Guadalcanal 72 Years On

[kham]

est Puller's battalion runs into a rear guard force of about 50 J. with 9 dug in MGs. A sharp fight over the rest of the afternoon kills 13 Marines with 25 wounded. Each wounded takes 6 stretcher bearers to take back *plus* escorts. Marines discovering how difficult it is to go on offense at 'canal! 25 wounded, 150 stretcher bearers, 25 escorts... That's would be 1/4th of Puller's battalion if they left now!
The J. blocking Puller's battalion vanish during the night. Kawaguchi sends the reporters (including Nishino) back to Rabaul.

[kham]

Adm. Turner issues standing orders for supply ships. They may NOT stay off Lunga at night. If they haven't finished unloading they have to sail E. out of danger and return the next day.
est McCain meets with Nimitz and briefs him on the 'canal situation. McCain says the number one problem is the AC shortage. (the pilot PTSD problem is just as bad but that isn't as well known to McCain) McCain suggest that Nimitz replace Fletcher - says he is worn out (Coral Sea, Midway, Eastern Solomons... that's a lot of stress!)

est Rhoades sets up his coastwatcher radio at Tangarare. Father de Klerk tries to coordinate the evacuation from Gold Ridge - can't do it. The refugees have scattered and he needs to be at Tangarare to organize the natives into collecting them. De Klerk heads back.

est Nishino meets a friend at Shortlands. The friend doesn't recognize him! Nishino spent less than a month on 'canal.

[kham]

est 2 F4Fs strafe some DDs. Must have been a TE run but there are no details.

Puller's battalion bumps into a J. blocking force at Mt. Austen. The Marines scatter the J. and dig in for the night.

est Nishino briefs Gen. Nasu, of Sendai division, about the Bloody Ridge Battle. Nishino says men on 'canal are calling it "Starvation Island."

[kham]

ESD When McCain gets to San Diego he calls Adm. King and tells him H. *needs* 50 high altitude fighters ASAP.
Adm King and Nimitz meet in SF. They think US is gaining the advantage over J. around 'canal.

est Another battalion joins Puller. 2 companies split off to escort the wounded from yesterday's fight back to H.

USN is now reading enough of the IJN cipher, JN25d, to be useful. "For the rest of the war there would only short interruptions in the ability of the US to read JN25 systems." "Codebreakers Victory" - Hervie Haufler.

During the time USN couldn't read JN25, Traffic Analysis and coastwatchers delivered enough intel to get by.

Nimitz "Graybook"

[kham]

Hyakutake has the same issue Kawaguchi had. He wants his big guns!

IJN is unwilling to do more than TE runs. Hyakutake threatens to take his fast transports in *without* naval escort. Gen. Hyakutake is optmistic. His October offensive will add Heavy Artillery to Maruyama's Sendai division. Maruyama will have 6 of the Army's fast* transports that will land the artillery/tanks night of Oct 14. *11-13 mph. Fast, for a transport

Problem - the IJN doesn't want to give the effort carrier based air support and Battleship bombardment. Hyakutake pleads his case to Col. Tsuji, the IJA's Mr. Fixit - just in from Tokyo. Tsuji meets Yamamoto in Truk - tells Y. how the soldiers on Starvation Island are suffering. T.: "Kawaguchi is now thinner than Ghandi." Yamamoto is moved. Y.: "I'll give you cover even if I have to bring the Yamato alongside Guadalcanal myself!" (**Proving both Tsuji is a scumbag with connections and Yamamoto is an imbecile)

BTW, Tanaka has yet to lose even 1 troop that he has carried to 'canal. (in night runs). Has lost plenty in daylight. The Tsuji/Yamamoto plan will require daylight runs of transports which are easier to bomb than nimble DDs. Yamamoto also sees the chance to turn the support for Hyakutake's convoy into a... Decisive Battle!! Some serious escalation going on! (**Psychosis -- they NEVER let that retarded idea go up to and including Yamato and her crew, AND task force being converted to ground beef and body parts)

Hyakutake's chief of staff, General Futami, thinks retaking 'canal is impossible. A staff officer, Col. Konuma, reports that to Tokyo and Futami is replaced immediately. When Tsuji gets back to Rabual he works with Konuma to plan Hyakutake's offensive. (Tsuji aka "God of Operations") Tsuji and Konuma ask Tokyo for IJA fighter planes to cover the convoy. DENIED - Fighters stay in Asia as J. is worried about Russia.

[kham]

Weather is improving - we look at the participants in the great air battles to come. Today, the G4M1 (Betty)
Known to J. pilots as the Flying Cigarette Lighter Americans called it the Flying Zippo. An outstanding long-range medium bomber with one weakness - combat.

Most planes have fuel tanks in their wings. Any fighter that could reach the Betty would quickly kill it.

[kham]

Fighters Annihilate Unescorted Bettys
Betty doesn't seem like the best choice to suppress a well-defended airfield. But Japan didn't have anything better. A lot of this info was from "Fire in the Sky" - Eric Bergerud.

est correspondant Tregaskis departs 'canal on a B-17. It recons Bougainville before returning to Espiritu Santo. While near Bougainville various fighters harass the B-17. Tregaskis pokes at a float Zero with a .50 cal. Tregaskis nails it! The float zero makes a deadstick ocean landing.

est Puller's force advances slowly. When they reach Matanikau there won't be enough time to cross and patrol N. Instead of crossing, Puller patrols up the E. side of Matanikau towards the coast.

[kham]

est At the river's mouth, when Puller's force tries to cross, they come under heavy J. fire. Marine arty can't budge 'em - the J. are well dug in. Marines will attack West the next day. Maj. Kenneth Bailey, a hero from Bloody Ridge, is killed today near Matanikau. Puller will have the support of the Raider battalion crossing the river S. of Puller - they'll attack the J. right flank. Another 2 companies will leave Lunga tomorrow morning and be at sea near Pt. Cruz. Ready to land where ever they're needed. Problem: Nobody tells those companies...
An IJA force crosses Matanikau 2-3 miles upstream - sets up on Hill 65

[kham]

The Matanikau Plan...
The plan is for Puller to attack at the river mouth while the raider battalion crosses 2,000 yards upstream then attacks to the N. It's a holding attack - Puller will hold the J. defenders in place, Raiders attack from the J's. side. The part of Puller's battalion at sea might land at Pt. Cruz, if needed, and attack the J. from the rear. If this plan goes off, the J. at Matanikau village will be hit from 3 sides. It's a hasty plan. Also, the biggest Marine offensive operation since the invasion. (The times for the action around Matanikau today are maddeningly vague.) (The incidents around the time the men land near Pt. Cruz have good times - everything else is covered by the books ... .. but they don't say WHEN it happened. I think I have things in the right order! )
est The raiders get 1,500 yards upstream (at hill 67) then the J. on hill 65 start shooting at them and things go awry.
When raiders try to cross the bridge, they find there are well concealed J. MGs , across the river, shooting at them. The river crossing is put off until those MGs are dealt with. Raiders start moving through the jungle, trying get into a good position on the bridge defenders. It's taking too long, Edson doesn't want them out there all night. he calls them back.

est The Raiders send a message back to Col. Edson. The message is confusing - Edson now thinks Raiders have already crossed the river and are under attack at Matanikau (the village) Edson's new attack orders reflect this confusion. He orders an attack across the mouth of the Matanikau PLUS an amphib landing ... ... near Point Cruz in order to attack Matanikau from the rear.

Puller starts to attack across the mouth of the Matanikau - thinking the raiders are on the other side and attacking from the S. Puller's attack goes nowhere. Rest of Puller's batt, at Lunga, board boats to join in the attack They were part of yesterday's plan but nobody told them until 30 min ago! They move onto the boats in a hurry and are not as prepared as they should be. For example, the signalman doesn't bring his radio...
est for the next few hours A. Puller is stalemated at the river mouth
B. the raiders are trying to manuver for an attack over the bridge to the South
C. The boats from Kukum motor towards Pt. Cruz carrying 2 companies. (about 400 Marines)
MGs from across the river and grenades (probably 50mm ones from Type 89s*) are raining down on the raiders from Hill 65. *explained later. US photo-recon not giving useful info on the numbers of J. on 'canal due to the thick jungle.

[kham]

While the Matanikau situation gets interesting, here's the rest of the players for the big air war coming up. Zero v F4F comparison. The first F4Fs at H. were the F4F-3s but those were just about the last ones of those in service. The newer F4F-4s have folding wings (you could fit more on a carrier) and 6 MGs instead of 4. But it also weighed 1,000 pounds more and had the same engine - pilots didn't like the "upgrade". The F4F was the most maneuverable fighter the US had in 1942.
F4F Specs

The F4Fs advantage in a dive meant that if the F4F dived and the Zero followed then, at high speeds, ...the F4F could turn and the Zero couldn't match it. (The Zero *isn't* more maneuverable at *high* speeds) F4F Summary Adequate in speed, nimble, well armed, could absorb great damage.

The A6M2 Zero.
First carrier based fighter capable of beating land based fighters.