The FReeper Foxhole Revisits "Operation Watchtower" - Guadalcanal (8/1942-2/1943) - Aug 27th , 2004

http://grunts.net ^ | Joseph Leach

[snippy_about_it]

Lord,

Keep our Troops forever in Your care

Give them victory over the enemy...

Grant them a safe and swift return...

Bless those who mourn the lost.
.

FReepers from the Foxhole join in prayer
for all those serving their country at this time.


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The FReeper Foxhole Revisits

The Battle of Guadalcanal

Shortly after defeating the Japanese at the battle of Midway, the United States decided to push into the strategically important area of the southwest Pacific. Now that Hawaii was deemed secure from immediate attack it was time to take the fight to the Japanese. Both American C.O.'s in the Pacific,General Douglas MacArthur (SW Pacific) and Admiral Chester Nimitz (Pacific Ocean) were offensive minded, aggressive leaders, and welcomed the directive that came from the Joint Chiefs on July 2, 1942. This directive called for parallel attacks on Rabaul Island, New Guinea, and the Solomon Islands Chain. Plans were started for attacking in these areas immediately.

Just as fast the plans had to be looked at from a different angle, when air recon showed that the Japanese were moving troops from Tulagi to Guadalcanal and building an airfield on the latter. These islands were next to each other in the lower Solomon Chain. The Americans had been warned earlier by Australian Coast watchers that the Japanese were starting to occupy Guadalcanal,an island 90 miles by 25 miles and covered mostly by rain forests,mountains, and swamps. A Japanese airfield here would jeopardize all U.S.forces in the area. Guadalcanal had to be taken and taken right away. Normally the island would fall under the command of MacArthur,but for now the boundary between the two commands was moved, giving command of the operation to Nimitz.


Marines quickly exit their landing craft directly in the palm tree line. Landing close to the trees gave the Marines cover from possible Japanese defenses.

Preparation and training started at a feverish pace. Nimitz assiagned three carrier groups (Saratoga, Wasp, and Enterprize) under the command of Admiral Fletcher to support the operation. Fletcher was in over-all command of the operation. Admiral Turner was in command of the landing force. This force consisted of the lst Marine division and a regiment of the 2nd Marine Division.(19,000 men) General Vandergrift commanded these troops. Lastly the operation was backed up by a joint force (TF44) of American and Australian cruisers and destroyers.


Raising the Colors on Guadalcanal after the initial landings, circa 7 August 1942.
Officer standing second from right in this group appears to be the First Marine Division commander, Major General Alexander A. Vandegrift, USMC.

At 0900 hours on 8/7/42 (8 months to the day after the sneak attack on Pearl harbor) 11,000 Marines landed on Guadalcanal after a lengthy naval and air bombardment. The landing was not contested by the Japaese and the airfield was secured that first day. Tulagi was also hit by a force of 1,000 Marines and it was a different story. The Japanese resisted fiercely and in two days fighting the Marines killed just about all of them.

On the 2nd day things became more difficultt for the Marines on Guadalcanal. Fletcher withdrew the Carrier groups for fear of air attacks from Rabaul. Turner did the same with the transports. The Marines were now on their own in enemy territory. To make matters worse for them, Turner's transports held much needed supplies and equipment. In addittion to the supplies there were also 1,000 Marines still on the transports that would be sorely needed in the coming hours. The only naval force in the area were the patrolling ships of TF44. Vandergrift put the Marines in a five mile long defensive perimeter and started to finish building the airfield with the equipment he had, plus that which the Japanese left.


Captain Warren Frederick Martin Clemens, British Solomon Islands Protectorate Defense Force (BSIPDF), with six members of the BSIPDF Scouts, on Guadalcanal circa the later part of 1942.
Clemens identifies these men as (standing beside him): Daniel Pule (left) and Andrew Langabaea. Those seated are (left to right): Olorere, Gumu, Chaparuka and Chaku.
Each of the Scouts is armed with a British SMLE #1 rifle. Clemens, the British Colonial Service District Officer on Guadalcanal, had remained on the island throughout its May-August 1942 occupation by the Japanese.

The Japanese Commander in the area, Admiral Mikawa, sent a naval force from Rabaul down between the islands of the Solomon Chain (known as "The Slot") on the night of the 8th and hit TF 44 by suprise. In two quick battles off savo Island the allied force lost the Canberra, Quincy, Astoria, Vincennes, and the Chicago with a great loss of life.




On the night of the 20th of August the Japanese that had been landed earlier hit the Marine line at the Tenaru River in a fanatical "Banzai" attack. The young Marines held their ground and slaughtered the attackers. When the sun came up the ground before the Marine line was littered with over 800 dead Japanese. These young Americans who had been civilians a short time ago had stood up to a professional, experienced army and beat them.

Their hardships and heroism was just starting though.

August 20th was also the day the first Marine fighter planes landed on the now usable airfield. They quickly dubbed themselves "the Cactus Air Force." The field itself was named Henderson Field in honor of Major Lofton R. Henderson killed in the Battle of Midway.


Temporary grave with marker which reads, "Here lies a Devil Dog",

The Japanese kept underestimating the strength of the Americans on Guadalcanal and kept putting their troops ashore piecemeal. They also kept up the pressure on the U.S. Navy which returned to the area. In ensuing sea battles the Enterprise was crippled by bombs. The Japanese lost a seaplane carrier(the Chitose) and over 70 planes. A Jap troop ship was also sunk, and the USS Saratoga was put out of action for 3 months by torpedoes. The Wasp and the battle ship North Carolina were also sunk. The loss of life inflicted upon the sailors engaged was extremely high.

The battle for the island continued with the Americans landing troops and supplies during daylight hours and the Japanese doing the same after dark. This procedure the Japanese used with ships (mostly destroyers) shuttling troops in at night became known to the Marines as "the Tokyo Expess." The night of the 21st of August was the scene of another "Banzai" attack against Henderson Field. l,000 Japanese ran screaming into the Marine positons and 800 were killed before morning.


Japanese Navy Type 1 land attack planes (later nicknamed "Betty") fly low through anti-aircraft gunfire during a torpedo attack on U.S. Navy ships maneuvering between Guadalcanal and Tulagi in the morning of 8 August 1942.
Note that these planes are being flown without bomb-bay doors.

The "Tokyo Express" dropped off another 6,000 troops and on the 13th of September 3,500 of them hit the south perimeter of the airfield. This area was defended by the lst Marine Raider Battallion under the command of Lt.Col. Merritt (Red Mike) Edson. They were dug in on a ridge and bore the brunt of wave after wave of "banzai" attacks. Edson was all over the field of battle, exhorting his men, and fighting right in the line wih them. At one point the Japanese breached his line and he ordered a pullback and then called in artillery strikes on their previous positions catching the attackers in the open. This area became known as "Bloody Ridge."

Dawn broke over the bodies of l,000 Japanese lying in and around the Marine positions. The balance had fled back into the jungle. After the battle, Vandergrift sent large patrols into the jungle after the retreating enemy. There was almost a serious setback when a battallion of Marines were hit by a large body of Japanese and were pushed back to the beach. It looked like they'd be overrun until a destroyer responded and bombarded the attacking Japanese while the Marines were evacuated by landing crafts. It was during this operation that Coastguardsman Douglas Munro put himself in harms way while evacuating the Marines and received the Medal of Honor posthumously. He was the only member of the Coast Guard to receive this honor.

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FReeper Foxhole Armed Services Links

[Darksheare]

Nope, no armor whatsoever.
She behaved rather well.
It's just taht she's not speaking to me now.

[Victoria Delsoul]

Hi everybody. Getting closer…

[Tax-chick]

Battle of the Bulge was a terrible movie.

[snippy_about_it]

Hi Victoria. Starts tomorrow?

[snippy_about_it]

Awww. I'm sure she'll start speaking to you when she gets hungry. Did her vet visit go okay?

[snippy_about_it]

Active. You stay safe and let us know if you need anything.

[snippy_about_it]

I'm driving Snippy crazy...

Par for the course, but beyond that, I have to wait outside most of the time or I'll bite the head off the poor clerk. I think the stores are up to no good! I can get snippy. ;-)

[colorado tanker]

I agree. Battle of the Bulge was a stinker of a movie.

[Darksheare]

Basically just a follow up to confirm what I already knew.
But yes, it went okay.
And she's at least looked at me like I'm not melting anymore.

[SAMWolf]

Afternoon Victoria. You gonna be home for the Cconvention or soes school start?

[Professional Engineer]

1859 1st successful oil well drilled, near Titusville, Penn

Another Uncle chimes in. :-)

[Professional Engineer]

Hiya Sam.

[Professional Engineer]

Howdy ma'am

[GATOR NAVY]

Have you ever seen a battle star listing for the whole fleet? I'm wondering what other ships had close to 17. ENTERPRISE comes to mind right away.

[GATOR NAVY]

One of the base elementary schools in Sasebo is named E.J. King.

[snippy_about_it]

Enterprise had 20 didn't she?

I've looked and cannot find a list by itself. Only each ship listed individually:

www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USN/ships/dafs

or a list of only DE & APD's:

http://www.desausa.org/de_apd_battle_stars.htm

or a book that list all of them:

http://www.battlestarsandnavalawards.com/

[GailA]

We are back from camping, and back in action from having our hard drive crash. OUCH.

[SAMWolf]

Welcome back GailA. How was the camping trip?

[PhilDragoo]

Congratulations for making the first Google page of ten (10) returns of the 716 total for "Operation Watchtower" + Guadalcanal:

The FReeper Foxhole Remembers "Operation Watchtower" - Guadalcanal

Great list of thirty-nine (39) books on:

Guadalcanal campaign, August 1942 - February 1943

Two coastwatchers man the KEN control station near Henderson Field in the
Solomon Islands. The coastwatchers bravely operated behind enemy lines,
providing valuable information about Japanese movements, rescuing downed Allied
airmen, and evacuating civilians. Eric Feldt, an officer an the Royal Australian Navy,
was instrumental in organizing this sometimes forgotten resistance unit.

Equipped with radio transmitters, the coastwatchers were essentially human radar, and they helped Allies inflict significant defeats on Japanese naval and air forces. In the Solomons, coastwatchers were stationed on Guadalcanal, Buka, Bougainville, New Georgia, Santa Isabel, and Malaita. Most of the Japanese aircraft that attacked Guadalcanal from their bases in New Britain had to pass over New Georgia. The reports from the coastwatchers on that island were especially valuable, allowing American planes to intercept in coming bombers.The famous American naval commander, Admiral William "Bull" Halsey, remarked of these men, "The coastwatchers saved Guadalcanal and Guadalcanal saved the South Pacific."

The gripping true account of the 1st Marine Raider Battalion -- from its formation and training to its heroic baptism under fire in the battles of Tulagi and Guadalcanal.

No campaign in World War II was undertaken with as many shortcomings as Operation Watchtower -- the invasion of Guadalcanal in the summer of 1942. Rushed into action with little training, virtually no enemy intelligence, and using equipment left over from World War I, the gutsy-but-green men of the 1st Marine Division and its attached units were thrown headlong into what would become one of the bloodiest battles of the war.

During almost four trying months of constant shelling, bombing, and ground attacks, the 1st Marine Division defied all the odds and somehow managed to beat the hardened Japanese troops at their own game. No campaign in World War II was conducted with as much ferocity. No campaign saw such sustained violence on land, at sea, and in the air. And no other campaign hung in the balance for so long -- to finally be won by the unrelenting courage of a group of American heroes who never gave up the fight.

Synopsis:

The captivating, edge-of-your-seat story of the formation, training, and courageous fighting of the 1st Marine Raider Battalion--and the heroes it produced. No campaign in World War II was undertaken with as many shortcomings as the invasion of Tulagi and Guadalcanal in the summer of 1942. No campaign saw such sustained violence on land, at sea, and in the air, and no campaign produced as much courage and heroics. Boasting two Congressional Medals of Honor and thirty-seven Navy crosses among them, the Marine Raider Battalion's story is both riveting and fascinating.

Synopsis:

The riveting real-life account of the courageous American soldiers who won everlasting glory during the WWII battle for Guadalcanal. From a 25-year veteran of active military service comes this gripping, revealing, and heroic history of the Ist Marine Raider Battalion--a stunning true story of the grass-green U.S. infantrymen who fought and triumphed against more experienced Japanese soldiers in the epic battle for control of the strategically significant island of Guadalcanal in 1942.

~~~

Regarding book stores, we last went into one in 2000 and fought with the snotty clerk who bragged he maintained duplicate registration in New York so he could go back and vote for Hillary.

I went out to the halftrack, got the flamethrower, and. . . .

[SAMWolf]

Evening Phil Dragoo

Congratulations for making the first Google page of ten (10) returns of the 716 total for "Operation Watchtower" + Guadalcanal:

Thanks. We're famous!! ;-)

Equipped with radio transmitters, the coastwatchers were essentially human radar

Great minds think alike. I told Snippy just last evening that a thread on the Coastwatchers would make a good Foxhole thread.

Kerry has also betrayed us as a Senator.