Japanese prisoners taken by U.S. troops on Saipan Island.

Japanese prisoners taken by U.S. troops on Saipan Island. Japanese prisoners, taken by American soldiers, are marched to a stockade on Saipan Island where U.S. troops pushed ashore on June 14, 1944, and in less than a week's fighting, gained control of half the strategic base in the Marianas group of the Central Pacific. The captured enemy troops and their American guards approach amphibious tanks (right, background). These tanks brought ashore U.S. ground forces while American planes and warships hurled tons of explosives on Saipan strongpoints in a bombardment similar to the air and naval attacks which paved the way for Allied landings on the Normandy coast of France. By June 28, American soldiers killed in action on Saipan totaled 1,474, while U.S. troops had buried 4,951 enemy dead. Saipan is a key base in the Japanese inner defense zone. Operations of a U.S. Pacific Fleet task force in nearby Central Pacific waters prevent hundreds of thousands of enemy troops to the south from receiving naval support and supply.