Operation Forager

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During World War II, Operation Forager was the name given to the U.S. invasion of the Marianas Islands (Guam, Saipan and Tinian) to secure bases for B-29 attacks on the Japanese home islands.

The amphibious assault on Saipan was conducted on 15 June 1944. The Japanese launched a carrier-based counterattack, resulting in the massacre of their young pilots in the “Great Marianas Turkey Shoot,” more formally called the Battle of the Philippine Sea. The Japanese lost three carriers and four hundred planes.

Only a few of the twenty-four thousand Japanese defenders on the island were captured; large numbers of local civilians threw themselves and their children off high cliffs rather than be captured.

The liberation of Guam was achieved on 21 July, 1944.

Forager was part of Operations Granite and Granite II.