<P> Although major fighting had officially ceased on 9 July, pockets of Japanese resistance continued . In September 1944, U.S. Marines began patrols into the island interior in order to bring in civilians and soldiers still holding out in the jungles . A group led by Captain Sakae Oba managed to evade capture for more than 512 days until surrendering to American forces on 1 December 1945, three months after the official surrender of Japan . In February 2011, a film about Oba, Oba: The Last Samurai, was released in Japan . </P> <P> With the capture of Saipan, the American military was now only 1,300 mi (1,100 nmi; 2,100 km) away from the home islands of Japan . The victory would prove to be one of the most important strategic moments during the war in the Pacific Theater, as the Japanese mainland was now within striking distance of United States' B - 29 bombers . From this point on, Saipan would become the launch point for retaking other islands in the Mariana chain and the invasion of the Philippines in October 1944 . Four months after capture, more than 100 B - 29s from Saipan's Isely Field were regularly attacking the Philippines, the Ryukyu Islands and the Japan mainland . In response, Japanese aircraft attacked Saipan and Tinian on several occasions between November 1944 and January 1945 . The U.S. capture of Iwo Jima (19 February--26 March 1945) ended further Japanese air attacks . </P> <P> The loss of Saipan was a heavy blow to both the military and civilian administration of Japanese Prime Minister Hideki Tōjō . According to one Japanese admiral: "Our war was lost with the loss of Saipan ." U.S. Marine Corps General Holland Smith said: "It was the decisive battle of the Pacific offensive (...) it opened the way to the Japanese home islands ." Shortly after Saipan was taken, a meeting at the Imperial General Headquarters was convened where it was decided that a symbolic change of leadership should be made: Tōjō would step aside and Emperor Hirohito would have less involvement in day - to - day military affairs, even though he was defined as both head of state and the Generalissimo of the Imperial Japanese Armed Forces according to the Meiji Constitution of 1889 . The general staff believed it was now time to distance the Imperial family from blame as the tide of war turned against the Japanese . Although Tōjō agreed to resign, Hirohito blocked his resignation because he considered Tōjō to be Japan's strongest war leader . But after Tōjō failed to shuffle his Cabinet due to excessive internal hostility, he conceded defeat . On 18 July, Tōjō again submitted his resignation, this time unequivocally . His entire cabinet resigned with him . Former IJA General Kuniaki Koiso became Prime Minister on 22 July . However, due to the legacy of Saipan, Koiso was nothing more than a titular Prime Minister, and was prevented by the Imperial General Headquarters from participating in any military decisions . </P> <P> Saipan also saw a change in the way Japanese war reporting was presented on the home front . Initially, as the battle started, Japanese accounts concentrated on the fighting spirit of the IJA and the heavy casualties it was inflicting on American forces . However, any reader familiar with Saipan's geography would have known from the chronology of engagements that the U.S. forces were relentlessly advancing northwards . No further mention of Saipan was made following the final battle on 7 July, which was not initially reported to the public . However, after Tōjō's resignation on 18 July, an accurate, almost day - by - day, account of the defeat on Saipan was published jointly by the Army and Navy . It mentioned the near total loss of all Japanese soldiers and civilians on the island and the use of "human bullets". The reports had a devastating effect on Japanese opinion; mass suicides were now seen as defeat, not evidence of an "Imperial Way". This was the first time Japanese forces had accurately been depicted in a battle since Midway, which had been proclaimed a victory . </P>

Who fell from power after the battle of saipan