Assault on Tinian
On July 24, 1944, the 4th Marine Division made the first and only shore-to-shore amphibious assault on the beaches of Tinian during WWII. The campaign for Tinian was a crucial part of Operation Forager, a mission to capture the Mariana Islands from the Japanese and to liberate Guam. The U.S. coveted the island of Tinian because it was perfectly suited for long bomber runways. During the operation, the U.S. pounded the island for two months with naval gunfire, long-range artillery, and aircraft bombings. The assault landed two Marine divisions, 4th and 6th, on two beaches that the Japanese thought were impossible to land on. The Marines accomplished a nearly impossible mission and secured the island in eight days, suffering minimal casualties in what is considered one of the best executed amphibious operation of the war. The U.S. bomber runways established on Tiniain are where the atomic bombs were loaded and launched from that destroyed Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan and ultimately ended the War in the Pacific.The island today is designated as a National Historic Landmark.
http://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/aviation/tin.htm
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25Th Marine Regiment, The Cold Steel Warriors
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