the first returning planes showed up on brief mitscher sent out a radio message using his callsign. Bald eagle, this is blue jacket himself, turn on the lights. This obviously is a modern portrayal, we dont have a photograph. In response, each of the carriers and all of the screening cruisers and their spotlights into the night sky to returning pilots as depicted in this modern painting by artist paul taylor. Mitschers decision to turn on the lights, much celebrated by aviators at the time and noted by scholars of the battle, was a bold and daring decision. But it was not unprecedented. During the battle of midway, spruance too ordered the lights turned on to recover late arriving planes at night. Decision hasers resonated and june 20 is riverton the navy the night carriers turned on the lights. Some american planes landed with no little gas they could not taxi forward and had to be pushed out of the way by the crew. Many did not make it all and ditched in the water, literally within sight of the carriers. Like, apparently this guy. There were also all of those pilots that had been forced to ditch much further away and they endured a long night waiting for rescue, some rounded up in small groups, winning together. The next morning, american destroyers headed out along the track of their return flight and picked them up. That had been forced down due to lack of fuel, the destroyers picked up 143 of them. That was not true for the japanese. Despite that, the battle of the Philippine Sea or the great marianas turkey shoot was an overwhelming american victory. The japanese lost three carriers, more than 400 airplanes and far too many pilots. For their part, the americans lost no ships, only 20 pilots. Despite the victory, there was a lot of secondguessing afterward. Here we are again. Was spruance wrong to have changed mitschers carriers to saipan on june 19. Should he have released mitscher sooner from his covering mission. Should mitscher have recalled the airstrike on june 20 when he learned the japanese were 330 miles away . They told spruance afterward he had done exactly the right thing. One man wrote later the responsibility of the fleet commander was the safe landing in support of the troops ashore until such support was no longer needed. Paramountned the word twice in the message. Not everyone agreed with that. Andperson backed mitscher got the following sentence included in his order. In case opportunity for destruction of a major portion of the enemy fleet is offered or can be created, such instruction becomes the primary task. Yield itsnce would own consequences. Let me sort of provoke the discussion that will follow his presentation. I think spruance was absolutely right and mitscher was absolutely wrong. Let the discussion begin. Thank you. [applause] that was to help anyone who might have fallen asleep with a full belly to wake up. You for that excellent presentation on the great naval battle. I wanted to begin briefly with a high level point, which i think it is important to consider whenever we move, as we are doing now, from the war in europe to the war in the pacific. Was a greaturope Ground Campaign principally, in which Naval Operations were in support of the primary objective of that war, which was to overwhelm nazi germany to liberate europe. Pacific, ande really you only need to look at a map of the pacific to get this at an intuitive level, was before anything else a c war. War and anas a sea air war. Land was a seaialized adjunct to the campaign. , something that does not come intuitively to us as americans in quite the same way it does, for example, to the british or the japanese, these are island nations in which the intuitive sense you have to control the sea before anything else comes more natural in the military tradition of great britain. It was often said the royal navy was the primary service and the british army was the secondary service. True inld say that was japan, as well. It has never been true of the United States. The thinking that way, to think of it principally as a sea war in which primarily we had to take islands for various reasons and had Specialized Forces in the marine corps and guamto do that, saipan and or two of the three objectives of the marianas islands. They took in 300 square miles. Groupse unlike the tiny of micronesia, which had been the objectives of the Central Pacific campaign, which had run through the gilberts and marshalls. These were large, rugged mountains with steep peaks, fields of sugarcane. Miles toess than 1500 tokyo, and guam, a u. S. Territory that had been taken by the japanese in 1941, shortly after the attack on pearl harbor. Distances or a factor throughout the war but increasingly as the allied and american offense of moved west through the pacific from saipan to San Francisco 5700 miles. Westernmost island in american hands in the Central Pacific was a distance of 1100 miles over open ocean. Tokyo, just 1500 miles away. 725 miles away. Those distances were the dominant consideration for this campaign. It drew a stark contrast with the invasion of europe that was underway at the same time. The english channel, 22 miles at its narrowest point, 130 miles from the normandy beaches to southern england. Maintain these secure communications with the rear bases, to establish control of the air over the objective using were their power alone absolutely essential considerations to a successful amphibious invasion of this island. Saipan, and this is from the Strategic Bombing survey, saipan dominated miles long, by a ridge of volcanic mountains that run down the spine, the center. Rose to 1554eak feet. Saipan was home to about 30,000 civilians, of whom most were japanese. The japanese and the other island nations had been there since 1919, the year this island and the others of the marianas, except guam, had been mandated to the japanese as part of the treaty of versailles. The terrain was very different from what marines and soldiers of the fifth amphibious corps had dealt with in previous campaigns in the gilberts and marshalls, or they had fought on small islands, tight terrain and saipan. They fought a Wide Campaign through towns, cane fields and mountainous country, in which they would assume all responsibilities with risks of fighting in territory that was populated by large numbers of civilians. This was the first time this was to occur. Town one of the three major towns along the west coast. Plan was to land to Marine Divisions, the second and the fourth, on beaches along the southwestern part of the island. Armys 27th the Infantry Division would be brought in on the second and third day of the invasion as reinforcement. They would meet the 43rd Infantry Division of the japanese army. Sverall command of the mariana to a viceas entrusted admiral, well known to the americans as the commander of the Japanese Carrier Striking Force that hit pearl harbor in december of 1941 and returned and had been badly defeated in the battle of midway six months later. Here we have an aerial view of the Landing Beaches of the second Marine Division, they would land to the north. The Fourth Marine Division to the south. The naval bombardment began two days before that invasion. Here we see the result of the apartment. Heavy fires broken up along the territory immediately north of the Landing Beaches 16 inch and five inch explosive shells rained down along the landing zones. Under the cover provided by this barrage, sweepers came in and swept lanes for the amphibious teamsto land the assault and two underwater demolition men, these were the frog they came into clear obstacles, which would allow them to come in. A japanese seaplane base, a spectacular photo, this ran in life magazine, under heavy naval bombardment. On many other islands in generallyc, it was made simply of earth and timber, rather than heavily fortified concrete. This was a factor that effectively destroyed a lot of entrenchments that were directly above the Landing Beaches. Mill, one of the three towns along the west coast. It is pretty well destroyed. Although the smokestack remains howding, amazingly, given much was thrown at it. The commander of the fifth amphibious corps turned this ruin into his. The landings began at 8 00 a. M. On june 15 and they were largely successful, with 8000 troops landing in the first 20 minutes. Here we have a photograph of the marines on the beach. Marines were onshore by the end of the day. Japanese artillery fire on the beaches remained heavy throughout the first 48 hours of the battle, inflicting serious casualties on those marines who landed. Generals forces concealed mortars in the high ground, inland of the beaches. Were ascertaining in the first 48 hours of the battle it was considerably higher than what was anticipated. Artillery made effective use of reverse wasenchments and much of it not knocked out until the third day of the battle. On the evening of june 16, general saito decided to commit reserves to a counterattack on the northern flank of the second Marine Division, which was near the northern limit of the american perimeter. Japanese made no special effort to conceal this attack from the American Fleet offshore. Asricans were able to watch the Japanese Forces gathered in a town. Tanks, p. M. , led by 40 two columns of infantry, the japanese staged this attack, which was broken up by marine artillery and naval fire from offshore. This is a photograph of one of the tanks destroyed in that engagement. Casualties on the beach during the scene were described by private richard kings in a letter to his parents, all along the beach, men were dying. Many of you will think it is cruel but i want to let you know what it was like, mortar shells dropping on heads, ripping bodies, people blown apart by lead. I will never forget the death and how along the beach. It rained that night and mud was ankledeep. That quote could have been lifted from any number of accounts from the dday landings from europe. It was very much the same scene. Of june 16,noon divisionhe armys 27th landed. The main on the island. Showing the a photo rugged coastal topography on the east coast coast of the island, or someg several hills of the most bloodied defenses of the japanese defenders were made. Here we have a higher aerial view showing the rugged topography along the middle of the island. Lines on june 22, American Forces controlled about one third of the island, including almost all the territory south of that line bisecting the island between the Landing Beaches and the bay. There was a pocket of 1500 japanese troops within a perimeter at the southern point of the island. They attempted a breakout with a charge on june 26 that ended with essentially all of them being shot dead. Saipans eastern shore, you had the second Marine Division pushing against stubborn resistance through the towns along that populated part of the coast. The Fourth Marine Division was along the mountainous spine of the island and near the bay and general smith ordered the 27th division, this was the army division, into the middle of the high ground between the two Marine Divisions. As the fleet returned from the one, hehey had just came under pressure from admiral guam and name it for he said he was unable to do so because the ground commanders insisted the floating reserves, the troops that had been slated to land on guam, should be kept in reserve in case this battle proved much more difficult. The guam landing had to be delayed indefinitely. Divisionsee american pushed north through the island, the army forces in the middle encountering the toughest to keep upe unable the pace. The attack broke down. This caused a u shape in the american line, which was dangerous and provided opportunities for flanking attacks. Between the army and the marines became a significant the general Holland Smith, the marine commander, brought pressure on his subordinate, general ralph smith, who was the commanding general of the 27th. This had been a recurring the pacific war, throughout the Second World War, interservice rivalry was a constant irritant. This was particularly true during the Central Pacific drive, when marines were placed in the command rosters. Wasral smith to the left, brought heavy pressure against ralph smith to begin moving his lines and finally passed admiral spruance and turner to relieve him of command, which he finally did june 24. This is lieutenant robert richardson, the Top Commander for nimitz. Forgottenwhat of a figure in the history of the pacific war. Andept a very detailed strongly opinionated diary, which just last year became public. It is at the hoover institution. This would be one of the rare things, 75 years after the war to have a new source over command controversy of the pacific war. It was seized by the 25th marines and the second marines. Having broken the back of the japanese resistance in the middle of the island, it was the final stage of the battle for japanesend remaining units fell back. The fighting deteriorated into isolated, sporadic and desperate resistance by the enemy. Charge, a plane launched on july 9, it resulted in at least 3000 japanese soldiers killed. A flamethrower tank. Out limestone caves on the northern part of the island. Said, this was the first time american Ground Forces fought on a battlefield in which they would encounter large numbers of civilians. Told theyse had been could expect a fate worse than death should they be captured by American Forces. A course, this was really serious crime that had been committed by the japanese regime against its own people, to mislead them in this way. Many japanese parents kill their own children in order to spare they expectedrs they would encounter, should they fall into the hands of the invading army. We see here with this pamphlet that had been distributed to the marines on the island, significant precautions had been taken to ensure that civilians would be treated well, in accordance with international law. I think all of us who studied the Second World War, it is impossible as americans for hearts not to swell with pride for the achievements of us in war. Up what it isms not chauvinistic to say we were the good guys in this war. Wayforces went out of their to try to not only save the lives of these people, but to feed them and tend to their wounds and return them to their homes. A flag raising ceremony on july 10. This is at general smiths field headquarters. Anda never smiling admiral spruance. Here is the photo of the japanese airfield in the south, the principal objective of taking this island and the other islands in the marianas was to establish airfields from which a new b29 super fortress bomber would be able to reach tokyo itself and other targets along the industrialized regions in japan. This aircraft, the b29 super b17ess bomber, we have a to get the scale. That airplane up there is about 70 feet long from nose to tail. And about 100 feet of wingspan. Was 100 feet long. That was the length of the wingspan of that bomber. The wingspan was 140 feet. Plane wouldk that fit there at all. The idea was to use the marianas japan to havemb 1000 of these bombers in thes. In the marianas here is the same airfield. And renamedded isley field. Several b29so of shortly after taking off from the island. Make of the battle of saipan and the capture of the marianas . I argued this was the decisive. Attle of the pacific war possession of these islands provided bases from which to bomb the japanese heartland directly. It provided a new Submarine Base at the crossroads of the major maritime trade routes that linked japan to its Resource Areas in the South Pacific. It caused in japan the first Major Political earthquake, it was not well understood at the time because we did not have a good window into political events in tokyo, but it forced the Prime Minister from power and brought a new government into power, which, although the tone of its public pronouncements did not change at all, the emperor and some of the factions that had been marginalized in tokyo by a general were brought back into power with the understanding they would somehow try to lay the groundwork for a negotiated exit to the war. Saipan caused total casualties of 13,413 americans and 2949 killed. Found 27,000ly japanese soldiers had been killed in action or had taken their own lives. Before the island was secure, the bulldozers, the engineers were hard at work, converting saipan into an operating base. Victory ofe decisive the pacific war, one that settled for anyone who could see the question of who exactly was going to prevail in the pacific. Yet, left unanswered was the question of how was it going to end . Campaign phase of the began with the american victory in the marianas, the naval bytory that was described dr. Symonds. The wanted to get the japanese to admit defeat and surrender. Thank you. [applause] ladies and gentlemen, if you have any questions, please raise your hand. Be torst question will your right toward the back. After the gilberts, smith did not like ralph smith. It was like a recipe for disaster in advance. Was, if istion understand you, why wasnt this command controversy settled earlier in the war . Admiral nimitz, who ran the theater, made it clear he would decide who his ground commanders would be. What his command table would look like. While the controversies and the resentment at being placed not just under the marines but under the navy and the marines in the command interferedhad not with the actual success of the operation. Marshalls,s and the there were successful operations with this model. The view was, if it is not broken, lets not try to fix it. Ralph smith was known as a man would not have voiced any concerns or disclosures. He just kind of went with the flow. Even though Holland Smith was pretty open about not being happy with the army, ralph smith never would have complained back. The only Army Commander that ralph smith did not savage in a corlett,k was charles who had been a commander because he was the only Army Commander that pushed back and said if smith stepped foot on his island, he would have him courtmartialed. Would have never done anything like that. He was given a mission and he would do it. There was one army general who wanted to make a point of it. When richardson came out after the battle was over, he distributed without telling the theater commander he was over, he distributed metals to the men of the 27th division, saying these are heroes you have disparaged and shame on you. He threw some gasoline on the fire. It was also fought afterward in the press. In the back to your left, please. Thank you for your excellent presentations. Y question is for mr. Symonds the navies control the seas by destroying other navies. If the japanese had done their it would have ultimately led to the destruction of the Japanese Navy and saipan could have picked up casually, assuming the japanese could break through the defensive forces of the carriers, which they could not. Why do you think spruance was right again . Here we go. [applause] everyone grew up in the church of my hand which is called the United States grew up in the church that is called the knotted states naval academy. States naval academy. You command the seas and you can use them at your leisure to do what you need to do. This is the conventional view that mitscher and halsey later on believed was essential. However, believed his primary responsibility was to make sure the invasion was successful. The invasion was object number one. If an opportunity came to destroy the Japanese Navy, that was job two. Here ishe great ironies that in the subsequent great battle, thein japanese did what they did not do at saipan and that is use their carrier fleet as bait to decoy the main American Battle fleet and it worked. It drew halsey away from the beachhead and nearly resulted in an attack on the amphibious ships. What is ironic about this is the option that mitscher and halsey believed would have worked at saipan but did not work elsewhere. It is wonderful to have these conversations and we should get together at a bar, and if you buy we will have a longer conversation. The next question is to your right. My question goes a little further. Japan, fromion of what i understand, the americans intended to invade japan because to invade the mainland would be a minimum of 750,000 casualties. Wooden americans have superiority, why wouldnt the military invade japan . All you would have to do is bomb. Were live debates through the end of the war. Held bys a view, it was many of the Senior Officers in both the navy and army forces. An invasion of japan should be avoided at any cost and it should not be necessary. One of the officers during the Second World War said there was a navy plan to defeat japan, there was an army plan to defeat japan and there was an air force plan to defeat japan. Is that the Strategic Bombing survey after the war, after interrogating japanese leadership came to this conclusion, most likely, an invasion of japan would not have been necessary, even if we had not dropped the atomic bombs for phaseason that the first of the operation downfall was november 1. That was three months after hiroshima. The japanese economy at that point was running on fumes. There were likely going to be conditions and famine beginning to appear in the country. The threat posed by the rampaging red army and the understanding that japanese leaders had that the longer they delayed after the soviet attack, the more likely that some portion of japan would come under soviet occupation. It happened in germany. All of those factors probably would have led to some way of breaking the deadlock in tokyo. It is controversial and it is speculative because you are trying to play out a set of events that did not occur. Had a plan, as you said, to invade japan. Involved inho were making the plan understood that it might not become necessary and i think hoped that it would not. Panelists, we will stay to your right. This is a question about japanese tactics in the battle of philippines. Why did they attack in waves that were separated and have in americans to the return to their carriers, rearm, refuel and come back and hit them again . If they are going to do it in waves, why not stagger the waves a halfhour apart . Maybe there is a reason i am not seeing but i would like you to comment. If there is a reason, i am not seeing it either. Osaka thought he could send ozawa thought he could send periodic waves and it would give him some sort of direction. I think it suggested at the unnecessarily complex operational plans the japanese are particularly fond of. It is somewhat of a mystery to me and i wish you had i wish i had a better answer for you than that. This was the first major island with a significant civilian operation, were there plans in place before the battle to deal with civilians . What humanitarian efforts did we make after the battle . How soon were civilians allowed to return to what was left of their homes and land . The answer is yes. Plans had been made to deal with to feedlian population, them for however long it took to get the economy back up. Camp could have been set up. Japanese werethe killed and saipan relatively soon after the battle. There were stragglers, but not large numbers like what happened in guam. Guam was a large island in which you had much larger numbers of japanese holdouts, the last one came out Something Like almost 30 years later. Holdouts were there a quarter century. Yes, plans were made. Else, it wasng done by the american military, specifically in the second half of the war. It was done on a large scale. Rememberher thing to as a civilians were concentrated along the coastline. Once they got past the major accounts on the coastline, there was not a major sieving population in the interior. Civilians became less of an issue. Vary back to the center, please. I appreciate your comments about admiral spruance. Could you elaborate a little bit, if i remember correctly his background was in destroyers yet he was commander of midway, a very famous Aircraft Battle and was the commander here. What were his qualities . What prepared him for this type of position . You are correct. Shoes known as a black admiral. Was a relationship between halsey and spruance. Halsey trusted spruance, who was quite, did not cause trouble, always got the job done effectively and halsey came to appreciate those things. His biographer called him the quiet warrior. Others who interviewed him said ofy heat he reminded them a university professor. Halsey came back with a skin condition, probably shingles. It was a terrible skin condition, nimitz saw the could not exercise effective command and asked him, who would you recommend to take her place . E said spruance nimitz hadnce and similar personalities, nimitz was comfortable with that. People forget the senior officer was fletcher on the yorktown. When the yorktown was damaged, he seated command to spruance. Spruance gets credit for the victory at midway. He was thrown into the breach at midway to command the Carrier Group and made important decisions of that role that demonstrated he was capable of doing it again. Goes ashore and he is nimitzs chief of staff for over a year. They worked together, lived in the same house for over a year and nimitz got to know him so well that when the big blue wast, the third fleet, created, it was spruance who got command of that. Spruance commanded everything, carriers, battleships and under him were the battleship commander, the amphibious commander and the carrier commander. He made the important operational decisions and put the leash on mitscher that mitscher resented. Spruance was an interesting guy in a lot of ways. He wasnt as flamboyant as a lot of his competitors. To your right, please. I would like to followup on the question about wether the invasion of japan wasnt necessary. Would it have been even more unlikely if the plan had been sees as to invade and which did not allow a complete shutdown of japan. I will take a shot at that. Controversy about choosing between the philippines and elsewhere was between mccarthy and ernest king. King wanted to go to formosa. It is a big island but it is what island. Either formosa or the philippines woodblock the flow of supplies to the japanese home islands. One or the other would do the job. King argued taking one island was easier than taking 1000. Macarthur argued we had a moral obligation to return to the philippines, the asians would not trust america again if we did not come to the philippines, so we did. That campaign lasted until the end of the war. An argument could be made that an invasion of formosa instead would have allowed more resources to be devoted to an earlier invasion of the japanese homeland, im not sure that would have been a good thing for anybody. I think that is the center of the argument between formosa and the philippines. Rather than one final question, i would like to take the floor managers prerogative and introduce a friend we met the traveled on one of our tours. He made a return visit because he was there 70 years prior. He served at okinawa and iwo jima. Take a bow, sir. [applause] thank you. Thank you for a wonderful panel and we will see you back in half an hour. [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2020] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] tv is onan history social media. Follow us at cspan history. Madame c. J. Walker was thought to be the wealthiest africanamerican business woman of her time. Up next, we visit the madame c. J. Walker, empowering women exhibit to learn about her impact on indianapolis and the rest of the country in the early 20th century. Madame walker was mainly known for being an entrepreneur, having her own hair care line and cosmetics company, and being a millionaire. She was born in 1867 in delta, louisiana. At that time, that is two years post emancipation. We are talking about the throes of the vestiges of slavery. She was the child of enslaved