• LIFE

What One Photographer Saw at the Battle of Saipan

3 minute read

When U.S. forces came to Saipan on June 15, 1944, the island’s strategic significance was clear: at just about 1,500 miles from Tokyo, it could serve as a staging ground for a full-on American attack on Japan. As LIFE pointed out in its coverage of the battle, American warships in the Pacific had to return to Hawaii – nearly 4,000 miles away – each time they needed supplies. A victory in Saipan would mean those long trips would no longer be necessary.

The problem with Saipan, for American forces, was not that victory there seemed doubtful. The problem was that it would come at a high cost. The terrain offered Japanese forces the advantage of numerous hiding places, and the ongoing fighting—the battle lasted nearly a month, by most counts, though some holdouts continued to fight much longer—concluded in suicide attacks by Japanese forces, as well as mass suicides among the civilian population.

Photographer W. Eugene Smith, one of the men sent by LIFE to capture the battle, described what he saw in a note that accompanied his photos as “some of the worst terrain that Yanks have ever been called upon to dislodge an enemy from.” Those notes were adapted into captions but not published in the magazine; they have been maintained in the decades since in the LIFE archives.

LIFE photographer W. Eugene Smith talking with and giving treats to local children after battle between Japanese and American forces for control of Saipan.
LIFE photographer W. Eugene Smith talking with and giving treats to local children after battle between Japanese and American forces for control of Saipan.W. Eugene Smith—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images

One of the most famous photographs Smith would take on this assignment—seen in the sixth slide above—was an image of American troops rescuing a baby who had been found in a cave full of dead bodies. As Smith described the discovery in his own notes, it came amidst a two-day mission during which troops searched for a cave in which scores of people were rumored to be hiding. Hours spent scouring the region produced only cave after cave of dead bodies. “The stench was vile and the flies and maggots were there by the millions,” Smith noted. “The heat was intense.”

The first living person the Americans found was the baby, “a ‘living-dead’ tiny infant” as Smith put it.

The baby had somehow become stuck, face-down on the ground, with its head behind a rock. Because the ground and the rock were not smooth, however, enough air circulated for the baby to be able to breathe. The search troops heard the baby crying, writhing on the ground struggling to free himself. “It took 5 minutes of careful removal of the dirt to free the head. [The baby] was passed down from hand-to-hand until it reached ground level,” Smith wrote. “Then it was rushed to a hospital by Jeep and we continued our search. No adults who were alive had been found.”

It was the following day that the long-sought cave was located. The American forces used smoke to flush out 122 civilians. The small number of soldiers who remained in the cave were said to have killed themselves rather than surrender.

As for the civilians, they were given water and medical attention, Smith reported. The scene, coming as it did after a grisly run of days, clearly left him with a feeling of hope that was rare in that time. “The soldiers who had lost so many comrades due to the same caves now showered them (especially the kids) with candy or anything else they had,” he wrote. “It was a magnificent example of fair play and lack of a blinding hatred such as can overcome decency and reason. This was real Americanism.”

World War II Battle of Saipan photographed by W. Eugene Smith 1944.
Caption from LIFE. "Marines follow tanks against last Jap defenders as machine gunners keep Japs down. Three men alongside photographer were hit just before he took picture."W. Eugene Smith—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
World War II Battle of Saipan photographed by W. Eugene Smith 1944.
U.S. Marine resting behind cart on rubble-strewn street during battle to take Saipan from occupying Japanese forces.W. Eugene Smith—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
World War II Battle of Saipan photographed by W. Eugene Smith 1944.
Battle of Saipan. W. Eugene Smith—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
World War II Battle of Saipan photographed by W. Eugene Smith 1944.
Medic tending to wounded soldier during fierce battle to take Saipan from occupying Japanese forces.W. Eugene Smith—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
World War II Battle of Saipan photographed by W. Eugene Smith 1944.
Caption from LIFE. "One living person among hundreds of corpses in one cave was this fly-covered baby who almost smothered before soldiers found him, rushed him to hospital."W. Eugene Smith—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
World War II Battle of Saipan photographed by W. Eugene Smith 1944.
Contact sheet with scenes from Battle of Saipan.W. Eugene Smith—The LIFE Picture Collection
World War II Battle of Saipan photographed by W. Eugene Smith 1944.
Caption from LIFE. "Some civilians found safety from bombs and shells in island's many caves. A pair of wary Americans flushed this one out of his shelter. Scared, he gave up."W. Eugene Smith—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
World War II Battle of Saipan photographed by W. Eugene Smith 1944.
Caption from LIFE. "Dust from nearby explosion causes this mother and son to scamper from cave. Many believed Jap propaganda which told them they would be killed if captured."W. Eugene Smith—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
World War II Battle of Saipan photographed by W. Eugene Smith 1944.
Exhausted Marianas Island father with wounded child after capture by (or surrender to) Americans during battle between U.S. and Japanese forces for control of Saipan during WWII.W. Eugene Smith—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
World War II Battle of Saipan photographed by W. Eugene Smith 1944.
Native civilians flee ruins of village during the fighting between Japanese and American forces for control of Saipan.W. Eugene Smith—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
World War II Battle of Saipan photographed by W. Eugene Smith 1944.
Contact sheet with scenes from Battle of Saipan.W. Eugene Smith—The LIFE Picture Collection
World War II Battle of Saipan photographed by W. Eugene Smith 1944.
American soldier pointing rifle into bunker during fighting in final days of invasion.W. Eugene Smith—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
World War II Battle of Saipan photographed by W. Eugene Smith 1944.
Weary Marines fill canteens with water while the fighting rages on during the battle to wrest control of Saipan from the Japanese.W. Eugene Smith—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
World War II Battle of Saipan photographed by W. Eugene Smith 1944.
U.S. Marines tending to wounded comrades while the fighting rages on during the battle to take Saipan from the Japanese.W. Eugene Smith—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
World War II Battle of Saipan photographed by W. Eugene Smith 1944.
U.S. Marines tending to wounded comrades while the fighting rages on during the battle to take Saipan from the Japanese.W. Eugene Smith—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
World War II Battle of Saipan photographed by W. Eugene Smith 1944.AIPAN
U.S. Marines tending to wounded comrades while the fighting rages on during the battle to take Saipan from the Japanese.W. Eugene Smith—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
World War II Battle of Saipan photographed by W. Eugene Smith 1944.
Saipan, Final Days Of Invasion.W. Eugene Smith—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
World War II Battle of Saipan photographed by W. Eugene Smith 1944.
Caption from LIFE. "As a jeep bears wounded Yank to rear, bulldozer scoops grave for some Saipan Japs."W. Eugene Smith—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images

More Must-Reads from TIME

Write to Lily Rothman at lily.rothman@time.com