On February 9, 1943, the Battle of Guadalcanal ended. Code-named Operation Watchtower, the battle marked a turning point in the Pacific theater. The United States had already won important battles at Coral Sea and Midway, but they had been on the defensive since the attack on Pearl Harbor; the Guadalcanal Campaign was the Allied Forces first major offensive against the Japanese. Guadalcanal lies in the Solomon Islands. Ninety miles long and averaging 25 miles wide, the island is made up of dormant volcanoes, thick rainforest, and steep ravines. Japanese troops had landed on the little South Pacific island in June 1942, intending to build an airfield and, from there, launch long-range bombers that would disrupt the supply and communication routes from the United States to New Zealand and Australia. Two months later, on August 7, Allied forces — mostly American — invaded to put a stop to the plan. Half the forces landed at Guadalcanal, and the other half invaded the nearby islands of Tulagi and Florida. Guadalcanal has no natural harbors, and its southern shores are protected by a coral reef. The Allies had no choice but to come ashore on the north central coast. They secured the airfield — which they renamed Henderson Field — by 4 oclock the next afternoon. The Japanese waged war on land, sea, and air, and launched a major counterattack in November. Although heavy casualties were suffered on both sides, the Allies managed to hold them off. The American troops were eager and enthusiastic, but inexperienced. Their enemy soon figured out that they were uncomfortable with night operations, so the Japanese planned attacks and major troop movements for the midnight hours. In addition to their human enemies, both the Allied and Japanese forces struggled with swarms of mosquitoes, tropical diseases, and an oppressively hot and humid climate. Disease carried off more American troops than the Japanese did in the first few months of the campaign. For every soldier that fell in battle, five fell to malaria or dysentery. The Japanese also suffered from malnutrition, many of them forced to live on coconuts alone. By December, Japanese commanders were beginning to talk about withdrawing from the Solomon Islands. After six months, three major land battles, seven naval battles, and nearly continuous air battles, the Japanese began to evacuate their troops in the early morning hours of February 7. On February 9, the United States declared victory. Japan lost 25,000 experienced ground troops, compared with 6,300 U.S. Marines. Both sides lost many ships, but the Allies were in a better position to replace them than the Japanese were. Japan also lost most of its elite naval aviators. Major General Kiyotake Kawaguchi, a commander in the Imperial Japanese Army, later said: 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. Once the campaign was ended, Guadalcanal and Tulagi were developed into Allied bases to support their Pacific campaign. The Japanese forces, now on the defensive, never regained the upper hand, and eventually surrendered in August 1945.
Posted on: Tue, 11 Feb 2014 00:32:47 +0000
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