Guadalcanal Campaign Begins - August 7 1942

The Japanese had landed on Guadalcanal in May of this year and were busily engaged in building an airfield. Allied aircraft had seen it and knew it was intended to threaten and harass the supply lines from the mainland US to Australia and New Guniea.
But what to do?
The Allies had already committed themselves to defeating Germany First and most of the available men, materiel and shipping were already being gathered for Operation Torch - the landing in North Africa.
So they scraped together a hodge podge group of ships and landing craft and they gathered the storied 1st and the 2nd ("To None") Marine divisions and sent them off on a wing with a prayer to a tiny speck, a foul, malarial piece of rotting jungle in the South Pacific.
And for the next 6 months their mothers and wives and sweethearts will worry and wonder and wish for a good ending there.
This is a place where names are made famous; Vandergrift, Henderson Field, the Cactus Air Force, Edson's Hill, Tenaru, Iron Bottom Sound, the Tokyo Express.
A place where the Allies cut their teeth on amphibious landings.
It's a place where Lt. Genjiou Inui and James R "Rube" Garrett will write their compelling diaries.
It is a tiny speck in the South Pacific with a huge strateigic value from which 7000 Marines and 30,000 Japanese do not return to their mothers and lovers and friends.

In the meantime:
Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, commander of the entire Japanese Fleet wastes no time.
He radios his commanders in Rabaul, New Brighton and tells them to sortie.
He sends Adm. Gunichi Mikawa with 5 Heavy cruisers, 2 light cruisers and a destroyer south to attack the American shipping.
Against them Adm R. Kelly turner will put up 6 Heavy cruisers, 2 light cruisers and 8 destroyers.
On the 9th they will fight it out in tight confines in the Battle of Savo Island.
The results will be the worst ash kicking the American Navy has ever recieved.
The American Heavies Astoria, Vincennes, and Quincy plus the Australian Heavy cruiser Canberra will all be sunk, Heavy cruiser Chicago will be heavily damaged as will destroyers Ralph Talbot and the Patterson.
Two Japanese Heavies will be moderately damaged.
1100 American and Aussie sailors will go down to watery graves while only 60 Japanese will be killed.
The Japanese rejoice.
The American public is appalled.
The politicians are livid.
The top brass is ashamed.
And it's only the beginning of the Guadalcanal/Solomon Islands campaign.
70 years ago this week.

Very good. Tell us more.

Thanks for the reminder of what so many went thru so we can enjoy our freedom to talk about it here

Thanks for the refresher in Naval history UD.
I enjoy them.

Ultrdog,

Please let me add my thanks also for the information that you post about the War. It's a strong reminder of why we must never let America decline.

1,100 / 60 / 7,000 / 30,000. It sounds so antiseptic but, oh how much it means.

Tom in TN

My father fought at Guadalcanal. He was Navy attached to the 1st Marine Division. He hadn't turned 16 yet. Thankfully he made it home.

We kicked some major butt in them days, now the pansy azz politicians cant set a goal, win a war or stop taking money from special interests.
WW2 was won cause men like Ike, Patton and Mccarther were tough SOBs.

My daughter-in-law's grandfather was over there. A real nice guy.

Thanks very much for the post.. Battles of Savo Island..

Guadalcanal, the beginning of the long road back to Japan..

Thank You!
Think about this when considering the purchase
of a Toyota, or a Mitsubishi..manufacturer of
the Zero Airplane..There will be no "Rice Grinders" in my garage.

Prior to the campaign, no one stateside had ever heard of Guadalcanal, and few even the Solomon Islands.

Early in the war, the Japanese were regarded as virtually invincible jungle fighters as no one had yet stopped them anywhere in the South Pacific. The Marine invasion force was landed but their Naval support was soon driven away by the IJN. For days the Marines knew not when, or even if, the Navy could return to support them.

For weeks, the IJN and later the USN would send heavy ships in at night to shell opposing positions on the island and sometimes each other. Meanwhile, the IJN would send reinforcements down the slot from Rabaul regularly, usually at night. The conditions were awful and the outcome in doubt for months.

The campaign lasted nearly six months before the island was secured and, along with Milne Bay in New Guinea, is considered the turning point of the ground war in the South Pacific.

My Mother, a WWII Army Nurse, served at Milne Bay and my first part time job while in high school was given to me by a Marine Guadalcanal Veteran.

Dean

I can't support that.
The men who fought there - on both sides - made peace between themselves years ago.
Most of them did not carry their grudges to their graves
Let's not carry their grudges to OUR graves.
WWII Vets make Peace

MY Uncle Bill was there ,And lived to tell about it ,, Though YOU gotta PRY it OUT of Him ,/// He IS 94 years old NEXT week !

Not sure MacArther was such a tuff guy. He didn't get the nick-name of "Dug out Doug" for nothing. He was a better publist than a great general. My mother told me all about what he did to the World War I Vets on the Anacostia Flats in Washington, DC

Dennis,
I'm no great fan of Mac either. But I absolutely support what he did at Anacostia Flats. The Veterans there did deserve something. The memory of that event is partly what prompted the US to give better benefits to the returning veterans of WWII. But their movement had been entirely co-opted by the socialists and Comintern which was a big threat to our way of life in those days.
Mac actions nipped that movement in the bud.
He knew if he failed he would be held a scapegoat by the nation and his commanders.
He knew it would be unpopular even if successful and he could likely lose his career - even be court marshaled for it. But I think he was right.

Adm. Turner went on to redeem himself and in 1964 the Navy named a guided missile frigate after him, the USS Richmond K. Turner (DLG-20).

Just a slight amendment,that would possibly be New Britain. part of their colonisation.