At the time, it was a vague notion, nothing more. But then Saipan, where Japan had a large base and a sizable Japanese population, fell in July 1944, and the mood in the military fast tilted ...

In July that year, the U.S. military captured Saipan in the Northern Mariana Islands some 2,500 kilometers south of the Japanese mainland, and used the island as a base to bomb Japan. On Nov. 24 ...

U.S. planes destroy Japanese bases at Rabaul, on New Britain ... June: American forces land on Saipan in the Mariana Islands, defended by more than 25,000 Japanese troops. Battle of the Philippine ...

to pay their respects to the Japanese soldiers who died in the bloody WWII battle in Saipan. (China Daily/Reuters Photo) ...

The Japanese were placed on the defensive as the U.S. began taking strategic bases across the central ... U.S. Marines dig in on the beach at Saipan. Defense Dept. photo (Marine Corps.) ...