Guadalcanal
The United States did not wait very long after gaining the advantage in the Pacifis to begin making offensive movements. The Japanese had conquered the majority of the Solomon Islands in early 1942, taking much of the islands from the Australians. On the island of Guadalcanal, the Japanese began construction of an airbase, which could threaten Port Moresby as well as Australia itself. Ideally, Guadalcanal was an island that the Allies could not afford to ignore. It also would be the turning point of the land war in the Pacific.
After a long naval and aerial bombardment, the US Marines landed on Guadalcanal on August 7th, 1942, at Lunga Bay. Thus the first important offensive operation of the United States in the Pacific. The main target was the airbase (still not yet completed) of Henderson Field, which was taken with surprisingly little opposition. However the Japanese were not going to let the American's capture their airfield so easily and counter-attacked in the night of August 8-9th by sea and air. Many Allied ships, including three US heavy cruisers, were sunk and several more damaged. Using this victory, the Japanese were able to reinforce their Guadalcanal garrisons by sea.
Above: Landing at Lunga Bay.
By early October of 1942 the Marines began to evacuate and Army troops replaced them. By February 1943 the entire US garrison of Guadalcanal was held by Army units. The Japanese tried several times, often by means of fanatical banzai charges, to retake Henderson Field but each attack failed.
Above: The Japanese "knee mortar." Actually it was nothing of the kind, only incorrectly dubbed the "knee mortar" when a few not-too-bright US Marines started playing with a captured one ... and broke three thighs!
Eventually cut off from supply lines by Allied warships, patrol aircraft, and submarines, the Japanese were steadily driven further and further away from Henderson Field and finally the Japanese had their backs against the far beaches. They fought with fanatical fury, and preferring death to surrender the mopping-up campaign was particularly fierce. By March 1943 the island was secure and Henderson Field was then bustling with US aerial activity.
Above: Slain Japanese at the landing beach these soldiers tried fanatically to retake.
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