During the Battle of Saipan, Japanese soldiers made a banzai charge against the American forces on the coast near Tanabaku on Saipan Island, and were all killed in the ensuing battle. On July 12th 1944, the American forces conducted an autopsy and post-mortem on the Japanese soldiers' bodies scattered along the coast.

　　During the Battle of Saipan in the Pacific War of World War II, Japanese soldiers carried out a “banzai charge” against the American military on the coast near Tanabaku on Saipan Island. In response to the banzai attack, the American military killed and annihilated the Japanese soldiers. On July 12th 1944, the American military conducted an autopsy and post-mortem on the bodies of the Japanese soldiers scattered along the coast.

　For Japan, Saipan was a key strategic point that could not be surrendered in order to defend the absolute national defense zone. Saipan fell to the fierce onslaught of the American forces in just 10 days. Saipan, which became a Japanese mandate territory after World War I, was a quasi-territory. Saipan became a battlefield, civilians were caught up in the fighting, and the island was used as a base by the American forces, allowing them to bomb mainland Japan with B-29 bombers.

　　On June 11th 1944, the US Air Force began bombing Saipan Island. The Japanese military response was slow, with the main ground troops being deployed a month earlier, and the air force being underprepared due to the diversion of troops to the mainland. In the early hours of June 15th, 8,000 US Marines landed at Chalan Kanoa on Saipan Island, and on June occupied the Aslito Airfield. In the Battle of the Philippine Sea on June 19th and 20th, the Japanese army suffered a crushing defeat. On June 25th, the Americans occupied Mount Tapocho in the center of Saipan, leaving the Japanese army almost completely unable to fight.

　　On July 5th, the Imperial General Headquarters conveyed the order to die with honor to all Japanese soldiers on Saipan Island. On July 6th, three Japanese generals committed suicide. At 3am on July 7th, with the slogan “Star Festival” as their battle cry, around 3000 surviving Japanese soldiers attempted a final banzai charge, but were almost completely wiped out. Many of the civilians who had fled to the northernmost part of Saipan Island also threw themselves off the cliffs of Banzai Cliff into the Pacific Ocean, or killed themselves with grenades, and the number of dead reached around 1,000.

　On July 9th, the American general commander declared the occupation of Saipan Island. The total number of troops was 127,571 for the American forces and 43,582 for the Japanese forces. 3,225 American soldiers died in battle, and the number of Japanese soldiers killed in battle was 41,244, with over 10,000 civilians also killed. The fall of Saipan was not announced to the public immediately after it happened, and the Imperial General Headquarters announced the “honorable death” of the Japanese soldiers on July 18, nine days later, and the Tojo Cabinet resigned en masse.