War Strategy Revealed: Saipan

Documentary • Unrated • Directed by: Lucy Ciara McCutcheon • 43 minutes

June the 15th, 1944, D-Day. Two American battleships, two cruisers and seven destroyers approach the Japanese held island of Saipan. Behind them was an invasion fleet carrying 70,000 men of the 5th Amphibious Corps. Their mission, to take the island. Ahead of the men, waiting in the transports, lay their target beaches on the rocky west coast of the island. They knew the Japanese were lying in wait. The 8,000 U.S. Marines of the first wave realized this would be no ordinary landing. When they hit the beach they would be the first American troupes to set foot on Japanese territory in World War II. Wars are not won with luck or firepower. Much like a great game of chess, wars are won with strategy. Uncover the strategy that garaunteed victory, or defeat, in some of these most decisive battles of modern history.