The year is 1942 just a few months after the Pearl Harbor disaster. Despite losses suffered by the allies at the Philippines at Corregidor, General MacArthur’s command, Malaya, Indonesia, Singapore, Wake Island, and Guam, to name a few, the US Navy manages a decisive victory at the Coral Sea and at Midway where the 4 Japanese carriers involved in the Pearl Harbor attack were sunk. Guadalcanal will be the first attempt by the US to a ground offensive against the Japanese. The initial objective will be to capture, hold, and finish construction of Henderson Air Field. There the US must maintain air operations to limit Japanese dominance in the area.

General Vandergrift is in command of an 11,000 man US Marine occupational force that has successfully landed and captured an air field the Japanese were constructing. Things are looking hopeful until the US Navy loses the worst sea combat engagement in US history at Savo Island where during a night action the Americans lose 3 cruisers, with two warships damaged, and an Australian cruiser is also sunk. The following day, Rear Admiral Richard K. Turner, learning of the major defeat at Savo Island, makes the decision to withdraw his carrier group before unloading rations, additional troops, and weapons. Luckily artillery consisting of 75 millimeter and 105 millimeter artillery are offloaded along with 7 days of rations for the US Marine garrison. The US Marines are forced to rely upon another 14 days of captured Japanese rations from the airfield while it was held by their enemy to extend US Marine survivability.

As a result of the defeat of US forces at Savo Island, the Japanese are free to launch night operations under the nickname “Tokyo Express” as troop transports and Japanese warships deliver a 900 man seasoned veteran Japanese troop unit under Colonel Ichiki. The Butai plan is to await further reinforcements (2,300 troops) before any frontal attack against the Americans is launched, but Colonel Ichiki is way too confident, convinced that his experienced force can out fight and overwhelm the Americans. The previous months of Japanese sweeping victories has emboldened the Colonel Ichiki to seek out and destroy the Americans thinking his force is a superior fighting machine that is invincible!

At the mouth of the Tenaru River just up the coast from where the Japanese force has landed is a sandbar separating the mouth of the river from the ocean. Here the US Marines have named the narrow body of water “Alligator Creek” which is incorrect as it is crocodiles who live in these waters. At this time the Japanese have control of the sea and air superiority being challenged by the F-4F US Marine operated Wildcat fighters, who are only achieving a 2 to 1 kill ratio at best against the A6M Mitsubishi Zero! Henderson field is harassed day and night by bombers and the Imperial Navy conducting offshore bombardments in the darkened hours. Henderson Field named after a US Marine officer who died at the Battle of Midway, is a valuable piece of real estate for the allies as well as the Japanese.

General Alexander Vandergrift has ordered the formation of a loose defensive perimeter around the airfield, not yet knowing from which direction the enemy will attack. As the days roll on, water shortages, two meals a day allowed, and malaria plague the US troops. A recon is ordered so a small force of 38 Marines is sent to scout enemy troop movements. The Japanese have also deployed an advanced patrol. When the two encountered one another a fire fight quickly breaks out and the Japanese are wiped out in short order, but the Americans lose 3 men and another 3 are wounded. They make it back to the Marine lines still unsure of enemy intentions. A special commendation should be noted here to an islander by the name of Sir Jacob Vouza.

Sir Jacob Vouza was tortured and left for dead by his Japanese captors only to escape and then warn the Marines of the imminent surprise attack minutes before the Japanese assault.

The Japanese offensive marched right down the beaches to confront US Marine machine gun emplacements, artillery, mortar teams, and rifle squads. The Japanese foot soldiers were armed with their Arisaka Type 99 assault rifle, confident that they could exact superior firepower with their bolt action rifles. Colonel Ichiki also ordered a flanking action having one regiment wade further down the coast and come up from the ocean on a two pronged assault. Little did the Japanese know that The US Marines had already established a grid of pre-targeted artillery trajectory that would further rain down devastation on the incoming Japanese attackers. The first of Ichiki’s forces charged into US Marine defenses, and 100 Japanese Imperial soldiers were wiped out in minutes.

A second wave was ordered in a Banzai style assault! Initially some Marine forward positions and machine gun nests were overrun and captured, but this did not last long as those positions were recaptured in the bloody fighting. To make matters worse for the Japanese, two 37 millimeter anti-tank weapons were in position to further bombard Japanese aggressors. Attempting to out flank American positions, Japanese attempted a further inland assault to use small arms and machine gunfire to further harass the Marines. Now for the better part of an hour both forces exchanged gunfire at a distance. The flanking force who had waded parallel from the ocean came ashore and were slaughtered by the US Marine 30 caliber heavy machine guns on the perimeter defenses. These would be another hundred Japanese fatalities bloodying the waters of the shoreline.

By this time, one of Colonel Ichiki’s officers was advising a withdrawal, but Ichiki was having none of it! He ordered what was left of his 917 man unit to continue their attack. By now the offensive had stalled and General Vandergrift consulted with his staff on their next move. The Marines assembled a counter attack to out flank the Japanese from the beaches bottling them up from the front and from behind shoreline positions cutting off their escape route! Now compressed and losing more casualties by the minute, the Japanese were stunned to see 4 US M 3 Stuart Light tanks coming along the beaches to add more insult to injury! Although Japanese troops managed to disable one M 3 Stuart Tank, the other three laid down punishing fire with their 37 millimeter cannon and 30 caliber Browning machine guns!

General Vandergrift noted that as the M 3 Stuarts moved across the battlefield running over the dead as well as the Japanese who refused to get out of the way, the tank treads looked like meat grinders! As they literally mowed down the remaining resistance! The general was stunned by the fact that even in convincing defeat, the Japanese refused to surrender as many of the wounded and dying continued to shoot at the Americans as they waded into the battlefield to disarm and capture the survivors. Some of the enemy allowed US Marines to get close enough that they would pull the pin on a grenade and kill an American as well as themselves. Once the shooting had finally subsided, US Marines crept in among the dead and extracted souvenirs from the enemy. There are conflicting reports of Japanese losses with some saying 800 dead while others say that of 917 in Ichiki’s force, only 17 Japanese survived with the colonel himself even being killed in action or committing suicide in dishonor for his failure. The defeat of the Japanese by the US Marines was a major morale booster, as the British had begun the myth of the Japanese super soldier which was finally debunked!

There has been a misconception over the main reason for the US Marine victory in the battle being by virtue of the superior firepower of the 8 clip M-1 Garand rifle have been issued to the Americans and in having sheer rapid fire capability over the bolt action Arisaka Type 99 rifle, however this is not true! The US Marines were armed with the WWI version Springfield bolt action rifle, pump action shot guns, and some Thompson machine guns. It was the fighting spirit and the clever tactic of the counter attack ordered by General Vandergrift that sealed the fate of the arrogant actions of Colonel Ichiki and his ill-fated Butai force.

This would be one in several desperate battles for the Japanese to reacquire Henderson Field, in bloody engagements such as Edson’s Hill and actions under the command of legendary Major, Chesty Puller that would decide the final outcome of Guadalcanal remaining in American hands. This, as many more US Navy warships and their Japanese counterparts would be sunk in “Iron Bottom Bay” as control of the seas remained contested for months to come. Ultimately, the victory at Guadalcanal would lead to forcing the Imperial Navy and Army to fight on the defensive and lead to the island hopping victories all the way to the Japanese mainland to end the war by 1945.