SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. — Even after seven decades, Wilfred “Spike” Mailloux won’t talk about surviving a bloody World War II battle unless longtime friend John Sidur is by his side.

It was Sidur who found the severely wounded Mailloux hours after both survived Japan’s largest mass suicide attack in the Pacific. The pre-dawn assault launched 70 years ago today on the Japan-held island of Saipan nearly wiped out two former New York National Guard battalions fighting alongside U.S. Marines.

“He found me in the mud,” Mailloux recounted during a visit to the New York State Military Museum to attend a presentation on the battle’s 70th anniversary.

Mailloux and Sidur are among the dwindling ranks of WW II veterans of the Army’s 27th Infantry Division, which endured some of the bloodiest fighting in the Pacific, only to have its reputation besmirched by a volatile Marine general in one of the war’s biggest controversies.

In the Mariana Islands, 1,400 miles south of Tokyo, Saipan was sought by the Americans as a base for bombing raids against Japan. U.S. forces landed on Saipan on June 15, 1944, with two Marine divisions, the 2nd and the 4th, making the initial beach assaults and losing some 2,000 men on the first day alone.

A few days later, the inexperienced 27th Division joined the fight. The commander of the ground forces at Saipan was Marine Corps Lt. Gen. Holland M. Smith, dubbed “Howling Mad” for his volcanic temper.

A week into the battle, Smith relieved the 27th’s commander, Maj. Gen. Ralph Smith (no relation), after the division lagged behind the Marine units operating on its flanks. The Marine commander not only blasted the 27th’s leadership, but he also openly criticized its soldiers in front of correspondents, who later reported on the rift that became known as “Smith vs. Smith.”

Arthur Robinson, 92, of Saratoga Springs knew nothing of the Army versus Marine flap. As an infantryman in the 27th’s 105th Infantry Regiment, he was concentrating on staying alive. On July 3, he was wounded in both thighs by machine gun fire.

On July 7, after three weeks of fighting, two battalions of the 105th Regiment were positioned across a plain along Saipan’s western shore. With the island’s 30,000 defenders down to a few thousand starving, ill-equipped soldiers and sailors, Japanese commanders ordered one last charge.

The battalions’ 1,100 soldiers bore the brunt of what became known as the banzai attack. U.S. military officials later said 3,000 Japanese charged the American lines, though others put the estimate at 5,000. Many of the attackers were armed with samurai swords and bayonets on poles. When it was over, some 4,300 enemy dead were found, about half in front of the 105th’s positions. The regiment saw 406 killed and 512 wounded.