Guadalcanal 72 Years On

[kham]

Intel informs Marines IJA will soon land troops near Koli point. Vandegrift will send a battalion to greet them.
Marines will go on offense Westwards! Here's a map. (Kokumbona is on the coast just outside the left edge of the map)
(& next few hours) 3 footbridges laid across Matanikau by Marine engineers. (2 am Nov 1 local time) Usual crossing points well guarded by J

est CA San Francisco, CL Helena, DD Sterett bombard W. of Point Cruz. Marine arty opens up on J. positions W. of Matanikau
P-39s and SBDs from H. attack J. arty 19 B-17s from Espiritu Santo bomb Kokumbona The Marine offensive begins!

350 bedraggled Marines, remnants of 2nd Batt, 7th Regt, march E. from Lunga towards Koli point. (not part of the Matanikau offensive) It just wouldn't be right if the IJA landing at Koli point tomorrow night doesn't get a special Guadalcanal welcome. The 5th Marine Regt. has crossed the Matanikau River on those bridges!
est In support of the Matanikau crossing of the Sgt. Mitchell Paige uses his HMG unit to clear hills of J. from over 2,000 yards away. They fire the MGs like mini-artillery, raining down on the J. positions.

[kham]

est 2nd Lt. Yunck's F4F is zapped by AA over Rekata Bay. He splashes down off the NW coast of Santa Isabel and makes his way, in his raft, SE.

est A Marine battalion meets strong resistance near Pt. Cruz. All the other Marine units advance quickly. As V. expected and the J. feared, the 17th army is shattered and has a hard time even putting up a perimeter. Pt. Cruz is defended by the last 300 men of the 4th regt., Sendai division. IJA engineers have been busy creating field fortifications. The little patch of jungle is a fortress. One Marine company advances along the beach to surround the position. J. expected this and had their MGs ready. They chop up the Marine company and force it to retreat. Then they counter-attack! Marine MG crews are almost killed off.
Only one Marine on one MG is holding the line. Corporal Anthony Casamento is badly wounded but keeps firing his MG. He has to wrap his shirt around his throat to slow the blood loss! (!!!) He holds the line until his company reorganizes and repels the counterattack. Casamento has 14 different wounds!

est Over the rest of the day, Marines bring in reinforcements near Pt. Cruz. The IJA 4th is almost surrounded - they hold out. Marines dig in as night falls.
The Marine offensive made about 2 miles on the first day. Impressive for 'canal!

[kham]

est Col. Edson commits his reserves to trap that pocket of IJA near Point Cruz.

est Yamamoto tells Adm. Abe he'll be commanding the BB bombardment force that will suppress H.
Abe's friend, Adm. Goto was killed at battle of Cape Esperance last month. Y. tells Abe that Goto was surprised by USN ships with radar.

Coastwatcher Josselyn, after dodging many J. boats and barges, makes it to Kennedy's base in New Georgia. Kennedy is super-organized. He even has a prison for J. POWs! He can't fix Josselyn's radio. He gives Josselyn his radio and Kennedy will adapt a radio from a crashed J. bomber for his own use.

est TRs Alchiba and Fuller deliver an early Christmas present for Marines. Guns. Big Big Guns. 155mm Howitzers are delivered to the Marines. Now they can play tag with Pistol Pete. The Marine unit starts counter-battery fire just 4 hours after unloading. The Army gets a 155mm battery as well.

Now that you mention it...(**Some poster on twitter mentioned shouldn't he have gotten a medal? )

est Tsaku, one of Snowy Rhodes* scouts, arrives at Tangarare with 40 armed men. *Coastwatcher
His band have killed 55 J. and they want to join forces with Warlord of the West Coast - de Klerk.

The pocket S. of Point Cruz is surrounded by Marines of the 5th

est Y. fires Nagumo. (pictured) CVs Shokaku, Zuikaku, Zuiho sent back to Japan for repairs and to train new air crew. Junyo is the only working IJN CV in the SWPac. Hiyo is still being repaired at Truk. (bad engine)

[kham]

est Other than the pocket S. of Point Cruz, Marines aren't finding a lot of resistance W. of Matanikau.
Edson sends 2 companies further W. along the beach. As they approach Kokumbona they find the IJA perimeter.

est The 2nd Mar regt. crosses Matanikau and bypasses 5th Mar - getting ready for tomorrows push

est Tokyo express is very busy. From Nov 2-10 there 65 DDs sorties. (many DDs go more than once)
est HUGE TE run spotted by recon. DDx21! Some of these will head for Cape Esperance, some for Koli point.
SBDx3 take off for a risky twilight attack on the incoming TE (DDx21)
est All 3 SBDs lost in a thunderstorm. No survivors.
SBD reports a DD near Kokumbona. SBD does not return.

Hanneken's battalion has marched 13 miles - crossing the Metapona river to greet the IJA landing at Koli point. (map is coming soon)
1 CA (or CL), DDx3 land 1,500 troops 1 mile E. of Hanneken's battalion. IJA plan to link up with survivors of the October offensive
Every detail the Marines had on this landing was accurate EXCEPT the *exact* location. Marines were set up on W. shore of the inlet, the IJA landed on the E. shore - about a mile away. (Would have been a wonderful ambush - J. use small boats for landings.) Marines hold their fire, they'll try to surprise them later.

[kham]

IJA's 230th Regt/38th Inf. has made it to 'canal (around Cape Esperance). They're waiting for their heavy equipment before the Nov offensive

est Due to radio problems Hanneken has not been able to inform Vandegrift of the landing at Koli Point last night.
est Koli point: 8 J. walk into the Marines defensive perimeter. Marines start shooting, kill 4.
Now that there's no surprise, Marines start lobbing 81mm mortar onto the IJA at Koli. The IJA 4th, in the pocket S. of Pt. Cruz, try to break out with a bayonet charge! They don't.
Koli point: Marines start advancing along the beach towards the J. (Marines don't know they're outnumbered 4 or 5 to one) J. deliver a strong counterattack from the jungle and the Marines pull back. With some difficulty, Marines set up a defensive line along the Metapona river. Marines start to assault the pocket S. of Pt. Cruz. The jungle is very thick. Most of the fighting is at very close range. Marines can't even set up their MGs, so the MG gunners have to fight as riflemen. --- The Marines push in from 3 sides at once. Marines use their 37mm AT to fire cannister rounds - just to clear paths in the jungle! Think of a 37mm firing canister as a 1.5 gauge shotgun firing buckshot. One point Five, not 15!
est Koli point: As the IJA try to outflank them, the Marines withdraw to the Nalimbu river and dig in on the W. bank.

[kham]

Koli point: Marines finally get their radio working. They call in for air and naval support.
For the first time, V. learns about the landing (he expected it, but didn't know if it had happened)
est Marine 2nd Regt. keep pushing W. towards Kokumbona.
J. defenses in the pocket S. of Pt. Cruz collapse. It took THREE Bayonet charges to drive the last IJA into the sea. Between Oct 9 and Nov 3rd the IJA 4th Infantry Regt. has been annihilated. Between 239-350 J. died in the pocket - there are probably many bodies that were never found (very. thick. jungle.)

est Koli point: Air support from H. arrives. An SBD drops a bomb on Marine positions!
A Marine runs out onto the beach, waving an American flag. The SBD sees him - starts strafing the beach. The Marine barely escapes. Other AC from H. try to bomb the J. near Koli but J. are in the jungle can't be targeted.

est Koli point: CA San Francisco, CL Helena, DD Sterett and Landsdowne bombard J. positions.
Vandegrift thinks he can wipe the J. at Koli point out if he hits them hard and fast. He'll send 3 battalions to do it. Puller will take a battalion by barge. 2 batts from the Army's 164th will march overland. A Marine 75mm howitzer batt. goes with the 164th. V. considers Aola. With the J. now active at Koli, he decides to reinforce Aola with the other 2 Raider companies.

When they weren't fighting for their lives, some Marines create souvenirs to sell to sailors on the supply convoys. (I love the details in that poster. It even shows the long daisy cutter fuse on the bomb dropped by Maytag Charlie)

[kham]

12:00 est Koli: the Marine's 1/7 (came on barges) link up with Hanneken's batt (2/7) at Nalimbu river. Map Time!

est HYPO detects a new J. offensive forming up. Bigger than just TE runs.
CINCPAC summary: Predicts an enemy all out attempt upon Guadalcanal soon.

[kham]

est The coastwatcher from Rendova swings by Tangarare in the yacht Ramada. He picks up pilots Leslie and Grow.

Father de Klerk doesn't accept the invitation to visit Vandegrift - he's busy fighting his local war.

est Koli: IJA recons from Metapona and bump into defences along Nalimbu. They can't cross. BTW Forgot to name commander of this IJA unit, 230th Regt. It's Col. Shoji

RT An "Emily" H8K recon flying boat. @Montybasset: cc @GuadaBattle look what I found, a Kawasaki!

est Army 147th Inf (1st batt) and a Seabee unit land at Aola Bay - plans to build airfield.
A. US is confident enough not to send all troops to H.
B. US confident they'll hold H. and is expanding to prepare for drive to Rabaul.
C. Helps secure eastern perimeter of H.

st Koli: The 2 army batts, 2/164 and 3/164, arrive at Nalimbu. It took longer than expected - darn jungle! The local US forces are now numerically close to Shoji's force.
Vandgrift is surprised by the J. landing at Koli point (it's probably bigger than he expected) He's not sure how strong an attack is coming so he calls off the offensive to the W. and pulls most of the Marines back. He leaves Marine battalions around Pt. Cruz so they won't have to take it again later. (and an army batt on hill 87) The Marines are about 2,000 yards W. of Point Cruz, 4,400 yards short of Kokumbona when the offensive is called off.

USN has CAx4, DDx6 lurking near Iron Bottom sound to intercept a TE run. Bad weather keeps US from spotting incoming TE runs so nothing happens. Same thing tomorrow.

[kham]

esd J. airfield groundcrew are on 'canal - ready to restore H. as soon as IJA capture it.

est 164th ordered to cross Nalimbu and hit the J. at Koli point
3/164 cross Nalimbu 3,500 yards inland. They march (slowly, methodically) all day and then swing towards the coast. (hours later) They're met by heavy automatic weapons fire - they dig in for the night. The Army has their own, methodical way, of going on offense. It's different from the Marine approach. More details on Army style offense later on - assuming the IJA don't capture H. in the meantime!

It's time for a few words on patrols.
est J. send 100 soldiers with many native porters to N. Bougainville to track down coastwatcher Jack Read.

est Lt. Yunck (shot down over Rekata Bay Nov 1) makes it to a beach where he sees 3 natives roasting a pig.

est Rabaul tries a air raid on H. It is feeble and ineffective.
Koli: Marines/Army harass IJA with mortars/artillery while their bigger guns get into position. This goes on all day and into the night.

est J. change plans for the November offensive... again.

[kham]

***The Long Patrol Starts*** V. has Raiders at Aola start marching W. to menace the J. at Koli point from both sides and cut off a retreat. They are the Marine's 2nd Raider Battalion under Lt. Col Carlson (Gung Ho guy). Quite different from Edson's 1st Raider Batt (Bloody Ridge) The 2nd is the only Marine unit trained to do guerilla warfare. (1st specialized in commando tactics) As the Raiders start their mission, they have a special guest scout leading them. (Carlson is the one in uniform) Jacob Vouza!
Raiders will travel light - resupply every 4 days at the coast. They'll inspect native villages along the way to clear out J. stragglers.
Spoiler Heavy Map here!
est The current IJA/IJN plan to reinforce 'canal

est As the 164th approaches Koli, they find only abandoned J. positions. The IJA across the Nalimbu... gone! Vanished overnight.
Also, the oil situation is a little tight.