[Sidebar (page 18)]:Aerial Reconnaissance and PhotographyInthe months leading up to the invasion, intensive reconnaissance was undertaken. The first aerial photos of 1944 had been acquired back in February when U.S. carrier planes attacked Saipan. Others were obtained in April and May by photo planes based at Eniwetok. These early photographs were of little use to invasion planners. Their quality was poor and many were taken at angles that distorted the terrain.These inadequacies hampered the Saipan planners but Tinian was another story. “Perhaps no other Pacific island ...,” Marine Corps analysts later concluded, “became so familiar to the assault forces because of thorough and accurate [photography and] mapping prior to the landings.”A lot of the familiarization came from first-hand observation by division, regimental, and battalion commanders who used observation planes to conduct their own reconnaissance of the Tinian beaches and inland terrain. Lieutenant Colonel Justice M. Chambers, commander of the 3d Battalion, 25th Marines, described his preinvasion visit to the island:There was a lieutenant commander Muller, a naval aviator, who apparently had a set of roving orders. He had brought his flight of three Liberators to Saipan.... I thought it would be a good idea to take my company commanders and overfly the beaches that we’re going to use.... So the 3rd Battalion group took the flight and practically all the battalions did the same.We took off from Saipan and of course the minute you were airborne you were over Tinian. I had talked it over with Muller and told him that the last beach we would overfly would be the one we were going to hit. I said, “Let’s take a look at a lot of other beaches first and fly over the interior.” We made passes at several beaches. I was standing up in a blister where I could see and my officers had the bomb bays open and were looking down. We flew around maybe 20 or 30 minutes, and then we made a big loop and came back over the beaches we were going to land on. I’m glad we did because we spotted ... mines in the water which the Navy got out.We zoomed in on Mount Lasso, which was the only mountain on Tinian. The island was just one big cane field, and Mount Lasso was directly ahead of our beaches. Muller started pulling out and I began to see white things zipping by outside the plane.... I was fighting to keep my stomach down because a fast elevator is too much for me. I asked: “What’s that?” He replied, “Twenty millimeter. Where do you want to go now?” I said, “Saipan. There are no foxholes up here.”The photographic coverage of Tinian, along with prisoners and documents captured at Saipan, and other intelligence available to U.S. commanders, made them, according to the official history, “almost as familiar with the Japanese strength at Tinian as was Colonel Ogata [the Japanese commander].”
[Sidebar (page 18)]:
Inthe months leading up to the invasion, intensive reconnaissance was undertaken. The first aerial photos of 1944 had been acquired back in February when U.S. carrier planes attacked Saipan. Others were obtained in April and May by photo planes based at Eniwetok. These early photographs were of little use to invasion planners. Their quality was poor and many were taken at angles that distorted the terrain.
These inadequacies hampered the Saipan planners but Tinian was another story. “Perhaps no other Pacific island ...,” Marine Corps analysts later concluded, “became so familiar to the assault forces because of thorough and accurate [photography and] mapping prior to the landings.”
A lot of the familiarization came from first-hand observation by division, regimental, and battalion commanders who used observation planes to conduct their own reconnaissance of the Tinian beaches and inland terrain. Lieutenant Colonel Justice M. Chambers, commander of the 3d Battalion, 25th Marines, described his preinvasion visit to the island:
There was a lieutenant commander Muller, a naval aviator, who apparently had a set of roving orders. He had brought his flight of three Liberators to Saipan.... I thought it would be a good idea to take my company commanders and overfly the beaches that we’re going to use.... So the 3rd Battalion group took the flight and practically all the battalions did the same.We took off from Saipan and of course the minute you were airborne you were over Tinian. I had talked it over with Muller and told him that the last beach we would overfly would be the one we were going to hit. I said, “Let’s take a look at a lot of other beaches first and fly over the interior.” We made passes at several beaches. I was standing up in a blister where I could see and my officers had the bomb bays open and were looking down. We flew around maybe 20 or 30 minutes, and then we made a big loop and came back over the beaches we were going to land on. I’m glad we did because we spotted ... mines in the water which the Navy got out.We zoomed in on Mount Lasso, which was the only mountain on Tinian. The island was just one big cane field, and Mount Lasso was directly ahead of our beaches. Muller started pulling out and I began to see white things zipping by outside the plane.... I was fighting to keep my stomach down because a fast elevator is too much for me. I asked: “What’s that?” He replied, “Twenty millimeter. Where do you want to go now?” I said, “Saipan. There are no foxholes up here.”
There was a lieutenant commander Muller, a naval aviator, who apparently had a set of roving orders. He had brought his flight of three Liberators to Saipan.... I thought it would be a good idea to take my company commanders and overfly the beaches that we’re going to use.... So the 3rd Battalion group took the flight and practically all the battalions did the same.
We took off from Saipan and of course the minute you were airborne you were over Tinian. I had talked it over with Muller and told him that the last beach we would overfly would be the one we were going to hit. I said, “Let’s take a look at a lot of other beaches first and fly over the interior.” We made passes at several beaches. I was standing up in a blister where I could see and my officers had the bomb bays open and were looking down. We flew around maybe 20 or 30 minutes, and then we made a big loop and came back over the beaches we were going to land on. I’m glad we did because we spotted ... mines in the water which the Navy got out.
We zoomed in on Mount Lasso, which was the only mountain on Tinian. The island was just one big cane field, and Mount Lasso was directly ahead of our beaches. Muller started pulling out and I began to see white things zipping by outside the plane.... I was fighting to keep my stomach down because a fast elevator is too much for me. I asked: “What’s that?” He replied, “Twenty millimeter. Where do you want to go now?” I said, “Saipan. There are no foxholes up here.”
The photographic coverage of Tinian, along with prisoners and documents captured at Saipan, and other intelligence available to U.S. commanders, made them, according to the official history, “almost as familiar with the Japanese strength at Tinian as was Colonel Ogata [the Japanese commander].”