U.S. landing forces await orders to hit Saipan.

U.S. landing forces await orders to hit Saipan. Loaded with men and supplies, American landing craft of all types stand by awaiting the order to hit the shore of Saipan, major enemy supply base in the Marianas group of the Central Pacific, where U.S. forces established a beachhead on June 14, 1944. Similar craft were used in the Allied landings in France June 6, 1944. Within the two-week period of the Marianas operation, starting on June 10, with the preliminary bombardment of the enemy bastion by air and surface units of a U.S. Navy task force, the Japanese losses were 30 major cargo or combat ships sunk, 51 damaged and 747 planes destroyed. Less that one week after their initial landings, U.S. ground forces had occupied the entire southern half of Saipan Island, less than 1,500 miles south of Tokyo.