 The 118th infantry regiment was late for the 8th Pine transport, which sailed from Yokohama on 29 May 1944 as , and suffered two-thirds losses from a US submarine attack on 4 June 1944 before arriving in Saipan on 9 June 1944.About 9000 troops and 13 artillery pieces of the "43rd division" then dug in around Mount Tapochau, with the rest spread over the southern part of Saipan island.Overall, "43rd division" managed to add one line of trenches to the pre-existing defences before the arrival of the US invasion fleet on 13 June 1944.