BATTLE OF GUADALCANAL 1942-3

After defeating the Imperial Japanese Navy at the Battle of Midway in
June 1942 the Allies set about clearing Japanese bases from the
Solomon Islands. This required amphibious operations against several
islands-including Tulagi, where a seaplane base needed removing, and
Guadalcanal, where a major airbase was being constructed.

The Allies assembled an invasion force at Fiji under US Vice-Admiral Frank Fletcher, with ground forces led by Major-General Alexander Vndegrift, commander of the US 1st Marine Division, which provided most of the ground forces

Approaching under cover of bad weather, the assault force went ashore on the main objective was the capture of Guadalcanal itself and the airbase there. Other forces were tasked with capturing Tulagi and other smaller islands in the group. On Guadalcanal itself. things went very well. The terrain, which was mostly jungle. proved more of a problem than enemy resistance for the first day. and by the end of the second the airfield was in Allied hands, along with stores, supplies and construction equipment abandoned there. Although heavily outnumbered, the Japanese troops on the other islands put up a stiff fight and had to be eliminated almost to a man. this sort of fanatical resistance became familiar as the war went on and resulted in heavy casualties for the Allies, even when dealing with quite small outposts. Meanwhile, the Allies came under attack from aircraft out of Rabaul on the island of New Britain in New Guinea. This was met by carrier-based fighters, with casualties on both sides. Some attack got through and caused damage to transport ships not yet unloaded. Soon afterwards, the carrier force had to withdraw for lack of fuel.


THE TOKYO EXPRESS
After losing many transports to air attack, Japanese commanders decided that a traditional amphibious operation was not feasible and instead implemented what became known as the Tokyo Express, whereby destroyers and light cruiser-dashed in under cover of night to land relatively small forces and re-supply them. The Tokyo Express was a cleaver solution to the problem of getting troops on to Guadalcanal, but it had its limitations. Small warships could not carry heavy equipment or artillery and ships engaged in these operations were not available for war-fighting missions elsewhere. Nevertheless the Tokyo Express ran several thousand Japanese troops into Guadalcanal over the next few weeks until sufficient forces had been built up for an attack.

ENDGAME
Land warfare in the pacific was heavily influenced by the situation at sea. Whichever side had sea control could bring in supplies and reinforcements, tipping the balance of the land engagement. Thus the naval actions off Guadalcanal were vital to the land campaign. Several battles were fought at sea in the vicinity of Guadalcanal, including the Battles of Savo Island and Cape Esperance. A Japanese force attempting to bring reinforcements to the islands and to bombard Henderson Field clashed with US ships in a close-range brawl that coast both sides dearly and left the US Navy very short of ships to defend Guadalcanal when the Japanese attempts to reinforce their presence on the island were unsuccessful and US forces began taking the offensive, pushing the enemy away from the airfield. Cut off from re-supply and being ground down, the remainig Japanese forces were evacuated in early February, ending the campaign. Guadalcanal was the first clear-cut land victory