Turning Back The Empire, Part III: Victory

In our last entry, part II of this three-part series on the Guadalcanal campaign, we ended with the conclusion of the fight for the Tenaru River, an American victory that foiled a Japanese attempt to drive the Americans off of Guadalcanal.

The end of August and the arrival of September found the American Marines on Guadalcanal battered, tired, but none the less alive and continually ready to fight. The success of the Tenaru River battle bolstered the Marines fighting spirit; but by no means were the Americans enjoying the comfort of complete victory. The Japanese bombed the Marines at Henderson Field from the air daily; and the Japanese command knew that the only way to achieve victory was to land more troops on the island, then to take Henderson Field as soon as possible, therefore annihilating the Americans, placing the island once and for all under complete Japanese control.

Here are two examples of Japanese air force pilots who took part in the Guadalcanal campaign:

a Japanese fighter pilot, his back to the morning sun. A fighter pilot receiving instructions from his superior at the Japanese air base at Tulagi (one of many islands off Guadalcanal's coast still under Japanese control). On September 13th, after days of continual air bombardment, the Japanese attempted to take Henderson Field by attacking a ridge to the South of the Field, held by two battalions of Marines. The ridge guarded the Southern--or inland--side of Henderson Field, the island coast being to the North. Therefore it was the North side of Henderson field that was the most strongest fortified part of the American line, since Japanese troops would have to land on the beaches to the North of Henderson field to attack the Americans. To land troops on the coast far from Henderson field, and to march them through the thick jungle to attack the relatively weak Southern portion of the American line, therefore, would surely bring success.

The Japanese were well adapted to attacking strait through the thickest of jungles, as the Japanese conquest of British-Held Singapore proved earlier that year.

And so, the attack on the ridge was launched just before midnight, and lasted well into the following morning. The Marines, while inferior in numbers, were strong in their position. The grassy field that the Japanese soldiers had to cross to get to the ridge was completely bare of trees; rather, they had to attack in the open. The Japanese had sent snipers around the flanks of the ridge to fire on the Marine positions from the rear; they kept quite busy harassing the Americans during the battle. The troops attacking the ridge head-on enjoyed no such luxury; mown down in large numbers in the wall of fire from the Marines machine guns, rifles, and grenades as they pressed up the slope, the Japanese met their chosen alternative to defeat: death. Handfuls of soldiers broke through portions of the Marines lines on the ridge, but were quickly driven back each time. On the break of the following morning--September 14th--the frontal assaults had been driven back, and the rest of the day for the Marines was spent evading snipers and fighting off pockets of Japanese resistance.

One more Japanese land battle to take Henderson Field failed, with the Japanese suffering hundreds of casualties. On the 18th of September, the Marines were finally re-enforced by more Marines and U.S. Army troops. This was exactly what the exhausted Marines on Guadalcanal needed; combat losses and deadly tropical diseases had been taking their toll through the American ranks, but with fresh troops, equipment, and supplies, things were now looking less bleak.

A U.S. soldier cleans his rifle. Weapons maintenance was essential in jungle combat; high temperatures and humidity could reduce metal gun parts to rusted junk in a single day if not properly cared for.

Problems for the American armed forces stationed on this tiny island were by no means over, however; rather, on the night of October 14th, a Japanese fleet sailed within extremely close range of the Americans and shelled their positions intensely with the soul objective of causing as much damage to Henderson field as possible. Nearly half of the 90 or so airplanes of the "cactus air force" (the nickname given to the detachment of Navy and Marine fighter and bomber aircraft stationed at Guadalcanal) were either destroyed or badly damaged. Ammunition and gasoline stores were transformed into flaming wrecks, and several Americans were killed or injured. But ingenuity prevailed the following day as the Americans repaired the airplanes with spare parts, and gas was siphoned from the tanks of destroyed B-17 bombers to be used in other surviving aircraft. As both sides poured re-enforcements onto the island, preparing for the knock-down, drag-out fight that was sure to come, two new arrivals--the American battleships U.S.S. Washington and U.S.S. South Dakota--won a narrow but critical victory against a huge Japanese ship fleet. Several Japanese troop transports, each full of soldiers to be landed on Guadalcanal to support the fight against the Americans, were sunk in the battle.

By December, American Army and Marine re-enforcements were arriving in such numbers that the 1st and 7th Marine regiments were allowed to pull out of Guadalcanal for a long-awaited and well deserved rest. General Vandegrift, who was the commander of the two Marine regiments who landed on Guadalcanal in August, was replaced by General Alexander M. Patch of the U.S. Army. General Patch, who now possessed superior ground, air, and firepower, took the offensive against the Japanese still on Guadalcanal, attacking the Japanese held high ground overlooking the American held areas, chiefly at a low mountain called Gifu.
Fighting was fierce, back-and-fourth, and when Gifu finally fell the Americans found that the Japanese had been preoccupied with evacuating Guadalcanal for good. Nearly 10,000 troops had been pulled out of Guadalcanal during night evacuation runs, to fight elsewhere in the Pacific.

On February 9th, 1943, General Patch sent

this message via radio to his superior,

Admiral Halsey:

"Total and complete defeat of Japanese forces

on Guadalcanal effected 1625 today"

(Note: "1625" means 4:25 p.m.)

The Guadalcanal campaign was over. It took nearly six months, from August to February, to win this first American land victory against the seemingly invincible Japanese armed forces. The United states lost 1,600 men in land and air combat; in Naval engagements, 2,000 sailors had given their lives. The Japanese lost a total of 20,000 men in the campaign to keep Guadalcanal under their control.

The victory of Guadalcanal was the major turning point in the war in the Pacific. The Japanese defeat at the Naval battle of Midway early in 1942 was a hard blow, and the first American victory of the war, but the Guadalcanal campaign was the first major step to winning the war, a goal that would be achieved in September 1945.

Turning Back the Empire, Pt. II: Guadalcanal

Henderson Field to Tenaru River

As we saw in our last entry, the beach landings on Guadalcanal went well, without a hitch. But it was not before long after the landing crafts reached the shore than Japanese air attacks swarmed down on the transport ships landing troops and supplies onto Guadalcanal. As a result, it became increasingly difficult for supplies to be landed. While casualties resulting from the air attacks were low, the greatest problem on the beaches was the chaos that resulted from inexperienced boat captains unloading gear, ammo, and food on the beach in an extreme hurry to get out of the area and back to safety--leaving the beaches littered in a disarray of vehicles, troops, and supplies. Needless to say, this provided a tempting target for Japanese bomber pilots.
When the 1st U.S. Marine Division landed on Guadalcanal virtually un-opposed by enemy land forces, they were dumbfounded. "Where are the Japanese?" was the question on every body's minds. Other than the air attacks, there was virtually no sign of the enemy's presence. As the Marines moved inland, however, they did meet slight pockets of resistance as we saw in the entry below. The Japanese airfield on Guadalcanal was captured without opposition only 36 hours after the landings. The airstrip was renamed "Henderson Field", after an American pilot who died in the battle of Midway the previous June. Before long several American aircraft were arriving from aircraft carriers. These were mostly Grumman F4F-4 Wildcat fighters and Dauntless Dive-bombers.

A Dauntless Dive-bomber warms up on Henderson Field before take-off. A Dauntless Dive-bomber flies over the jungle of Guadalcanal. Two American Soldiers move along a jungle trail on their way inland. Trees are felled to make the rural paths wider....
...until roads are formed, wide enough for vehicles.
In reality, the Japanese were completely caught unaware of the U.S. Invasion. When the severely understrength and outnumbered Japanese garrison on Guadalcanal came under attack, the troops guarding the coast fled inland to put up a fight elsewhere on the island. When the Japanese High Command learned that Guadalcanal was under attack, it was decided that all efforts would be taken by the Imperial Army and Navy both the push the Americans off of Guadalcanal. Things for the Americans soon got tough; as Japanese planes attacked the Marines and their supply ships from the air, Japanese ships brought fresh troops from other islands to fight on Guadalcanal. And in the early hours of August 9th, four ships from the American Navy were sunk in a night battle by a Japanese naval force with superior night-fighting skills and experience.
But the Marines were not easily removed; rather, despite attacks from fresh Japanese infantry on Henderson Field a few days after it's capture, the Americans held onto their 3x6 mile toehold they had gained on the island and stubbornly resisted all the Japanese could throw at them.
More and more Japanese troops poured into Guadalcanal's Japanese-held territory. Japanese supply and troop ships came and went so frequently on a regular schedule that the Marines dubbed the endless back-and-fourth movements of boats "The Tokyo Express".

Reports pour into the U.S. Headquarters. Communication was vital for the Americans for decision-making. A Dauntless Dive-bomber takes off from Henderson Field to bomb Japanese infantry positions facing the Marines front. On August 21st, the Japanese Army took up position on the Tenaru River, very close to Henderson Field. A fight ensued between the Marines and the Japanese, and each side contested for full control of both river banks.

Two U.S. Marines advance in high grass towards the Tenaru River.

Orders are given to send four American Tanks to the Tenaru river fight, to assist in flushing out the Japanese from the riverbanks. Japanese Soldiers rush in to the front on the Tenaru river. The battle lasted for several hours. A Japanese Marine keeps a wary eye on the enemy as he reaches into his ammo pouch for more ammunition to re-load his rifle. Fighting conditions were difficult; grass and trees higher than a man's head covered the island, and only a small patch of open ground ran along each river bank between the sandy waterline and the treeline.

A U.S. Marine breaks out into the open to let loose with his M1 Thompson Sub-Machine gun. The firing is kept up.... Anyone who steps into the open risks being shot. Here a U.S. Marine reloads his M3 Sub machine gun (nicknamed a "grease gun" because of it's appearance). The Americans won the battle, partially in thanks to the use of Tanks to help flush the Japanese out of concealed riverside positions. The fight for the Tenaru took place very near the delta, close to where the river met the open sea. Soldiers took cover behind sand bars, curves in the riverbank, and tall river grass or anything that offered the slightest bit of cover.

The battle for Guadalcanal was tough, but the Marines were doing well. Japanese losses were very high, and the Marines garrison was holding out despite the hardships. Jungle Heat: a Marine offers a drink from his canteen to a buddy during a break on a patrol through the jungle. Patrols were conducted throughout day and night to detect all enemy movement possible. Here a Marine refills his canteen. In the blistering heat of the South Pacific, water was more essential than bullets in jungle campaigns. When water was found, it didn't always have to be crystal-clear to be accepted as "drinkable"... Despite the hardships, the Marines were doing well--so far. But they braced themselves for something else that they knew was inevitable: a major, all-out attack on Henderson Field in an attempt to break the Marines line of defense and push them off Guadalcanal once and for all. Only 1,000 Japanese troops had been sent to take Tenaru, and were defeated; but thousands more were being massed for another attack somewhere else on the American lines.

More is to follow in the next upcoming post.

TURNING BACK THE EMPIRE: The Allies First Pacific Land Victories

For five years, from 1937 to 1942, the Japanese Army barely knew defeat. From their Conquest of Eastern China in 1937 to their takeover of the Philippine Islands from the United States in early 1942, it seemed that the Japanese Army and Navy could not be stopped. In their conquest of the Philippine Islands, the Japanese Army defeated and captured a large combined force of American and Filipino soldiers on the Bataan peninsula. After being forced to surrender to the Japanese, the Allied prisoners numbering 76,000 were formed into columns and marched 65 miles North to prison camps. The prisoners were very ill treated, and any stragglers who fell behind or were too slow were executed by the Japanese guards. Of all those who surrendered, over 10,000 of the already starved and exhausted prisoners died on what became known as the "Bataan Death March". With the Philippine Islands in Japanese hands, along with French Indo-China, Hong Kong, Singapore, and the oil-and mineral-rich nations of Burma and Thailand, the Allied Powers of Great Britain, Australia, China and the United States were well on their way to losing the war in the Pacific. By mid-1942, the Japanese Army had already advanced as far South as the Solomon Islands, just North-East of Australia. After the loss of the Philippine Islands to the Japanese, the Allied Forces decided that the key to preventing Australia's capture was to take over the Japanese-held Island of Guadalcanal, located in the Solomon Islands. Not only was the Island a key location for amphibious operations in the South Pacific, but the Japanese garrison in control of Guadalcanal were near to completing the construction of an airfield on the island. The airfield could then be used for launching air attacks on Australia prior to a military invasion. But if the United States took control of Guadalcanal, the airfield could be a base for further Island operations. Already, fierce fighting was taking place in Papau and New Guinea, where an Allied Force of United States and Australian soldiers were fighting desperately to keep the Japanese from overrunning the Island.

A United States soldier takes cover at the base of a rock formation during the intense struggle to keep New Guinea out of Japanese control.

The conditions were horrible for both sides. Along with the enemy soldiers, the men stationed in the South Pacific also battled overwhelming humidity, soaring temperatures, and scores of jungle diseases.

Here a Japanese soldier, soaking wet from tropical rains in the New Guinea jungle, keeps a keen eye out for enemy movements.
The battles for New Guinea only doubled the importance of the urgent need to wrest Guadalcanal from Japanese hands. And so, the United States attacked the Island on August 7th, 1942 with two divisions of Marines. Totalling 40,000 men, the invasion force consisted of soldiers, tankers, and lots of supplies.

The first U.S. Marines to land on Guadalcanal were surprised when they met no enemy resistance when they landed on the beach from their landing crafts. Instead, what they knew to be a fiercely defended Japanese beachhead was apparently empty. After the first wave of U.S. Marines hit the shore, the larger transports with jeeps and supplies came ashore. Here, a driver works his jeep up the sandy strip of beach as the soldiers come ashore in force. As the Marines moved inland, they kept a wary eye out for the enemy. And then, a discovery is made: The Japanese camp! It had been abandoned when the lookouts on the beach saw the U.S. Ships coming in. Almost all the Japanese soldiers fled the camp, running inland to put up a fight deeper in the jungle rather than near the open beach. At the tables, the U.S. soldiers found that the Japanese left half-eaten breakfast, gear, and weaponry. The weather on Guadalcanal that day was hot, humid, and the sky was mostly sunny but with a few scattered clouds. As the Marines established a beachhead, patrols began to move inland. So far, the only casualty was from a soldier who cut his hand while trying to open a coconut with his bayonet. The Marines were on high alert, since they now knew that the Japanese were preparing to fight to the death farther in the jungle. "No sign of the enemy yet. Keep a good look out". Sure enough, not far ahead were a few Japanese who decided to halt where they were and wait for the attackers to come close before opening fire. When fighting in the jungle, a Japanese would hide as well as he could and wait for the enemy to approach to within 15 feet before opening fire to increase his chances of hitting his target. "Crack, Bang, Crack!" Two Japanese soldiers, isolated from the rest of the army, fire on an approaching U.S. Patrol. One man hit, another is wounded; and a third marine returns fire with his Thompson Sub-Machine gun. After emptying his first magazine, he re-loads his weapon. Both of the Japanese soldiers have been killed in action. He then helps his wounded comrade back to the field hospital that was set up on the beach at the end of the Jungle. The battle of Guadalcanal was the first land victory that the Allies scored against the Japanese Army. And as the Marines battled the Japanese on Guadalcanal, the United States Navy was busy keeping the Japanese Navy from assisting in the quest of the Solomon Islands. Naval fighting even reached near Guadalcanal's coast, but the United States had the upper hand when they learned to fight battles at night, using newly-invented radar to locate Japanese ships in the dark. And the tide turned when the U.S. finally defeated the Japanese Imperial Navy at the battle of Midway.

It was the Beginning of the End for the Japanese Empire.

We will cover the rest of the battle of Guadalcanal in our next Pacific Theatre installment.