As It Happened: Saipan

When they hit the beaches of Saipan, US fighting men would be on Japanese soil for the first time in the Pacific War. June 15th 1944, just nine days after D-Day in Normandy, on the far side of the world another invasion fleet was about to land its troops. The battle for the Island of Saipan would be savage, its capture to three, long, gruesome weeks. In the days and weeks leading up to the attack, American reconnaissance aircraft roamed the sky above Saipan. Their photographs were used to brief men on their way to the landing beaches. These images, original footage and first-hand accounts allow for a unique insight into the battle and pinpoint the key stages of the invasion.