Guadalcanal 72 Years On

[kham]

est DM Gamble zips off to Nura island to pick up 4 crashed aviators from Saratoga. A busy day!
est PBY spots IJN DDx7 hanging out in The Slot just outside SBD range. Tanaka doesn't make the same mistake twice. TR Burroughs gets stuck on a reef approaching Tulagi! Vandegrift is alarmed by the chance the TE might blow up TR Burroughs. He orders a night SBD attack on the TE.

~00:01 Kawaguchi makes an inspirational speech to his officers.
7 TE DDs unload at Taivu point. The night is clear with a full moon. SBDs go after them - can't find them. The J. on the DDs can hear the SBDs overhead... searching. After unloading 756 troops, the commander of this mission panics from the fear of air attack and runs back up the slot...... skipping the 2nd part of the mission (sinking TR Burroughs) (guessing he had been there for at least 1 of the recent SBD whackings) Adm. Tanaka fires him as soon as he returns. Otherwise this TE run worked perfectly. Troops landed, no AC attack in the daytime. Tanaka now has his system figured out. The Kawaguchi Butai has now started to arrive at 'canal around Tasimboko. They keep arriving on the express until Sept 11. Old and Busted: The Ichiki Butai. The New Hotness: The Kawaguchi Butai.

[kham]

Lt. Akio of the IJA's 4th Artillery Regt. lands around this time. He recalls that when he landed with his 105mm guns he had 800 shells total... and *never got another shell*. They couldn't do more than harass H. with 10 shells a day. Remember that "800" when I refer to Marine and Army arty usage later on. Yamamoto transferred some Zui/Sho fighter pilots to Rabaul and Buka to fly on raids to H. They'll be used today for the first time. Hamp, a Zero variant, has a shorter range. They're at Buka (Many books will refer to Hamps as Zeros.) Today's raid, from Buka, is a fighter sweep. The best fighter jocks from Zui/Sho will fly to H. and shoot down as many F4Fs as possible. Paul Mason reports DDx8 departing Shortlands (they're carrying Kawaguchi Butai units)
Jack Read at N. Bougainville: "15 planes, may be fighters, just passed going SE via East Coast."

[kham]

est Lt. Foyle and his crew are rescued from some nameless island (Their TBF ran out of fuel Aug 24, Battle of Eastern Solomons) Kennedy, New Georgia reports on the fighter sweep. Nobody has been able to ID the planes - Marines assume it's a mix of Zeros, Kates, Vals. Coastwatcher warnings allow every flyable fighter at H. to be airborne. Which is what the J. want since they're out to shoot them all down. F4Fx7, P-400x7 get into position to intercept Kates or Vals. The 14 F4Fs/P-400s are orbiting at 15,000 ft (max alt for the oxygen bottleless 400s) between Cape Esperance and Savo Island. 4 other P-400s orbit over TR Burroughs at 14,000 ft.

[kham]

Hamps jump 4 P-400s over TR Burroughs! The 400s try evading into the clouds but have a hard time. Fight quickly descends to 3,000 ft. Marines don't know about the attack on the P-400s. The IJN's fighter sweep, with their elite pilots, just got swept! 2 Hamps are too damaged to make it back to Buka (The natives in the Solomons usually kill any J. they can get their hands on.) 10 of the 18 Hamps were lost Capt. Carl gets 3 Hamps, Capt. Smith nails 4! 4 of the 11 P-400s are shot down (2 pilots killed) and 5 others heavily damaged. 3 F4Fs damaged. There are just *5* flyable F4Fs at H. Vandegrift appeals to Ghormley for more F4Fs.

[kham]

est At De Klerk's mission rumors are running wild that the J. will soon sweep in. De Klerk says that's nonsense, his natives know the area - nothing like that is going on. The refugees still want to run so De Klerk says he'll go out himself and recon. He get's Bishop Aubin's permission to take a rifle and kill if needed. (I still can't find a De Klerk picture)

[kham]

8 Bettys visit H. All the F4Fs are still on the ground being refueled. Bettys catch APD Colhoun unloading supplies. Colhoun hit by at least 3 bombs. She sinks in two minutes off Lunga. 51 killed.
Meanwhile, in the same area, a USN DD sinks a sub. At least, they think they did. Don't know if one was actually sunk there.

[kham]

Coastwatcher boss Mackenzie picks Henry Josselyn to set up a base on Vella Lavella and Nick Waddell on Choiseul. A new Marine air squadron arrives at Henderson Field! F4Fx19, SBDx12 fly in. H. now has 86 pilots and 64 working aircraft. Spare parts from TR Burroughs (still stuck) are being ferried to H.
Adm. McCain visits 'canal. He's Not Happy, Demands Reinforcements. Secretary of the Navy Forrestal is now saying that if the American people knew what a mess the SWPac was, there'd be a revolution. Ghormley has never visited 'canal. His reports to Nimitz don't convey the desperation that Forrestal and McCain feel.

est Tokyo Express drops off a battalion of the Kawaguchi Butai near Taivu. est Kawaguchi chats with war correspondent Nishino. K: The Americans are well dug in and have almost endless supplies. K: It seems extremely difficult for a small unit like ours to retake the airfield. Wouldn't you think the destruction of the Ichiki Butai would be a lesson to us? K: HQ belittles the enemy and declares that once we land successfully the Marines will surrender.

[kham]

Since the Battle of the Eastern Solomons, the IJN fleet subs involved have stayed in the area SE of 'canal. (Torpedo Junction) BB N. Carolina's radar has possible sub contact A DD pokes around, finds nothing. CV Saratoga's radar has a possible sub contact. DD MacDonough, Saratoga escort, has a sonar contact dead ahead! 1 torp breaches the surface and runs awry. --- Saratoga is not a nimble CV. She isn't able to dodge. Saratoga, a converted battlecruiser, is tough! She takes a solid hit from one torp, is disabled for 8 hours then sails away for repairs. CV Saratoga is out of action until Nov 12. 12 wounded - including Fletcher (the blast bounced him off the overhead for a gash) 3 DDs hunt the sub (I-26) for the next 3 hours. They think they got her. She gets away and reports sinking a CV.
est Next batch of DDs leave port with more Kawaguchi Butai headed to 'canal along with correspondent Nishino and Ueno's Black Dog. Jack Read, N. Bougainville: "18 twin-engine bombers, 23 fighters now en route yours"
CA Minneapolis takes Saratoga under tow. She now has *just* enough speed to launch aircraft. She keeps 36 F4Fs, the rest fly to Espiritu Santo (and, eventually, Henderson Field)

[kham]

Radar installed at H. Has 125 mile range for high altitude targets. Doesn't give enough time to intercept but ...still useful because it detects altitude and controllers can tell F4Fs that are already airborne *exactly* where to intercept. Planes from Marine's new squadron make their first combat flight today. There's a problem with the oxygen masks!
3 Air raids on H. today - none successful (Not many details on them.)

[kham]

3 Air raids on H. today - none successful (Not many details on them.)

en route to Taivu, Tokyo Express sailors talk to Kawaguchi's soldiers. ...
They ask them to avenge sailors who had been trapped on 'canal. The soldiers respond by promising to "wipe out every last Yankee."
est Marines move 3 battalions from Tulagi to Lunga. TE drops off a batallion of the Kawaguchi Butai at Taivu Kawaguchi and 1,000 of his men land. (and Nishino and that Dog) War Correspondent Gen Nishino meets Ichiki remnants as he walks to Tasimboko . "It's suicide to leave footprints in the sand. We're always being attacked by US planes."
Henderson Field finishes the month with F4Fx26 and SBDx30
Malaria cases for US forces - 14 per 1,000 Plasmodium: "I'm just warming up."