American Coast Guardsmen dress wounds of Japanese child injured on Saipan. U.S.

American Coast Guardsmen dress wounds of Japanese child injured on Saipan. U.S. Coast Guardsmen bandage the wounds of a Japanese child injured during the fighting on Saipan Island. Civilians on the island of the Marianas Group were offered an escape route by Americans who gained control of Saipan on July 8, 1944, after almost a month of furious fighting. While hopelessly trapped Japanese troops attempted desperate counterattacks, Japanese women and children streamed down a safe road that led to U.S. lines. Control of the Central Pacific island of Saipan, less than 1,500 miles (2,400 kilometers) from Japan, gives the U.S. a strategic forward attack base for air and sea assaults within the enemy's inner defense zone.