English: U.S. infantrymen pause in their advance on Japanese positions on Saipan Island while a flamethrower team throws forth a deadly stream of liquid fire into a camouflaged Japanese pillbox. U.S. Army and Marine Corps units established beachheads on Saipan on June 14, 1944, and by June 25, had occupied more than half of the island in the face of determined enemy resistance. Airfields on the island are within bombing range of the Japanese homeland. U.S. Pacific fleet taskforces supporting the Saipan landings began an assault on Japanese shipping in the Marianas on June 10, 1944, and by June 23 U.S. carrier-based planes had sunk 30 Japanese ships, probably sank 2 more, damaged 61 others and had destroyed 747 Japanese planes. U.S. plane losses during the operation amounted to 151. This is a radiophoto sent from Hawaii to the U.S.