Guadalcanal 72 Years On

[kham]

est Rabaul's raid is 15 Bettys, 9 Zeros to H. Kennedy on New Georgia gave H. an hour warning. Marines aren't satisfied to intercept, they set an ambush. Zeros lead the Bettys and attempt to jump F4Fs taking off. F4Fx16 are already airborne and break up the attack. A melee breaks out. 4 Zeros down! Now the Bettys arrive... and they have no escort! 3 Bettys shot down. (I assume it would have been more but the F4Fs had been down low fighting Zeros and had to climb and chase the Bettys) Marines lose 1 F4F in a takeoff accident. 1-2 more in combat. All pilots saved.

Rabaul is done. Used up. They'll be more raids but they're no longer able to do anything about the air power at H. ***The campaign for air superiority over Guadalcanal has been decided!*** Of course, if the IJA capture the airfield next week... (**Very much like what the Luftwaffe experienced almost EXACTLY one year ago..)

USN intel says J. have a big attack planned for 'canal the night of Oct 21. Land, Sea and Air.

est DD O'Brien, crippled by a torp on Sept 15 (Wasp sinking), is falling apart at sea on the way to SF. They try to make Pago Pago.

[kham]

DD O'Brien, badly damaged Sept 15 in same attack that sank Wasp, is on the way back to the US for repairs. She starts shaking then falls apart and sinks. All of her are crew rescued by escorting ships. (pic from 1940)
For the technically inclined, here's the official USN report on the loss of O'Brien
U.S.S. O'Brien (DD415) Torpedo Damage And Loss

est Maruyama Trail day 4 They still haven't crossed Lunga river! More artillery abandoned. Maruyama says that due to slow progress on the trail, the attack will be postponed until Oct 22. (today, you can take tours of the trail and still come across those abandoned artillery components and ammo)

[kham]

est F4Fs are busy flying CAP over the the minelayers delivering AvGas and the barge full of AvGas that was towed in yesterday.

The main airfield at H. is closed due to sporadic IJA artillery fire. Fighter One remains open.

est Sub Grampus delivers coastwatcher Waddell to Choiseul. Waddell is ashore by dawn but his *bright yellow* rafts are stuck on a reef! They stab them with bayonets and haul them away *just* before the morning flyby of a J. flying boat. The first native Waddell meets is Beni - an old friend of his! Beni immediately starts organizing the natives to make a network for Waddell while Waddell looks for a base.

Maruyama Trail day 5. Creep, creep, creeping along. Security is so tight they won't use their radio at night because of the glow from the tubes. (don't ask me why they just don't cover it.)

[kham]

est IJN CV Hiyo has engine trouble. She must return to Truk. IJN now has 4 CV/CVLs lurking N. of 'canal. USN has Hornet on patrol and the Enterprise is on the way.

est Halsey has a command meeting at Noumea. He wants to gauge the the mood of the commanders He thinks that if they expect to lose they will.
Halsey: Are we going to evacuate or hold? V.: Hold, if we get the help Army Gen. Harmon/Patch: Hold Adm. Turner: Hold - you'll get the help
Halsey cancels plans to build airfield on Ndeni island (near Santa Cruz). They'll build an airfield at Aola bay on 'canal instead with the 147th infantry, 1st Batt (1,700 men) The engineers surveying the site (at Ndeni) were hit HARD by cerebral malaria.

The main airfield at H. is closed due to sporadic IJA artillery fire Fighter One remains open.. There's about 27,700 Marines and Soldiers on 'canal and Tulagi. 23,100 on 'canal

est 30 Zero fighter sweep from Buin. After that there's a 16 Betty, 18 Zero raid from Rabaul. F4Fs intercept both. Joe Foss notices a drop in IJN pilot quality. Foss says it's ok to go in there and dogfight them now! (Bauer says the same thing on Oct 23)
Today IJN loses 3 Bettys, 4 Zeros. Marines lose 3 F4Fs and 2 pilots.

[kham]

est Sumiyoshi's force probes on the Matanikau front. A recon attack with 2 tanks pulls back after 1 tank hit by 37mm AT.

IJN sub I-176 fires 2 torps at CA Chester! (N. of New Hebrides) Chester HIT by a torp! She's out of action until Sept 1943. 11 killed, 12 wounded.

Maruyama Trail day 6 Creep, creep, creep. They're behind Mt. Austen now.
Adm. King tells Nimitz that FDR has approved a big increase in SWPac air power starting Jan 1 1943. They'll get planes that had been scheduled for Europe! 70 heavy bombers, 150 army fighters, 52 army medium bombers, 60 army patrol bombers, and... ONE THOUSAND NAVY PLANES!!! The problem is holding out until these show up.

ESD Chesty Puller's battalion will be defending a long part of the perimeter S. of H. Just about the same area Edson defended last month.
The Marines *know* an attack was coming but feel the most likely spot is across the Matanikau. Marines transfer a battalion from the Bloody Ridge area to Matanikau. Puller is spread very thin. The IJA strategy of building the Maruyama trail far from Marine patrols is working. The Marines have not the slightest clue there are nearly 6,000 IJA approaching Puller's 700 defenders.

Last month Col. Edson did something brilliant - he put his artillery unusually close to the front line... allowing him to control them even when the phone lines were cut. Now it's Col. Puller's turn to be brilliant. Pullers sends a scavenging party to the Henderson Field boneyard - where wrecked aircraft are set aside while their parts are scavenged. They take all the machine guns they can! F4Fs have 6 .50s. SBDs have 2 .50s plus a twin-barrel double speed .30* in the tail. (*I don't know if it's practical to use that MG on land. But they do take a lot of MGs!) Puller's men are now *far* more heavily armed then any force the J. expect to confront. #MoreDakka

est Thomas Holcomb, Marine Corps Commandant, visits Guadalcanal.
The main airfield at H. is closed due to sporadic IJA artillery fire. Fighter One remains open...
est Today's Rabaul raid is 7 Bettys and 20 Zeros. F4Fs intercept and shoot down 6 Zeros! AA gets a Betty. 2 F4Fs shot down. While this is going on P-400s hit Matanikau and zap 2 AA positions.

[kham]

est The IJA poked Marines near Matanikau all day with artillery. A steady harassing fire. IJA doesn't have enough ammo for a real barrage.
There's another probing attack by Sumiyoshi at Matanikau river. 9 tanks plus infantry try to cross the sand bar at the mouth of the river. After 37mm AT kills a tank, the force pulls back.

[kham]

Maruyama Trail day 7 The main force has passed Mt. Austen now. Maruyama is still not in position to attack H. Attack postponed until Oct 23. Maruyama not sure if his message was received.

est Torpedo boat tender Jamestown sets up at Tulagi That, effectively, means Tulagi is a PT boat base.

[kham]

est The Sub Amberjack has been outfitted as a AvGas tanker to deliver 9,000 gallons to H.! Also, a lot of bombs. Sets off for 'canal today. FYI, using a submarine as a transport is a desperation move.

The main airfield at H. is closed due to sporadic IJA artillery fire Fighter One remains open.... Bad weather, no raid from Rabaul

est Coastwatcher Joselyn finally has all his supplies moved into his position (took a long time because he has no native porters) Now his radio doesn't work and he doesn't know how to fix it.

est Leaving the Maruyama trail, IJA's attacking forces are forming up S. of H. Gen. Nasu and Div HQ will head directly to H. Kawaguchi will take the right flank with 6 battalions. That would be about the same spot as in Sept! Kawaguchi meets with Tsuji. K. says air recon photos show the defenses there are even stronger than in Sept. He offers an alternate plan. He'll move his force further east and attack *behind* the ridge - across an open plain. Tsuji: Great idea - I'll recommend it to Maruyama. Just a reminder - Tsuji is the most hated man in the IJA.

est USN recon spots those IJN CVs again
Sumiyoshi's force peppers Marine positions at Matanikau with artillery and 90mm mortars all day
3 PBY "Black Cats" raid shipping near Shortlands.
Forgot to point out that Puller is defending the ridge S. of H. with *fewer* men than Edson had last month.
There *are* 1,000 men of the Army's 164th regt. holding the line to his left.

est Enterprise arrives in the SWPac Halsey: "Now we have a fighting chance." The Enterprise is still under repair at sea.
est J. notice a *big* increase in US recon flights. That tells them something is going on.

The IJA has abandoned many guns along the Maruyama trail. The rest will be aimed at H. based on a captured map. That map is badly out of date. The guns are aimed at nothing. Along the Matanikau the IJA harass Marine defenses with what is now the normal all-day-long artillery fire.

est Yamamoto is confounded by the lack of sighting of the USN CVs. He and Nagumo get more and more nervous.

Time for a map!
est Halsey now has control of some Fleet subs. He deploys them N, E and W of 'canal to look for the IJN.
est Yamamoto tells IJA that if they don't capture H. today or tomorrow fuel shortage will limit IJN support
est A PBY spots the big IJN CVs and is able to shadow them for hours. Another PBY relieves it and maintains contact until sunset.

[kham]

With better weather, Rabaul sends a raid of 16 Bettys, 28 Zeros. F4Fx24, P-39x4 intercept. No F4Fs shot down. 7 were damaged and 1 sent to the scrapyard. There's no record of the J. losses but Zeros were seen crashing into the jungle.

est Maruyama is still not in position to attack H. He postpones the attack until Oct 24. Sumiyoshi, at Matanikau, doesn't get the word

How can these PBYs keep shadowing IJN CVs? PBYs are hard to shoot down.

[kham]

est South of H., Kawaguchi gets his schedule. His forces will take a day and a half to get into the position he wants but the schedule calls for an attack much earlier. He field phones Maruyama to tell him he doesn't have enough time. Then he discovers why Tsuji is the most hated man in the IJA. Tsuji didn't tell Maruyama about Kawaguchi's new plan! Kawaguchi is fired on the spot by Maruyama and replaced by Col. Shoji who'll attack according to the original plan. What happened? Apparently Tsuji didn't like Kawaguchi's idea and, by not telling Maruyama, made Kawaguchi look like an idiot ... and got him fired. So the original plan (Tsuji's?) continues.
(**And this is why, this collection of infantile retards should again, not be fighting in a modern war....)
"Tsuji was regarded as the most notorious Japanese war criminal to escape trial after the war."
..see details of Tsuji vs Kawaguchi. Apparently bitterness stemmed from Philippines occupation
Kiyotake Kawaguchi

est 3 Black Cat PBYs, armed with torpedoes, set off for a night attack against Nagumo's CVs.


Heavy arty fire from Sumiyoshi's force at the Matanikau hits the Marine defense line. Arty is also hitting the road *behind* the Marines. IJA wants to prevent reinforcements from arriving. The key spot along the Matanikau line is the sandspit at the coast. Only place along the river you can cross without swimming or bridges. Marines have 2 37mm AT guns there - 50 yards apart. Here's one of them. There's also a 22 man rifle platoon, with an artillery forward observer. On call is artillery, mortars and half-tracks with 75 mm guns. The IJA artillery along the Matanikau... Stops! Sumiyoshi's diversionary attack begins with 9 tanks trying to cross the sand bar at the mouth of the Matanikau. IJA is using their Type 97 tank.
Behind the tanks, lurking out of sight in the jungle, is what's left of the IJA 4th regt. This is going to be a rough attack for the IJA - they're outnumbered 2 to 1! The Marines have 4 battalions nearby and the 5th Marine regt. is holding a 2nd defense line a mile and a half back. Gen. Del Valle, 1st Mar Regt., looks at the high amount of IJA artillery fire and commits most of his big guns to support .. the Matanikau line. Marines are gambling that this attack is the only one they'll need to repel tonight. Marine artillery - now deployed all around the airfield - is being moved towards Matanikau. IJA infantry are also building up around hill 73 - preparing to cross the river about 500 yards further South.
est The 37mm AT crew can hear a tank - too dark to see it. They try to aim at vague shapes - their illuminated gun sight is broken! They miss 4 shots and the tank gets past them onto the beach leading to Lunga. As that lone tank moves E along the beach, PFC Champagne grenades its treads - immobilizing it. Then a 75mm TD comes up and destroys it. (TD = Tank Destroyer) In other words, one of those half-tracks with a 75mm gun. Now that the 37mm AT has had time to adjust for their busted sight they start knocking out tanks that pass by. The 75mm TD gets the leftovers. 8 more tanks destroyed. (4 each) 3 more tanks on the W. side of Matanikau were spotted and knocked out by artillery. What the sandspit looks like the next morning
Meanwhile, marine arty barrages from the Matanikau river back to point Cruz. This is heavy enough to prevent any infantry from advancing.
est Marine artillery and mortar annihilate IJA infantry advances. One battalion fired so many mortar rounds their tubes wore out! The rifle platoon guarding the sandspit never even saw an IJA infantry that night. (they saw bodies the next morning) The disastrous diversionary attack along the Matanikau is over. Marines losses are 25 killed, 14 wounded. They estimate J. losses, mostly to arty, at 600. Next morning, Marines see bodies all over the sand bar and across the river. After the war, Sumiyoshi said bad comms were to blame for his attacking too early.

est A Black Cat PBY tries an attack against a CA escorting the IJN CVs. Doesn't hit but it gets Nagumo's full attention! It's clear the USN knows where the IJN CVs are but the IJN does *not* know where the USN CVs are. Nagumo is losing his mind. (probably) Nagumo heads N. to try and evade recon.

est Sumiyoshi's infantry make an attempt to cross the Matanikau further upstream. Nah, Bro.
After today's failed attack across the Matanikau the Marines are on a high state of alert.