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Gordon L. Rottman

Saipan & Tinian 1944: Piercing the Japanese Empire (Campaign) Paperback – April 27, 2004

by Gordon L. Rottman (Author), Howard Gerrard (Illustrator)

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Part of: Campaign (231 Books)

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The 1944 invasion of Saipan was the first two-division amphibious assault conducted by US forces in World War II (1939-1945). Saipan and Tinian had been under Japanese control since 1914 and, heavily colonized, they were considered virtually part of the Empire. The struggle for Saipan and Tinian was characterized by the same bitter fighting that typified the entire Central Pacific campaign. Fighting side-by-side, Army and Marine units witnessed the largest tank battle of the Pacific War, massed Japanese banzai charges, and the horror of hundreds of Japanese civilians committing suicide to avoid capture. In this book Gordon Rottman details the capture of these vital islands that led to the collapse of Prime Minister Tojo's government.

Print length

96 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Osprey Publishing
Publication date

April 27, 2004
Dimensions

7.26 x 0.19 x 9.68 inches
ISBN-10

1841768049
ISBN-13

978-1841768045
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Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

Highly visual guides to history's greatest conflicts, detailing the command strategies, tactics, and experiences of the opposing forces throughout each campaign, and concluding with a guide to the battlefields today.

About the Author

Gordon L. Rottman entered the US Army in 1967, volunteered for Special Forces and completed training as a weapons specialist. He served in the 5th Special Forces Group in Vietnam in 1969–70 and subsequently in airborne infantry, long-range patrol and intelligence assignments until retiring after 26 years. He was a Special Operations Forces scenario writer at the Joint Readiness Training Center for 12 years and is now a freelance writer, living in Texas.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Osprey Publishing; Illustrated edition (April 27, 2004)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 96 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1841768049
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1841768045
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 11.2 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 7.26 x 0.19 x 9.68 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #515,279 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #1,312 in Military Strategy History (Books)
- #5,447 in World War II History (Books)
- #5,533 in Asian History (Books)

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34 ratings

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The hard fight...

Reviewed in the United States on April 1, 2013

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The 1944 U.S. invasion of Saipan and Tinian in the Marianas Islands was a key moment in the Pacific War. Saipan and Tinian were strongly held by Japanese military forces who considered them part of the Japanese Empire; the struggle with the U.S. Marine and Army invasion force was to the death. For the U.S., Saipan and Tinian became vital airbases for the bombing of the Japanese homeland. The invasion itself was a large scale assault that involved three divisions of troops, a precursor to the large scale U.S. combined assault on Okinawa in 1945.

"Saipan & Tinian 1944: Piercing the Japanese Empire" is an Osprey Campaign Series entry by Gordon Rottman with illustrator Howard Gerrard. The format includes an introduction, a discussion of the opposing forces and their commanders and plans, and a narrative of the battles themselves. The text is accompanied by maps, diagram, photographs and illustrations that depict the course, and the ferocity, of the fighting. The narrative is extremely detailed, reading almost like an operations order for the U.S. assault and the Japanese defense. That may be the most noticeable shortcoming of the book, which is curiously sterile in its retelling of the battle. Even the controversial relief of the Commander of the Army's 27th Division by Marine General "Howlin' Mad" Smith, an incident which threatened to poison interservice relations, gets only brief mention. Similar brief mention is made of the naval aviation fight, the famous "Marianas turkey shoot", that protected the U.S. invasion force.

"Saipan & Tinian 1944" is recommended as an introduction to a complex campaign that probably needs coverage beyond the limited scale of this Osprey edition.

2 people found this helpful

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Mike Dillemuth

Fairly Good Synopsis of these Two Battles

Reviewed in the United States on April 21, 2011

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All in all, this book gives a better than average synopsis of the Battles for Saipan and Tinian. The author, Gordon Rottman clearly knows his material. Unfortunately, his writing style is difficult to follow. In addition, the book suffers from a lack of adequate battlefield maps. Nevertheless, the book does contain a great deal of information.

The book has four battle maps. The two most useful ones mark the Japanese defenses. Their usefulness, however, is primarily as a geographic reference. The third map only covers the action in a limited area of Saipan. It is of minimal value due to its limited scope. The last map charts the progress of the Marines through the Tinian campaign. It is the only map that truly helps the reader follow the progress of the battle.

The book has three 3D birds' eye view maps. Unfortunately, the only helpful one covers the Japanese Banzai attack on Saipan. Also, these maps are unnecessarily difficult to read as the reference notes are jumbled. In order to follow the notes from 1 to 2 to 3, the reader must scan across both pages. This distraction could have been avoided by listing the notes in ascending order on one page and then the other.

The author should be commended for including many helpful photos. These images provide an excellent view of the battle. Unfortunately, several pictures are out of sync with the text. Pages 62-65 contain several photos of Tinian. Too bad they are placed in the chapter on Saipan. These photos should have been placed next to the text that covers the associated battle.

At times, the writing style is disjointed. In the chapter on Opposing Forces, the author constantly breaks up sentences with nomenclature on weapons systems. For example, he would describe an infantry battalion as having a "machine gun company (8 or 12x7.7mm type 92 (1932) or type 1 (1941 HMGs), battalion gun platoon or company...." This information would be better placed in a table or graph. This writing style merely serves to confuse the reader.

All in all, this book provides a decent overview of these two battles. Unfortunately, the writing style and editorial organization make it a slow read. Although the book has several maps, they are of minimal value. Nevertheless, the author has a solid understanding of this campaign. With a little effort, the reader will still come away with a good understanding of these battles.

4 people found this helpful

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Dave Schranck

Good Coverage of Operation Forager

Reviewed in the United States on July 24, 2009

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I consider Osprey books as summaries not full length efforts. They are summaries that an author has to choose what material to use to fit in 96 pages and because of this, I'm not as critical of these books as I'm on full length books.
Mr Rottman has created a large database on Pacific islands and his introductions to these campaigns are informative and interesting. He gives brief histories, shape, size, key landmarks and distances from neighboring islands.

The Chronology which follows the Introduction was very good and included the US Operation's Calander. The Planning section was also good, telling us about US details for the invasion. On the Japanese side the author discusses the Japanese A-Go Operation and how it impacted the Marianas. The Japanese were expecting an invasion soon and sent men and planes to bolster the garrisons.
The Opposing Commanders section was a little light but adequate while the Opposing Forces was excellent. Of all the Osprey books I have, Mr Rottman has devoted more space discussing the first five chapters than the others. He prepares the reader well for the coming battle.
Saipan had the biggest garrison and the best prepared defenses of the 3 islands and the US wanted to secure it before moving on to the other two. Though the battle summary was brief, the author does a good job of touching the key engagements as well as conveying the difficulties the Marine / Army forces faced. The trouble was, beside facing fanatical resistance, US intelligence underestimated the Japanese garrison by over a third and consequently had fewer men on the island than what was required. The "Turkey Shoot" and the civilian suicides in the north are also mentioned. Tinian was an easier target and received less space for it. The controversy of relieving LtGen Smith for MajGen Jarman is also included.

The Aftermath counts the casualties of capturing the two islands. It also mentions improving the airfields and how they were used to the end of the war, including the B29s taking off and hitting Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

I gave this book 5 stars not because it was perfect but because its about as good a story you'll get in 96 pages. In the Operation section the key points were touched on but in a full length book greater depth would have been given. Sub and surface action in the immediate area suffered from the page limitation as did the air war. The battle action in the mountains in central Saipan would have been nice to see expanded as well.
There were three 2-D maps and two 3-D maps and they were all good and helpful. There were many photos and color illustrations to help as well. A very good Order of Battle list was shown as well.
I thought the book was good and freely recommend it.

9 people found this helpful

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Kindle Customer

Excellent account

Reviewed in the United States on August 18, 2017

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Excellent account of the battles, but from the point of view of the troops on the ground

2 people found this helpful

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LaVetta Lewis

good

Reviewed in the United States on January 9, 2019

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good

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michael john madine

Twentieth century history,fading into the mists!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 2, 2013

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This book,and its many companion volumes,form a valuable series of essays,containing a great deal of valuable information for military history buffs,studying the cataclysmic events of the twentieth century. Not too expensive,they are well written and researched,and can be built into an excellent reference library.Tinian,and adjacent Saipan,in the Marianas Islands in the Pacific,provided the Americans with the airbase facilities from which the Japanese home islands were finally bombed into submission,the two ruinous atom bomb raids in August 1945 being staged from there. Its worth recording that but for the acquisition of these two islands and the subsequent air campaign mounted from them,a conventional invasion of Japan would have cost an estimated million allied lives,and several millions of Japanese,including military personnel and elderly men,women and children,so historically,they loom large in the story of the modern world. Well worth a read.

One person found this helpful

fabiov58

WWII alle Marianne

Reviewed in Italy on July 16, 2015

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Interessante ricostruzione storica e fotografica delle importantissime battaglie nel Pacifico durante la seconda guerra mondiale.
La sconfitta dei giapponesi permise alle truppe americane di avere basi aere per il bombardamento del Giappone, compreso anche le sganciamento di bombe atomiche su Hiroshima e Nagasaki. Per non dimenticare.

One person found this helpful

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