Tinian. Tinian Island The beginning of tragic events

About the city of Tinian

Tinian (Tinian) - island in Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands owned by the United States, part of the Mariana Islands archipelago located in the Pacific Ocean. The administrative center of the municipality of the Commonwealth of the same name.

Tinian Island is located at the southern tip of the archipelago, approximately 4.5 kilometers southeast of the main island of the commonwealth - the island of Saipan (separated from it by Saipan Bay) and 163 kilometers northeast of the island of Guam.

Tinian, like many islands in this region of the Pacific Ocean, is of coral origin and is an atoll jutting out from the sea. This is the third largest island in the Mariana archipelago. Tinian is famous for its small cozy bays, located mainly in the southern and central parts of the island.

The indigenous inhabitants of the island, the Chamorro tribes, inhabited the island long BC. This is also indicated by ancient stone pillars, up to 6 meters high, located on the island and very similar to the moai of Easter Island or the megaliths of Palvu. Europeans discovered the islands in the 16th century, thanks to the Catholic Spanish missionary Diego Luis de Sanvitores.

For about two centuries, the island belonged to the Spaniards, and then, like all the islands of today’s Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, it came under the jurisdiction of Germany, which ceded them to Japan during the First World War. Since 1920, the Mariana Islands have been administered by Japan under a mandate established by the League of Nations. The Japanese managed to quite successfully develop sugar cane cultivation on the island.

The tragic events of World War II led to the capture of the island by the Americans in 1944. The island entered world history thanks to the fact that it was from here in August 1945 that the bombers launched to drop nuclear bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Despite the obvious potential for tourism development, the island noticeably lags behind neighboring Saipan in terms of tourism infrastructure. This is due to the fact that almost half of the island is used by the Americans as a military training ground.

However, part of the island’s budget is replenished by attracting tourists, as well as by two gas stations and The Dynasty casino, with a hotel complex and a shopping center, which is located next to Tachogna Taga Beach.

Among the attractions of the island, we highlight the first buildings of the settlers, located in the small town of San Jose, which is the main settlement of Tinian. Located here are the ruins of the House of Taga - the residence of the legendary Chamorro king Taga the Great, as well as a large accumulation of ritual stones called the Latte Stone Site.

Next to the second most popular beach on the island, Camer Beach, there is the Catholic Church of San Jose, very reminiscent of a lighthouse, built about fifty years ago.

Of interest to tourists is the Suicide Cliff memorial, dedicated to the mass suicide of Japanese military personnel and members of their families who did not want to surrender to the Americans after the latter captured this island. Among the inhabitants living on the islands, some professed Judaism. Today, this is evidenced by the only surviving synagogue on the islands, located on the island of Tinian.

Note that the coast of the island is an excellent place for diving, snorkeling, spearfishing and sport fishing. Tinian's terrain is dotted with limestone caves, where you can find ancient petroglyphs left by the Chamorro tribes.

The climate of Tinian, like all of the Northern Mariana Islands, and Saipan is tropical, trade wind. The temperature stays throughout the year in the range of +28 C…+33 C. The most convenient period for visiting the island is from December to May.

Official website of the islands - www.cnmiago.gov.mp

Tinian dialing code: +670 (all islands)

The island can be reached by ferry from Saipan, as well as by air through a small airport Tinian International Airport(http://www.cpa.gov.mp/tinapt.asp), used for air travel to other islands.

Tinian is the least populated of the main islands of the Mariana Archipelago, located just 8 km southeast of Saipan. In addition to the magnificent nature and ocean, Tinian is famous for its large number of historical relics from the Second World War, as well as the presence of the only casino in the region.

Transport

You can get to the island from neighboring Saipan on a small private airline plane. The flight will take only 10-15 minutes.

There is no public transport in Tinian, so it is advisable to rent a car upon arrival. This can be done immediately at the airport or later at the hotel. If the trips are short distances, you can limit yourself to renting a moped or scooter.

Attractions

One of the main natural attractions of Tinian is the Blow Hall geyser, located in the northern part of the island, at the junction of land and sea. From time to time, a sea wave hits the opening of the geyser - and then a powerful column of water soars up, accompanied by a deafening “sigh of the earth.”

But the most famous man-made attractions are all kinds of military structures erected by both Japanese and American builders. Among the Japanese heritage, it is worth noting the Naval Aviation Command Post and Communications Center. Even now, half a century later, they make a strong impression on tourists.

Among the American facilities, one can highlight the Northfil military airfield. It was built in just two months and was the busiest airfield in the world until the end of World War II. It was from here that the infamous Enola Gay bomber took off, carrying atomic bombs to Hiroshima and Nagasaki. In memory of these events, a memorial was erected on the territory of the airfield.

Entertainment

Tinian is one of the best places in the Mariana Islands for fishing enthusiasts. When you take a boat out into the open sea, you will get guaranteed pleasure from catching large barracudas, tuna and marlin.

The coastal zone is an excellent place for diving. The most beautiful coral reefs, rocks and caves can leave few people indifferent. And if you go further out to sea, you can swim with huge sea turtles - one of the main attractions of Tinian.

On land you will find traditional buggies and quad bikes for this area. You can ride on specially designated areas, or you can go along the sea coast or deep into the jungle.

Among the unusual entertainments, it is worth noting flying an airplane. After completing a short training course with a local airline, you can fly around the island on Cessna. An experienced pilot will sit next to you, who will insure you and land the plane.

Tinian Island was captured by the Japanese during World War I and was brought under League of Nations control in 1918. On an initially unremarkable small island in the Pacific Ocean, active Japanese development began around 1926 thanks to the rapidly expanding company NKK (Nan'yo Kohatsu Kaisha). Its creator, Japanese entrepreneur Haruji Matsue, was the first person in Japan to establish sugar cane production.

Founded in 1921, Matsue's company began operations on the island of Saipan and by 1925 had a distillery and a plantation of more than 3,000 hectares of sugar cane. For the further development of Matsue's agricultural industry, new territories were required, and the neighboring island of Tinian was ideal for this, where NKK expanded its production. Over the next 10 years, the island turned into a giant plantation - more than 80% of the island was covered with sugar cane (for which the island received the nickname "sugar island") and gradually the island began extensive social and cultural "Japaneseization". The Japanese built schools, roads, power plants, a seaport, entertainment facilities and, of course, Shinto shrines on the island. One of these temples was built by the NKK company in 1941 near the main industrial enterprise of Tinian - the Sugar Factory. The very fact of the construction of the temple indicated that the Japanese were settling on the island seriously and for a long time, and the industrialists who were rapidly growing rich at the expense of these islands did not plan to leave it in the first place.


The path to the altar ran through the Shinto gate (Torii) - this gate bounded the holy ground of the temple and is believed to symbolize wild trees in confirmation of the beginning of Shintoism in the spirits of nature. The style of building arches is known as "Myojin" - the most traditional style of construction, which is characterized by a slight bend in the upper crossbars ("kasagi" and "shimaki") (however, in reality these Torii look different). This style was popular in the early 1900s and was also used at Kamo Shrine in Kyoto and is best known from Meiji Shrine in Tokyo.


(names of elements Thorium)

With the outbreak of World War II, Japan did not seek to station armed forces on Tinian and the island, along with Saipan, remained one of the few regions where the NKK company actively continued its activities (by that time expanding to many islands of Micronesia, which were under the protectorate of Great Britain, the Netherlands and Australia, NKK was able to maintain its activities only in Palau, colonized by the Portuguese. Portugal did not take part in the war and remained neutral towards the activities of foreign companies on its territory).
Nevertheless, with the development of the war in the Pacific Ocean, the Japanese realized the strategic importance of the Mariana Islands and, in order to avoid the capture of the islands by the anti-Hitler coalition, they hastened to place defensive forces here. Just off modern Tinan's main street, Broadway, is a Japanese radio communications building used to transmit messages within the island and between neighboring islands.


(Broadway)


In the depths of the island, observation posts were located, each of which was equipped with cannons hidden in grottoes and rocks.

In the north of the island, the Japanese built the Ushi Field airfield, located on this site.


Directly in front of us are Japanese bomb shelters. The method of constructing bomb shelters was unique and the Japanese used it in construction throughout the Pacific region. The buildings were built from a thick layer of reinforced concrete; inside there were two rooms with gas protection. The steel doors are equipped with dense rubber gaskets, which did not allow gases of any type to penetrate inside. There were no openings for firing (loopholes) in the buildings; ventilation systems were installed at the end of the building, as well as inspection holes made of thick glass. Two bomb shelters were never damaged, but the rest were destroyed by artillery fire, because the buildings were not sufficiently protected from direct attacks.


In the jungle to the west of here there were Japanese barracks and a water supply system, to the north there was a huge hangar and infrastructure for servicing the aircraft fleet. The ruins of two of these buildings still remain - the Japanese Air Operations Headquarters Building and the Japanese Air Force Headquarters.



(Air Operations Headquarters)

This building was the control center for Japanese Air Force operations aimed at the southern front. Inside were the commanders' room, the operations headquarters and the generator room. The building was a typical structure for the Japanese Air Force operational headquarters buildings during WW2, the same ones were located on Saipan and Chuuk (now the Federated States of Micronesia).

The Japanese Air Force headquarters in 1944 was commanded by Vice Admiral Kakuji Kakuta, the highest-ranking military officer on the island, whose accomplishments included the bombing of the US Air Force base in Dutch Harbor, Alaska.

Kakuta had part of the Central Pacific Fleet at his disposal, including airfields on both the Mariana Islands and Iwo Jima. In the early stages of the war, these airfields were staging areas for transporting aircraft to the South Pacific - to combat areas. However, by June 1944, Kakuta’s army had lost almost all its experienced pilots in battle, and by the beginning of the “Battle of Tinian,” the forces on Tinian and the neighboring islands were drained of blood.


(Japanese Air Force Headquarters)

In June 1944, the US Navy captured the island of Saipan and the main task of Kakuta's army was not military operations in the south Pacific Ocean, but the defense of the island of Tinian and its air base.

On July 24, 1944, the 2nd and 3rd Assault Battalions of the 25th Mariana Regiment, Fourth Mariana Division, landed on the beaches of Unai (Unai Chulu and Unai Babuy) in the northwest of Tinian Island. The siege of the island that began is captured in history as the “Battle of Tinian.”



(Unai Chulu beach)

The landing of troops on the Unai beach came as a complete surprise to the Japanese - they could not have imagined that the Americans would land on such an inconvenient place - the total width of these beaches does not exceed 200 meters. On the first day alone, 15 thousand marines landed on the island, “clearing” a one-mile radius from the beach. The event was later called the best amphibious operation in the entire Pacific War.


(American amphibious tank that took part in the siege of the island)

At 2 a.m., the Japanese attempted to destroy the enemy forces on the shore. This was a fatal mistake that cost them over 2,000 lives, including their best infantry units.

The very next day, July 25, American troops captured the Yushifield airfield - the Japanese lost all the most important strategic facilities, including some of the most remarkable Japanese military structures on Tinian - two storage facilities that were “embedded” into the coral mountains of the island, covered with massive concrete frame and protected by steel doors. One of these storage facilities has been preserved in the jungle of the island - this is a storage facility for fuel that was burned by the Americans. The flames were so intense that the nearest US Army Mariana battalion was forced to urgently change its position. All the ferocity of the heat can be seen in the huge layers of concrete that have “slipped” from the roofs and in the exploded barrels of fuel.


The bomb depot on the other side was not burned, but was blown up. It looked almost the same as the fuel storage facility, but nothing remained of its walls after the explosion.

Japanese forces were thrown back deep into the island - to the south, but they still put up active resistance, choosing the same defense tactics as on Saipan. They retreated during the day but attacked at night.

However, on July 27, the Americans were able to restore the activity of the Japanese operational structures at the Yushifield airfield, which was of great assistance to the paratroopers in the final suppression of Japanese resistance. The final blow was the first use of napalm in the Pacific War. Attacks by Corsair carrier-based fighters dropped “fire bombs” on the southern part of the island, destroying all the vegetation hiding the Japanese fortifications. The final victory of the American troops was won on August 1, when the surviving soldiers of the Japanese army were ordered by the command to commit self-destruction, thereby showing a sense of love and devotion to the Emperor of Japan, which was done - the Japanese threw themselves from the cliff, now called Suicide Cliff, in the same way , just like in Saipan.


It is known that Kakuji Kakuta was not killed during the battles; he and his entourage tried several times to escape from the island on boats, but they failed and took refuge in a cave in the east of the island. There is no other evidence about the fate of the vice admiral. It is believed that he also committed suicide and was buried on the island in an unknown location.

As a result of the siege of the island, over 5,500 Japanese soldiers and officers were killed and 404 were captured. Total US Army losses were 355 killed and 27 missing.

The capture of Tinian and Saipan is celebrated as the "beginning of the end" of the war in the Pacific. After the successful capture of Tinian, on August 2, the “sea bees” arrived on the island - the 67th Construction Battalion of the US Army, founded in 1942 and still existing.

They had to ensure the accelerated construction of a US air base. The first step was to build runways to accommodate the B-29 Flying Fortress long-range bombers (aircraft length - 30 meters, wingspan - 43 meters) on the island - as soon as the 2.5 km runways were built on Tinian, on January 18 In 1945, outstanding cars arrived on the island. During this one of the most ambitious construction projects of the Second World War, 6 giant runways were created for the B-29 - most notably 4 of them at North Field (Runway A (Able), Runway B (Baker), Runway C ( Charlie) and D (Dog), later two more were built at West Field (now Tinian Airport).


(Tinian after development by "sea bees")

In memory of the men of the 67th Construction Battalion of the US Army (Sea Bees), a monument was erected here on the island for the excellent performance of their work during the “CAN DO” mode (everyone can translate as they want, I would translate as “Anything is possible” or “ needs to be done”, because the phrase “can be done” does not quite accurately reflect the meaning in Russian). In memory of the long hours of hard work spent to complete the mission, the hours of friendly brotherhood. Everyone can recall with pride the achievement of the 67th Battalion, when, working together, they barely completed what now seems an impossible task, greatly easing the situation for the troops on the coast. The motto of the Sea Bees is: “We build for fighters, we fight for what we build. "Can do"


(plaque of the monument to “sea bees”; the monument itself is a commemorative plaque with a map of the island’s development)

The geographical location of the Mariana Islands allowed the heavy B-29s to reach Japanese territory from a land air base. This gave the Americans a favorable advantage, because the vehicles could leave the airfield with full ammunition and return to base after operations. B-29s began their sorties from Tinian in February 1945, beginning a series of ongoing hard air operations that would make the island known as the largest and most active air base in the world. The excellent condition of these runways more than half a century after their construction testifies to the excellent quality of their construction.

However, at the end of 1944, from the airfield that was still under construction, the 504th and 505th Bomber Groups of the 313th Division began bombing the islands of Iojima and Truk.

“The achievements of the 504th Bomber Group marked the final victory. Those who gave their lives for this achievement are in our memory much more than just names on a list of losses. Thanks to their decisive actions in battle against their enemies, they preserved and protected the quiet life of Americans, we bless them all. The 504th Bomb Group was located between Hilo Point and Early Point and operated in the north and was instrumental in defeating the Japanese Empire in World War II in 1945." (Text from plaque "In gratitude to the people of Tinian for their support in the establishment of this memorial. 1989.")

“505th Bomb Group, Tinian 1944-1945. From December 1944 to August 15, 1945, the last day of the war against Japan, the men and officers of the 505th Bomb Group contributed significantly to the 313th Division's total of 7,037 military operations. At the beginning of June 1945, after completing two military missions, she took over all mining missions, the total number of which was 1,422 sorties. In just one month, June 1945, they accumulated a record 6,200 hours of military operations. The 505th Group was twice recognized for its military achievements.
This monument was erected on March 25, 2000 in honor of the young Americans of the 505th group who survived the war and those who gave their lives here in the name of victory. Deeply believing in the value of living as free men in a democratic society, they discharged their duty to their country with dignity and pride in supporting the establishment of world peace." (also text from the tablet).

In December 1944, the US Army's 509th Composite Group, under the command of Colonel Paul Tibbetts, was stationed on Tinian with a clear mandate to conduct an atomic bombing. At the time of his appointment, Paul Tibbens was 39 years old and, despite his comparative youth, he was more experienced than other candidates in both combat command and control of the Flying Fortresses. Tibbens joined the headquarters on Tinian only on May 19, 1945, until that moment he was in Utah and was personally involved in developing the operation to bomb Japan with atomic bombs, including personally selecting the aircraft intended for such an important mission.
Until Tibbens arrived on the island, the 509th Group had practically not engaged in bombing, having completed only 49 effective sorties during its activity, dropping about 10 thousand kilotons of pumpkin bombs.

Active bombing was carried out by the 9th group of bombers. From February 9 to September 2, 1945, sometimes using all 48 B-29s, the 9th Group flew 2,012 sorties, 1,843 of which were combat missions lasting 13 to 16 hours. At the same time, the losses of the 9th group were less than those of most groups of Tinian, Saipan and Guam - 25 killed and 98 missing never returned to their unit.

On March 10, 1945, one of the most important missions carried out by the 9th Bomber Group, the bombing of Tokyo, took off from Tinian airfield. Thanks to three groups of bombers taking off from Tinian and the neighboring islands of Saipan and Guam, American troops with 334 B-29s rained down several tons of incendiary bombs and napalm on the capital of the Japanese Empire, which led to the death of over one hundred thousand people (more than in the atomic bombing Nagasaki), and also destroyed 40% of the city's residential buildings and the most important strategic objects.

Tibbens's personal selection of the B-29 Flying Fortress, which he named Enola Gay in honor of his mother, arrived on Tinian Island on July 6, 1945, having been refitted on Guam specifically for the Hiroshima mission. During its service on the island, the vehicle made several training flights and two combat operations.

“Tinian Island, one of the small islands of Micronesia in the Pacific Ocean. Tinian belongs to the southern group of islands that are part of the Mariana archipelago. Together with the island of Saipan, located 4.5 km away, and the distant islands of Guam and Rota, more than 100 km away, it forms the state of the Northern Mariana Islands. Tinian's closest neighbors are the same island states; Caroline Islands in the south, Nampo Islands in the north, Marshall Islands in the east. The distance to the Asian mainland is over 2800 km.”

The indigenous population of Tinian, like the entire group of Mariana Islands, are the people Chamorro, who sailed from the Philippines and settled the archipelago back in the 2nd-1st millennium BC. e. Scientists believe that the ancient Filipinos knew about these islands long before moving to them. Philippine and Mariana Islands separated by more than 2000 km of open ocean, it seems doubtful that the ancestors of the Chamorros, in search of new lands, randomly sailed so far east in their fragile boats. But what is more likely, the migration was preceded by a search expedition, which, having discovered lands suitable for habitation, explored them and only after that, returned to the Philippines and told others about their discovery.

According to another version, the ancestors of the Chamorros were people from Indonesia, or even Malaysia, as indicated by the structure of the skulls found in ancient burials islands. In addition, supporters of this version argue that the settlement Tiniana did not happen purposefully: supposedly the sailors from New Guinea were carried north and thrown ashore by a storm. Such an event could well have taken place, except for the subsequent resettlement, and such a “Robinsonade” looks unconvincing. But in favor of the first version, the ceramics found on the island, completely identical to those found in Mindanao, part of the Philippines, eloquently speaks in favor of the first version. archipelago.

But whoever these first settlers were and wherever they came from, from the west or from the south, to Tinian, this had only an indirect relation. It was settled as one of the last in the Mariana Islands group, and not from the distant ancestral home of the Chamorros, but from a nearby island Guam, which was mastered several centuries earlier. The resettlement to other islands of the archipelago was caused by population growth, which Guam alone, by that time, was no longer able to feed. Check-in Tiniana occurred approximately in the 16th-15th centuries. BC e. and the colonists brought to it not only elements of the emerging culture, but also seeds of domesticated plants, and among them, as many researchers believe, was rice. And this alone completely refutes the theory of spontaneous settlement.

But the most interesting thing that the settlers brought with them to Tinian, was a stone processing technology that they mastered back in Guam. This seems incredible - these people did not know metals until the discovery of the islands by Europeans, and the hardest material they had to deal with was the shells of sea animals. And, nevertheless, they learned to process stones and carve out the so-called latte from them. Latte, or as they are also called - skittles, are mushroom-shaped columns, similar to a glass with a high stem. Lattes consist of two parts: the actual “legs”, called haliga, which, in turn, are crowned with tasa, a kind of capital shaped like a bowl. The process of processing stone, which is represented here mainly by limestone, and hewing from it column latte, was very labor-intensive and apparently took quite a lot of time: First, the stones were fired, heated to a certain temperature, and then doused with water, as a result of which the limestone became soft enough to be processed by scraping. The main tool for this difficult task was scrapers made from shells with jagged edges.

Used latte for building houses and served as piles. On the one hand, high above the ground there is always better air circulation, due to which such houses were open to all winds, which in hot climates Micronesia more than relevant. On the other hand, during the monsoons, thanks to the cup-shaped shape of the tasa, which creates a negative angle of elevation, rats and coconut crabs, who strive to hide somewhere during the rainy season, could not get into the dwelling. But this is only an assumption, albeit the most common one, and the true meaning of this may be completely different. After all, it seems not entirely logical to make so much effort just for utilitarian purposes. However, if these guesses are correct, we can confidently say that the people Chamorro already during the late Neolithic, he was at a fairly high stage of development, since he was so concerned about his comfort.

Leftovers column latte, have survived to this day and are located in the area of ​​​​local beaches, but they are all relatively small, but the ruins of an ancient settlement, called by archaeologists Taga's House, truly impressive. Not so long ago, one of its buildings, which was the “residence” of the Tinian leaders, was a colonnade consisting of 6 pairs column latte. But after the earthquake of 1907, all of them collapsed, except for one, which retained its vertical position, but it also gives a clear idea of ​​what the Taga House looked like in ancient times. The dimensions of these columns are impressive: they are about 6 m in height and weigh more than a ton; all the others, in comparison, look like dwarfs. According to the legend of the Chamorro people, this village was built by someone Taga, who sailed to the island with his family from somewhere far away, at the behest of the local leader, who decided to test his strength in this way.

But in reality it turned out that Taga's House has a much more ancient history than local legends say. Taga himself is a real historical figure, he was the leader of Tinian and lived at the end of the 10th century. n. e. But the emergence of the village named after him is attributed by archaeologists who began excavations on the island in December 2011 to the 16th century. BC e., that is, by the time of its settlement. As a result of their research, the remains of two-story houses with stone-paved floors were discovered, in which people constantly lived from the 15th century. BC e. to the 11th century n. e. Both in them and next to them, many fragments of broken ceramic dishes with patterns characteristic of the local culture were found. And also, numerous burials, a little away from Taga Houses, belonging to the same period as the buildings. And one can hope that the most interesting, perhaps even intriguing, finds await archaeologists yet to come, as excavations continue.

About the people themselves Chamorro Apart from the fact that they were skilled sailors, as well as skilled potters and stonecutters, little is known. In particular, thanks to the work of the same archaeologists, we can now say with confidence that for thousands of years, communication between the Mariana and Philippine Islands has never been interrupted. Besides, Chamorro had extensive cultural and trade ties with the islands of Indonesia, as well as Fiji, Samoa, Vanuatu, Tonga, and by the end of the 1st millennium BC. e. they began to regularly visit the shores of New Zealand. But the most amazing thing is that around the 9th-8th centuries. BC e. they established trade relations with Taiwan, and after that with the east coast of China!

The first Europeans to see the Mariana Islands were members of the expedition Ferdinand Magellan On March 6, 1521, they tried to land on the coast, but were unfriendly by the local population. In a skirmish on the shore, 7 natives were killed and 2 Spaniards were wounded, who immediately retreated and returned to the ships. In the heat of battle, the islanders stole the boat, although they themselves, like all the naive native peoples of Oceania, far from the concept of property, did not consider it theft, and did not feel any remorse. Magellan thought differently, who plotted the outlines of the islands on the map, and in memory of this event, named them Robbers.

Officially, the islands became the property of the Spanish crown in 1565, but the first Europeans began to settle on them only in 1668, and the authorship of their modern name is attributed to a Spanish missionary Diego Luis de San Vitores, who actually named them Mariana, in honor of Doña Marianna, widow of King Philip IV. The first attempt to colonize the islands ended unsuccessfully, he San Vitores was killed by the natives, which led to an armed conflict that lasted almost half a century. By 1700, when the Spanish-Chamorra War ended, the indigenous population of the archipelago was almost completely exterminated, out of 150,000 only 5,000 remained. The inhabitants of Tinian were resettled to Guam, and the island was settled by Spaniards and Filipinos who converted to Christianity. In 1899, after defeat in the Spanish-American War, Spain sold the Northern Mariana Islands to Germany, and in 1907 Tinian became part of German New Guinea.

In 1918 after graduation First World War, control over Tinian, like the other Mariana Islands, was established by the League of Nations, but already in 1920 it transferred them to the control of Japan. The Japanese, starting in 1926, launched large-scale clearing of the jungle, after which their place was taken by plantations where sugar cane was grown. In fact, during this period, the entire Tinian turned into one large sugar plantation, covering an area of ​​3000 hectares, which accounted for more than 80% of the entire island. In parallel with this, large-scale construction began here; a large port, a distillery, a power plant appeared, roads were laid, in addition, Tinian was actively Japaneseized: schools and Shinto shrines were built throughout the island.

During World War II wars, in the northern part of the island the Japanese built the Yushifield airfield, and since 1944 the headquarters of the Japanese Air Force, commanded by Vice Admiral Kakuji Kakuta, was located here. On July 24, 1944, an American force of fifteen thousand landed on the beaches of Unai Chulu and Unai Babui, taking the Japanese army by surprise. The Japanese launched a night counterattack on the coast, but as a result of a 3-hour battle they were forced to retreat, losing 2,000 people. The Americans, having quickly advanced deeper into the island, captured the airfield and the most important strategic facilities on July 25, and the Japanese troops were thrown back to the southern tip of the island, where they still had fortifications. After a massive bombardment on July 27 with “fire bombs” filled with napalm, which were used for the first time, the surviving Japanese units, realizing the hopelessness of their situation, committed an act of mass suicide on August 1 by jumping off a cliff.

And we can say that exactly Tanian put an end to World War II when bombers took off from an American base on the island to bomb Hiroshima and Nagasaki. After the end of the war, the island remained under American control, but in 1978 it received special status and became part of the state of the Northern Mariana Islands, and the image of the famous latte columns, became an element of its national flag.

The legend of the Chamorro people says that in the standing column lives the soul of a young maiden, the daughter of the leader Taga. She cannot leave the world of the living because she grieves for her brother, who was killed by their father in a fit of rage. When her tears dry up, the princess's soul will leave this world, and then the last column will collapse.

 

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