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THE JAPANESE PERIOD (1914 to 1944)
Japan withdrew from the League of Nations in 1935 after it had virtually annexed the Islands into the Empire. By 1936 a thriving fishing industry had developed as well as a sugar industry. The islands were assaulted by American forces on July 1, 1944 and one of the most hotly contested battles of the entire war was fought on its sandy beaches and mountainous terrain. American forces gained control of the island in July 1944 and the construction of bases and airfields began. It was from one such airfield on Tinian that the first nuclear weapon was dropped on Hiroshima by the B-29 aircraft Enola Gay hastening the end of hostilities. The airfields on Tinian which, in 1945 were the busiest in the world, are now largely abandoned.