FIRST MARINE DIVISION - VIETNAM 1969 - CHALLENGE COIN - Silver Colored Metal - Measures 1 1/2" IN DIAMETER. eXCELLENT CONDITION. On one side " U. S. MARINE CORPS - SeMPER FIDELIS - FOR SERVICE TO CORPS AND COUNTRY ". On the other side " FIRST MARINE DIVISION - VIETNAM 1969 - with 1st MarDiv Patch - GUADALCANAL ".
The Guadalcanal campaign, also known as the Battle of Guadalcanal and codenamed Operation Watchtower by American forces, was a military campaign fought between 7 August 1942 and 9 February 1943 on and around the island of Guadalcanal in the Pacific theater of World War II. It was the first major land offensive by Allied forces against the Empire of Japan.
On 7 August 1942, Allied forces, predominantly United States Marines, landed on Guadalcanal, Tulagi, and Florida Island in the southern Solomon Islands, with the objective of using Guadalcanal and Tulagi as bases in supporting a campaign to eventually capture or neutralize the major Japanese base at Rabaul on New Britain. The Japanese defenders, who had occupied those islands since May 1942, were outnumbered and overwhelmed by the Allies, who captured Tulagi and Florida, as well as the airfield—later named Henderson Field—that was under construction on Guadalcanal.
Surprised by the Allied offensive, the Japanese made several attempts between August and November to retake Henderson Field. Three major land battles, seven large naval battles (five nighttime surface actions and two carrier battles), and almost daily aerial battles culminated in the decisive Naval Battle of Guadalcanal in early November, with the defeat of the last Japanese attempt to bombard Henderson Field from the sea and to land enough troops to retake it. In December, the Japanese abandoned their efforts to retake Guadalcanal and evacuated their remaining forces by 7 February 1943, in the face of an offensive by the U.S. Army's XIV Corps, with the Battle of Rennell Island, the last major naval engagement, serving to secure protection for the Japanese troops to evacuate safely.
The campaign followed the successful Allied defensive actions at the Battle of the Coral Sea and the Battle of Midway in May and June 1942. Along with the battles at Milne Bay and Buna–Gona, 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 Allied offensives in the Pacific, most notably: the Solomon Islands campaign, New Guinea campaign, the Gilbert and Marshall Islands campaign, the Mariana and Palau Islands campaign, the Philippines campaign (1944–1945), and the Volcano and Ryukyu Islands campaign prior to the surrender of Japan in August, 1945.
Background
Strategic considerations
Japanese control of the western Pacific area between May and August 1942. Guadalcanal is located in the lower right center of the map.
On 7 December 1941, Japanese forces attacked the United States Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The attack killed almost 2,500 people and crippled much of the U.S. battleship fleet, precipitating formal declarations of war between the two nations the next day. The initial goals of Japanese leaders were to neutralize the U.S. Navy, seize territories rich in natural resources, and establish strategic military bases to defend Japan's empire in the Pacific Ocean and Asia. Initially, Japanese forces captured the Philippines, Thailand, Malaya, Singapore, Burma, the Dutch East Indies, Wake Island, Gilbert Islands, New Britain and Guam. The U.S. was joined in the war against Japan by several of the Allied powers, including the British Empire and the Dutch government-in-exile, both of which had also been attacked by Japan.[12]
The Japanese made two attempts to continue their offensive and extend their outer defensive perimeter in the south and central Pacific to where they could threaten Australia, Hawaii, and the U.S. west coast. The first offensive was thwarted in the naval Battle of the Coral Sea, which was a tactical stalemate but in retrospect a strategic Allied victory. It was the Allies' first major victory against the Japanese and significantly reduced the offensive capability of Japan's carrier forces. However, it did not change Japan's over-audacious offensive mindset for several crucial months, as in the failed attack on Port Moresby over the Kokoda track. The second major Japanese offensive was stopped at the Battle of Midway. These strategic victories in the Pacific allowed the Allies to switch from the defensive to seize the initiative from Japan.[13]
The Allies chose the Solomon Islands (a protectorate of the United Kingdom), specifically the southern islands of Guadalcanal, Tulagi and Florida Island, as the first target, designated Task One (codename Pestilence), with the initial objectives to[14][15] occupy the Santa Cruz Islands (codename Huddle), Tulagi (codename Watchtower), and "adjacent positions".[16] 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.[14] Tiny Tulagi had a large natural harbor perfect for a float-plane base and small Florida had to be taken as it dominated Tulagi. Large Guadalcanal, south across the soon-to-be-named Iron Bottom Sound was added when it was discovered the Japanese were building an airbase there.[citation needed]
The Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) had occupied Tulagi in May and had constructed a seaplane base nearby. Allied concern grew when, in early July, the IJN began constructing a large airfield at Lunga Point on nearby Guadalcanal—from such a base Japanese long-range bombers could threaten the sea lines of communication 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 (2,200 being Korean forced laborers and trustees as well as Japanese construction specialists) on Guadalcanal. These bases would protect Japan's major base at Rabaul, threaten Allied supply and communication lines, and establish a staging area for a planned offensive against Fiji, New Caledonia and Samoa (Operation FS). The Japanese planned to deploy 45 fighters and 60 bombers to Guadalcanal. In the overall strategy for 1942, these aircraft would provide air cover for Japanese naval forces advancing farther into the South Pacific.[17]
The Allied plan to invade the southern Solomons was conceived by U.S. Admiral Ernest King, Commander in Chief, United States Fleet. He proposed the offensive to deny the use of the islands by the Japanese as bases to threaten the supply routes between the United States and Australia and to use them as starting points. With U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt's tacit consent, King also advocated the invasion of Guadalcanal. Because the United States supported Great Britain's proposal that priority be given to defeating Germany before Japan, the Pacific theater had to compete for personnel and resources with the European theater.[18]
An early obstacle was a desire by both the army and Roosevelt to initiate action in Europe.[19] In addition, it was unclear who would command the campaign: Tulagi lay in the area under the command of General Douglas MacArthur, whereas the Santa Cruz Islands lay in Admiral Chester W. Nimitz's Pacific Ocean Area, which would also supply almost all offensive forces that would prepare and be supplied and covered from that area.[20] Both problems were overcome, and the Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army, General George C. Marshall, gave the operation his full support, even if MacArthur's command could not lend support and the navy had to take full responsibility.[21][22] As a result, and in order to preserve the unity of command, the boundary between MacArthur's South West Pacific Area and Nimitz's Pacific Ocean Area was shifted 60 miles (97 km) to 360 miles (580 km) to the west, effective from 1 August 1942.[20]
Chief of Staff to the Commander in Chief William D. Leahy established two goals for 1942–1943: that Guadalcanal would be taken, in conjunction with an Allied offensive in New Guinea under MacArthur; and the capture of the Admiralty Islands and Bismarck Archipelago, including the major Japanese base at Rabaul. The directive held that the eventual goal was the American reconquest of the Philippines.[23] The U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff created the South Pacific theater, with Vice Admiral Robert L. Ghormley 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 Pacific forces.[24]
Task force
Further information: Battle of Guadalcanal order of battle and Guadalcanal naval order of battle
The airfield at Lunga Point on Guadalcanal under construction by Japanese and conscripted Korean laborers in July 1942
In preparation for the offensive in the Pacific in May 1942, U.S. Marine Major General Alexander Vandegrift was ordered to move his 1st Marine Division from the United States to New Zealand. Other Allied land, naval and air force units were sent to establish or reinforce bases in Fiji, Samoa, New Hebrides and New Caledonia.[25]
Espiritu Santo, New Hebrides, was selected as the headquarters, Espiritu Santo Naval Base, and the main base for the offensive, codenamed Operation Watchtower, with the commencement date set for 7 August. At first, the Allied offensive was planned just for Tulagi and the Santa Cruz Islands, omitting Guadalcanal. After Allied reconnaissance discovered the Japanese airfield construction efforts on Guadalcanal, its capture was added to the plan, and the Santa Cruz operation was (eventually) dropped.[26] The Japanese were aware, via signals intelligence, of the large-scale movement of Allied forces in the South Pacific Area but concluded that the Allies were reinforcing Australia and perhaps Port Moresby in New Guinea.[27]
The Watchtower force, numbering 75 warships and transports (of vessels from the U.S. and Australia), assembled near Fiji on 26 July and engaged in one rehearsal landing prior to leaving for Guadalcanal on 31 July.[28] The commander of the Allied expeditionary force was U.S. Vice Admiral Frank Fletcher, Commander Task Force 61 (whose flag was on the aircraft carrier USS Saratoga). Commanding the amphibious forces was U.S. Rear Admiral Richmond K. Turner. Vandegrift led the 16,000 Allied (primarily U.S. Marine) infantry earmarked for the landings.[29] The troops sent to Guadalcanal were fresh from military training and armed with bolt-action M1903 Springfield rifles and a meager 10-day supply of ammunition. Because of the need to get them into battle quickly, the operation 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".[30]
Events
Landings
Further information: Battle of Tulagi and Gavutu–Tanambogo
Routes of Allied amphibious forces for landings on Guadalcanal and Tulagi, 7 August 1942
Bad weather allowed the Allied expeditionary force to arrive unseen by the Japanese on the night of 6 August and the following morning, taking the defenders by surprise. This is sometimes called the "Midnight Raid on Guadalcanal".[31] A Japanese patrol aircraft from Tulagi had searched the general area the Allied invasion fleet was moving through but missed seeing the Allied ships because of severe storms and heavy clouds.[32] The landing force split into two groups with one group assaulting Guadalcanal and the other Tulagi, Florida, and nearby islands.[33] Allied warships bombarded the invasion beaches, while U.S. carrier aircraft bombed Japanese positions on the target islands and destroyed 15 Japanese seaplanes at their base near Tulagi.[34]
Tulagi and two nearby small islands, Gavutu and Tanambogo, were assaulted by 3,000 U.S. Marines under the command of Brigadier General William Rupertus.[35] The 886 IJN personnel manning the naval and seaplane bases on the three islands fiercely resisted the Marine attacks.[36] With some difficulty, the Marines secured all three islands: Tulagi on 8 August, and Gavutu and Tanambogo by 9 August.[37] The Japanese defenders were killed almost to the last man,[38] and the Marines had 248 casualties.[39]
U.S. Marines debark from LCP(L)s onto Guadalcanal on 7 August 1942.
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 little 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, panicked by the warship bombardment and aerial bombing, had abandoned the airfield area and fled about 3 miles (5 km) west to the Matanikau River and Point Cruz area, leaving behind food, supplies, intact construction equipment and vehicles, and 13 dead.[40]
During the landing operations on 7 and 8 August, Japanese naval aircraft based at Rabaul, under the command of Yamada Sadayoshi, attacked the Allied amphibious forces several times, setting afire the transport USS George F. Elliott (which sank two days later) and heavily damaging the destroyer USS Jarvis.[41] In the air attacks over the two days the Japanese lost 36 aircraft, while the U.S. lost 19, both in combat and to accidents, including 14 carrier fighters.[42]
After these clashes, Fletcher was concerned about the losses to his carrier fighter aircraft strength, anxious about the threat to his carriers from further Japanese air attacks, and worried about his ships' fuel levels. Fletcher withdrew from the Solomon Islands area with his carrier task forces on the evening of 8 August.[43] As a result of 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.[44] Turner planned, however, 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.[45]
Battle of Savo Island
Main article: Battle of Savo Island
As the transports unloaded 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 and commanded by Japanese Vice Admiral Gunichi Mikawa.
One Australian and three American cruisers were sunk and one American cruiser and two destroyers were damaged. The Japanese suffered moderate damage to one cruiser.[46] Mikawa, who was unaware Fletcher was preparing to withdraw with the U.S. carriers, immediately retired to Rabaul without attempting to attack the transports. Mikawa was concerned about daylight U.S. carrier air attacks if he remained in the area. Bereft of his carrier air cover, Turner decided to withdraw his remaining naval forces by the evening of 9 August and in so doing left the Marines ashore with much of the heavy equipment, provisions and troops still aboard the transports. Mikawa's decision not to attempt to destroy the Allied transport ships when he had the opportunity proved to be a crucial strategic mistake.[47]
Initial ground operations
Initial U.S. Marine defenses around the airstrip at Lunga Point, Guadalcanal, 12 August 1942
Map showing the U.S. Marine attacks west of the Matanikau River on 19 August
The 11,000 Marines on Guadalcanal initially concentrated on forming a loose defensive perimeter around Lunga Point and the airfield, moving the landed supplies within the perimeter and finishing the airfield. In four days of intense effort, the supplies were moved from the landing beach into dispersed dumps within the 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.[48] 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.[49] To conserve supplies, the troops were limited to two meals per day.[50]
Allied troops encountered a severe strain of dysentery soon after the landings, with one in five Marines afflicted by mid-August.[51] 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.[52]
Goettge patrol
On the evening of 12 August, a 25-man U.S. Marine patrol, led by Division D-2 Lieutenant Colonel Frank Goettge and primarily consisting of intelligence 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 of Japanese naval troops attacked it and almost completely wiped it out.[53]
In response, on 19 August, Vandegrift sent three companies of the U.S. 5th Marine Regiment 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 1,000 meters (1,100 yd) 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.[54]
On 20 August, the escort carrier USS Long Island delivered a squadron of 19 Grumman F4F Wildcats and a squadron of 12 Douglas SBD Dauntlesses to Henderson Field. The aircraft at Henderson became known as the "Cactus Air Force" after the Allied codename for Guadalcanal. The Marine fighters went into action the next day on the first of the almost-daily Japanese bomber air raids. On 22 August five U.S. Army Bell P-400 Airacobras and their pilots arrived at Henderson Field.[55]
Battle of the Tenaru
Main article: Battle of the Tenaru
Dead Japanese soldiers on the sandbar at the mouth of Alligator Creek, Guadalcanal after the Battle of the Tenaru
In response to the Allied landings on Guadalcanal, the Japanese Imperial General Headquarters assigned the Imperial Japanese Army's (IJA) 17th Army, a corps-sized command based at Rabaul and under the command of Lieutenant General Harukichi Hyakutake, the task of retaking Guadalcanal. The army was to be supported by Japanese naval units, including the Combined Fleet under the command of Isoroku Yamamoto, 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. Of these, the 35th Infantry Brigade under Major General Kiyotake Kawaguchi was at Palau, the 4th (Aoba) Infantry Regiment was in the Philippines and the 28th (Ichiki) Infantry Regiment, under the command of Colonel Kiyonao Ichiki, was on board transport ships near Guam. The different 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, landed from destroyers at Taivu Point, east of the Lunga perimeter, after midnight on 19 August then made a 9-mile (14 km) night march west toward the Marine perimeter.[56][57]
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 scout, warned the Americans of the impending attack minutes before Ichiki's assault, which was subsequently 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, though it has been claimed that he committed seppuku after realizing the magnitude of his defeat, rather than dying in combat.[58] 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.[59]
Battle of the Eastern Solomons
Main article: Battle of the Eastern Solomons
The carrier USS Enterprise under aerial attack during the Battle of the Eastern Solomons
As the Tenaru battle was ending, more Japanese reinforcements were already on their way. Yamamoto put together a very powerful expeditionary force. Their aim was to destroy any American fleet units in the area and then eliminate Henderson Field. This force sortied from Truk on 23 August. Several other reinforcements, support, and bombardment groups sortied from both Truk and Rabaul.[60] 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.[61] The transports were guarded by 13 warships commanded by Japanese Rear Admiral Raizō Tanaka, who planned to land the troops on Guadalcanal on 24 August.[62] To cover the landings of these troops and provide support for the operation to retake Henderson Field from Allied forces, Yamamoto directed Chūichi Nagumo to sortie with a carrier force from Truk on 21 August and head towards the southern Solomon Islands. Nagumo's force included three carriers and 30 other warships.[63] Yamamoto would send the light carrier Ryūjō on a possible bait role ahead of the rest of the fleet and attack Guadalcanal to draw the attention of the American pilots. The aircraft from the two fleet carriers would then attack the Americans.[60]
Simultaneously, the U.S. carrier task forces under Fletcher approached Guadalcanal to counter the Japanese offensive efforts.[64] On 24 August, the two carrier forces fought. The Japanese had two fleet carriers Shōkaku and Zuikaku and the light carrier Ryūjō,[60] with 177 carrier-based aircraft. The American forces had two carriers, the Saratoga and Enterprise, and their 176 aircraft. The bait carrier Ryūjō was hit by several 1,000-pound (450 kg) bombs, then by an aerial torpedo; she was then abandoned and sank that night.[60] The two Japanese fleet carriers were not attacked. Enterprise was attacked and damaged. Both fleets then retreated from the area. The Japanese lost Ryūjō, dozens of aircraft, and most of their aircrew; the Americans lost a handful of planes, and Enterprise was damaged, needing repair for two months.[65]
On 25 August, Tanaka's convoy, headed by the flagship Jintsū, was attacked near Taivu Point[60] by Cactus Air Force aircraft from 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 in the northern Solomons in order to transfer the surviving troops to destroyers for later delivery to Guadalcanal.[66] A Japanese transport was sunk, and the older destroyer Mutsuki was so badly damaged that it had to be scuttled. Several other warships were damaged, including Tanaka's own Jintsū. At this point, Tanaka withdrew and rescheduled the supply run for the night of 28 August, via the remaining destroyers. Meanwhile, the Japanese had launched an air raid on Guadalcanal, causing chaos and havoc.[citation needed]
On 25 August, the American carrier Wasp, after refueling, positioned itself east of Guadalcanal expecting Japanese movement to the area. No Japanese forces made any movement towards the area, and the Wasp was left idle.[60]
Strategically, the Japanese had an opportunity here for a decisive victory; however, they failed to realize this potential. They allowed the Americans to step away with a view of victory. Additionally, the reinforcement of Henderson Field of Guadalcanal by Enterprise's aircraft established a precedent. This made daylight supply runs to Guadalcanal impossible for Japanese shipments. Only weeks before this, the Japanese had total control of the sea in this particular region; now they were forced to make supply runs only under the cover of darkness.[60]
Transport Division 12
For six weeks from the end of the Battle of Savo Island to the end of September U.S. Navy capital ships and regular destroyers were ordered to not travel to Tulagi and Guadalcanal and to not resupply the Marines or provide escort duty for slow transport ships in the Guadalcanal area for fear of a repeat of the disastrous defeat at Savo Island. Transport Division 12 (Trans Div 12), consisting of six obsolete World War I-era Wickes-class destroyers turned into high-speed transports, were the most heavily armed U.S. surface ships in Ironbottom Sound during this time. Their torpedo tubes were removed in exchange for landing craft boats so they could carry over 100 extra Marines for rapid transportation. They landed the very first Marines onto Tulagi and later on Guadalcanal, conducted special operations missions with Marine Raiders, participated in anti-submarine warfare, and provided covering fire for the Marines on Guadalcanal. They also directly sent crucial supplies to the Marines that helped to construct Henderson Field and to maintain the airplanes stationed there.[67][68]
On 30 August USS Colhoun (APD-2) was bombed by Japanese high-altitude horizontal bombers with amazing accuracy and sank, losing 51 men. On 4–5 September USS Little (APD-4) and USS Gregory (APD-3) were finished landing their Marine Raiders back onto Guadalcanal and then patrolled the area for submarines which were surfacing and shelling the Marines nightly. Three Japanese destroyers, who did not know that enemy surface ships were patrolling the area, positioned themselves to attack Henderson Field and the two American destroyer-transports believed at first that they were a submarine. A U.S. patrol plane also thought that the destroyers were an enemy submarine and dropped flares over the area but instead Little and Gregory were accidentally silhouetted in the dark night. The modern Japanese destroyers immediately fired on the overmatched American ships, sinking them. 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.[69][70][71][72]
Air battles over Henderson Field and strengthening of the Lunga defenses
Further information: Cactus Air Force
U.S. Marine Grumman F4F Wildcats from Henderson Field preparing to attack incoming Japanese aircraft in late August or early September 1942
Throughout August, small numbers of U.S. aircraft and their crews continued to arrive at Guadalcanal. By the end of August, 64 aircraft of various types were stationed at Henderson Field.[73] On 3 September, the commander of the 1st Marine Aircraft Wing, U.S. Marine Brigadier General Roy Geiger, arrived with his staff and took command of all air operations at Henderson Field.[74] 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, while most of the Japanese aircrews were not recovered. The eight-hour round-trip flight from Rabaul to Guadalcanal, about 1,120 miles (1,800 km), seriously hampered Japanese efforts to establish air superiority over Henderson Field. Australian coastwatchers on Bougainville and New Georgia islands were often able to provide the Allied forces on Guadalcanal with advance notice of inbound Japanese air strikes, allowing the U.S. fighters time to take off and position themselves to attack the Japanese aircraft as they approached the island. The Japanese air forces were slowly losing a war of attrition in the skies above Guadalcanal.[75][76]
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.[77] 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.[78]
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.[79] These actions resulted in the loss of 20 Japanese and 3 Marines.[80]
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 to maintain and improve Henderson Field.[81] In addition, on 3 September, Marine Aircraft Group 25 began airlifting high-priority cargo, including personnel, aviation gasoline, munitions, and other supplies, to Henderson Field.[82]
Tokyo Express
Main article: Tokyo Express
Japanese reinforcements arriving on Guadalcanal, circa early September 1942; note Savo Island in background
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 by slow transport. Instead, the ships carrying Kawaguchi's soldiers were sent to Rabaul. From there, the Japanese planned to deliver Kawaguchi's men to Guadalcanal by destroyers 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) to Guadalcanal and back in a single night throughout the campaign, minimizing their exposure to Allied air attack. The runs became known as the "Tokyo Express" to Allied forces and were labeled "rat transportation" by the Japanese.[83] While troops could be transported in this manner, most of the heavy equipment and supplies, such as heavy artillery, vehicles, and much food and ammunition, could not. In addition, this activity tied up destroyers the IJN desperately needed to escort their convoys. Either inability or unwillingness prevented Allied naval commanders from frequently challenging Japanese naval forces at night, so the Japanese controlled the seas around the Solomon Islands during nighttime. However, any Japanese ship within range (200 miles or 320 kilometres) of the aircraft at Henderson Field in daylight was at great risk from air attack. This tactical situation existed for the next several months of the campaign.[84]
Between 29 August and 4 September, Japanese light cruisers, destroyers, and patrol boats 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 Express run, was placed in command of all Japanese forces on Guadalcanal.[85] 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.[86]
Battle of Edson's Ridge
Main article: 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 attack plan called for his forces, 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 by Kawaguchi's "Center Body", numbering 3,000 men in three battalions, from the jungle south of the Lunga perimeter.[87] 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.[88]
U.S. Marine Lieutenant Colonel Merritt A. Edson (here photographed as a major general) led Marine forces in the Battle of Edson's Ridge
Meanwhile, native scouts under the direction of Martin Clemens, a coastwatcher officer in the British Solomon Islands Protectorate Defence Force 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 planned a raid on the Japanese troop concentration at Taivu.[89] On 8 September, after being dropped off near Taivu by boat, Edson's men captured Tasimboko as the Japanese defenders retreated into the jungle.[90] In Tasimboko, Edson's troops discovered Kawaguchi's main supply depot, including large stockpiles of food, ammunition, medical supplies, and a powerful shortwave radio. After destroying everything in sight, except for some documents and equipment carried back with them, the Marines returned to the Lunga perimeter. The mounds of supplies along with intelligence gathered from the captured documents informed the Marines that at least 3,000 Japanese troops were on the island and apparently planning an attack.[91]
Edson, along with Colonel Gerald C. Thomas, Vandegrift's operations officer, correctly believed that the Japanese attack would come at Lunga Ridge, a narrow, grassy, 1,000-yard-long (900 m) coral ridge that ran parallel to the Lunga River located 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.[92]
Map of the Lunga perimeter on Guadalcanal showing the approach routes of the Japanese forces and the locations of the Japanese attacks during the battle. Oka's attacks were in the west (left), the Kuma Battalion attacked from the east (right) and the center body attacked "Edson's Ridge" (Lunga Ridge) in the lower center of the map.
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 plus an assortment of light artillery. The Japanese attack began 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 guarding the northern part of the ridge.[93]
Two companies from Kawaguchi's 2nd Battalion charged up the southern edge of the ridge and pushed Edson's troops back to Hill 123 on the center part of the ridge. Throughout the night Marines at this position, who were supported by artillery, defeated wave after wave of frontal Japanese attacks, some of which resulted in hand-to-hand fighting. Japanese units that infiltrated past the ridge to the edge of the airfield were also repulsed. Attacks by the Kuma Battalion and Oka's unit at other locations on the Lunga perimeter were also 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.[94] In total Kawaguchi's forces lost about 850 killed and the Marines 104.[95]
On 15 September at Rabaul, Hyakutake learned of Kawaguchi's defeat and forwarded the news to Imperial General Headquarters in Japan. In an emergency session the top 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 have a telling strategic impact on Japanese operations in other areas of the Pacific. Hyakutake realized that he could not send sufficient troops and materiel to defeat the Allied forces on Guadalcanal and at the same time support 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 30 miles (50 km) 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.[96]
Allied reinforcement
The U.S. carrier Wasp burns after being hit by Japanese submarine torpedoes on 15 September.
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, the 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 plus a battalion from the 11th Marine Regiment 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 USS Wasp was scuttled[97] after being hit by torpedoes from the Japanese submarine I-19 southeast of Guadalcanal. This left only one Allied aircraft carrier (USS Hornet) in operation in the South Pacific Area.[98] Vandegrift also made some changes in the senior leadership of his combat units, transferring off the island several officers who did not meet his performance standards 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.[99]
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. brought 23 fighters and attack aircraft to Henderson Field. On 20 September the Japanese had 117 total aircraft at Rabaul while the Allies tallied 71 aircraft at Henderson Field.[100] 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.[101]
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 had joined Oka's forces near the Matanikau. Tokyo Express runs by 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 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.[102]
Actions along the Matanikau
Main article: Actions along the Matanikau
A U.S. Marine patrol crosses the Matanikau River in September 1942.
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. The purpose of these operations was to mop up the scattered groups of Japanese troops east of the Matanikau and to keep the main body of Japanese soldiers off-balance to prevent them from consolidating their positions so close to the main Marine defenses at Lunga Point.[103]
A U.S. Marine operation 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 barely escaped with assistance from the destroyer USS Monssen 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.[104]
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, and inflicted heavy losses on the Japanese 4th Infantry Regiment. The 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.[105] Between 9 and 11 October the U.S. 1st Battalion 2nd Marines raided two small Japanese outposts about 30 miles (48 km) east of the Lunga perimeter at Gurabusu and Koilotumaria near Aola Bay. The raids killed 35 Japanese at a cost of 17 Marines and 3 U.S. Navy personnel killed.[106]
Battle of Cape Esperance
Main article: Battle of Cape Esperance
Throughout the last week of September and the first week of October, Tokyo Express runs delivered troops from the Japanese 2nd Infantry Division to Guadalcanal. The Japanese Navy promised to support the Army'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.[107]
U.S. cruiser Helena, part of Task Force 64 under Norman Scott
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 from the Americal Division boarded ships at New Caledonia 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.[108]
Mikawa's 8th Fleet staff scheduled a large and important Express run for the night of 11 October. Two seaplane tenders and six destroyers were to deliver 728 soldiers plus artillery and ammunition to Guadalcanal. At the same time, but in a separate operation, three heavy cruisers and two destroyers under the command of Rear Admiral Aritomo Gotō were to bombard Henderson Field with special explosive shells with the object of destroying the CAF and the airfield's facilities. Because U.S. Navy warships had yet to attempt to interdict any Tokyo Express missions to Guadalcanal, the Japanese were not expecting any opposition from Allied naval surface forces that night.[109]
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 the 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.[110]
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. The convoy of U.S. Army troops reached Guadalcanal as scheduled on 13 October and successfully delivered its cargo and passengers to the island.[111]
Henderson Field
Main article: Battle for 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 one-time departure from their usual practice of only using fast warships to deliver their men and materiel to the island. On 13 October, a convoy comprising six cargo ships with 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.[112]
Japanese battleship Haruna
To protect the approaching convoy from attack by CAF aircraft, Yamamoto sent the 3rd Battleship Division, under the command of Takeo Kurita, from Truk to bombard Henderson Field. At 01:33 on 14 October, Kongō and Haruna, escorted by one light cruiser and nine destroyers, reached Guadalcanal and opened fire on Henderson Field from a distance of 16,000 meters (17,500 yd). Over the next one hour and 23 minutes, the two battleships fired 973 14-inch (356 mm) shells into the Lunga perimeter, most of which fell in and around the 2,200 m2 (24,000 sq ft) 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, destroyed 48 of the CAF's 90 aircraft, and killed 41 men, including six CAF pilots. The battleship force immediately returned to Truk.[113]
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 bombers 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.[114]
Japanese cargo ship destroyed at Tassafaronga by CAF aircraft on 15 October.
The Japanese convoy reached Tassafaronga Point 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 cause significant further damage to the airfield.[115]
Battle for Henderson Field
From left to right: Lieutenant Colonel Leonard B. Cresswell (1st Battalion), Lieutenant Colonel Edwin A. Pollock (Executive Officer 1st Marines), Colonel Clifton B. Cates (Commanding Officer 1st Marines), Lieutenant Colonel William N. McKelvy (3rd Battalion) and Lieutenant Colonel William W. Stickney (2nd Battalion) on Guadalcanal, October 1942
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.[116] 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 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.[117]
Map of the battle, 23–26 October. Sumiyoshi's forces attack in the west at the Matanikau (left) while Maruyama's 2nd division attacks the Lunga perimeter from the south (right).
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 15-mile-long (24 km) 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.[118]
By 23 October, Maruyama's forces still struggled 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.[119]
A U.S. 11th Marines 75mm pack howitzer and crew
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.[120]
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 under Lieutenant Colonel Chesty Puller 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.[121] 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 ships, destroying 14 aircraft and sinking a light cruiser.[122]
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 battle deaths, combat injuries, 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.[123]
Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands
Main article: Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands
At the same time that Hyakutake's troops were attacking the Lunga perimeter, Japanese aircraft carriers and other large warships under the overall direction of Yamamoto moved into a position near the southern Solomon Islands. From this location, the Japanese naval forces hoped to engage and decisively defeat any Allied (primarily U.S.) naval forces, especially carrier forces, that responded to Hyakutake's ground offensive. Allied naval carrier forces in the area, under the overall command of William Halsey Jr., 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.[124]
USS Hornet is torpedoed and fatally damaged by a Japanese carrier aircraft on 26 October.
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. 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 (Enterprise) heavily damaged. The participating Japanese carrier forces, however, also retired because of high aircraft and aircrew losses and significant damage to two carriers. Although an apparent tactical victory for the Japanese in terms of ships sunk and damaged, the loss by the Japanese of many irreplaceable, veteran aircrews provided a long-term strategic advantage for the Allies, whose aircrew losses in the battle were relatively low. The Japanese carriers played no further significant role in the campaign.[125]
November land actions
Further information: Matanikau Offensive, Koli Point action, and Carlson's patrol
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.[126]
U.S. Marines drag the corpses of Japanese soldiers from their bunker in the Point Cruz area after the battle in early November.
The American offensive began on 1 November and, after some difficulty, succeeded in destroying Japanese forces defending the Point Cruz area by 3 November, including rear echelon 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.[127]
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.[128]
Carlson's raiders coming ashore at Aola Bay on 4 November
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.[129]
Meanwhile, on 4 November, two companies from the 2nd Marine Raider Battalion, commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Evans Carlson landed by boat at Aola Bay, 40 miles (64 km) 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.[130]
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 many 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.[131]
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 emplaced 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.[132]
Naval Battle of Guadalcanal
Main article: 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, Hiei and Kirishima, equipped with special fragmentation shells, which were to bombard Henderson Field on the night of 12–13 November and destroy it and the aircraft stationed there to allow the slow transports to reach Guadalcanal and unload safely the next day.[133] The warship force was commanded from Hiei by recently promoted Vice Admiral Hiroaki Abe.[134]
U.S. Rear Admiral Daniel J. Callaghan (pictured here as a captain)
In early November, Allied intelligence learned that the Japanese were preparing again to try to retake Henderson Field.[135] In response the U.S. sent Task Force 67, a large reinforcement and resupply convoy carrying Marine replacements, two U.S. Army infantry battalions, and ammunition and food, commanded by Turner, to Guadalcanal on 11 November. The supply ships were protected by two task groups, commanded by Rear Admirals Daniel J. Callaghan and Norman Scott, and aircraft from Henderson Field.[136] 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 were unloaded without serious damage.[137]
U.S. reconnaissance aircraft spotted the approach of Abe's bombardment force and passed a warning to the Allied command.[138] 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.[139] Callaghan's force comprised two heavy cruisers, three light cruisers, and eight destroyers.[140]
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[141] the two warship forces intermingled before opening fire at unusually close quarters. 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 Hiei 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 CAF and the carrier Enterprise. Because of Abe's failure to neutralize Henderson Field, Yamamoto ordered the troop transport convoy, under the command of Tanaka and located near the Shortland Islands, to wait an additional day before heading towards Guadalcanal. Yamamoto ordered Nobutake Kondō to assemble another bombardment force using warships from Truk and Abe's force to attack Henderson Field on 15 November.[142]
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's 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 Kondo's force approached to bombard Henderson Field.[143]
In order to intercept Kondo's force, Halsey, who was low on undamaged ships, detached two battleships, the Washington and South Dakota, and four destroyers from the Enterprise task force. The U.S. force, under the command of Willis A. Lee aboard the Washington, reached Guadalcanal and Savo Island just before midnight on 14 November, shortly before Kondo's bombardment force arrived. Kondo's force consisted of the Kirishima plus two heavy cruisers, two light cruisers, and nine destroyers. After the two forces made contact, Kondo'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 Kondo's warships concentrated on the South Dakota, the Washington approached the Japanese ships unobserved and opened fire on the Kirishima, smashing into the Japanese battleship repeatedly with both main and secondary battery shells and causing fatal damage. After fruitlessly chasing the Washington towards the Russell Islands, Kondo ordered his warships to retire without bombarding Henderson Field. One of Kondo's destroyers was also sunk during the engagement.[144]
Transport Kinugawa Maru beached at Guadalcanal in November 1942.
As Kondo'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 army 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.[145]
On 26 November, Japanese Lieutenant General Hitoshi Imamura 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 to concentrate on the situation in New Guinea.[146]
Battle of Tassafaronga
Main article: Battle of Tassafaronga
The Japanese continued to experience problems in delivering sufficient supplies to sustain their troops on Guadalcanal. Attempts to use only submarines the last two weeks in November failed to provide sufficient food for Hyakutake's forces. A separate attempt to establish bases in the central Solomons to facilitate barge convoys to Guadalcanal also failed because of destructive Allied air attacks. On 26 November, the 17th Army notified Imamura that it faced a 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 the necessary supplies.[147]
Raizo Tanaka
Eighth Fleet personnel 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, and a swimmer or boat from shore could pick up the buoyed end of a rope and return it to the beach, where the soldiers could haul in the supplies.[148]
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.[149] 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, 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.[150]
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 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.[151] The Japanese torpedoes hit and sank the U.S. cruiser Northampton and heavily damaged the cruisers Minneapolis, New Orleans, and Pensacola. The rest of Tanaka's destroyers escaped without damage but failed to deliver any of the provisions to Guadalcanal.[152]
By 7 December 1942, Hyakutake's forces were losing about 50 men each day from malnutrition, disease, and Allied ground or air attacks.[153] 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 torpedo.[154]
Japanese decision to withdraw
Main article: Operation Ke
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.[155]
On 28 December, General Hajime Sugiyama and Admiral Osami Nagano personally informed Emperor Hirohito 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.[156]
Battle of Mount Austen, the Galloping Horse, and the Sea Horse
Main article: Battle of Mount Austen, the Galloping Horse, and the Sea Horse
Left to right, unnamed soldier, Colonel Richard H. Jeschke, Commander of the 8th Marines, U.S. Army Major General Alexander Patch, who succeeded Vandegrift on 9 December 1942
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 and the U.S. Army's 25th Infantry and 23rd "Americal" Divisions. U.S. Army Major General Alexander Patch replaced Vandegrift as commander of Allied forces on Guadalcanal, which by January totaled just over 50,000 men.[157]
On 18 December, Allied (mainly U.S. Army) forces began attacking Japanese positions on Mount Austen. A strong Japanese fortified position, called the Gifu, stymied the attacks and the Americans were forced to temporarily halt their offensive on 4 January.[158] 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.[159]
Ke evacuation
See also: Battle of Rennell Island
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.[160]
USS Chicago sinking on 30 January during the Battle of Rennell Island
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 Chicago. 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, south of Guadalcanal, to be ready to counter a Japanese offensive.[161]
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 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.[162]
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.[163] Two days later, on 9 February, Patch realized that the Japanese were gone and declared Guadalcanal secure.[164]
Aftermath
Allied commanders assemble on Guadalcanal in August 1943 to plan the next Allied offensive against the Japanese in the Solomons as part of Operation Cartwheel.
After the Japanese withdrawal, 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, and a bomber airfield was built at Koli Point. 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.[165]
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 which, after modification in August 1943, formalized the strategy of isolating Rabaul and cutting its sea lines of communication. The subsequent successful neutralization of Rabaul and the forces centered there facilitated the South West Pacific campaign under MacArthur and Central Pacific island-hopping 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.[166]
Significance
Resources
Military cemetery on Guadalcanal, 1945
Henderson Field in August 1944
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 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.[167]
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.[168]
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.[169] 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.[170]
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 and Buna–Gona)[171] 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.[172] 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.[173][174]
The "Europe first" 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.[175] 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.[176]
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.[177]
Tokyo Express no longer has terminus on Guadalcanal.
—Major General Alexander Patch, 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, IJA, Commander, 35th Infantry Brigade at Guadalcanal[178]
Beyond Kawaguchi, several Japanese political and military leaders, including Naoki Hoshino, Nagano, and Torashirō Kawabe, stated shortly after the war that Guadalcanal was the decisive turning point in the conflict. Said Kawabe, "As for the turning point [of the war], when the positive action ceased or even became negative, it was, I feel, at Guadalcanal."[179]
The 1st Marine Division (1st MARDIV) is a Marine 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 Expeditionary Force (I MEF).
It is the oldest and largest active duty division in the United States Marine Corps, representing a combat-ready force of 22,000 personnel. It is one of three active duty divisions in the Marine Corps today and is a multi-role, expeditionary ground combat force. It is nicknamed "The Old Breed".
The division is employed as the ground combat element (GCE) of the I Marine Expeditionary Force or may provide task-organized forces for assault operations and such operations as may be directed. The 1st Marine Division must be able to provide the ground amphibious forcible entry capability to the naval expeditionary force (NEF) and to conduct subsequent land operations in any operational environment.[2]
The 1st Marine Division currently comprises a headquarters battalion, four regiments and five separate battalions as follows:
The lineal forebear of the 1st Marine Division is the 1st Advance Base Brigade, which was activated on 23 December 1913 at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Subsequently, the brigade was redesignated on 1 April 1914, as the 1st Brigade, and on 16 September 1935, as the 1st Marine Brigade).[3] The brigade consisted of the Fixed Defense Regiment and the Mobile Defense Regiment, later designated as the 1st and 2nd Regiments, 1st Brigade, respectively. In 1916, while deployed in Haiti, the two regiments were again redesignated, exchanging numerals, to then become the 2nd and 1st Regiments, 1st Brigade. Between April 1914 and August 1934, elements of the 1st Brigade participated in operations in Mexico, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, and Cuba, receiving campaign credit for service in each nation. While the 1st Brigade did not serve ashore in the European theater during the First World War, the brigade was awarded the World War I Victory Medal Streamer, with one bronze star, in recognition of the brigade's service during that conflict.[4] On 16 September 1935, the brigade was redesignated as the 1st Marine Brigade and deployed to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba in October 1940.
A Marine of the 1st Marine Regiment on Guadalcanal.
a black and white image of two Marines in their combat uniforms. One Marine is providing cover fire with his M1 Thompson submachinegun as the other with a Browning Automatic Rifle, prepares to break cover to move to a different position. There are bare sticks and rocks on the ground.
Marines of 1st Marine Division fighting on Okinawa, 1945.
The 1st Marine Division was activated aboard the USS Texas on 1 February 1941.[5] In May 1941, the 1st MARDIV relocated to Quantico, Virginia and Parris Island, South Carolina and in April 1942, the division began deploying to Samoa and Wellington, New Zealand. The division's units were scattered over the Pacific with the support elements and the 1st Marine Regiment transported en route to New Zealand on three ships, the USATs Ericsson, Barnett and Elliott from Naval Reserve Air Base Oakland to New Zealand,[6] and later were landed on the island of Guadalcanal, part of the Solomon Islands, on 7 August 1942.
Initially, only the 7th Marine Regiment was in garrison on British Samoa,[7] with the 5th Marine Regiment having just encamped at Wellington, New Zealand after disembarking from USAT Wakefield, and the 1st Marine Regiment not scheduled to arrive in New Zealand until 11 July.[8] The 1st Raider Battalion was on New Caledonia, and the 3rd Defense Battalion was in Pearl Harbor. All of the division's units, with the 11th Marines (artillery) and 75mm howitzer armed 10th Marines battalion would rendezvous at Fiji.[8]
Due to the change in orders and shortage of attack and combat cargo vessels, all of the division's 2.5-ton trucks, M1918 155-mm howitzers[9] and the sound and flash-ranging equipment needed for counter-battery fire had to be left in Wellington. Also, because the Wellington dock workers were on strike at the time, the Marines had to do all the load reconfiguration from administrative to combat configuration.[10]
After 11 days of logistical challenges, the division, with 16,000 Marines, departed Wellington in eighty-nine ships embarked for the Solomon Islands with a 60-day combat load which did not include tents, spare clothing or bedrolls, office equipment, unit muster rolls, or pay clerks. Other things not yet available to this first wave of Marine deployments were insect repellent and mosquito netting.[11] Attached to the division was the 1st Parachute Battalion, which along with the rest of the division, conducted landing rehearsals from 28 to 30 July on Koro Island, which Major General Alexander Vandegrift described as a "disaster".[12]
On 31 July the entire Marine task force was placed under the command of Vice Admiral Frank J. Fletcher's Task Force 61. The division as a whole would fight in the Guadalcanal Campaign until relieved at 1400 on 9 December 1942 by the Army's Americal Division commanded by Lieutenant General Alexander Patch.[13][14] This operation won the division its first of three World War II Presidential Unit Citations (PUC). The battle would cost the division 650 killed in action, 1,278 wounded in action with a further 8,580 contracting malaria and 31 missing in action.[13] Others were awarded for the battles of Peleliu and Okinawa.[2]
Following the Guadalcanal Campaign, the division's Marines were sent to Melbourne, Australia for rest and refit.[15] It was during this time that the division took the traditional Australian folk song "Waltzing Matilda" as its battle hymn. To this day, 1st Division Marines still ship out to this song being played.[16]
The division would next see action during Operation Cartwheel which was the codename for the campaigns in Eastern New Guinea and New Britain. They came ashore at the Battle of Cape Gloucester on 26 December 1943[17] and fought on New Britain until March 1944 at such places as Suicide Creek and Ajar Ridge. During the course of the battle the division had 310 killed and 1,083 wounded. Following the battle they were sent to Pavuvu in the Russell Islands for rest and refitting.[18]
The next battle for the 1st Marine Division would be the bloodiest yet at the Battle of Peleliu. They landed on 15 September 1944 as part of the III Amphibious Corps assault on the island. The division's commanding general, Major General William H. Rupertus had predicted the fighting would be, "...tough but short. It'll be over in three or four days – a fight like Tarawa. Rough but fast. Then we can go back to the rest area."[19] Making a mockery of the prediction, the first week of the battle alone cost the division 3,946 casualties, during which time they secured the key airfield sites.[20] The division fought on Peleliu for one month before being relieved.[21] Some of the heaviest fighting of the entire war took place in places such as Bloody Nose Ridge and the central ridges of the island that made up the Umurbrogol Pocket.[22] The month of fighting against the 14th Division (Imperial Japanese Army) on Peleliu cost the 1st Marine Division 1,252 dead and 5,274 wounded.[23]
The final campaign the division would take part in during World War II would be the Battle of Okinawa. The strategic importance of Okinawa was that it provided a fleet anchorage, troop staging areas, and airfields in close proximity to Japan. The division landed on 1 April 1945 as part of the III Amphibious Corps. Its initial mission was, fighting alongside the 6th Marine Division, to clear the northern half of the island – that they were able to do expeditiously. The Army's XXIV Corps met much stiffer resistance in the south, and on 1 May 1945 the Marine division was moved south where it relieved the Army's 27th Infantry Division. The division was in heavy fighting on Okinawa until 22 June 1945, when the island was declared secure. The 1st Marine Division slugged it out with the Japanese 32nd Army at such places as Dakeshi Ridge, Wana Ridge, "Sugarloaf Hill" and Shuri Castle. Fighting on Okinawa cost the division 1,655 killed in action.
During the war, the division had five Seabee Battalions posted to it. The 6th NCB was attached to the 1st Marine Division on Guadalcanal. They were followed by the 19th Naval Construction Battalion (NCB) which was assigned to the 17th Marines as the third battalion of the regiment. They landed at Cape Gloucester with the division. The 17th Marines were inactivated with the 19th NCB being reassigned. After that, the 33rd NCB was posted to the 1st for the assault on Peleliu and they were replaced by the 145th NCB for the invasion of Okinawa. (see:Seabees) On Peleliu, the 17th Special NCB(segregated) was assigned to the 1st Pioneers as shore party. Together with the 16th Marines Field Depot(segregated) they helped evacuate wounded and bury the dead for the 7th Marines. On the first night of the assault, nearly all of the 17th Seabees volunteered to hump ammo to the frontlines. They also reinforced the Marines in sections where directed, were used to crew a 37mm, and were utilized for several days. For their efforts, they received an official "well done".[24][25][26][27] The 33rd NCB also had 202 Men assigned to the shore party.[28]
Following the surrender of Japan, the division was sent to Northern China as the lead combat element of the III Amphibious Corps with the primary mission of preventing the People's Liberation Army from accepting the surrender of Japanese soldiers in Northern China, and to secure that region of China for the Nationalist Government.[29] They landed at Taku on 30 September 1945 and would be based in Hebei Province in the cities of Tianjin and Beijing, and also on the Shandong Peninsula,[30] with the Chinese Civil War between the Kuomintang and Chinese Communist Party raging around them. Most Marines in the division would be charged with guarding supply trains, bridges, and depots to keep food and coal moving into the cities. During this time they increasingly fought skirmishes with soldiers from the People's Liberation Army who raided ambushed, and harassed the railways and other infrastructure.[31][32]
By the summer of 1946 the division was suffering the effects of demobilization and its combat efficiency had dropped below wartime standards; however, its commitments in China remained. As it became increasingly apparent that a complete collapse of truce negotiations among the Chinese factions was apparent, plans were laid for the withdrawal of all Marine units from Hebei. The last elements of the division finally left China on 1 September 1947.[31]
Marines of 1st Marine Division at the Battle of Chosin Reservoir.
Following the end of World War II and the postwar drawdown of forces, by 1950 the division only possessed the strength of a reinforced regimental combat team.[33] The division would be assembled on the battle field and would participate in the amphibious assault at Inchon under the orders of United Nations Command (UN) commander General MacArthur.[34] The division was the unit chosen to lead the Inchon landing on 15 September 1950. At Inchon, the division faced one of its most daunting challenges, deploying so hurriedly it still lacked its third infantry regiment and ordered to execute an amphibious assault under the worst tidal conditions they had ever faced. After the landing they moved north and after heavy fighting in Seoul they liberated the city.
After the liberation of Seoul, the division was put back on ships and taken to the eastern side of the Korean peninsula and landed at Wonsan on 26 October. As part of X Corps commanded by Army Major General Edward Almond the division was ordered to push north towards the Yalu River as fast as possible.[35] The then commanding officer of the division, Major General O.P. Smith, did not agree with his superiors and had become convinced that they were stretched thin and that the Chinese Forces had entered the war. He purposely slowed his advance and consolidated along the way at every opportunity.[36] The 1st Marine Division was attacked by ten Chinese People's Volunteer Army (PVA) infantry divisions on 27 November 1950. They fought their way out of the Chosin Reservoir against seven PVA divisions suffering over 900 killed and missing, over 3,500 wounded and more than 6,500 non-battle casualties mostly from frostbite during the battle. The greater part of the PVA 9th Army was rendered ineffective as they suffered an estimated 37,500 casualties trying to stop the Marines' march out of the "Frozen Chosin". The division was evacuated from Hungnam in mid-December and then landed in Pusan.[37][38]
Beginning in early 1951 the division participated in several UN offensives in east-central Korea. This was followed by defending against the Chinese Spring Offensive. By June 1951 the 1st Marine Division had pushed northward and secured the Punchbowl and then settled into a defensive line 11 miles (18 km) long.[39]
In mid-March 1952 the 8th Army, to whom the Marines were attached, instituted Operation Bootdrop. The operation was a massive redeployment of UN forces designed to put more Republic of Korea Army units on the Jamestown Line, the UN's Main line of resistance (MLR).[40] The 1st Marine Division was reassigned to the far western end of the MLR defending a 35 miles (56 km) line that encompassed the Pyongyang to Seoul corridor. For much of the next year, in what would be termed the "Outpost War", action along this line consisted of small, localized actions because much of the fighting revolved around the holding and retaking of various combat outposts along the MLR, including the Battles of Bunker Hill, First Hook and Outpost Vegas. Fighting continued until the Armistice took effect on 27 July 1953.[39] During the Korean War the division suffered combat casualties of 4,004 dead and 25,864 wounded.
In 1953 the division command post was established at Tonggu.[41] The site was later named Camp Howze by the US Army. A memorial to—US and ROK—Marine participation in the war is located at the adjoining district of Bongilcheon-ri (봉일천리) (37°43′52″N 126°49′59″E).[42]
In August 1965, the division's 7th Marine Regiment participated in Operation Starlite, the first major engagement against the Vietcong (VC) for American ground troops in South Vietnam.[43] This was followed in September by Operation Piranha.[44]: 69–83 In December Division elements conducted Operation Harvest Moon.[44]: 101–11
In March 1966 division elements conducted Operations Utah, Oregon and Texas.[45]: 109–27 March also saw the 1st Marine Division Headquarters established at Chu Lai.[46] By June, the entire division was in South Vietnam, its Tactical Area of Responsibility (TAOR) was the southern two provinces of I Corps — Quang Tin and Quang Ngai.[45]: 128–31 In August the division conducted Operation Colorado.[45]: 213–20 Between March and October 1966 to May 1967, the division conducted 44 named operations. The division received its 7th Presidential Unit Citation for service from 29 March 1966 to 15 September 1967.[47]
From January to April 1967 the 7th Marines conducted Operation Desoto.[48]: 53 In early April 1967 under Operation Oregon the division moved north to Da Nang to support the 3rd Marine Division and Task Force Oregon took over the division's former TAOR.[48]: 78 From April to May Division units conducted Operations Union and Beaver Cage.[48]: 63–8 From May to June the 5th Marine Regiment conducted Operation Union II with Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) forces.[48]: 68 In September Division units and ARVN forces conducted Operation Swift.[48]: 111–9 In November the 5th Marines conducted Operation Essex.[48]: 120–2 On 4 December 1967 Task Force X-Ray was activated to implement Operation Checkers, the movement of the 1st Marine Division from Thừa Thiên Province north to Quảng Trị Province to support the 3rd Marine Division which was engaged in heavy combat along the Vietnamese Demilitarized Zone.[49]: 105–6 From 28 December 1967 to 3 January 1968 Division units conducted Operation Auburn on Go Noi Island south of Da Nang.[49]: 91–7
On 11 January 1968 Task Force X-Ray headquarters was established at Phu Bai Combat Base and assumed operational control of the 5th Marine Regiment which moved north from Da Nang and the 1st Marine Regiment already based at Phu Bai.[49]: 105–6 When the 1968 Tet Offensive began at the end of January, the division was involved in fierce fighting with PAVN/VC throughout its TAOR and together with ARVN units would defend Da Nang and fight the Battle of Huế.[49]: 141–249 The 1st Marines would receive a Presidential Unit Citation for its actions at Huế.[50] From May to August Division units conducted Operation Allen Brook on Go Noi Island.[49]: 328–43 From May to October Division units conducted Operation Mameluke Thrust in Happy Valley southwest of Da Nang.[49]: 417–7 From 1 to 19 October Division units conducted Operation Maui Peak to relieve Thường Ðức Camp.[49]: 418–21 From late October to early December the 5th Marines conducted Operation Henderson Hill in Happy Valley.[49]: 423 From 20 November to 9 December Division units conducted Operation Meade River south of Da Nang.[49]: 426–36 From 6 December to 8 March 1969 Division units conducted Operation Taylor Common in the An Hoa Basin west of Hội An.[49]: 437–42 [51]: 88–94
From 31 March to 29 May 1969 Division and ARVN units conducted Operation Oklahoma Hills southwest of Da Nang.[51]: 103–16 From 26 May to 7 November Division, ARVN and Republic of Korea Marine Corps (ROKMC) units conducted Operation Pipestone Canyon on Go Noi Island.[51]: 175–87 On 7 June PFC Dan Bullock of 2/5 Marines was killed in a PAVN sapper attack on An Hoa Combat Base, having lied about his age to enlist, he was, at 15 years old, the youngest American killed in the war.[52]
From July to August 1970 Division units conducted Operation Pickens Forest southwest of An Hoa Combat Base.[53]: 69–76 From 1 September to 7 May 1971 Division and ROKMC units conducted Operation Imperial Lake in the Quế Sơn District south of Da Nang.[53]: 91–2
On 13 January 1971 Operation Keystone Robin Charlie began with the standing down of the initial units supporting the division. The redeployment accelerated in mid-February but then slowed when HMH-463, HML-167, HMM-263 and MASS-3 were retained to support Operation Lam Son 719.[53]: 220 Throughout April the remaining Division units transferred bases and tactical areas of responsibility to the Americal Division.[53]: 235–8 On 14 April 1971 the 3rd Marine Amphibious Brigade was activated at Camp Jay K. Brooks and III Marine Amphibious Force transferred all remaining Marine forces to it.[53]: 238 On 30 April President Richard Nixon welcomed the division back to Camp Pendleton and awarded it a second Presidential Unit Citation for its service in South Vietnam.[53]: 242
In 1975, the division supported the resettlement of South Vietnamese refugees by providing food and temporary shelter at Camp Pendleton for Vietnamese refugees as they arrived in the United States.[55]
In 1990, the 1st Marine Division formed the nucleus of the massive force sent to the Middle East in response to Iraq's invasion of Kuwait. During Operation Desert Shield, the division supported I Marine Expeditionary Force (I MEF) in the defense of Saudi Arabia from the Iraqi threat. In 1991, the division went on the offensive as part of U.S. Marine Forces Central Command (MARCENT)[56] with the rest of Coalition Forces in Operation Desert Storm. The 1st Marine Division destroyed around 60 Iraqi tanks near the Burgan oil field without suffering any losses.[57] 1st Marine Division Task Force Ripper (RCT-7) M60A1 RISE Passive Patton tanks destroyed about 100 Iraqi tanks and armored personnel carriers, including about 50 top-of-the-line Soviet T-72 tanks.[58] These efforts were instrumental in the liberation of Kuwait from Iraqi forces.
On 2 May 1992, the 1st Marine Division took part of Operation Garden Plot to help local and state law enforcement as well as the California Army National Guard in quelling the Rodney King riots in Los Angeles County, California. It was part of the 3,500 federal military force sent to Los Angeles. The Marine Corps contingent included the 1st Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion, commanded by Marine Corps General John F. Kelly. As part of the Joint Special Purpose Marine Air Ground Task Force Los Angeles, Marines took up positions in Compton and Long Beach to prevent further rioting and disorder. No rioters or civilians were killed or injured by the Marines, nor did the Marines themselves suffer any casualties. On 10 May, six days after the riots ended, Marines formally withdrew from the city and returned to Camp Pendleton.[59]
Letter by Gen Mattis distributed throughout division before the 2003 invasion of Iraq
Immediately following the Persian Gulf War, the division sent units to assist in relief efforts following a typhoon in Bangladesh (Operation Sea Angel) and the eruption of volcano Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines (Operation Fiery Vigil).[2] In December 1992, Operation Restore Hope, bringing relief to famine-stricken Somalia, kicked off with the early morning amphibious landing of Marines from the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit, which was supported by 2nd Battalion, 9th Marines. More than 15,000 metric tons of food was successfully distributed from 398 different food sites in the city during the operation. The final phase of the operation involved the transition from a U.S. peacemaking force to a United Nations peacekeeping force. U.S. Marine involvement in Operation Restore Hope officially ended on 27 April 1993, when the humanitarian relief sector of Mogadishu was handed over to Pakistani Armed Forces.[2]
The 1st Marine Division, then under the command of Major General James Mattis, was one of the two major U.S. land forces that participated in the 2003 invasion of Iraq as the land component of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force. In December 2002, Mattis was quoted as saying, "The President, the National Command Authority and the American people need speed. The sooner we get it over with the better. Our overriding principle will be speed, speed, speed."[60] Initially, the division fought through the Rumaila oil fields, feinted an attack towards Basrah[61] then moved north on Iraq Highway 1 to An Nasariyah – a moderate-sized, Shi'ite dominated city with important strategic significance as a major road junction and proximity to nearby Talil Airfield. The division then fought its way to Baghdad and pushed further to secure Tikrit by forming Task Force Tripoli after the fall of Baghdad. The division covered 808 kilometers in 17 days of sustained combat,[62] the deepest penetrating ground operation in Marine Corps history. After the invasion the division settled in to conduct security and stabilization operations in Baghdad, Tikrit, and then in south-central Iraq from May to October 2003. For actions during the war as part of I MEF the division was awarded its 9th Presidential Unit Citation.[2]
The division returned to Iraq in February 2004 and took control of the Al Anbar province in western Iraq; it was the lead unit in Operation Vigilant Resolve and Operation Phantom Fury in 2004. During February and March 2005, the division was relieved by the 2nd Marine Division concluding the largest relief in place in the history of the Marine Corps.[2] In 2006, the division again deployed to Iraq as the ground combat element for I MEF in the Al Anbar province. It returned to MCB Camp Pendleton in early 2007.[citation needed]
Battalions from the 1st Marine Division have been regularly deployed to Afghanistan since 2008. In 2010, 1st Marine Division (Forward) deployed to Helmand province, Afghanistan, as part of the more than 30,000 troops into the country. While in Afghanistan, the Division served as the ground combat element for Task Force Leatherneck, leading a multinational coalition and working alongside Afghan National Security Forces.[63]
Originally termed a battle blaze, the shoulder sleeve insignia of the 1st Marine Division was designed by Lt. Col Merrill Twining, Division D-3 in February 1943 while the division was stationed in Victoria, Australia.[64] The blue diamond with the Southern Cross is similar to the Flag of Victoria. The red numeral one in the middle denotes the division's first action on Guadalcanal. A commercial firm in Melbourne first produced the shoulder patch with every Marine issued two of them[65] that was sewn on his battle jacket.
The 2nd Marine Division originally had a similar battle blaze of the same design with a red snake in the shape of a "2" also reading GUADALCANAL.[66]
Marine Corps shoulder sleeve insignia were officially authorized on 15 March 1943.[67] Some in the division who served on Guadalcanal wore their "battle blaze" on the right shoulder to distinguish themselves from replacements who had not been on "The Canal".[citation needed]