Modern U.S. soldier uses ancient method of transport on Saipan.

Modern U.S. soldier uses ancient method of transport on Saipan. An American soldier, accustomed to driving mechanized vehicles of warfare, tries his skill with an ox cart in Charan-Kanoa, a town on the west coast of Saipan which was captured from the Japanese shortly after U.S. troops landed on the Marianas island on June 14, 1944. The plodding ox pulls supplies for soldiers at the front while, behind the animal, a modern U.S. amphibious vehicle rumbles toward enemy lines. Organized Japanese resistance on Saipan was ended on July 8, by American troops whose victory gained the U.S. a strategic base in Japan's inner defense perimeter. Saipan is less than 1,500 miles (2,400 kilometers) from Japan and situated at the crossroads of the enemy's Central Pacific supply lines.