The Chengdu region was chosen and US XX Bomber Command sent only a single wing of four groups due to the lack of available aircraft which limited the effectiveness of any attacks from China. In early 1944, Operation Matterhorn deployed USAAF B-29 units to four forward bases in southern China to bomb Japan. Japanese infantry units also begun to receive the new Type 1 47mm towed anti-tank gun which was the same weapon that armed the Shinhoto Chi-ha tank. Also there were 9 Type 95 Ha-Go light tanks of the Yokosuka 1st Special Naval Landing Forces (SNLF) on Saipan and a similar number with the 24th Independent Tank Company on Guam. The 1st and 2nd companies were on Guam while the 3rd, 4th, and 5th companies were on Saipan. The 9th Tank Regiment was was split up between the two islands. The garrisons on the two islands were reinforced by the Japanese 9th Tank Regiment which also received some of the new Type 97 Kai Shinhoto Chi-ha medium tanks armed with 47mm gun. Saipan was defended by the Imperial Japanese Army 43rd Infantry Division commanded by Lieutenant General Yoshitsugu Saito. Both Guam and Saipan were close enough to the Japanese home islands to serve as bases for US bombers. The Mariana islands were part of Japan’s inner defense belt. By October 1943, Saipan had a civilian population of 29,348 Japanese. Militarily and economically, Saipan was one of the most important islands in the mandate and it became a major Japanese settlement. ![]() Japan was awarded formal control of the island in 1919 by the League of Nations as a part of its mandated territory of the South Seas Mandate. In 1914 during WWI, Saipan was captured by the Empire of Japan.
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