The Guadalcanal campaign, also known as the Battle of Guadalcanal and codenamed Operation Watchtower by the
United States
The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
, was an
Allied offensive against forces of the
Empire of Japan
The Empire of Japan, also known as the Japanese Empire or Imperial Japan, was the Japanese nation state that existed from the Meiji Restoration on January 3, 1868, until the Constitution of Japan took effect on May 3, 1947. From Japan–Kor ...
in the
Solomon Islands
Solomon Islands, also known simply as the Solomons,John Prados, ''Islands of Destiny'', Dutton Caliber, 2012, p,20 and passim is an island country consisting of six major islands and over 1000 smaller islands in Melanesia, part of Oceania, t ...
during the
Pacific Theater
The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...
of
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
. It was fought between 7 August 1942 and 9 February 1943, and involved major land and naval battles on and surrounding the island of
Guadalcanal
Guadalcanal (; indigenous name: ''Isatabu'') is the principal island in Guadalcanal Province of Solomon Islands, located in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, northeast of Australia. It is the largest island in the Solomons by area and the second- ...
. It was the first major Allied land offensive against Japan during the war.
In summer 1942, the Allies decided to mount major offensives in
New Guinea
New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; , fossilized , also known as Papua or historically ) is the List of islands by area, world's second-largest island, with an area of . Located in Melanesia in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is ...
and the Solomon Islands with the objectives of defending sea lines to Australia and eventually attacking the major Japanese base at
Rabaul
Rabaul () is a township in the East New Britain province of Papua New Guinea, on the island of New Britain. It lies about to the east of the island of New Guinea. Rabaul was the provincial capital and most important settlement in the province ...
on
New Britain
New Britain () is the largest island in the Bismarck Archipelago, part of the Islands Region of Papua New Guinea. It is separated from New Guinea by a northwest corner of the Solomon Sea (or with an island hop of Umboi Island, Umboi the Dampie ...
. The Guadalcanal operation was under the command of
Robert L. Ghormley
Vice admiral (United States), Vice Admiral Robert Lee Ghormley (October 15, 1883 – June 21, 1958) was an admiral in the United States Navy who served as commander, South Pacific Area during World War II. Ghormley was long considered to be an in ...
, reporting to
Chester W. Nimitz
Chester William Nimitz (; 24 February 1885 – 20 February 1966) was a fleet admiral in the United States Navy. He played a major role in the naval history of World War II as Commander in Chief, US Pacific Fleet, and Commander in Chief, ...
, while the Japanese defense consisted of the
Combined Fleet
The was the main sea-going component of the Imperial Japanese Navy. Until 1933, the Combined Fleet was not a permanent organization, but a temporary force formed for the duration of a conflict or major naval maneuvers from various units norm ...
under
Isoroku Yamamoto
was a Marshal Admiral of the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) and the commander-in-chief of the Combined Fleet during World War II. He commanded the fleet from 1939 until his death in 1943, overseeing the start of the Pacific War in 1941 and J ...
and the
Seventeenth Army under
Harukishi Hyakutake.
On 7 August 1942, Allied forces, predominantly
U.S. Marines
The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines or simply the Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is responsible for conducting expeditionary ...
, landed on Guadalcanal,
Tulagi
Tulagi, less commonly known as Tulaghi, is a small island in Solomon Islands, just off the south coast of Ngella Sule. The town of the same name on the island (pop. 1,750) was the capital of the British Solomon Islands Protectorate from 1896 t ...
, and
Florida Island
The Nggela Islands or Ngella Islands, previously known as the Florida Islands, are a small island group in the Central Province of Solomon Islands, a sovereign state, since 1978, in the southwest Pacific Ocean. The name Florida Islands fell in ...
in the southern Solomon Islands. The Japanese defenders, who had occupied the islands since May 1942, offered little initial resistance, but the capture of Guadalcanal soon turned into a lengthy campaign as both sides added reinforcements. The Allies captured and completed
Henderson Field on Guadalcanal and established a defense perimeter. The Japanese made several attempts to retake the airfield, including
in mid-September and
in late October. The campaign also involved major naval battles, including the
Battles of Savo Island,
the Eastern Solomons,
Cape Esperance
Cape Esperance () is the northernmost point on Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands.
History
The Battle of Cape Esperance, one of several naval engagements fought in the waters north of the island during the World War II Guadalcanal campaign, took its ...
, and
the Santa Cruz Islands, culminating in a decisive Allied victory at the
Naval Battle of Guadalcanal
The Naval Battle of Guadalcanal took place from 12 to 15 November 1942 and was the decisive engagement in a series of naval battles between Allies of World War II, Allied (primarily American) and Imperial Japanese Armed Forces, Imperial Japan ...
in mid-November. Further engagements took place at the
Battle of Tassafaronga
The Battle of Tassafaronga, sometimes referred to as the Fourth Battle of Savo Island or in Japanese sources as the , was a nighttime naval battle that took place on 30 November 1942 between United States Navy and Imperial Japanese Navy warships ...
and
Battle of Rennell Island
The took place on 29–30 January 1943. It was the last major naval battle, naval engagement between the United States Navy and the Imperial Japanese Navy during the Guadalcanal Campaign of World War II. It occurred in the South Pacific Area, ...
. In December, the Japanese decided to abandon Guadalcanal to focus on the defense of the other Solomon Islands, and
evacuated their last forces by 9 February 1943.
The campaign followed the successful Allied defensive actions at the
Battle of the Coral Sea
The Battle of the Coral Sea, from 4 to 8 May 1942, was a major naval battle between the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) and naval and air forces of the United States and Australia. Taking place in the Pacific Theatre of World War II, the battle ...
and the
Battle of Midway
The Battle of Midway was a major naval battle in the Pacific Ocean theater of World War II, Pacific Theater of World War II that took place on 4–7 June 1942, six months after Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor and one month after the Battle of t ...
in May and June 1942. Along with the battles at
Milne Bay
Milne Bay is a large bay in Milne Bay Province, south-eastern Papua New Guinea. More than long and over wide, Milne Bay is a sheltered deep-water harbor accessible via Ward Hunt Strait. It is surrounded by the heavily wooded Stirling Range (Papu ...
and
Buna–Gona on New Guinea, the Guadalcanal campaign marked the Allies' transition from defensive operations to offensive ones, and effectively allowed them to seize the strategic initiative in the Pacific theater from the Japanese. The campaign was followed by other major Allied offensives in the Pacific, most notably: the
Solomon Islands campaign
The Solomon Islands campaign was a major military campaign, campaign of the Pacific War during World War II. The campaign began with the Empire of Japan, Japanese seizure of several areas in the British Solomon Islands and Bougainville Island, B ...
,
New Guinea campaign
The New Guinea campaign of the Pacific War lasted from January 1942 until the end of the war in August 1945. During the initial phase in early 1942, the Empire of Japan invaded the Territory of New Guinea on 23 January and Territory of Papua on ...
, the
Gilbert and Marshall Islands campaign
The Gilbert and Marshall Islands campaign was a series of engagements fought from August 1942 to February 1944, in the Pacific War, Pacific theatre of World War II between the United States and Empire of Japan, Japan. They were the first battl ...
, the
Mariana and Palau Islands campaign
The Mariana and Palau Islands campaign, also known as Campaign Plan Granite II, was an offensive launched by the United States against Imperial Japanese forces in the Pacific between June and November 1944 during the Pacific War. The campaig ...
, the
Philippines campaign of 1944 to 1945, and the
Volcano and Ryukyu Islands campaign
The Volcano and Ryūkyū Islands campaign was a series of battles and engagements between Allies of World War II, Allied forces and Imperial Japanese armed forces, Imperial Japanese Forces in the Pacific Ocean theater of World War II, Pacific Oc ...
prior to the
surrender of Japan
The surrender of the Empire of Japan in World War II was Hirohito surrender broadcast, announced by Emperor Hirohito on 15 August and formally Japanese Instrument of Surrender, signed on 2 September 1945, End of World War II in Asia, ending ...
in August 1945.
Background
Strategic considerations
On 7 December 1941,
Japanese forces attacked the
United States Pacific Fleet
The United States Pacific Fleet (USPACFLT) is a theater-level component command of the United States Navy, located in the Pacific Ocean. It provides naval forces to the Indo-Pacific Command. Fleet headquarters is at Joint Base Pearl Harbor� ...
at
Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor is an American lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. It was often visited by the naval fleet of the United States, before it was acquired from the Hawaiian Kingdom by the U.S. with the signing of the Reci ...
,
Hawaii
Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...
. The attack killed almost 2,500 people and crippled much of the U.S.
battleship
A battleship is a large, heavily naval armour, armored warship with a main battery consisting of large naval gun, guns, designed to serve as a capital ship. From their advent in the late 1880s, battleships were among the largest and most form ...
fleet, precipitating formal declarations of war between the two nations the next day. The initial goals of the Japanese leadership were to neutralize the
U.S. Navy
The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest displacement, at 4.5 million tons in 2021. It has the world's largest aircraft ...
, seize territories rich in natural resources, and establish strategic military bases with which to defend Japan's empire in the Pacific Ocean and Asia. Initially, Japanese forces captured the Philippines, Thailand,
Malaya
Malaya refers to a number of historical and current political entities related to what is currently Peninsular Malaysia in Southeast Asia:
Political entities
* British Malaya (1826–1957), a loose collection of the British colony of the Straits ...
, Singapore, Burma, the
Dutch East Indies
The Dutch East Indies, also known as the Netherlands East Indies (; ), was a Dutch Empire, Dutch colony with territory mostly comprising the modern state of Indonesia, which Proclamation of Indonesian Independence, declared independence on 17 Au ...
,
Wake Island
Wake Island (), also known as Wake Atoll, is a coral atoll in the Micronesia subregion of the Pacific Ocean. The atoll is composed of three islets – Wake, Wilkes, and Peale Islands – surrounding a lagoon encircled by a coral reef. The neare ...
,
Gilbert Islands
The Gilbert Islands (;Reilly Ridgell. ''Pacific Nations and Territories: The Islands of Micronesia, Melanesia, and Polynesia.'' 3rd. Ed. Honolulu: Bess Press, 1995. p. 95. formerly Kingsmill or King's-Mill IslandsVery often, this name applied o ...
,
New Britain
New Britain () is the largest island in the Bismarck Archipelago, part of the Islands Region of Papua New Guinea. It is separated from New Guinea by a northwest corner of the Solomon Sea (or with an island hop of Umboi Island, Umboi the Dampie ...
and
Guam
Guam ( ; ) is an island that is an Territories of the United States, organized, unincorporated territory of the United States in the Micronesia subregion of the western Pacific Ocean. Guam's capital is Hagåtña, Guam, Hagåtña, and the most ...
. The U.S. was joined in the war against Japan by several of the
Allied powers, including the
British Empire
The British Empire comprised the dominions, Crown colony, colonies, protectorates, League of Nations mandate, mandates, and other Dependent territory, territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It bega ...
and the
Dutch government-in-exile
The Dutch government-in-exile (), also known as the London Cabinet (), was the government in exile of the Netherlands, supervised by Queen Wilhelmina, that fled to London after the German invasion of the country during World War II on 10 May 19 ...
, both of which had also been attacked by Japan.
The Japanese made two attempts to continue their offensive and extend their outer defensive perimeter in the south and central Pacific to a point at which they could threaten Australia, Hawaii, and the U.S. west coast. The first offensive was thwarted in the naval
Battle of the Coral Sea
The Battle of the Coral Sea, from 4 to 8 May 1942, was a major naval battle between the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) and naval and air forces of the United States and Australia. Taking place in the Pacific Theatre of World War II, the battle ...
, which was a tactical stalemate but a strategic Allied victory in retrospect. It was the Allies' first major victory against the Japanese and significantly reduced the offensive capability of Japan's carrier forces. However, the battle did not temper Japan's audacious offensive military posture for several crucial months, with Japanese forces attempting a failed attack on
Port Moresby
(; Tok Pisin: ''Pot Mosbi''), also referred to as Pom City or simply Moresby, is the capital and largest city of Papua New Guinea. It is one of the largest cities in the southwestern Pacific (along with Jayapura) outside of Australia and New ...
over the
Kokoda track
The Kokoda Track or Trail is a single-file foot thoroughfare that runs overland – in a straight line – through the Owen Stanley Range in Papua New Guinea (PNG). The track was the location of the 1942 World War II battle between Japane ...
. The second major Japanese offensive was stopped at the
Battle of Midway
The Battle of Midway was a major naval battle in the Pacific Ocean theater of World War II, Pacific Theater of World War II that took place on 4–7 June 1942, six months after Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor and one month after the Battle of t ...
. Both sides suffered significant losses in carrier aircraft and aircrew during these engagements. Crucially, while the Americans were able to reconstitute their naval air strength in relatively short order, the Japanese ultimately proved unable to do so.
These strategic victories allowed the Allies to transition to a more offensive stance in the Pacific theater, and attempt to seize the strategic initiative from Japan.
The Allies chose the Solomon Islands (a
protectorate
A protectorate, in the context of international relations, is a State (polity), state that is under protection by another state for defence against aggression and other violations of law. It is a dependent territory that enjoys autonomy over ...
of the United Kingdom), specifically the southern islands of
Guadalcanal
Guadalcanal (; indigenous name: ''Isatabu'') is the principal island in Guadalcanal Province of Solomon Islands, located in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, northeast of Australia. It is the largest island in the Solomons by area and the second- ...
,
Tulagi
Tulagi, less commonly known as Tulaghi, is a small island in Solomon Islands, just off the south coast of Ngella Sule. The town of the same name on the island (pop. 1,750) was the capital of the British Solomon Islands Protectorate from 1896 t ...
and
Florida Island
The Nggela Islands or Ngella Islands, previously known as the Florida Islands, are a small island group in the Central Province of Solomon Islands, a sovereign state, since 1978, in the southwest Pacific Ocean. The name Florida Islands fell in ...
, as their first target, designated Task One (codename ''Pestilence''), with the initial objectives of
[Dyer v. 1, p. 261] occupying the
Santa Cruz Islands
The Santa Cruz Islands form an archipelago in Temotu Province, Solomon Islands. They lie approximately to the southeast of the Solomon Islands (archipelago), Solomon Islands archipelago, just north of the archipelago of Vanuatu and are con ...
(codename ''Huddle''), Tulagi (codename ''Watchtower''), and "adjacent positions". Guadalcanal (codename ''Cactus''), which eventually became the focus of the operation, was not even mentioned in the early directive, and only later took on the operation name ''Watchtower''.
Tulagi, although small, had a large natural harbor that was ideal for a float-plane base; Florida Island also had to be taken, as it dominated Tulagi. Guadalcanal, much larger than the other two islands and located to the south across the soon-to-be-named
Ironbottom Sound
"Ironbottom Sound" (alternatively Iron Bottom Sound or Ironbottomed Sound or Iron Bottom Bay) is the name given by Allied sailors to the stretch of water at the southern end of The Slot between Guadalcanal, Savo Island, and Florida Island o ...
, was added when it was discovered the Japanese were constructing an airbase there.
The
Imperial Japanese Navy
The Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN; Kyūjitai: Shinjitai: ' 'Navy of the Greater Japanese Empire', or ''Nippon Kaigun'', 'Japanese Navy') was the navy of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945, Potsdam Declaration, when it was dissolved followin ...
(IJN) had
occupied Tulagi in May 1942 and had constructed a seaplane base nearby. Allied concern grew when, in early July, the IJN began constructing a large airfield at
Lunga Point
Lunga Point is a promontory on the northern coast of Guadalcanal, the site of a naval battle during World War II. It was also the name of a nearby airfield, later named Henderson Field. is also the name of a United States Navy escort carrier t ...
on nearby Guadalcanal. From such a base, Japanese long-range bombers could threaten the sea lines of communication and maritime trade & transportation routes from the west coast of the Americas to the populous east coast of Australia. By August, the Japanese had about 900 naval troops on Tulagi and nearby islands, and 2,800 personnel (including 2,200
Korean
Korean may refer to:
People and culture
* Koreans, people from the Korean peninsula or of Korean descent
* Korean culture
* Korean language
**Korean alphabet, known as Hangul or Korean
**Korean dialects
**See also: North–South differences in t ...
forced laborers and trustees, as well as Japanese construction specialists) on Guadalcanal. These bases were meant to protect Japan's major naval base at
Rabaul
Rabaul () is a township in the East New Britain province of Papua New Guinea, on the island of New Britain. It lies about to the east of the island of New Guinea. Rabaul was the provincial capital and most important settlement in the province ...
, threaten Allied supply and communication lines, and establish a staging area for a planned offensive against
Fiji
Fiji, officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists of an archipelago of more than 330 islands—of which about ...
,
New Caledonia
New Caledonia ( ; ) is a group of islands in the southwest Pacific Ocean, southwest of Vanuatu and east of Australia. Located from Metropolitan France, it forms a Overseas France#Sui generis collectivity, ''sui generis'' collectivity of t ...
and
Samoa
Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa and known until 1997 as Western Samoa, is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania, in the South Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main islands (Savai'i and Upolu), two smaller, inhabited ...
(''
Operation FS
__NOTOC__
Operation FS was the Imperial Japanese plan to invade and occupy Fiji, American Samoa, Samoa, and New Caledonia in the South Pacific during the Pacific conflict of World War II. The operation was set to be executed in July or August 19 ...
''). The Japanese planned to deploy 45
fighters and 60
bomber
A bomber is a military combat aircraft that utilizes
air-to-ground weaponry to drop bombs, launch aerial torpedo, torpedoes, or deploy air-launched cruise missiles.
There are two major classifications of bomber: strategic and tactical. Strateg ...
s to Guadalcanal. In the overall strategy for 1942, these aircraft would provide ground-based air cover for Japanese naval forces advancing farther into the South Pacific.
The Allied plan to
invade the southern Solomons was conceived by U.S.
Admiral
Admiral is one of the highest ranks in many navies. In the Commonwealth nations and the United States, a "full" admiral is equivalent to a "full" general in the army or the air force. Admiral is ranked above vice admiral and below admiral of ...
Ernest King
Ernest Joseph King (23 November 1878 – 25 June 1956) was a Fleet admiral (United States), fleet admiral in the United States Navy who served as Commander in Chief, United States Fleet (COMINCH) and Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) during Worl ...
, Commander in Chief,
United States Fleet
The United States Fleet was an organization in the United States Navy from 1922 until after World War II. The acronym CINCUS, pronounced "sink us", was used for the Commander in Chief, United States Fleet. This was replaced by COMINCH in December ...
. He proposed the offensive in order to deny the use of the islands to the Japanese as bases from which the
supply
Supply or supplies may refer to:
*The amount of a resource that is available
**Supply (economics), the amount of a product which is available to customers
**Materiel, the goods and equipment for a military unit to fulfill its mission
*Supply, as ...
routes between the United States and Australia could be threatened, and to use them as starting points for further Allied offensives in the South Pacific. With U.S. President
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt (January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), also known as FDR, was the 32nd president of the United States, serving from 1933 until his death in 1945. He is the longest-serving U.S. president, and the only one to have served ...
's tacit consent, King also advocated for an invasion of Guadalcanal. Due to the Roosevelt administration's support for Great Britain's proposal that priority be given to
defeating Germany before Japan, Allied commanders in Pacific theater had to compete for personnel and resources with the
European theater
The European theatre of World War II was one of the two main Theater (warfare), theatres of combat during World War II, taking place from September 1939 to May 1945. The Allies of World War II, Allied powers (including the United Kingdom, the ...
.
An early obstacle was the desire of both the U.S. Army and the Roosevelt administration to initiate offensive action in Europe prior to a large-scale operation in the Pacific. In addition, it was initially unclear who would command the campaign: Tulagi lay in the area under the command of General
Douglas MacArthur
Douglas MacArthur (26 January 18805 April 1964) was an American general who served as a top commander during World War II and the Korean War, achieving the rank of General of the Army (United States), General of the Army. He served with dis ...
, whereas the Santa Cruz Islands lay in Admiral
Chester W. Nimitz
Chester William Nimitz (; 24 February 1885 – 20 February 1966) was a fleet admiral in the United States Navy. He played a major role in the naval history of World War II as Commander in Chief, US Pacific Fleet, and Commander in Chief, ...
's
Pacific Ocean Area, which would also supply almost all Allied offensive forces that would be staged, supplied and covered from that area.
[Dyer v. 1, pp. 259–260] Both problems were overcome, and the Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army, General
George C. Marshall
George Catlett Marshall Jr. (31 December 1880 – 16 October 1959) was an American army officer and statesman. He rose through the United States Army to become Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army under presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry S. ...
, gave the operation his full support, despite MacArthur's command being unable to directly assist in the operation and the U.S. Navy taking full operational responsibility.
As a result, and in order to preserve the unity of command, the boundary between MacArthur's
South West Pacific Area
South West Pacific Area (SWPA) was the name given to the Allied supreme military command in the South West Pacific Theatre of World War II. It was one of four major Allied commands in the Pacific War. SWPA included the Philippines, Borneo, the ...
and Nimitz's Pacific Ocean Area was shifted to to the west, effective from 1 August 1942.
Chief of Staff to the Commander in Chief
The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (CJCS) is the presiding officer of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS). The chairman is the highest-ranking and most senior military officer in the United States Armed Forces Chairman: appointment; grad ...
William D. Leahy
William Daniel Leahy ( ; 6 May 1875 – 20 July 1959) was an American naval officer and was the most senior United States military officer on active duty during World War II; he held several titles and exercised considerable influence over for ...
established two goals for 1942–1943: first, that Guadalcanal would be taken, in conjunction with an
Allied offensive in New Guinea under MacArthur; and second, that the
Admiralty Islands
The Admiralty Islands are an archipelago group of 40 islands in the Bismarck Archipelago, to the north of New Guinea in the South Pacific Ocean. These are also sometimes called the Manus Islands, after the largest island.
These rainforest-cov ...
and
Bismarck Archipelago
The Bismarck Archipelago (, ) is a group of islands off the northeastern coast of New Guinea in the western Pacific Ocean and is part of the Islands Region of Papua New Guinea. Its area is about .
History
The first inhabitants of the archipela ...
, including the major Japanese base at Rabaul, would be captured as well. The directive held that the eventual goal was the American reconquest of the Philippines, from which American forces had been evicted in early 1942. The U.S.
Joint Chiefs of Staff
The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) is the body of the most senior uniformed leaders within the United States Department of Defense, which advises the president of the United States, the secretary of defense, the Homeland Security Council and ...
created the South Pacific theater, with Vice Admiral
Robert L. Ghormley
Vice admiral (United States), Vice Admiral Robert Lee Ghormley (October 15, 1883 – June 21, 1958) was an admiral in the United States Navy who served as commander, South Pacific Area during World War II. Ghormley was long considered to be an in ...
taking command on 19 June, to direct the offensive in the Solomons. Nimitz, based at Pearl Harbor, was designated as overall Allied commander-in-chief for Allied forces in the Pacific.
Task force
In preparation for the offensive in the Pacific in May 1942, U.S. Marine
Major General Alexander Vandegrift
Alexander Archer Vandegrift (March 13, 1887 – May 8, 1973) was a United States Marine Corps highly decorated four-star general (United States), general, Medal of Honor recipient, and a Commandant of the United States Marine Corps, Commandant of ...
was ordered to move his
1st Marine Division
The 1st Marine Division (1st MARDIV) is a Marine (military), Marine Division (military), division of the United States Marine Corps headquartered at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, California. It is the ground combat element of the I Marine E ...
from the United States to New Zealand. Other Allied land, naval and air units were sent to establish or reinforce bases in Fiji, Samoa,
New Hebrides
New Hebrides, officially the New Hebrides Condominium () and named after the Hebrides in Scotland, was the colonial name for the island group in the South Pacific Ocean that is now Vanuatu. Native people had inhabited the islands for three th ...
and New Caledonia.
The island of
Espiritu Santo
Espiritu Santo (, ; ) is the largest island in the nation of Vanuatu, with an area of and a population of around 40,000 according to the 2009 census.
Geography
The island belongs to the archipelago of the New Hebrides in the Pacific region ...
, in the New Hebrides, was selected as the headquarters and primary staging ground for the offensive, codenamed ''Operation Watchtower'', with the commencement date set for 7 August. At first, only the seizure of Tulagi and the Santa Cruz Islands was planned, omitting a landing on Guadalcanal. After Allied reconnaissance discovered Japanese airfield construction efforts on Guadalcanal, its capture was added to the plan, and planned landings on the Santa Cruz islands were (eventually) abandoned. The Japanese were aware, via
signals intelligence
Signals intelligence (SIGINT) is the act and field of intelligence-gathering by interception of ''signals'', whether communications between people (communications intelligence—abbreviated to COMINT) or from electronic signals not directly u ...
, of the large-scale movement of Allied forces in the South Pacific Area, but concluded that the Allies were reinforcing either Australia or Port Moresby on the southern coast of New Guinea.
The ''Watchtower'' force, numbering 75 warships and transports (including vessels from the U.S. and Australia), assembled near Fiji on 26 July and conducted a single rehearsal landing prior to leaving for Guadalcanal on 31 July. The commander of the Allied expeditionary force was U.S.
Vice Admiral
Vice admiral is a senior naval flag officer rank, usually equivalent to lieutenant general and air marshal. A vice admiral is typically senior to a rear admiral and junior to an admiral.
Australia
In the Royal Australian Navy, the rank of Vice ...
Frank Fletcher Frank Fletcher may refer to:
*Frank Friday Fletcher (1855–1928), U.S. Navy admiral, namesake of the USS ''Fletcher'' (DD-445)
*Frank Jack Fletcher (1885–1973), U.S. Navy admiral, namesake of the USS ''Fletcher'' (DD-992)
*Frank Fletcher (basebal ...
, Commander of
Task Force 16
Task Force 16 (TF 16) was one of the most storied task forces in the United States Navy, a major participant in a number of the most important battles of the Pacific War.
In July 1941, drew the assignment of ferrying army aircraft to Iceland be ...
(whose flag was on the
aircraft carrier
An aircraft carrier is a warship that serves as a seagoing airbase, equipped with a full-length flight deck and hangar facilities for supporting, arming, deploying and recovering carrier-based aircraft, shipborne aircraft. Typically it is the ...
). Commanding the amphibious forces was U.S.
Rear Admiral
Rear admiral is a flag officer rank used by English-speaking navies. In most European navies, the equivalent rank is called counter admiral.
Rear admiral is usually immediately senior to commodore and immediately below vice admiral. It is ...
Richmond K. Turner
Admiral Richmond Kelly Turner (May 27, 1885 – February 12, 1961), commonly known as Kelly Turner, was an admiral of the United States Navy during the Second World War, where he commanded the Amphibious Force in the Pacific theater. Turner w ...
. Vandegrift led the 16,000 Allied (primarily U.S. Marine) infantry earmarked for the amphibious landings. The troops sent to Guadalcanal were fresh from military training, armed with legacy bolt-action
M1903 Springfield
The M1903 Springfield, officially the U.S. Rifle, Caliber .30, M1903, is an American five-round magazine-fed, bolt-action service repeating rifle, used primarily during the first half of the 20th century.
The M1903 was first used in combat ...
rifles and a meager 10-day supply of ammunition. Because of the need to get the troops into battle quickly, the Allied planners had reduced their supplies from 90 days to only 60. The men of the 1st Marine Division began referring to the coming battle as "Operation Shoestring".
Events
Landings

Bad weather allowed the Allied expeditionary force to arrive unseen by the Japanese on the night of 6 August and morning of 7 August, taking the defenders by surprise. This is occasionally referred to the "Midnight Raid on Guadalcanal". A Japanese patrol aircraft from Tulagi had searched the general area that the Allied invasion fleet was moving through, but was unable to spot the Allied fleet due to severe storms and heavy clouds. The landing force split into two groups, with one group assaulting Guadalcanal and the other Tulagi, Florida, and other nearby islands. Allied warships bombarded the invasion beaches, while U.S. carrier aircraft bombed Japanese positions on the target islands and destroyed 15 Japanese
seaplane
A seaplane is a powered fixed-wing aircraft capable of takeoff, taking off and water landing, landing (alighting) on water.Gunston, "The Cambridge Aerospace Dictionary", 2009. Seaplanes are usually divided into two categories based on their tech ...
s at their base near Tulagi.
Tulagi and two nearby small islands,
Gavutu
Gavutu is a small islet in the Central Province of Solomon Islands, some in length. It is one of the Nggela Islands.
History
The first recorded sighting by Europeans was by the Spanish expedition of Álvaro de Mendaña on 16 April 1568. More p ...
and
Tanambogo
Tanambogo is a small island in the Central Province of Solomon Islands in the Nggela Islands group, which was also known as the Florida Islands under the British Solomon Islands Protectorate and during World War II.
History
The first recorded s ...
, were assaulted by 3,000 U.S. Marines under the command of
Brigadier General William Rupertus
William Henry Rupertus (November 14, 1889 – March 25, 1945) was a major general in the United States Marine Corps, who commanded the famed 1st Marine Division in the Pacific in World War II and also authored the USMC Rifleman's Creed.
Persona ...
. The 886 IJN personnel manning the naval and seaplane bases on the three islands fiercely resisted the Marine landings. With some difficulty, the Marines secured all three islands: Tulagi on 8 August, and Gavutu and Tanambogo by 9 August. The Japanese defenders were killed almost to the last man, and the Marines suffered 248 casualties.
In contrast to Tulagi, Gavutu, and Tanambogo, the landings on Guadalcanal encountered much less resistance. At 09:10 on 7 August, Vandegrift and 11,000 U.S. Marines came ashore on Guadalcanal between Koli Point and Lunga Point. Advancing towards Lunga Point, they encountered scant Japanese resistance and secured the airfield by 16:00 on 8 August. The Japanese naval construction units and combat troops, under the command of Captain
Kanae Monzen, had panicked after coming under naval bombardment and aerial bombing, and had abandoned the airfield and fled about west to the
Matanikau River
The Matanikau River of Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands, is located in the northwest part of the island. During the World War II Guadalcanal campaign, several significant engagements occurred between United States and Japanese forces near the river ...
and Point Cruz area. Japanese troops left behind food, supplies, intact construction equipment and vehicles, and 13 dead at the airfield and surrounding area.
During the landing operations on 7 and 8 August, Rabaul-based Japanese naval aircraft under the command of
Yamada Sadayoshi
was a vice admiral in the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War II.
Biography Early career
Yamada was born in Fukuoka prefecture as the eldest son of Yamada Sadanao, a colonel in the Imperial Japanese Army, and was raised in Matsue, Shimane. ...
attacked the Allied amphibious forces several times, setting on fire the transport , which sank two days later, and heavily damaging the destroyer . Over the course of two days of air attacks, Japanese air units lost 36 aircraft, while the U.S. lost 19 (including 14 carrier aircraft), both in combat and to accidents.
After these aerial clashes, Fletcher became concerned about the unexpectedly high losses to his carrier fighter aircraft strength, anxious about the threat to his carriers from further Japanese air attacks, and worried about his ships' remaining fuel supply. Fletcher withdrew from the Solomon Islands area with his carrier task force on the evening of 8 August. In response to the loss of carrier-based air cover, Turner decided to withdraw his ships from Guadalcanal, even though less than half of the supplies and heavy equipment needed by the troops ashore had been unloaded. Turner planned to unload as many supplies as possible on Guadalcanal and Tulagi throughout the night of 8 August, and then depart with his ships early on 9 August.
Battle of Savo Island
As the transports continued to unload on the night of 8–9 August, two groups of screening Allied cruisers and destroyers, under the command of British Rear Admiral
Victor Crutchley, were surprised and defeated by a Japanese force of seven cruisers and one destroyer from the
8th Fleet based at Rabaul and
Kavieng
Kavieng is the capital of the Papua New Guinean province of New Ireland and the largest town on the island of the same name. The town is located at Balgai Bay, on the northern tip of the island. As of 2009, it had a population of 17,248.
Kavi ...
, commanded by Japanese Vice Admiral
Gunichi Mikawa
was a vice admiral in the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) during World War II. Mikawa was the commander of a heavy cruiser force that defeated the United States Navy (USN) and the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) at the Battle of Savo Island in Ironb ...
. The 8th fleet had been sighted at least 5 times over the course of the previous days, both by Allied submarines and aerial reconnaissance, but a combination of misidentification of ships and the Allied leadership's dismissal of Japanese night fighting capability contributed to an air of complacence and ignorance among the Allied surface fleet that proved disastrous. Japanese submarine activity and air attack continued to be the main source of concern to Turner and his staff, not the threat of Japanese surface action.

As a result, during the
Battle of Savo Island
The Battle of Savo Island, also known as the First Battle of Savo Island and in Japanese sources as the , and colloquially among Allied Guadalcanal veterans as the Battle of the Five Sitting Ducks, was a Naval warfare, naval battle during the So ...
on the night of 9 August, Mikawa's force was able to surprise and sink one Australian and three American cruisers, as well as damage another American cruiser and two destroyers. The Japanese suffered only moderate damage to one cruiser. Despite this success, Mikawa was unaware that Fletcher was preparing to withdraw with the U.S. aircraft carriers, and immediately retired to Rabaul without attempting to attack the (now defenseless) Allied transports, fearing daytime air attacks on his vessels once the cover of darkness had been lost. Bereft of his carrier air cover and concerned about Japanese submarine and surface attacks against his degraded fleet, Turner withdrew his badly mauled naval forces from the area on the evening of 9 August. This left the Marines ashore understrength (as some transports in the Allied fleet had retreated without disembarking all of their troops), and without much of their heavy equipment and provisions. Mikawa's decision not to attempt to destroy the Allied transport ships when he had the opportunity proved to be a crucial strategic mistake.
Initial ground operations

The 11,000 Marines on Guadalcanal initially concentrated on forming a loose defensive perimeter centered around Lunga Point and the airfield, moving what supplies had been brought ashore within the perimeter, and completing the construction of the airfield. Over four days of intense effort, the supplies were moved from the landing beaches to dispersed dumps within the defensive perimeter. Work began on the airfield immediately, mainly using captured Japanese equipment. On 12 August the airfield was named
Henderson Field after
Lofton R. Henderson, a Marine aviator who was killed during the Battle of Midway. By 18 August the airfield was ready for operation. Five days' worth of food had been landed from the transports, which, along with captured Japanese provisions, gave the Marines a total of 14 days' supply of food. To conserve supplies, the troops were limited to two meals per day.
Allied troops suffered from a severe strain of
dysentery
Dysentery ( , ), historically known as the bloody flux, is a type of gastroenteritis that results in bloody diarrhea. Other symptoms may include fever, abdominal pain, and a feeling of incomplete defecation. Complications may include dehyd ...
soon after the landings, with one in five Marines afflicted by mid-August. Although some of the Korean construction workers surrendered to the Marines, most of the remaining Japanese and Korean personnel gathered just west of the Lunga perimeter on the west bank of the Matanikau River and subsisted mainly on coconuts. A Japanese naval outpost was also located at Taivu Point, about 35 kilometers (22 mi) east of the Lunga perimeter. On 8 August, a Japanese destroyer from Rabaul delivered 113 naval reinforcement troops to the Matanikau position.
Goettge patrol
On the evening of 12 August, a 25-man U.S. Marine patrol, led by Division D-2 Lieutenant Colonel
Frank Goettge
Frank Bryan Goettge (30 December 1895 – 12 August 1942) was a United States Marine Corps intelligence officer in World War II. He led the ill-fated Goettge Patrol in the early days of the Guadalcanal campaign and was killed during that oper ...
and primarily consisting of
intelligence
Intelligence has been defined in many ways: the capacity for abstraction, logic, understanding, self-awareness, learning, emotional knowledge, reasoning, planning, creativity, critical thinking, and problem-solving. It can be described as t ...
personnel, landed by boat west of the U.S. Marine Lunga perimeter, east of Point Cruz and west of the Japanese perimeter at Matanikau River, on a reconnaissance mission with a secondary objective of contacting a group of Japanese troops that U.S. forces believed might be willing to surrender. Soon after the patrol landed, a nearby
platoon
A platoon is a Military organization, military unit typically composed of two to four squads, Section (military unit), sections, or patrols. Platoon organization varies depending on the country and the Military branch, branch, but a platoon can ...
of Japanese naval troops attacked it and almost completely wiped it out.
In response, on 19 August, Vandegrift sent three companies of the U.S.
5th Marine Regiment
The 5th Marine Regiment (also referred to as "5th Marines") is an infantry regiment of the United States Marine Corps based at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, California. It is the most highly decorated regiment in the Marine Corps and falls ...
to attack the Japanese troop concentration west of the Matanikau. One company attacked across the sandbar at the mouth of the Matanikau River while another crossed the river inland and attacked the Japanese forces located in Matanikau village. The third landed by boat further west and attacked Kokumbuna village. After briefly occupying the two villages, the three Marine companies returned to the Lunga perimeter, having killed about 65 Japanese soldiers while losing four Marines. This action, sometimes referred to as the "First Battle of the Matanikau", was the first of several major
actions around the Matanikau River during the campaign.
On 20 August, the
escort carrier
The escort carrier or escort aircraft carrier (U.S. hull classification symbol CVE), also called a "jeep carrier" or "baby flattop" in the United States Navy (USN) or "Woolworth Carrier" by the Royal Navy, was a small and slower type of aircraf ...
delivered a squadron of 19
Grumman F4F Wildcat
The Grumman F4F Wildcat is an American carrier-based
A carrier-based aircraft (also known as carrier-capable aircraft, carrier-borne aircraft, carrier aircraft or aeronaval aircraft) is a naval aircraft designed for operations from aircra ...
s and a squadron of 12
Douglas SBD Dauntless
The Douglas SBD Dauntless is a World War II American naval scout plane and dive bomber that was manufactured by Douglas Aircraft from 1940 through 1944. The SBD ("Scout Bomber Douglas") was the United States Navy's main Carrier-based aircraft, ...
es to Henderson Field. The airfield's rudimentary nature meant that carrier aircraft, designed for rough landings on flight decks at sea, were more suited for use on Henderson Field than ground-based planes. The aircraft based at Henderson became known as the "
Cactus Air Force
The Cactus Air Force was the ensemble of Allies of World War II, Allied air power assigned to the island of Guadalcanal from August 1942 until December 1942 during the most heavily contested phases of the Battle of Guadalcanal, Guadalcanal Campa ...
", after the Allied codename for Guadalcanal, ''Cactus''. The Marine fighters went into action the next day, which also saw the first of what would become almost-daily Japanese bomber air raids on the airfield. On 22 August five
U.S. Army
The United States Army (USA) is the primary land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of the United Stat ...
Bell P-400 Airacobras and their pilots arrived at Henderson Field.
Battle of the Tenaru
In response to the Allied landings, the Japanese
Imperial General Headquarters
The was part of the Supreme War Council (Japan), Supreme War Council and was established in 1893 to coordinate efforts between the Imperial Japanese Army and Imperial Japanese Navy during wartime. In terms of function, it was approximately equi ...
assigned the task of retaking Guadalcanal to the Imperial Japanese Army's (IJA)
17th Army, a
corps
Corps (; plural ''corps'' ; from French , from the Latin "body") is a term used for several different kinds of organization. A military innovation by Napoleon I, the formation was formally introduced March 1, 1800, when Napoleon ordered Gener ...
-sized command based at Rabaul under the command of Lieutenant General
Harukichi Hyakutake
was a general in the Japanese Imperial Army in World War II. He is sometimes referred to as Haruyoshi Hyakutake or Seikichi Hyakutake. His elder brothers Saburō Hyakutake and Gengo Hyakutake were admirals in the Imperial Japanese Navy.
Biog ...
. The army was to be supported by Japanese naval units, including the
Combined Fleet
The was the main sea-going component of the Imperial Japanese Navy. Until 1933, the Combined Fleet was not a permanent organization, but a temporary force formed for the duration of a conflict or major naval maneuvers from various units norm ...
under the command of
Isoroku Yamamoto
was a Marshal Admiral of the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) and the commander-in-chief of the Combined Fleet during World War II. He commanded the fleet from 1939 until his death in 1943, overseeing the start of the Pacific War in 1941 and J ...
, which was headquartered at
Truk. The 17th Army, at that time heavily involved in the Japanese
campaign in New Guinea, had only a few units available to allocate to Guadalcanal. Of these, the
35th Infantry Brigade under Major General
Kiyotake Kawaguchi
was a general in the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II.
Biography
A native of Kōchi Prefecture, Kiyotake graduated from the 26th class of the Imperial Japanese Army Academy in 1914, and from the 34th class of the Army Staff College i ...
was at
Palau
Palau, officially the Republic of Palau, is an island country in the Micronesia subregion of Oceania in the western Pacific Ocean. The Republic of Palau consists of approximately 340 islands and is the western part of the Caroline Islands ...
, the
4th (Aoba) Infantry Regiment under Major General
Yumio Nasu
was a major general and a division commander in the Imperial Japanese Army (IJA) during World War II.
Biography
A native of Tochigi Prefecture, Nasu graduated from the 25th class of the Imperial Japanese Army Academy in 1913 and from the 35th ...
was in the Philippines and the 28th (Ichiki) Infantry Regiment, under the command of Colonel
Kiyonao Ichiki, was berthed on transport ships near
Guam
Guam ( ; ) is an island that is an Territories of the United States, organized, unincorporated territory of the United States in the Micronesia subregion of the western Pacific Ocean. Guam's capital is Hagåtña, Guam, Hagåtña, and the most ...
. These units began to move towards Guadalcanal via Truk and Rabaul immediately, but Ichiki's regiment, being the closest, arrived in the area first. A "First Element" of Ichiki's unit, consisting of about 917 soldiers, was landed by IJN destroyers at Taivu Point, east of the Lunga perimeter, after midnight on 19 August, then conducted a night march west toward the Marine perimeter.
Underestimating the strength of Allied forces on Guadalcanal, Ichiki's unit conducted a nighttime frontal assault on Marine positions at Alligator Creek (often called the "Ilu River" on U.S. Marine maps) on the east side of the Lunga perimeter in the early morning hours of 21 August.
Jacob Vouza, a Solomon Islands
Coastwatcher
The Coastwatchers, also known as the Coast Watch Organisation, Combined Field Intelligence Service or Section C, Allied Intelligence Bureau, were Allied military intelligence operatives stationed on remote Pacific islands during World War II ...
scout, warned the Americans of the impending attack minutes before it started; the attack was defeated with heavy losses to the Japanese. After daybreak, the Marine units counterattacked Ichiki's surviving troops, killing many more of them. The dead included Ichiki; it has been reported that he died by
seppuku
, also known as , is a form of Japanese ritualistic suicide by disembowelment. It was originally reserved for samurai in their code of honor, but was also practiced by other Japanese people during the Shōwa era (particularly officers near ...
after realizing the magnitude of his defeat. In total, 789 of the original 917 members of the Ichiki Regiment's First Element were killed in the battle. About 30 survived the battle and joined Ichiki's rear guard of about 100, and these 128 Japanese returned to Taivu Point, notified 17th Army headquarters of their defeat and awaited further reinforcements and orders from Rabaul.
Battle of the Eastern Solomons
As the Tenaru battle was ending, more Japanese reinforcements were already on their way to Guadalcanal. Yamamoto had organized an extremely powerful naval expeditionary force, with the goal of destroying any American fleet units in the Solomons and subsequently eliminating Allied ground forces at Henderson Field. This force sortied from Truk on 23 August. Several other IJN units carrying reinforcements and supplies, and ships tasked with naval bombardment of the island, sortied from both Truk and Rabaul.
Three slow transport ships departed from Truk on 16 August, carrying the remaining 1,400 soldiers from Ichiki's (28th) Infantry Regiment plus 500 naval marines from the 5th Yokosuka
Special Naval Landing Force
The Special Naval Landing Forces (SNLF; ) were standalone naval infantry units in the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) and were a part of the IJN land forces. They saw extensive service in the Second Sino-Japanese War and in the Pacific theatre o ...
. The transports were guarded by 13 warships commanded by Japanese Rear Admiral
Raizō Tanaka
was a rear admiral in the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) during most of World War II. A specialist in the heavy torpedoes that were carried by all the destroyers and cruisers of the IJN, Tanaka mainly commanded destroyer squadrons, with a cruis ...
, who planned to land the troops on Guadalcanal on 24 August. To cover the landing of these troops and provide support for the operation to retake Henderson Field from Allied forces, Yamamoto directed
Chūichi Nagumo
was an admiral in the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) during World War II. Nagumo led Japan's main carrier battle group, the ''Kido Butai'', in the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, and over the next months in successful raids on Darwin in A ...
to sortie with a carrier force from Truk on 21 August and sail toward the southern Solomon Islands. Nagumo's force included three carriers and 30 other warships. Yamamoto would send the light carrier ahead of the rest of the Japanese fleet to act as bait to draw the American aircraft into combat. The aircraft from the two fleet carriers would then attack the American fleet while it lacked air cover.
Simultaneously, the U.S. carrier task force under Fletcher approached Guadalcanal to counter the Japanese offensive efforts. On 24 August, the two carrier forces located and launched strikes against each other. The Japanese had two fleet carriers, the and , as well as the light carrier ''Ryūjō'',
with a total of 177 carrier-based aircraft. The American forces had two carriers, the ''Saratoga'' and , and their 176 aircraft. The Japanese light carrier ''Ryūjō'', offered as bait to Allied naval aircraft, was hit by several bombs and an aerial torpedo; she was abandoned by her crew and sank that night.
The two Japanese fleet carriers were not attacked, but Japanese aircraft successfully attacked ''Enterprise'', badly damaging her flight deck. Both fleets subsequently retreated from the area. The Japanese lost the ''Ryūjō'', along with dozens of carrier aircraft and most of their aircrew; the Americans lost a handful of planes and suffered damage to ''Enterprise'' requiring two months to repair in Hawaii. Unable to safely land on ''Enterprise's'' ruined flight deck, many of her remaining aircraft flew to Guadalcanal and reinforced the beleaguered American air units at Henderson Field.
Concurrently to the carrier air battle, on 25 August, Tanaka's convoy, headed by the flagship , was attacked near Taivu Point
by Cactus Air Force aircraft based at Henderson Field. After suffering heavy damage during the battle, including the sinking of one of the transports, the convoy was forced to divert to the
Shortland Islands
The Shortland Islands is an archipelago of Western Province, Solomon Islands, at . The island group lies in the extreme north-west of the country's territory, close to the south-east edge of Bougainville Island, Papua New Guinea.
The largest is ...
in the northern Solomons in order to transfer the surviving troops to destroyers for later delivery to Guadalcanal. A Japanese transport was sunk, and the older destroyer ''Mutsuki'' was so badly damaged that she had to be scuttled. Several other Japanese warships were damaged, including Tanaka's flagship ''Jintsū''. At this point, Tanaka withdrew and rescheduled the supply run for the night of 28 August, to be carried out by the remaining destroyers. Japanese air raids against the Allied positions on Guadalcanal continued largely unabated during this time.
On 25 August, the American carrier , after refueling, positioned herself east of Guadalcanal, expecting Japanese movement to the area. No Japanese forces made any movement towards the area, however, and the ''Wasp'' was left idle.
The Americans had won a modest tactical victory with the destruction of the ''Ryūjō,'' destroying some 75 Japanese aircraft while losing 25 of their own. The forced withdrawal of Tanaka's troop convoy also bought valuable breathing room for the embattled Allied troops on Guadalcanal. While the ''Enterprise'' was taken out of action for repair for several months, she was able to return to sea later in the campaign. The temporary loss of ''Enterprise'' was offset by the timely arrival of the carrier ''Hornet''. Additionally, the reinforcement of Henderson Field by ''Enterprise''s orphaned carrier aircraft bolstered ground-based Allied air strength on the island, while ground-based Japanese pilots based at Rabaul were forced to undertake a grueling day-long round-trip flight in order to make their attacks. These factors combined to render daylight supply runs to Guadalcanal impossible for the Japanese. Only weeks before this, the Japanese had total control of the sea in the region; now they were forced to make supply runs only under the cover of darkness.
Japanese naval commanders began to recognize the reality that their ships could not safely operate in the Solomons in the daytime without first suppressing Allied airpower at Henderson Field.
Transport Division 12
For six weeks, from early August to the end of September, the U.S. Navy largely avoided the waters off Tulagi and Guadalcanal, and was ordered not to resupply the Marines or provide escort duty for slow transport ships, as American naval commanders feared a repeat of the disastrous defeat at Savo Island suffered by Australian and American surface vessels on 9 August. Transport Division 12 (Trans Div 12), consisting of six obsolete World War I-era s converted to
high-speed transports, were the most heavily armed U.S. surface ships operating in Ironbottom Sound during this time. Their torpedo tubes were retrofitted to hold
landing craft boats, enough to carry over 100 extra Marines for rapid transportation. They landed the first Marines onto Tulagi and later on Guadalcanal, conducted special operations missions with
Marine Raiders
The Marine Raiders are special operations forces originally established by the United States Marine Corps during World War II to conduct amphibious warfare, amphibious light infantry warfare.
Despite the original intent for Raiders to serve ...
, participated in anti-submarine warfare, and provided covering fire for the Marines on Guadalcanal. They also directly delivered crucial supplies to the Marines that helped to construct Henderson Field and to maintain the aircraft stationed there.
On 30 August was bombed by Japanese high-altitude horizontal bombers and sank with the loss of 51 men. On 4–5 September, and had finished landing a complement of Marine Raiders back onto Guadalcanal and proceeded to patrol the area for submarines, which had been surfacing and shelling the Marines nightly. Three Japanese destroyers, which did not know that enemy surface ships were patrolling the area, positioned themselves to attack Henderson Field. They were spotted by two American destroyer-transports, and initially identified as a submarine. A U.S. patrol plane also misidentified the destroyers as an enemy submarine at nighttime and dropped flares over the area, inadvertently silhouetting ''Little'' and ''Gregory''. The Japanese destroyers immediately fired on and sank the overmatched American ships. 65 men from ''Little'' were killed and 24 men from ''Gregory'' were killed, including the commanding officer of Transport Division 12 and the commanding officers of both ships.
Air battles over Henderson Field and strengthening of the Lunga defenses

Throughout August, small numbers of American aircraft and their crews continued to arrive at Guadalcanal. By the end of August, 64 planes of various types were stationed at Henderson Field. On 3 September, the commander of the
1st Marine Aircraft Wing
The 1st Marine Aircraft Wing is an aviation unit of the United States Marine Corps that serves as the Aviation Combat Element of the III Marine Expeditionary Force. The wing is headquartered at Camp Foster on the island of Okinawa Island, Okina ...
, U.S. Marine Brigadier General
Roy Geiger
Roy Stanley Geiger (January 25, 1885 – January 23, 1947) was a United States Marine Corps four-star general who served in World War I and World War II. In World War II, he became the first Marine Corps general to lead a field army.
Geiger comma ...
, arrived with his staff and took command of all air operations at Henderson Field. Air battles between the Allied aircraft at Henderson and Japanese bombers and fighters from Rabaul continued almost daily. Between 26 August and 5 September, the U.S. lost about 15 aircraft to the Japanese's approximately 19. More than half of the U.S. aircrews shot down were rescued; most of the Japanese aircrews were not. The eight-hour round-trip flight from Rabaul to Guadalcanal, about , seriously hampered Japanese efforts to establish air superiority over Henderson Field. Throughout the campaign, Rabaul-based Japanese aircrew had to fly almost 600 miles before combat with Allied pilots operating in the immediate area of Henderson Field. The Japanese navy also did not systematically rotate their veteran pilots out of combat zones. This steadily exhausted and depleted Japanese air power in the region. From a strategic standpoint, the overall quality of Japanese aviation in the Solomons deteriorated as worn-out veteran pilots were replaced by inexperienced aircrew with minimal combat experience. Australian coastwatchers on
Bougainville and
New Georgia
New Georgia, with an area of , is the largest of the islands in Western Province (Solomon Islands), Western Province, Solomon Islands, and the List of islands by area, 203rd-largest island in the world. Since July 1978, the island has been par ...
islands were often able to provide Allied forces on Guadalcanal with advance notice of approaching Japanese air strikes, allowing the U.S. fighters time to take off and position themselves to attack the Japanese aircraft as they approached. The Japanese air forces were slowly losing a
war of attrition
The War of Attrition (; ) involved fighting between Israel and Egypt, Jordan, the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) and their allies from 1967 to 1970.
Following the 1967 Six-Day War, no serious diplomatic efforts were made to resolve t ...
in the skies above Guadalcanal.
During this time, Vandegrift continued to direct efforts to strengthen and improve the defenses of the Lunga perimeter. Between 21 August and 3 September, he relocated three Marine battalions, including the
1st Raider Battalion, under
Merritt A. Edson (Edson's Raiders), and the
1st Parachute Battalion from Tulagi and Gavutu to Guadalcanal. These units added about 1,500 troops to Vandegrift's original 11,000 men defending Henderson Field. The 1st Parachute Battalion, which had suffered heavy casualties in the Battle of Tulagi and Gavutu–Tanambogo in August, was placed under Edson's command.
The other relocated battalion, the
1st Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, was landed by boat west of the Matanikau near Kokumbuna village on 27 August with the mission of attacking Japanese units in the area, much as in the first Matanikau action of 19 August. The Marines were impeded by difficult terrain, hot sun, and well-emplaced Japanese defenses. The next morning, the Marines found that the Japanese defenders had departed during the night, so the Marines returned to the Lunga perimeter by boat. These actions resulted in the loss of 20 Japanese and 3 Marines.
Small Allied naval convoys arrived at Guadalcanal on 23 and 29 August, and 1 and 8 September to provide the Marines at Lunga with more food, ammunition, aircraft fuel, aircraft technicians, and other supplies. The convoy on 1 September also brought 392
Seabees
United States Naval Construction Battalions, better known as the Navy Seabees, form the U.S. Naval Construction Forces (NCF). The Seabee nickname is a heterograph of the initial letters "CB" from the words "Construction Battalion". Dependi ...
to maintain and improve Henderson Field. In addition, on 3 September,
Marine Aircraft Group 25
Marine Air Group (MAG) 25 was a United States Marine Corps combat air transport group that provided logistical support, including cargo and personnel transport and aeromedical evacuation, to forward units during World War II and the Korean War. ...
began airlifting high-priority cargo, including personnel, aviation gasoline, munitions, and other supplies, to Henderson Field.
Tokyo Express

By 23 August, Kawaguchi's 35th Infantry Brigade reached Truk and was loaded onto slow transport ships for the rest of the trip to Guadalcanal. The damage done to Tanaka's convoy during the Battle of the Eastern Solomons caused the Japanese to reconsider trying to deliver more troops to Guadalcanal via slow transport. Instead, the ships carrying Kawaguchi's soldiers were rerouted to Rabaul. From there, the Japanese planned to deliver Kawaguchi's unit to Guadalcanal using fast destroyers at night, staging through a Japanese naval base in the Shortland Islands. The Japanese destroyers were usually able to make round trips down "The Slot" (
New Georgia Sound
New Georgia Sound is the sound in the New Georgia Islands region that runs approximately southeast–northwest through the middle of the Solomon Islands archipelago in the Southern Pacific Ocean and Melanesia.[convoy
A convoy is a group of vehicles, typically motor vehicles or ships, traveling together for mutual support and protection. Often, a convoy is organized with armed defensive support and can help maintain cohesion within a unit. It may also be used ...]
s elsewhere in the Pacific. The Byzantine nature of the Japanese navy's command setup in the region exacerbated these logistical problems; Tanaka was receiving contradictory orders from the Combined Fleet headquarters and two rival subordinate naval commands at Rabaul, the Eleventh Air Fleet and the Eighth Fleet.
Regardless, Tanaka's persistent destroyer operations gradually increased the strength of the forces available to Kawaguchi on the island. A combination of inability and unwillingness prevented Allied naval commanders from frequently challenging Japanese naval forces at night, so the Japanese effectively controlled the seas around the Solomon Islands after sunset. Conversely, the growing Allied airpower at Henderson Field (which was further reinforced on September 11–12 by 24 Wildcats that had been made homeless by the torpedoing of the carrier ''Saratoga'' in early September by IJN submarine ''I-26'') meant that any Japanese vessel within range () of Guadalcanal in daylight was at great risk from air attack. This tactical situation, wherein Japanese naval forces operated freely at night and Allied aircraft enjoyed local air superiority during the day, persisted for the next several months of the campaign.
Between 29 August and 4 September, Japanese light cruisers, destroyers, and
patrol boat
A patrol boat (also referred to as a patrol craft, patrol ship, or patrol vessel) is a relatively small naval ship, naval vessel generally designed for Coastal defence and fortification, coastal defence, Border control, border security, or law ...
s were able to land almost 5,000 troops at Taivu Point, including most of the 35th Infantry Brigade, much of the Aoba (4th) Regiment, and the rest of Ichiki's regiment. General Kawaguchi, who landed at Taivu Point on 31 August, was placed in command of all Japanese forces on Guadalcanal. A barge convoy took another 1,000 soldiers of Kawaguchi's brigade, under the command of Colonel
Akinosuke Oka, to Kamimbo, west of the Lunga perimeter.
Battle of Edson's Ridge
On 7 September, Kawaguchi issued his attack plan to "rout and annihilate the enemy in the vicinity of the Guadalcanal Island airfield". Kawaguchi's plan called for the forces under his command, split into three divisions, to approach the Lunga perimeter inland, culminating with a surprise night attack. Oka's forces would attack the perimeter from the west, while Ichiki's Second Echelon, renamed the Kuma Battalion, would attack from the east. The main attack would be conducted from the jungle south of the Lunga perimeter by Kawaguchi's "Center Body", numbering 3,000 men in three battalions. By 7 September, most of Kawaguchi's troops had departed Taivu to begin marching towards Lunga Point along the coastline. About 250 Japanese troops remained behind to guard the brigade's supply base at Taivu.

Meanwhile, native scouts under the direction of
Martin Clemens
Major Warren Frederick Martin Clemens (17 April 1915 – 31 May 2009) was a Scottish colonial administrator and military officer. In late 1941 and early 1942, while serving as a District Officer in the Solomon Islands, he helped prepare the ar ...
, a
coastwatcher
The Coastwatchers, also known as the Coast Watch Organisation, Combined Field Intelligence Service or Section C, Allied Intelligence Bureau, were Allied military intelligence operatives stationed on remote Pacific islands during World War II ...
officer in the
British Solomon Islands Protectorate Defence Force
The British Solomon Islands Protectorate Defence Force (BSIPDF) was a British Colonial Auxiliary Forces unit raised in the British Solomon Islands during World War II. It was created following the outbreak of war with the Empire of Japan in 194 ...
and the British district officer for Guadalcanal, brought reports to the U.S. Marines of Japanese troops at Taivu near the village of Tasimboko. Edson subsequently planned a raid on the Japanese troop concentration at Taivu. On 8 September, after being dropped off near Taivu by boat, Edson's men captured Tasimboko and forced the Japanese defenders to retreat into the jungle. In Tasimboko, Edson's troops discovered Kawaguchi's main supply depot, including large stockpiles of food, ammunition, medical supplies, and a powerful
shortwave
Shortwave radio is radio transmission using radio frequencies in the shortwave bands (SW). There is no official definition of the band range, but it always includes all of the high frequency band (HF), which extends from 3 to 30 MHz (app ...
radio. After destroying everything in sight, aside from some documents and equipment that were carried back with them, the Marines returned to the Lunga perimeter. Intelligence gathered from the captured documents indicated that at least 3,000 Japanese troops were on the island, planning to initiate a large-scale ground assault on the airfield in short order.
Edson, along with Colonel
Gerald C. Thomas, Vandegrift's operations officer, correctly anticipated that the main Japanese attack would fall upon Lunga Ridge, a narrow, grassy, coral ridge that ran parallel to the
Lunga River, just south of Henderson Field. The ridge offered a natural avenue of approach to the airfield, commanded the surrounding area, and was almost undefended. On 11 September, the 840 men of Edson's battalion were deployed onto and around the ridge and began digging in.

On the night of 12 September, Kawaguchi's 1st Battalion attacked the Raiders between the Lunga River and ridge, forcing one Marine company to fall back to the ridge before the Japanese halted their attack for the night. The next night Kawaguchi faced Edson's 840 Raiders with 3,000 troops of his brigade, reinforced by an assortment of light artillery. The Japanese began their attack just after nightfall, with Kawaguchi's 1st Battalion assaulting Edson's right flank just to the west of the ridge. After breaking through the Marine lines, the battalion's assault was eventually stopped by Marine units occupying the northern section of the ridge.
Two companies from Kawaguchi's 2nd Battalion charged up the southern edge of the ridge and pushed Edson's troops back to Hill 123, in the center section of the ridge. Throughout the night the Marines at this position, supported by a battery of howitzers brought up from Lunga Point, turned back wave after wave of frontal Japanese infantry attacks, several of which devolved into hand-to-hand combat. The weight of these repeated assaults eventually pressed the Marines back to within a quarter mile of the airfield. At this stage, as the intensity of the battle reached its apex, small groups of Japanese soldiers managed to break through Edson's lines, with some reaching the edge of the airfield itself. Several Japanese soldiers were killed as they attempted to climb onto and destroy parked aircraft, and General Vandegrift's command post even came under direct attack at dawn, with several Japanese infiltrators killed within sight of the general.
Nonetheless, Kawaguchi's units were spent, and the main Japanese attack on Edson's positions ground to a halt. The supporting attacks by the Kuma Battalion and Oka's unit at other locations on the Lunga perimeter were likewise defeated. On 14 September, Kawaguchi led the survivors of his shattered brigade on a five-day march west to the Matanikau Valley to join with Oka's unit. In total Kawaguchi's forces lost about 850 killed, with the Marines suffering 104.
On 15 September at Rabaul, Hyakutake learned of Kawaguchi's defeat and forwarded the news to
Imperial General Headquarters
The was part of the Supreme War Council (Japan), Supreme War Council and was established in 1893 to coordinate efforts between the Imperial Japanese Army and Imperial Japanese Navy during wartime. In terms of function, it was approximately equi ...
in Japan. In an emergency meeting, the senior Japanese IJA and IJN command staffs concluded that "Guadalcanal might develop into the decisive battle of the war". The results of the battle now began to exert significant strategic impact on Japanese operations in other areas of the Pacific. Hyakutake realized that he could not send sufficient men and
materiel
Materiel or matériel (; ) is supplies, equipment, and weapons in military supply-chain management, and typically supplies and equipment in a commerce, commercial supply chain management, supply chain context.
Military
In a military context, ...
to defeat the Allied forces on Guadalcanal while simultaneously supporting the major ongoing Japanese
offensive on the Kokoda Track in New Guinea. Hyakutake, with the concurrence of General Headquarters, ordered his troops on New Guinea, who were within of their objective of Port Moresby, to withdraw until the "Guadalcanal matter" was resolved. Hyakutake prepared to send more troops to Guadalcanal for another attempt to recapture Henderson Field.
Allied reinforcement
As the Japanese regrouped west of the Matanikau, the U.S. forces concentrated on shoring up and strengthening their Lunga defenses. On 14 September Vandegrift moved another battalion (
3rd Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment) from Tulagi to Guadalcanal. On 18 September, an Allied naval convoy delivered 4,157 men from the 3rd Provisional Marine Brigade (the
7th Marine Regiment
The 7th Marine Regiment is an infantry regiment of the United States Marine Corps based at Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center Twentynine Palms, California. Nicknamed the "Magnificent Seventh", the regiment falls under the command of the 1st M ...
plus a battalion from the
11th Marine Regiment
The 11th Marine Regiment is an artillery regiment of the United States Marine Corps based at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, California. Known as the "Cannon Cockers", the regiment falls under the command of the 1st Marine Division and the I M ...
and some additional support units), 137 vehicles, tents, aviation fuel, ammunition, rations, and engineering equipment to Guadalcanal. These crucial reinforcements allowed Vandegrift, beginning on 19 September, to establish an unbroken line of defense around the Lunga perimeter. While covering this convoy, the aircraft carrier was
scuttled
Scuttling is the act of deliberately sinking a ship by allowing water to flow into the hull, typically by its crew opening holes in its hull.
Scuttling may be performed to dispose of an abandoned, old, or captured vessel; to prevent the vesse ...
after being struck by torpedoes from the Japanese submarine southeast of Guadalcanal. This stretched Allied naval airpower thin, with only one aircraft carrier () remaining in operation in the entire South Pacific Area. Vandegrift also made some changes in the senior leadership of his combat units, transferring several officers who did not meet his performance standards off the island and promoting junior officers who had proven themselves to take their place. One of these was the recently promoted Colonel Merritt Edson, who was placed in command of the 5th Marine Regiment.
A lull occurred in the air war over Guadalcanal, with no Japanese air raids between 14 and 27 September because of bad weather, during which both sides reinforced their respective air units. The Japanese delivered 85 fighters and bombers to their air units at Rabaul, while the U.S. sent a further 23 fighters and attack aircraft to Henderson Field. By 20 September the Japanese had 117 total aircraft at Rabaul, while the Allies tallied 71 aircraft at Henderson Field. The air war resumed with a Japanese air raid on Guadalcanal on 27 September, which was contested by U.S. Navy and Marine fighters from Henderson Field.
The Japanese immediately began to prepare for their next attempt to recapture Henderson Field. The 3rd Battalion, 4th (Aoba) Infantry Regiment had landed at Kamimbo Bay on the western end of Guadalcanal on 11 September - too late to join Kawaguchi's attack, but in time to join Oka's forces near the Matanikau. Tokyo Express runs by IJN destroyers on 14, 20, 21 and 24 September brought food and ammunition as well as 280 men from the 1st Battalion, Aoba Regiment, to Kamimbo Bay. Meanwhile, the Japanese
2nd
A second is the base unit of time in the International System of Units (SI).
Second, Seconds, The Second, or (The) 2nd may also refer to:
Mathematics
* 2 (number), as an ordinal (also written as ''2nd'' or ''2d'')
* Minute and second of arc, ...
and
38th Infantry Divisions were transported from the Dutch East Indies to Rabaul, beginning on 13 September. The Japanese planned to transport a total of 17,500 troops from these two divisions to Guadalcanal to take part in the next major attack on the Lunga perimeter by late October.
Actions along the Matanikau

Vandegrift and his staff were aware that Kawaguchi's troops had retreated to the area west of the Matanikau, and that numerous groups of Japanese stragglers were scattered throughout the area between the Lunga perimeter and the Matanikau River. Vandegrift therefore decided to conduct another series of small unit operations around the Matanikau Valley. Their purpose was to mop up scattered groups of Japanese troops east of the Matanikau and to keep the main body of Japanese soldiers off-balance, preventing them from consolidating positions so close to the main Marine defenses at Lunga Point.
An attack on Japanese forces west of the Matanikau was conducted between 23 and 27 September by elements of three U.S. Marine battalions. The attack was repulsed by Kawaguchi's troops under Akinosuke Oka's local command. During the action three Marine companies were surrounded by Japanese forces near Point Cruz west of the Matanikau, took heavy losses, and escaped only due to assistance from the destroyer and landing craft crewed by
U.S. Coast Guard personnel. One of those was piloted by
Douglas Munro, who was killed as he maneuvered his craft to protect the escaping Marines and became the only Coast Guardsman to be awarded the Medal of Honor.
Between 6 and 9 October a larger force of Marines successfully crossed the Matanikau River, attacked newly landed Japanese forces from the 2nd Infantry Division under the command of Generals
Masao Maruyama and
Yumio Nasu
was a major general and a division commander in the Imperial Japanese Army (IJA) during World War II.
Biography
A native of Tochigi Prefecture, Nasu graduated from the 25th class of the Imperial Japanese Army Academy in 1913 and from the 35th ...
, and inflicted heavy losses on the Japanese
4th Infantry Regiment. This action forced the Japanese to retreat from their positions east of the Matanikau and hindered Japanese preparations for their planned major offensive on the U.S. Lunga defenses. Between 9 and 11 October the U.S.
1st Battalion, 2nd Marines
1st Battalion, 2nd Marines (1/2) (pronounced "one-two") is an infantry battalion in the United States Marine Corps based out of Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, consisting of approximately 900 Marines and sailors. The battalion, ca ...
raided two small Japanese outposts about east of the Lunga perimeter at Gurabusu and Koilotumaria near Aola Bay. These raids killed 35 Japanese at a cost of 17 Marines and 3 U.S. Navy personnel killed.
Battle of Cape Esperance
Throughout the last week of September and the first week of October, Tokyo Express runs continually delivered troops from the Japanese 2nd Infantry Division to Guadalcanal. The Japanese Navy promised to support the IJA's planned offensive by delivering the necessary troops, equipment, and supplies to the island, and also by stepping up air attacks on Henderson Field and sending warships to bombard the airfield.
In the meantime,
Millard F. Harmon, commander of U.S. Army forces in the South Pacific, convinced Ghormley that U.S. Marine forces on Guadalcanal needed to be reinforced immediately if the Allies were to successfully defend the island from the next expected Japanese offensive. Thus, on 8 October, the 2,837 men of the
164th Infantry Regiment
The 164th Regiment (Regional Training Institute) is a training unit of the North Dakota Army National Guard. As the 164th Infantry Regiment, it was formed during World War I, but traces its history to Dakota Territorial Militia units formed in ...
from the
Americal Division
The Americal Division was an infantry division of the United States Army during World War II, briefly in the mid 1950s and the Vietnam War.
The division was activated 27 May 1942 on the island of New Caledonia. In the immediate emergency foll ...
boarded ships at
New Caledonia
New Caledonia ( ; ) is a group of islands in the southwest Pacific Ocean, southwest of Vanuatu and east of Australia. Located from Metropolitan France, it forms a Overseas France#Sui generis collectivity, ''sui generis'' collectivity of t ...
for the trip to Guadalcanal with a projected arrival date of 13 October. To protect the transports carrying the 164th to Guadalcanal, Ghormley ordered Task Force 64, consisting of four cruisers and five destroyers under U.S. Rear Admiral
Norman Scott, to intercept and combat any Japanese ships that approached Guadalcanal and threatened the arrival of the transport convoy.
Mikawa's 8th Fleet staff scheduled a substantial Express run for the night of 11 October. Two
seaplane tender
A seaplane tender is a boat or ship that supports the operation of seaplanes. Some of these vessels, known as seaplane carriers, could not only carry seaplanes but also provided all the facilities needed for their operation; these ships are rega ...
s and six destroyers were ordered to put 728 soldiers, along with artillery and ammunition, ashore on Guadalcanal. At the same time, in a separate operation, three heavy cruisers and two destroyers under the command of Rear Admiral
Aritomo Gotō
was an admiral in the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War II.
Early career
Gotō was born in Ibaraki prefecture in 1888. He graduated from the 38th class of the Imperial Japanese Naval Academy in 1910, ranked 30th out of a class of 149 ...
were to bombard Henderson Field with special explosive shells with the objective of destroying the Cactus Air Force and the airfield's facilities. Because U.S. Navy warships had not yet attempted to interdict any Tokyo Express missions to Guadalcanal, the Japanese were not expecting any opposition from Allied naval surface forces that night.
Just before midnight, Scott's warships detected Gotō's force on radar near the entrance to the strait between Savo Island and Guadalcanal. Scott's force was in a position to
cross the T on Gotō's unsuspecting formation. Opening fire, Scott's warships sank a cruiser and a destroyer, heavily damaged another cruiser, mortally wounded Gotō, and forced the rest of Gotō's warships to abandon their bombardment mission and retreat. During the exchange of gunfire, one of Scott's destroyers was sunk, and one cruiser and another destroyer were heavily damaged. In the meantime, the Japanese supply convoy successfully completed unloading at Guadalcanal and began its return journey without being discovered by Scott's force.
Later on the morning of 12 October, four Japanese destroyers from the supply convoy turned back to assist Gotō's retreating, damaged warships. Air attacks by CAF aircraft from Henderson Field sank two of these destroyers later that day. Meanwhile, the convoy of U.S. Army troops reached Guadalcanal as scheduled on 13 October, successfully delivering its cargo and passengers to the island.
Henderson Field
Battleship bombardment
Despite the U.S. victory off Cape Esperance, the Japanese continued with plans and preparations for their large offensive scheduled for later in October. The Japanese decided to risk a rare departure from their usual practice of only using fast warships to deliver men and materiel to the island. On 13 October, a convoy comprising six cargo ships escorted by eight screening destroyers departed the Shortland Islands for Guadalcanal. The convoy carried 4,500 troops from the 16th and 230th Infantry Regiments, some naval marines, two batteries of heavy artillery, and one company of tanks.

To protect the approaching convoy from attack by CAF aircraft, Yamamoto sent the 3rd Battleship Division from Truk to bombard Henderson Field, under the command of
Takeo Kurita
was a vice admiral in the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) during World War II. Kurita commanded IJN 2nd Fleet, the main Japanese attack force during the Battle of Leyte Gulf, the largest naval battle in history.
Biography Early life
Takeo Kurit ...
. At 01:33 on 14 October, IJN battleships and , escorted by one light cruiser and nine destroyers, reached Guadalcanal and opened fire on Henderson Field from a distance of . At this range, over ten miles (16 km), Allied shore batteries had no prospect of returning effective fire. Over the next one hour and 23 minutes, the two battleships fired 973 shells into the Lunga perimeter, most of which fell in and around the area of the airfield. Many of the shells were
fragmentation shells, specifically designed to destroy land targets. The bombardment heavily damaged both runways, burned almost all of the available aviation fuel, and destroyed 48 of the CAF's 90 aircraft. 41 men were killed, including six CAF pilots. Few CAF aircraft survived entirely unscathed, and only about a dozen remained in flyable condition the next day. Wrecked and damaged planes were lined up wingtip to wingtip, in the hopes of diverting Japanese attention from the few surviving aircraft. After exhausting their ammunition around 3 a.m., the Japanese battleship force immediately returned to Truk. Allied troops stationed at Henderson Field colloquially referred to this bombardment, the heaviest they had endured thus far in the campaign, as "The Night".
Despite the heavy damage, Henderson personnel were able to restore one of the runways to operational condition within a few hours. Seventeen
SBD-3 Dauntless dive bomber
A dive bomber is a bomber aircraft that dives directly at its targets in order to provide greater accuracy for the bomb it drops. Diving towards the target simplifies the bomb's trajectory and allows the pilot to keep visual contact througho ...
s and 20
F4F Wildcats at Espiritu Santo were quickly flown to Henderson, and U.S. Army and Marine transport aircraft shuttled aviation gasoline from Espiritu Santo to Guadalcanal. Aware of the approach of the large Japanese reinforcement convoy, the U.S. desperately sought a way to interdict the convoy before it could reach Guadalcanal. Using fuel drained from destroyed aircraft and from a cache in the nearby jungle, the CAF attacked the convoy twice on 14 October but caused no damage.
The Japanese convoy reached
Tassafaronga Point
Tassafaronga Point is a point on the north shore of Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands. The Battle of Tassafaronga, one of several naval engagements fought in the waters north of the island during the World War II Guadalcanal Campaign, took its name from ...
at midnight on 14 October and began unloading. Throughout the day of 15 October, a string of CAF aircraft from Henderson bombed and strafed the unloading convoy, destroying three of the cargo ships. The remainder of the convoy departed that night, having unloaded all of the troops and about two-thirds of the supplies and equipment. Several Japanese heavy cruisers also bombarded Henderson on the nights of 14 and 15 October, destroying a few additional CAF aircraft but failing to inflict further significant damage to the airfield.
Battle for Henderson Field
Between 1 and 17 October, the Japanese delivered 15,000 troops to Guadalcanal, giving Hyakutake 20,000 total troops to employ for his planned offensive. Because of the loss of their positions on the east side of the Matanikau, the Japanese decided that an attack on the U.S. defenses along the coast would be prohibitively difficult. Therefore, Hyakutake decided that the main thrust of his planned attack would be from south of Henderson Field. His 2nd Division (augmented by troops from the 38th Division), under Maruyama and comprising 7,000 soldiers in three infantry regiments of three battalions each was ordered to march through the jungle and attack the American defenses from the south, near the east bank of the Lunga River. The date of the attack was set for 22 October, then changed to 23 October. To distract the Americans from the planned attack from the south, Hyakutake's heavy artillery plus five battalions of infantry (about 2,900 men) under Major General
Tadashi Sumiyoshi
was a major general in the Imperial Japanese Army during the Pacific campaign in World War II.
Biography
Sumiyoshi was born in Kisa, Hiroshima (now part of the city of Miyoshi) and attended military preparatory schools in Hiroshima. He gradua ...
were to attack the American defenses from the west along the coastal corridor. The Japanese estimated that there were 10,000 American troops on the island, when in fact there were about 23,000. Despite this, American commanders were pessimistic about their ability to repulse another concerted Japanese attack on the airfield. Units were given orders to fight as guerrillas should they be overrun by the Japanese, and the 1st Marine Division's intelligence staff began burning their classified records. Speaking to reporters in Washington, D.C.,
Secretary of the Navy
The Secretary of the Navy (SECNAV) is a statutory officer () and the head (chief executive officer) of the Department of the Navy, a military department within the United States Department of Defense. On March 25, 2025, John Phelan was confirm ...
Frank Knox refused to publicly guarantee that Guadalcanal could be held.

On 12 October, a company of Japanese engineers began to break a trail, called the "Maruyama Road", from the Matanikau towards the southern portion of the U.S. Lunga perimeter. The trail traversed some of the most difficult terrain on Guadalcanal, including numerous rivers and streams, deep, muddy ravines, steep ridges, and dense jungle. Between 16 and 18 October, the 2nd Division began their march along the Maruyama Road.
By 23 October, Maruyama's forces were still struggling through the jungle to reach the American lines. That evening, after learning that his forces had yet to reach their attack positions, Hyakutake postponed the attack to 19:00 on 24 October. The Americans remained unaware of the approach of Maruyama's forces.

Sumiyoshi was informed by Hyakutake's staff of the postponement of the offensive to 24 October, but he was unable to contact his troops to inform them of the delay. Thus, at dusk on 23 October, two battalions of the 4th Infantry Regiment and the nine tanks of the 1st Independent Tank Company launched attacks on the U.S. Marine defenses at the mouth of the Matanikau. U.S. Marine artillery, cannon, and small arms fire repulsed the attacks, destroying all the tanks and killing many of the Japanese soldiers while suffering only light casualties.
Finally, late on 24 October, Maruyama's forces reached the Lunga perimeter. Over two consecutive nights Maruyama's forces conducted numerous frontal assaults on positions defended by troops of the
1st Battalion, 7th Marines
The 1st Battalion, 7th Marines (1/7) is an infantry battalion of the 7th Marine Regiment of the United States Marine Corps. It is currently based at the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center Twentynine Palms. Consisting of approximately 1,000 ...
under Lieutenant Colonel
Chesty Puller
Lewis Burwell "Chesty" Puller (June 26, 1898 – October 11, 1971) was a United States Marine Corps officer. Beginning his career fighting Guerrilla warfare, guerillas in Haiti and Nicaragua as part of the Banana Wars, he later served with distin ...
and the U.S. Army's 3rd Battalion, 164th Infantry Regiment, commanded by Lieutenant Colonel
Robert Hall. U.S. Marine and Army units armed with rifles, machine guns, mortars, and artillery, including direct
canister fire from
37 mm anti-tank guns, "wrought terrible carnage" on the Japanese. A few small groups of Japanese broke through the American defenses, but were hunted down and killed over the next several days. More than 1,500 of Maruyama's troops were killed in the attacks, while the Americans lost about 60 killed. Over the same two days American aircraft from Henderson Field defended against attacks by Japanese aircraft and warships, destroying 14 aircraft and sinking light cruiser .
Further Japanese attacks near the Matanikau on 26 October were also repulsed with heavy losses for the Japanese. As a result, by 08:00 on 26 October, Hyakutake called off any further attacks and ordered his forces to retreat. About half of Maruyama's survivors were ordered to retreat back to the upper Matanikau Valley while the 230th Infantry Regiment under Colonel
Toshinari Shōji was told to head for Koli Point, east of the Lunga perimeter. Leading elements of the 2nd Division reached the 17th Army headquarters area at Kokumbona, west of the Matanikau on 4 November. The same day, Shōji's unit reached Koli Point and made camp. Decimated by combat losses, malnutrition, and tropical diseases, the 2nd Division was incapable of further offensive action and fought as a defensive force along the coast for the rest of the campaign. In total, the Japanese lost 2,200–3,000 troops in the battle while the Americans lost around 80 killed.
Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands
At the same time that Hyakutake's troops were attacking the Lunga perimeter, a large Japanese naval force consisting of two fleet carriers (''Shokaku'' and ''Zuikaku''), two other light carriers, four battleships and various supporting vessels moved into a position near the southern Solomon Islands. Under the overall command of Yamamoto, this fleet was the largest that the Japanese had assembled since the Battle of Midway. Yamamoto's goal was to draw the bulk of Allied naval strength in the region, specifically the American aircraft carriers, into a decisive sea battle at the same time that Japanese troops on Guadalcanal were attacking the airfield in force. Allied naval carrier forces in the area, under the overall command of
William Halsey Jr.
William Frederick "Bull" Halsey Jr. (30 October 1882 – 16 August 1959) was an American Navy admiral during World War II. He is one of four officers to have attained the rank of five-star fleet admiral of the United States Navy, the others be ...
, also hoped to meet the Japanese naval forces in battle. Nimitz had replaced Ghormley with Admiral Halsey on 18 October after concluding that Ghormley had become too pessimistic and myopic to effectively continue leading Allied forces in the South Pacific Area. Due to faulty reports from Hyakutake that his ground forces had seized the airfield over the night of October 25, Yamamoto ordered his task force to sail south and seek out the American fleet.
The two opposing carrier forces confronted each other on the morning of 26 October, in what became known as the
Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands
The Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands, fought during 25–27 October 1942, sometimes referred to as the Battle of Santa Cruz or Third Battle of Solomon Sea, in Japan as the Battle of the South Pacific ( ''Minamitaiheiyō kaisen''), was the fourt ...
, the last carrier battle of the war in the Pacific until the Battle of the Philippine Sea nearly two years later. After an exchange of carrier air attacks, Allied surface ships were forced to retreat from the battle area with the loss of one carrier sunk (''Hornet'') and another () heavily damaged. The participating Japanese carrier forces, however, also retired because of high aircraft and aircrew losses and significant damage to two carriers. Although the Japanese had apparently secured a tactical victory in terms of ships sunk and damaged, their loss of almost 150 veteran carrier pilots provided a long-term strategic advantage for the Allies, whose aircrew losses in the battle were relatively low. Throughout the Guadalcanal campaign, Allied forces were far more successful in recovering downed pilots (both ground-based and carrier-based) than the Japanese. Japanese carriers would play no further significant role in the campaign.
November land actions
In order to exploit the victory in the Battle for Henderson Field, Vandegrift sent six Marine battalions, later joined by one Army battalion, on an offensive west of the Matanikau. The operation was commanded by Merritt Edson and its goal was to capture Kokumbona, headquarters of the 17th Army, west of Point Cruz. Defending the Point Cruz area were Japanese army troops from the 4th Infantry Regiment commanded by
Nomasu Nakaguma. The 4th Infantry was severely understrength because of battle damage, tropical disease, and malnutrition.

The American offensive began on 1 November and succeeded in destroying Japanese forces defending the Point Cruz area by 3 November, including troops sent to reinforce Nakaguma's battered regiment. The Americans appeared to be on the verge of breaking through the Japanese defenses and capturing Kokumbona. At this time, however, other American forces discovered and engaged newly landed Japanese troops near Koli Point on the eastern side of the Lunga perimeter. To counter this new threat, Vandegrift temporarily halted the Matanikau offensive on 4 November. The Americans suffered 71 killed and the Japanese around 400 killed in the offensive.
At Koli Point early in the morning 3 November, five Japanese destroyers delivered 300 army troops to support Shōji and his troops who were en route to Koli Point after the Battle for Henderson Field. Having learned of the planned landing, Vandegrift sent a battalion of Marines under
Herman H. Hanneken to intercept the Japanese at Koli. Soon after landing, the Japanese soldiers encountered and drove Hanneken's battalion back towards the Lunga perimeter. In response, Vandegrift ordered Puller's Marine battalion plus two of the 164th infantry battalions, along with Hanneken's battalion, to move towards Koli Point to attack the Japanese forces there.

As the American troops began to move, Shōji and his soldiers began to arrive at Koli Point. Beginning on 8 November, the American troops attempted to encircle Shōji's forces at Gavaga Creek near Koli Point. Meanwhile, Hyakutake ordered Shōji to abandon his positions at Koli and rejoin Japanese forces at Kokumbona in the Matanikau area. A gap existed by way of a swampy creek in the southern side of the American lines. Between 9 and 11 November, Shōji and between 2,000 and 3,000 of his men escaped into the jungle to the south. On 12 November, the Americans completely overran and killed all the remaining Japanese soldiers left in the pocket. The Americans counted the bodies of 450–475 Japanese dead in the Koli Point area and captured most of Shōji's heavy weapons and provisions. The American forces suffered 40 killed and 120 wounded in the operation.
Meanwhile, on 4 November, two companies from the 2nd Marine Raider Battalion, commanded by Lieutenant Colonel
Evans Carlson
Evans Fordyce Carlson (February 26, 1896 – May 27, 1947) was a decorated and retired United States Marine Corps general officer who was the leader of " Carlson's Raiders" during World War II. Many credit Carlson with developing the tactics and ...
landed by boat at Aola Bay, east of Lunga Point. Carlson's raiders, along with troops from the Army's
147th Infantry Regiment, were to provide security for 500 Seabees as they attempted to construct an airfield at that location. Halsey, acting on a recommendation by Turner, had approved the Aola Bay airfield construction effort; however it was abandoned at the end of November because of unsuitable terrain.
On 5 November, Vandegrift ordered Carlson and his raiders to march overland from Aola and attack any of Shōji's forces that had escaped from Koli Point. With the rest of the companies from his battalion, which arrived a few days later, Carlson and his troops set off on a 29-day patrol from Aola to the Lunga perimeter. During the patrol, the raiders fought several battles with Shōji's retreating forces, killing almost 500 of them, while suffering 16 killed. Tropical diseases and a lack of food felled more of Shōji's men. By the time Shōji's forces reached the Lunga River in mid-November, about halfway to the Matanikau, only 1,300 men remained with the main body. When Shōji reached the 17th Army positions west of the Matanikau, only 700 to 800 survivors were still with him. Most of the survivors from Shōji's force joined other Japanese units defending the Mount Austen and upper Matanikau River area.
Tokyo Express runs on 5, 7, and 9 November delivered additional troops from the Japanese 38th Infantry Division, including most of the 228th Infantry Regiment. These fresh troops were quickly placed in the Point Cruz and Matanikau area and helped successfully resist further attacks by American forces on 10 and 18 November. The Americans and Japanese remained facing each other along a line just west of Point Cruz for the next six weeks.
Naval Battle of Guadalcanal
After the defeat in the Battle for Henderson Field, the IJA planned to try again to retake the airfield in November 1942, but further reinforcements were needed before the operation could proceed. The IJA requested assistance from Yamamoto to deliver the needed reinforcements to the island and to support the next offensive. Yamamoto provided 11 large transport ships to carry the remaining 7,000 troops from the 38th Infantry Division, their ammunition, food, and heavy equipment from Rabaul to Guadalcanal. He also provided a warship support force that included two battleships, and , equipped with special fragmentation shells, which were to bombard Henderson Field on the night of 12–13 November. The goal of the bombardment was to destroy the airfield and the aircraft stationed there, to allow the slow transports to reach Guadalcanal and unload safely the next day. The warship force was commanded from ''Hiei'' by recently promoted Vice Admiral
Hiroaki Abe.

In early November, Allied intelligence learned that the Japanese were preparing again to try to retake Henderson Field. In response, on 11 November the U.S. sent Turner's Task Force 67 to Guadalcanal, carrying Marine replacements, two U.S. Army infantry battalions, ammunition and food. The supply ships were protected by two
task groups, commanded by Rear Admirals
Daniel J. Callaghan and
Norman Scott, as well as by aircraft from Henderson Field. The ships were attacked several times on 11 and 12 November by Japanese aircraft from Rabaul staging through an air base at
Buin, Bougainville, but most unloaded their cargo without serious damage.
U.S.
reconnaissance
In military operations, military reconnaissance () or scouting is the exploration of an area by military forces to obtain information about enemy forces, the terrain, and civil activities in the area of operations. In military jargon, reconnai ...
aircraft spotted the approach of Abe's bombardment force and passed a warning to Allied commanders. Thus warned, Turner detached all usable combat ships under Callaghan to protect the troops ashore from the expected Japanese naval attack and troop landing, and ordered the supply ships at Guadalcanal to depart by early evening 12 November. Callaghan's force comprised two heavy cruisers, three light cruisers, and eight destroyers.
Around 01:30 on 13 November, Callaghan's force intercepted Abe's bombardment group between Guadalcanal and Savo Island. In addition to the two battleships, Abe's force included one light cruiser and 11 destroyers. In the pitch darkness the two warship forces became intermingled before opening fire at unusually close range. In the resulting mêlée, Abe's warships sank or severely damaged all but one cruiser and one destroyer in Callaghan's force; both Callaghan and Scott were killed. Two Japanese destroyers were sunk, and another destroyer and the battleship ''Hiei'' were heavily damaged. Despite his defeat of Callaghan's force, Abe ordered his warships to retire without bombarding Henderson Field. The ''Hiei'' sank later that day after repeated air attacks by aircraft from Henderson Field and the carrier ''Enterprise''. Because of Abe's failure to neutralize Henderson Field, Yamamoto ordered Tanaka's troop transport convoy, located near the Shortland Islands, to wait an additional day before heading towards Guadalcanal. Yamamoto ordered
Nobutake Kondō
was an admiral in the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War II. As commander of IJN 2nd Fleet, the Navy's principal detached force for independent operations, Kondō was regarded as second in importance only to Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto.
Biog ...
to assemble another bombardment force using warships from Truk and Abe's force to attack Henderson Field on 15 November.
In the meantime, around 02:00 on 14 November, a cruiser and destroyer force under Gunichi Mikawa from Rabaul conducted an unopposed bombardment of Henderson Field. The bombardment caused some damage, but failed to put the airfield or most of its aircraft out of operation. As Mikawa's force retired towards Rabaul, Tanaka's transport convoy, trusting that Henderson Field was destroyed or heavily damaged, began its run down "the Slot" towards Guadalcanal. Throughout the day of 14 November, aircraft from Henderson Field and the ''Enterprise'' attacked Mikawa and Tanaka's ships, sinking one heavy cruiser and seven of the transports. Most of the troops were rescued from the transports by Tanaka's escorting destroyers and returned to the Shortlands. After dark, Tanaka and the remaining four transports continued towards Guadalcanal as Kondō's force approached to bombard Henderson Field.
In order to intercept Kondō's force, Halsey, who was low on undamaged ships, detached two battleships, the and , and four destroyers from the ''Enterprise'' task force. This force, under the command of
Willis A. Lee aboard the ''Washington'', reached Guadalcanal and Savo Island just before midnight on 14 November, shortly before Kondō's bombardment force arrived. Kondō's force consisted of the battleship ''Kirishima'', two heavy cruisers, two light cruisers, and nine destroyers. After the two forces made contact, Kondō's force quickly sank three of the U.S. destroyers and heavily damaged the fourth. The Japanese warships then sighted, opened fire, and damaged the ''South Dakota''. As Kondō's warships concentrated on the ''South Dakota'', the ''Washington'' approached the Japanese ships unobserved and opened fire on the ''Kirishima'', inflicting severe damage upon the Japanese battleship. After fruitlessly chasing the ''Washington'' towards the
Russell Islands
:''See also Russell Island (disambiguation).''
The Russell Islands are two small islands ( Pavuvu and Mbanika), as well as several islets, of volcanic origin, in the Central Province of Solomon Islands. They are located approximately northwe ...
, Kondō ordered his warships to retire without bombarding Henderson Field. One of Kondō's destroyers was also sunk during the engagement.
As Kondō's ships retired, the four Japanese transports beached near Tassafaronga Point on Guadalcanal at 04:00. At 05:55, U.S. aircraft and artillery began attacking the beached transports, destroying all four, along with most of the supplies that they carried. Only 2,000–3,000 of the IJA troops reached the shore. Because of the failure to deliver most of the troops and supplies, the Japanese were forced to cancel their planned November offensive on Henderson Field, making the battle a significant strategic victory for the Allies and marking the beginning of the end of Japanese attempts to retake Henderson Field.
On 26 November, Japanese Lieutenant General
Hitoshi Imamura
was a Japanese general who served in the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II, and was subsequently convicted of war crimes. Finding his punishment to be too light, Imamura built a replica of his prison in his garden and confined himself ...
took command of the newly formed
Eighth Area Army at Rabaul. The new command encompassed both Hyakutake's 17th Army and the
18th Army in New Guinea. One of Imamura's first priorities upon assuming command was the continuation of the attempts to retake Henderson Field and Guadalcanal. The Allied
offensive at Buna in New Guinea, however, changed Imamura's priorities. Because the Allied attempt to take Buna was considered a more severe threat to Rabaul, Imamura postponed further major reinforcement efforts to Guadalcanal, in order to concentrate on the situation in New Guinea.
Battle of Tassafaronga
By this stage of the campaign, the Japanese were experiencing severe difficulty delivering sufficient supplies to sustain their troops on Guadalcanal. Attempts to use submarines for resupply runs in the last two weeks in November failed to provide sufficient food for Hyakutake's forces. A separate attempt to establish bases in the central Solomon Islands, which could facilitate barge convoys to Guadalcanal, also failed because of destructive and frequent Allied air attacks. On 26 November, the 17th Army notified Imamura that it faced an acute food crisis. Some front-line units had not been resupplied for six days, and even the rear-area troops were on one-third rations. The situation forced the Japanese to return to using destroyers to deliver supplies, which were unable to handle the scale of reinforcement required by the beleaugered IJA troops on Guadalcanal.

The staff of the IJN Eighth Fleet devised a plan to help reduce the exposure of destroyers delivering supplies to Guadalcanal. Large oil or gas drums were cleaned and filled with medical supplies and food, with enough air space to provide buoyancy, and strung together with rope. When the destroyers arrived at Guadalcanal they would make a sharp turn and the drums would be cut loose, after which a swimmer or boat from shore was meant to pick up the buoyed end of a rope attached to the drums and return it to the beach, where the soldiers could haul in the supplies.
The Eighth Fleet's Guadalcanal Reinforcement Unit (the Tokyo Express), commanded by Tanaka, was tasked by Mikawa with making the first of five scheduled runs to Tassafaronga using the drum method on the night of 30 November. Tanaka's unit was centered on eight destroyers, with six destroyers assigned to carry between 200 and 240 drums of supplies apiece. Notified by intelligence sources of the Japanese supply attempt, Halsey ordered the newly formed Task Force 67, comprising four cruisers and four destroyers under the command of Rear Admiral
Carleton H. Wright
Carleton Herbert Wright (June 2, 1892 – June 27, 1973) was a rear admiral in the United States Navy (USN).
Early career
Wright graduated from the United States Naval Academy in 1912 with a class standing of 16th out of 156 graduates. His Naval ...
, to intercept Tanaka's force off Guadalcanal. Two additional destroyers joined Wright's force en route to Guadalcanal from Espiritu Santo during the day of 30 November.
At 22:40 on 30 November, Tanaka's force arrived off Guadalcanal and prepared to unload the supply barrels. Meanwhile, Wright's warships were approaching through
Ironbottom Sound
"Ironbottom Sound" (alternatively Iron Bottom Sound or Ironbottomed Sound or Iron Bottom Bay) is the name given by Allied sailors to the stretch of water at the southern end of The Slot between Guadalcanal, Savo Island, and Florida Island o ...
from the opposite direction. Wright's destroyers detected Tanaka's force on radar, and the destroyer commander requested permission to attack with torpedoes. Wright waited four minutes before giving permission, allowing Tanaka's force to escape from an optimum firing setup. All of the American torpedoes missed their targets. At the same time, Wright's cruisers opened fire, hitting and destroying one of the Japanese guard destroyers. The rest of Tanaka's warships abandoned the supply mission, increased speed, turned, and launched a total of 44 torpedoes in the direction of Wright's cruisers. The Japanese torpedoes hit and sank the U.S. cruiser and heavily damaged the cruisers , , and . The rest of Tanaka's destroyers escaped without damage but failed to deliver any of the provisions to Guadalcanal.
By 7 December 1942, Hyakutake's forces were losing about 50 men each day from malnutrition, disease, and Allied ground or air attacks. Further attempts by Tanaka's destroyer forces to deliver provisions on 3, 7 and 11 December failed to alleviate the crisis, and one of Tanaka's destroyers was sunk by a U.S.
PT boat
A PT boat (short for patrol torpedo boat) was a motor torpedo boat used by the United States Navy in World War II. It was small, fast, and inexpensive to build, and it was valued for its maneuverability and speed. However, PT boats were hampe ...
torpedo. Tanaka privately informed Admiral Mikawa that the Japanese forces on Guadalcanal could no longer be supplied by sea, and advised that they be withdrawn from the island. Tanaka was subsequently transferred to an administrative post in Singapore.
Japanese decision to withdraw
On 12 December, the Japanese Navy proposed that Guadalcanal be abandoned. At the same time, several army staff officers at the Imperial General Headquarters (IGH) also suggested that further efforts to retake Guadalcanal would be impossible. A delegation led by Colonel
Joichiro Sanada, chief of the IGH's operations section, visited Rabaul on 19 December and consulted Imamura and his staff. Upon the delegation's return to Tokyo, Sanada recommended that Guadalcanal be abandoned. The IGH's top leaders agreed with Sanada's recommendation on 26 December and ordered their staffs to begin drafting plans for a withdrawal from Guadalcanal, establishment of a new defense line in the central Solomons, and shifting priorities and resources to the
campaign in New Guinea.
On 28 December, General
Hajime Sugiyama
was a Japanese field marshal and one of Japan's military leaders for most of the Second World War.
As Army Minister in 1937, Sugiyama was a driving force behind the launch of hostilities against China in retaliation for the Marco Polo Brid ...
and Admiral
Osami Nagano
was a Marshal Admiral of the Imperial Japanese Navy and one of the leaders of Japan's military during most of the Second World War. In April 1941, he became Chief of the Imperial Japanese Navy General Staff. In this capacity, he served as the ...
personally informed
Emperor
The word ''emperor'' (from , via ) can mean the male ruler of an empire. ''Empress'', the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), mother/grandmother (empress dowager/grand empress dowager), or a woman who rules ...
Hirohito
, Posthumous name, posthumously honored as , was the 124th emperor of Japan according to the traditional order of succession, from 25 December 1926 until Death and state funeral of Hirohito, his death in 1989. He remains Japan's longest-reigni ...
of the decision to withdraw from Guadalcanal. On 31 December, Hirohito formally endorsed the decision. The Japanese secretly began to prepare for the evacuation, called Operation Ke, scheduled to begin during the latter part of January 1943. By now, Japanese forces on the island had dwindled to fewer than 15,000 men.
Battle of Mount Austen, the Galloping Horse, and the Sea Horse

By December, the weary 1st Marine Division was withdrawn for recuperation, and over the course of the next month the
U.S. XIV Corps took over operations on the island. This corps consisted of the
2nd Marine Division
The 2nd Marine Division (2nd MARDIV) is a division of the United States Marine Corps, which forms the ground combat element of the II Marine Expeditionary Force (II MEF). The division is based at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, North Carolina a ...
and the U.S. Army's
25th Infantry and
23rd "Americal" Divisions. U.S. Army Major General
Alexander Patch
Alexander McCarrell Patch (23 November 1889 – 21 November 1945) was a senior United States Army Officer (armed forces), officer who fought in World war, both world wars, rising to rank of General (United States), general. During World War  ...
replaced Vandegrift as commander of Allied forces on Guadalcanal, which by January totaled just over 50,000 men.
On 18 December, Allied (mainly U.S. Army) forces began attacking Japanese positions on
Mount Austen
Mount Austen is a suburb of Honiara, Solomon Islands and is located South of Kukum.
Mt. Austen is a natural and peaceful area, but with a notable exception a large force of U.S. and Japanese troops engaged in fierce battles from December 1942 to ...
. A strong Japanese fortified position, called the Gifu, stymied the attacks and the Americans were forced to temporarily halt their offensive on 4 January. The Allies renewed the offensive on 10 January, attacking the Japanese on Mount Austen as well as on two nearby ridges called the Sea Horse and the Galloping Horse. After some difficulty, the Allies captured all three by 23 January. At the same time, U.S. Marines advanced along the north coast of the island, making significant gains. The Americans lost about 250 killed in the operation while the Japanese suffered around 3,000 killed, about 12 to 1 in the Americans' favor.
''Ke'' evacuation
On 14 January, a Tokyo Express run delivered a battalion of troops to act as a rear guard for the ''Ke'' evacuation. A staff officer from Rabaul accompanied the troops to notify Hyakutake of the decision to withdraw. At the same time, Japanese warships and aircraft moved into position around the Rabaul and Bougainville areas in preparation to execute the withdrawal operation. Allied intelligence detected the Japanese movements but misinterpreted them as preparations for another attempt to retake Henderson Field and Guadalcanal.
Patch, wary of what he thought to be an imminent Japanese offensive, committed only a relatively small portion of his troops to continue a slow-moving offensive against Hyakutake's forces. On 29 January, Halsey, acting on the same intelligence, sent a resupply convoy to Guadalcanal screened by a cruiser task force. Sighting the cruisers, Japanese naval torpedo bombers attacked that same evening and heavily damaged the cruiser . The next day, more torpedo aircraft attacked and sank ''Chicago''. Halsey ordered the remainder of the task force to return to base and directed the rest of his naval forces to take station in the
Coral Sea
The Coral Sea () is a marginal sea of the Pacific Ocean, South Pacific off the northeast coast of Australia, and classified as an Interim Biogeographic Regionalisation for Australia, interim Australian bioregion. The Coral Sea extends down t ...
, south of Guadalcanal, to be ready to counter a Japanese offensive.
In the meantime, the Japanese 17th Army withdrew to the west coast of Guadalcanal while rear guard units checked the American offensive. On the night of 1 February, a force of 20 destroyers from Mikawa's 8th Fleet under
Shintarō Hashimoto
was an admiral in the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War II.
Biography
Hashimoto was born in Wakayama prefecture. He graduated from the 41st class of the Imperial Japanese Naval Academy in 1913. He was ranked 43rd in a class of 118 cadets. ...
successfully extracted 4,935 soldiers, mainly from the 38th Division, from the island. The Japanese and Americans each lost a destroyer from an air and naval attack related to the evacuation mission.
On the nights of 4 and 7 February, Hashimoto and his destroyers evacuated the remaining Japanese forces from Guadalcanal. Apart from some air attacks, Allied forces were still anticipating a large Japanese offensive and did not attempt to interdict Hashimoto's evacuation runs. In total, the Japanese successfully evacuated 10,652 men from Guadalcanal. Their last troops left the island on the evening of 7 February, six months to the day from when the U.S. forces first landed. Two days later, on 9 February, Patch realized that the Japanese were gone and declared Guadalcanal secure.
Aftermath

After the Japanese defeat, Guadalcanal and Tulagi were developed into major bases supporting the Allied advance further up the Solomon Islands chain. Besides Henderson Field, two additional fighter runways were constructed at
Lunga Point
Lunga Point is a promontory on the northern coast of Guadalcanal, the site of a naval battle during World War II. It was also the name of a nearby airfield, later named Henderson Field. is also the name of a United States Navy escort carrier t ...
, and a bomber airfield was built at
Koli Point
Koli may refer to:
People
* Koli people, Indian caste group
* Koli Christians, a Christian subgroup
* Muslim Kolis, Muslim community
* Koli (surname), Indian surname
* Koli Sewabu (born 1975), Fijian rugby union footballer
Places
* Koli, Fin ...
. Extensive naval port and logistics facilities were established at Guadalcanal, Tulagi, and Florida. The anchorage around Tulagi became an important forward base for Allied warships and transport ships supporting the Solomon Islands campaign. Major ground units were staged through large encampments and barracks on Guadalcanal before deployment further up the Solomons.
After Guadalcanal the Japanese were clearly on the defensive in the Pacific. The constant pressure to reinforce Guadalcanal had weakened Japanese efforts in other theaters, contributing to a successful Australian and American counteroffensive in New Guinea which culminated in the capture of the key bases of
Buna and Gona in early 1943. The Allies had gained a strategic initiative which they never relinquished. In June, the Allies launched
Operation Cartwheel
Operation Cartwheel (1943 – 1944) was a major military operation undertaken by the Allies in the Pacific theatre of World War II. The ultimate goal of Cartwheel was to neutralize the major Japanese base at Rabaul. The operation was di ...
which, after modification in August 1943, formalized the strategy of isolating Rabaul and cutting its
sea lines of communication
Sea lines of communication (abbreviated as SLOC) is a term describing the primary maritime routes between ports, used for trade, logistics and naval forces. It is generally used in reference to naval operations to ensure that SLOCs are open, or ...
. The subsequent successful neutralization of Rabaul and the forces centered there facilitated the
South West Pacific
Oceania ( , ) is a region, geographical region including Australasia, Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. Outside of the English-speaking world, Oceania is generally considered a continent, while Mainland Australia is regarded as its co ...
campaign under MacArthur and
Central Pacific island-hopping
Leapfrogging was an amphibious military strategy employed by the Allies in the Pacific War against the Empire of Japan during World War II. The key idea was to bypass heavily fortified enemy islands instead of trying to capture every island in ...
campaign under Nimitz, with both efforts successfully advancing toward Japan. The remaining Japanese defenses in the South Pacific Area were then either destroyed or bypassed by Allied forces as the war progressed.
Medal of Honor recipients
Marine Corps
*
Kenneth D. Bailey, Major – 12-13 September 1942 (posth.)
*
Merritt A. Edson, Colonel – 13-14 September 1942
*
John Basilone
John Basilone (November 4, 1916 – February 19, 1945) was a United States Marine Corps gunnery sergeant who received the Medal of Honor for actions during the Battle for Henderson Field in the Guadalcanal campaign, and the Navy Cross posthumou ...
, Sergeant – 24-25 October 1942
*
Mitchell Paige
Mitchell Paige (Mihajlo Pejić) (August 31, 1918 – November 15, 2003) was an American retired United States Marine Corps colonel who received the nation's highest military decoration for valor in combat, the Medal of Honor, during World Wa ...
, Platoon Sergeant – 26 October 1942
*
Joseph J. Foss, Captain (pilot) – 9 October - 19 November 1942, Jan 1943
*
Alexander A. Vandegrift
Alexander Archer Vandegrift (March 13, 1887 – May 8, 1973) was a United States Marine Corps highly decorated four-star general, Medal of Honor recipient, and a Commandant of the Marine Corps. During World War II, he commanded the 1st Marine Div ...
, Major General – 7 August - 9 December 1942
Army
*
William G. Fournier, Sergeant – 10 January 1943 (posth.)
*
Lewis Hall, Technician 5th Grade – 10 January 1943 (posth.)
*
Charles W. Davis, Captain – 12 January 1943
Navy
*
Daniel J. Callaghan, Rear Admiral – 12-13 September 1942 (posth.)
Coast Guard
*
Douglas A. Munro, Signalman First class – 27 September 1942 (posth.)
Significance
Resources

The Battle of Guadalcanal was one of the first prolonged campaigns in the Pacific Ocean theater of World War II. It strained logistical capabilities of the combatant nations. For the U.S., this need prompted the development of effective combat air transport for the first time. A failure to achieve
air supremacy
Air supremacy (as well as air superiority) is the degree to which a side in a conflict holds control of air power over opposing forces. There are levels of control of the air in aerial warfare. Control of the air is the aerial equivalent of ...
forced Japan to rely on reinforcement by barges, destroyers, and submarines, with very uneven results. Early in the campaign, the Americans were hindered by a lack of resources, as they suffered heavy losses in cruisers and carriers, with replacements from ramped-up shipbuilding programs still months away from materializing.
The U.S. Navy suffered such high personnel losses during the campaign that it refused to publicly release total casualty figures for years. However, as the campaign continued, and the American public became more and more aware of the plight and perceived heroism of the American forces on Guadalcanal, more forces were dispatched to the area. This spelled trouble for Japan as its
military-industrial complex was unable to match the output of American industry and manpower. Thus, as the campaign wore on the Japanese were losing irreplaceable units while the Americans were rapidly replacing and even augmenting their forces.
The Guadalcanal campaign was costly to Japan strategically and in material losses and manpower. Roughly 30,000 personnel, including 25,000 experienced ground troops, died during the campaign. As many as three-quarters of the deaths were from non-combat causes such as starvation and various tropical diseases. The drain on resources directly contributed to Japan's failure to achieve its objectives in the New Guinea campaign. Japan also lost control of the southern Solomons and the ability to interdict Allied shipping to Australia. Japan's major base at Rabaul became further directly threatened by Allied air power. Most importantly, scarce Japanese land, air, and naval forces had disappeared forever into the Guadalcanal jungle and surrounding sea. The Japanese could not replace the aircraft destroyed and ships sunk in this campaign, as well as their highly trained and veteran crews, especially the naval aircrews, nearly as quickly as the Allies.
Strategy
While the Battle of Midway is viewed as a turning point in the Pacific War, Japan remained on the offensive, as shown by its advances down the Solomon Islands. Only after the Allied victories in Guadalcanal and New Guinea (at
Milne Bay
Milne Bay is a large bay in Milne Bay Province, south-eastern Papua New Guinea. More than long and over wide, Milne Bay is a sheltered deep-water harbor accessible via Ward Hunt Strait. It is surrounded by the heavily wooded Stirling Range (Papu ...
and Buna–Gona) were these large-scale Japanese offensive actions stopped. Strategic initiative passed to the Allies, as it proved, permanently. The Guadalcanal campaign ended all Japanese expansion attempts in the Pacific and placed the Allies in a position of clear supremacy. The Allied victory at Guadalcanal was the first step in a long string of successes that eventually led
to the surrender and
occupation of Japan
Japan was occupied and administered by the Allies of World War II from the surrender of the Empire of Japan on September 2, 1945, at the war's end until the Treaty of San Francisco took effect on April 28, 1952. The occupation, led by the ...
.
The "
Europe first
Europe first, also known as Germany first, was the key element of the grand strategy agreed upon by the United States and the United Kingdom during World War II after the United States joined the war in December 1941. According to this policy, the ...
" policy agreed to by the Allies had initially only allowed for defensive actions against Japanese expansion in order to focus resources on defeating Germany. However, Admiral King's argument for the Guadalcanal invasion, as well as its successful implementation, convinced Roosevelt that the Pacific Theater could be pursued offensively as well. By the end of 1942, it was clear that Japan had lost the Guadalcanal campaign, a serious blow to Japan's strategic plans for the defense of their empire and an unanticipated defeat at the hands of the Americans.
Perhaps as important as the military victory for the Allies was the psychological victory. On a level playing field, the Allies had beaten Japan's best land, air, and naval forces. After Guadalcanal, Allied personnel regarded the Japanese military with much less fear and awe than previously. In addition, the Allies viewed the eventual outcome of the Pacific War with greatly increased optimism.
Tokyo Express no longer has terminus on Guadalcanal.
: —Major General Alexander Patch
Alexander McCarrell Patch (23 November 1889 – 21 November 1945) was a senior United States Army Officer (armed forces), officer who fought in World war, both world wars, rising to rank of General (United States), general. During World War  ...
, USA, Commander, U.S. Forces on Guadalcanal
Guadalcanal is no longer merely a name of an island in Japanese military history. It is the name of the graveyard of the Japanese army.
:— Major General Kiyotake Kawaguchi
was a general in the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II.
Biography
A native of Kōchi Prefecture, Kiyotake graduated from the 26th class of the Imperial Japanese Army Academy in 1914, and from the 34th class of the Army Staff College i ...
, IJA, Commander, 35th Infantry Brigade at Guadalcanal
Beyond Kawaguchi, several Japanese political and military leaders, including
Naoki Hoshino, Nagano, and
Torashirō Kawabe
was a general and Deputy Chief of Staff of the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff during World War II. He was also the younger brother of General Masakazu Kawabe.
Biography
Born in Toyama prefecture, Kawabe graduated from the 24th class of ...
, stated shortly after the war that Guadalcanal was the decisive turning point in the conflict. Said Kawabe, "As for the turning point
f the war when the positive action ceased or even became negative, it was, I feel, at Guadalcanal."
Vilu War Museum and Guadalcanal American Memorial
The Vilu War Museum is on Guadalcanal, about west of
Honiara
Honiara () is the capital and largest city of Solomon Islands, situated on the northwestern coast of Guadalcanal. , it had a population of 92,344 people. The city is served by Honiara International Airport and the seaport of Point Cruz, and lies ...
, the capital of the Solomon Islands. The remains of military equipment and of several aircraft can be seen in the open-air museum. Several memorials for the American, Australian, Fijian, New Zealand and Japanese soldiers who died are erected there.
File:Vilu War Museum 1.jpg, Entrance of Vilu War Museum
File:Vilu War Museum 2.jpg, Memorials in Vilu War Museum
File:Vilu War Museum 3.jpg, Aircraft in Vilu War Museum
File:Vilu War Museum 4.jpg, Aircraft in Vilu War Museum
To mark the 50th anniversary of the Red Beach landings, the
Guadalcanal American Memorial was dedicated in Honiara on 7 August 1992.
Remaining ordnance
An unknown amount of unexploded bombs from the battle remain on the island, and residents of the island have been killed or severely injured by unexpected explosions from hidden explosives. The threat to people's lives from unexploded bombs remain high.
The
Solomon Islands police force has disposed most of the discovered bombs; however, clearance work is expensive, and the island does not have sufficient resources to clear the remaining explosives. The Solomon Islands have urged both the U.S. and Japanese governments to clear the remaining bombs from the island.
In 2012, 18 years after the U.S. ended its aid program in the South Pacific, the U.S. provided funds to assist efforts to find and remove unexploded bombs. Australia and Norway also established programs to help the Solomon Islands remove unexploded bombs.
News reporting
The Guadalcanal campaign was the subject of a large amount of high-quality reporting. News agencies sent some of their most talented writers, as it was the first major American offensive combat operation of the war.
Richard Tregaskis, who wrote for
International News Service
The International News Service (INS) was a U.S.-based news agency (newswire) founded by newspaper publisher William Randolph Hearst in 1909. , gained fame with the publication of his bestselling ''
Guadalcanal Diary'' in 1943.
[ Tregaskis, Richard. '' Guadalcanal Diary''. New York: Modern Library, 2000. ] Hanson Baldwin
Hanson Weightman Baldwin (March 22, 1903 – November 13, 1991) was an American journalist and military historian who was the long-time military editor of ''The New York Times''. He won a Pulitzer Prize "for his coverage of the early days of Worl ...
, a Navy correspondent, filed stories for ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'' and won a
Pulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prizes () are 23 annual awards given by Columbia University in New York City for achievements in the United States in "journalism, arts and letters". They were established in 1917 by the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made his fo ...
for his coverage of the early days of World War II.
[ Tom Yarbrough wrote for the ]Associated Press
The Associated Press (AP) is an American not-for-profit organization, not-for-profit news agency headquartered in New York City.
Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association, and produces news reports that are dist ...
, Bob Miller for the United Press
United Press International (UPI) is an American international news agency whose newswires, photo, news film, and audio services provided news material to thousands of newspapers, magazines, radio and television stations for most of the 20th ...
, John Hersey
John Richard Hersey (June 17, 1914 – March 24, 1993) was an American writer and journalist. He is considered one of the earliest practitioners of the so-called New Journalism, in which storytelling techniques of fiction are adapted to no ...
for ''Time
Time is the continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequ ...
'' and ''Life
Life, also known as biota, refers to matter that has biological processes, such as Cell signaling, signaling and self-sustaining processes. It is defined descriptively by the capacity for homeostasis, Structure#Biological, organisation, met ...
'', Ira Wolfert for the North American Newspaper Alliance
The North American Newspaper Alliance (NANA) was a large newspaper syndicate in operation between 1922 and 1980. NANA employed writers such as Grantland Rice, Joseph Alsop, Michael Stern, Lothrop Stoddard, Dorothy Thompson, George Schuyler, P ...
(his series of articles about the November 1942 Naval Battle of Guadalcanal won him a Pulitzer Prize), Sergeant James Hurlbut for the Marine Corps, and Mack Morriss for ''Yank'' magazine.[ Commander Vandegrift placed few restrictions on the reporters who were generally allowed to go wherever they wanted and write what they wanted.][
]
Notes
References
Books
* Alexander, Joseph H. ''Edson's Raiders: The 1st Marine Raider Battalion in World War II''. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 2000.
* Armstrong, William M. ''Marine Air Group 25 and SCAT (Images of Aviation)''. Charleston, SC: Arcadia, 2017. .
* Bergerud, Eric M. ''Touched with Fire: The Land War in the South Pacific''. New York: Penguin Books, 1997.
* Clemens, Martin. ''Alone on Guadalcanal: A Coastwatcher's Story''. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 2004.
*
* Crenshaw, Russell Sydnor. ''South Pacific Destroyer: The Battle for the Solomons from Savo Island to Vella Gulf''. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1998.
* D'Albas, Andrieu. ''Death of a Navy: Japanese Naval Action in World War II''. New York: Devin-Adair Co., 1957.
*
* Dull, Paul S. ''A Battle History of the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1941–1945''. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1978.
* Evans, David C. ''The Japanese Navy in World War II: In the Words of Former Japanese Naval Officers''. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1986.
*
* Frank, Richard. ''Guadalcanal: The Definitive Account of the Landmark Battle''. New York: Random House, 1990.
* Gilbert, Oscar E. ''Marine Tank Battles of the Pacific''. Conshohocken, PA: Combined Pub., 2001.
* Griffith, Samuel B. ''The Battle for Guadalcanal''. Champaign, IL: University of Illinois Press, 2000.
* Hadden, Robert Lee. 2007.
The Geology of Guadalcanal: a Selected Bibliography of the Geology, Natural History, and the History of Guadalcanal
" Alexandria, VA: Topographic Engineering Center. 360 pages. Lists sources of information regarding the bodies of the US Marines of the Lt Col. Frank B. Goettge Reconnaissance patrol that was ambushed in August 1942.
* Hammel, Eric. ''Carrier Clash: The Invasion of Guadalcanal & The Battle of the Eastern Solomons August 1942''. St. Paul, MN: Zenith Press, 2004.
* Hammel, Eric. ''Carrier Strike: The Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands, October 1942''. Pacifica, CA: Pacifica Press, 2000.
* Hammel, Eric. ''Guadalcanal: Decision at Sea: The Naval Battle of Guadalcanal, November 13–15, 1942''. New York: Crown, 1988. .
* Hara, Tameichi. ''Japanese Destroyer Captain''. New York: Ballantine Books, 1961.
* Hayashi, Saburo. ''Kogun: The Japanese Army in the Pacific War''. Quantico: Marine Corps Association, 1959.
* Hornfischer, James D. ''Neptune's Inferno: The U.S. Navy at Guadalcanal''. New York: Bantam Books, 2011
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* Jersey, Stanley Coleman. ''Hell's Islands: The Untold Story of Guadalcanal''. College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 2008.
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* Kilpatrick, C. W. ''Naval Night Battles of the Solomons''. Pompano Beach, FL: Exposition Press of Florida, 1987.
* Leckie, Robert. ''Helmet for my Pillow''. .l. Ibooks, 2006.
* Loxton, Bruce and Chris Coulthard-Clark. ''The Shame of Savo: Anatomy of a Naval Disaster''. St. Leonards, N.S.W.: Allen & Unwin, 1997.
* Lundstrom, John B. ''The First Team and the Guadalcanal Campaign: Naval Fighter Combat from August to November 1942''. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 2005.
* Manchester, William. ''Goodbye, Darkness A Memoir of the Pacific''. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1980.
* McGee, William L. ''The Solomons Campaigns, 1942–1943: From Guadalcanal to Bougainville – Pacific War Turning Point, Volume 2''. Santa Barbara, CA: BMC Publications, 2002.
* Miller, Thomas G. ''The Cactus Air Force''. Fredericksburg, TX: Admiral Nimitz Foundation, 1969.
* Morison, Samuel Eliot ''The Struggle for Guadalcanal, August 1942 – February 1943, vol. V of History of United States Naval Operations in World War II
The ''History of United States Naval Operations in World War II'' is a 15-volume account of the United States Navy in World War II, written by Samuel Eliot Morison and published by Little, Brown and Company between 1947 and 1962.
Background
I ...
''. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1969.
* Morison, Samuel Eliot, ''Breaking the Bismarcks Barrier, 22 July 1942 – 1 May 1944, vol. VI of History of United States Naval Operations in World War II''. Boston: Little, Brown and Company 1950.
* Murray, Williamson and Allan R. Millett ''A War To Be Won: Fighting the Second World War''. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2000.
* Peatross, Oscar F. ''Bless 'em All: The Raider Marines of World War II''. Irvine, CA: ReView Publications, 1995.
* Rottman, Gordon L. ''Japanese Army in World War II: The South Pacific and New Guinea, 1942–43''. Oxford: Osprey, 2005.
* Smith, Michael T. ''Bloody Ridge: The Battle That Saved Guadalcanal''. Novato, CA: Pocket Books, 2003.
* Toland, John ''The Rising Sun: The Decline and Fall of the Japanese Empire, 1936–1945''. New York: Modern Library, 2003.
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* – Translation of the official record by the Japanese Demobilization Bureaux detailing the Imperial Japanese Army and Navy's participation in the Southwest Pacific area of the Pacific War
The Pacific War, sometimes called the Asia–Pacific War or the Pacific Theatre, was the Theater (warfare), theatre of World War II fought between the Empire of Japan and the Allies of World War II, Allies in East Asia, East and Southeast As ...
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Audio/visual
* One episode from a 26-episode series about naval combat during World War II.
* Biographical film about Admiral Halsey Admiral Halsey may refer to:
*U.S. Fleet Admiral William Halsey Jr., (1882–1959)
**The Paul McCartney song "Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey"
*British Admiral Lionel Halsey
Admiral Sir Lionel Halsey, (26 February 1872 – 26 October 1949) was a Roy ...
during the Guadalcanal campaign.
* "Part One" and "Part Two" deal with the Guadalcanal campaign.
Video including historical footage of the Battle for Guadalcanal
External links
Presentation by James Hornfischer on his book ''Neptune's Inferno: The U.S. Navy at Guadalcanal'' at the Colby Military Writers' Symposium, 11 April 2012
{{DEFAULTSORT:Guadalcanal
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