Guadalcanal 72 Years On

[kham]

Coastwatcher Josselyn, from the sub Grampus, makes it ashore on Vella Lavella

The dawn shows the main airfield is wrecked but Fighter One* wasn't targeted! *extra airstrip just for fighters. Yesterday, H. had about 90 flyable planes. Now - 42. F4Fx29, SBDx5-7, P-39/400x6 are flyable. All TBFs are destroyed or damaged. The F4Fs were more around Fighter One than the main field and took less damage 41 men killed. ***Henderson Field has lost its offensive air power.***
Typical runway damage after the bombardment. 6 B-17s had stopped at H. overnight. 4 are able, barely, to fly out in the morning. The other 2 are wrecked. How can they leave if the airfield is so cratered? Easier to see the craters taking off compared to landing.

est The morning recon SBDs use the short Fighter One strip. Risky but it has to be done.

est "Pistol Pete" starts to harass the airfield. Probably goes on all day. (at a rate, I gather, of a few shots per hour)

est The IJA convoy is on the way with 6 fast* transports. They carry 4,000 troops, 14 tanks, 12 150mm howitzers. *11-13 mph. They avoid the slot - sailing N. of Santa Isabel island. They left Shortlands yesterday, don't know exactly what time. J. on 'canal get radio messages of more reinforcements tomorrow and an attack on H. the next day.
USN (HYPO) reads these. They estimate 6 TRs are on the way.

H. morning recon spots the IJA fast transports and another incoming group of CAx2, DD. Those will bombard tonight

[kham]

The Hornet TF is too far away to do anything until Oct 15. TF 64 (Scott's CAs, CLs, DDs) are at Espirtu Santo and won't be able to get to 'canal until Oct 16. The *5* IJN CVs are about 250 miles N. of Malaita - waiting to hit reinforcements.

All the F4Fs scramble to intercept Bettys based on a coastwatcher tip*. No raid. *a rare false alarm

est People remember that Geiger's old chief of staff, Woods, had stashed barrels of AvGas away from the airfield.

Noon raid (26 Bettys) arrives when the F4Fs that took off at 9:30 are still being refueled. The raid targets the main airfield only. The fighter strip is grass. The J. may not realize it's an airstrip! Fighter One is only 100 yards from the main airstrip. Since no F4Fs take off to meet this raid, the raid leader thinks H. air power has been wiped out and tells that to Rabaul via radio.

[kham]

Next Betty raid of 18 is SMACKED DOWN by every flyable F4F. 9 Bettys, 3 Zeros down for 1 F4F.

est Marine talks to Army pilots. --- As he was saying this he had to take cover twice due to incoming pistol petes.

Since all the TBFs are wrecked, TBF pilots and crew are already on the perimeter.

est Mechanics are using parts from wrecked planes to fix other planes. The 2 wrecked B-17s provide a bounty of AvGas.

SBDx4, P39/400x7 attack the incoming TRs. No hits.
est Mechanics repair 9 more bombers. AvGas was enroute to 'canal by sea but, after the US lost control of the sea around H., the ships stopped. Tug Vireo and DD Meredith will tow barges full of AvGas and escort seaplane tender MacFarland (carrying 40,000 gallons of AvGas)

Adm. Layton talks with Nimitz. Says Ghormley isn't fighting hard enough to disrupt IJN control of the sea around H. Suggests replacing Ghormley with Halsey.

SBDx7 attack the TRs, no hits. A P-400 is lost, another crashes on landing. Why aren't the H. bombers getting hits? It's not spelled out but I think the pilots haven't recovered from the bombardment. They have juicy targets to attack - much easier to hit than DDs. --- This strike used gas from the wrecked B-17s

est More SBDs, Enterprise refugees, arrive at H.
V. sends message to Ghormley: "Urgently necessary that this force receive maximum support of air and surface units." and "Absolutely essential AvGas be flown here continuously" Fitch has 17 SBDs on Espiritu Santo - no pilots. Tells fighter pilots to fly them to H. tomorrow and then take a ride on the C-47s back. He transfers 20 F4Fs from Efate to Espiritu Santo. He attempts to divert *all* transport AC in the South Pacific into ferrying fuel to 'canal.

est CA Chokai, Kinugasa bombard H. with 752 8" shells. Some (or all) of these are bombardment shells. Not as powerful but similar to the Type 3's fired last night. After this bombardment, the only bombers H. has left, that can fly, are 3 SBDs. While that bombardment is going on, the IJA's fast TRs start to unload.

[kham]

est Marines at Lunga can see *6* IJA TRs unloading at Tassafaronga about 10 miles away. Zeros (*32*) and float biplanes orbit overhead. The float biplanes are bottom-of-the-barrel fighters. The J. are desperate as well! est 2 P-400s are able to take off for dawn patrol. Lt. Frank Lloyd flies one - he has just 30 gallons of gas. Lloyd also has a 100 pound bomb. He goes right after a TR. With 3 Zeros chasing him, he bores through the AA and drops the bomb through the TRs cargo hatch. It's carrying artillery shells! That was effective. He continues and lines up another TR for a 20mm cannon attack. That TR is full of infantry firing at him with rifles. Lloyd makes it back to H. with 37 holes in his 400.

est H. has only 3 flyable SBDs... enough gas for two of them. It's very dark still - hard to see the craters. SBD #1 crashes in a crater while taxiing to the runway. SBD #2 does a ground loop (crashes) avoiding a crater on takeoff. The pilot, Robert Patterson, takes SBD #3. Gas from the other SBDs is used. SBD #3 is damaged. Bad hydraulics prevent the wheels from retracing and keep the dive breaks from deploying. It's so dangerous to fly *this* SBD that they leave his tail gunner off. He goes for it. HIT! (Miller, Cactus Air Force) Or a MISS! (Hammel, Starvation Island) At any rate, between the SBD and the P-400 a TR caught a bomb.

est F4Fx5 try to strafe transports. Smoky Stover engages one of the float biplanes. They ram! When Stover gets back, fabric from the biplane's wing is draped over his plane - including a Rising Sun logo. (**guess we call that one "confirmed" )

est J. recon spots an emergency resupply convoy headed to 'canal. They should arrive at Lunga tomorrow. It has 2 TRs, a PT boat tender, the Tug boat Vireo, DDx2. Each TR is towing a barge with 1,000 barrels of AvGas and 500 500-pound bombs. USN knows the convoy has been spotted. Most of the ships return to Espiritu Santo. DD Meredith, Tug Vireo and 1 barge continue.

est NOW the AVGas Woods tucked away is showing up. 100 barrels here, 200 barrels there. Since the transports are so close, they don't need a lot of gas to fly there and back.

est Mechanics are patchwork-repairing SBDs one at a time. As each one is "fixed" they go off on a bomb run vs. the transports. Over the course of the morning, assorted SBDs get a couple more hits. Later, solo missions are thought to be too dangerous - they'll wait until they have enough planes for escorted raids. Flying solo, every Zero and AA gun can attack the same plane.

est Major Jack Cram has an idea! (many times related to Jack's epic adventure are guesses - the books aren't specific) Jack is the pilot of Gen. Geiger's PBY. Ever since Geiger arrived that PBY has been used for transporting essential supplies to H. Last night, Jack landed with, among other things, 2 torpedoes. There are no working TBFs now - the torps are still on the PBY's wings. Although PBYs can launch torpedoes... Jack's PBY isn't set up for that - it's a cargo hauler. It has no equipment used for an attack. est Jack Cram has been talking with the mechanics. They think they can improvise a torpedo release mechanism he can trigger. (**why am I picturing Jack Cram as Han Solo?... ) Geiger thinks Cram is crazy. But he'll time a raid with SBDs and F4Fs so Cram will have something to distract the Zeros. They'll make the effort because torps are far more deadly to ships than bombs.

Summary of IJA's current plan to capture Henderson Field.
H. is able to scrape together a 12 plane raid (not clear if that is 12 SBDs plus 8 assorted fighters or 4 SBDs and 8 fighters) The raid will attack from the 'canal side. Cram will come in from the opposite direction - over Savo island. Now Cram has to find out how to *execute* a torpedo attack. He's never done one - even as practice. He goes to talk to TBF pilots... Gone! they're all in the jungle, manning perimeter defenses! Roy Simpler flies an SBD. His brother flies a TBF and they've talked about how to do a torpedo attack. Roy gives Jack 2nd hand torpedo training. (**#WhatCouldPossiblyGoWrong?)

est Maruyama and his soldiers begin to move on the Maruyama trail towards Centipede Height (Bloody Ridge) The trail is "only" 15 miles long

[kham]

est They're stretched thin at H. - They won't even scramble F4Fs unless at least 15 planes are inbound.

Jack Cram and the diversionary raid depart. His full crew is on board - 4 gunners and a flight engineer. Cram climbs up to 6,000 ft. He wants to come in on a shallow dive to get a lot of speed. A PBY normally cruises at 90-120 mph. Max speed is about 190. *safe* max speed is 140.

Cram is high over Savo Island. He swoops down towards the transports. Cram is focused on his target. He notices motion out of the corner of his eye. He looks. The PBY's wings are flapping! Cram checks his air speed... 240 mph! He cuts back on his thottle and blasts past escort DDs at 200 ft. They didn't even see him coming. Cram releases the first torp. It hits the water and explodes. A bust. 2nd torp hits the water. It runs hot, straight, true... Jack Cram has torpedoed the Sasako Maru! *Now* the Zeros and AA gunners notice him! AA from a DD perf his PBY. More excitement. B-17s are attacking the TRs. Jack is flying through their bomb pattern! As a transport PBY his gunners haven't seen combat. Jack has to remind them on how to lead Zeros as he makes his escape towards H. 6 Zeros are in pursuit once the PBY is out of the escort's AA range. Cram is over H, a Zero is still pursuing. Roger Haberman is trying to land his shot-up F4F.There's the PBY with the Zero on his tail! Haberman shoots down the Zero. Cram lands. The PBY looks like a colander. Cram and crew... intact!

Geiger greets Cram. Geiger: Understand you got that plane shot up. C: Yes Sir. G: How bad? C: 175 bullet holes, sir. Geiger explodes. He raves at Cram, threatening him with a court-martial for destruction of govt. property, for ruining his prize PBY. This goes on for a few minutes before Geiger can't keep the joke going. Finally, he tells Cram to fly it back to Espiritu Santo, get it fixed and bring back more supplies!

There's a lot of Marine spectators on Lunga beach watching the show at and over Tassafaronga. They cheer bomb hits! Sasako Maru is on fire and won't last long. A picture and a computer model of Sasako Maru.
SBDs and P-39/400s attack the TRs over the next 3+ hours Sasako Maru, Kyushu Maru and Azumasan Maru are each beached as they catch fire.

[kham]

What happened to Kyushu Maru. Kyushu Maru at rest.
What happened to Azumasan Maru. Azumasan Maru at sea. Aerial view of the dead marus.
The mini-convoy with Tug Vireo and DD Meredith continues towards H. They're towing a barge full of AvGas and bombs. 2 J. patrol bombers (flying boats) attack. Vireo damaged. They are 75 miles from Lunga. The convoy receives word there are J. warships in the area. The crew of Vireo begins to evacuate onto the Meredith. C47s are flying in AvGas to H. They're able to drop off about 12 barrels a trip. 1 barrel is enough to fly an F4F for an hour.

[kham]

Zuikaku sends 27 bombers after the mini-convoy. DD Meredith shoots down 3 but is sunk in 5 minutes! (pic June 1942) Bombers ignore Vireo and the barge. Only 73 of the 309 aboard DD Meredith survived 6 of the survivors are able to clamber aboard Vireo. The abandoned Vireo and the AvGas barge continue to drift towards 'canal. With an active IJN CV in the area, other ships pull away from 'canal.

27 Bettys, 9 Zeros attack H. 1 Zero shot down.

[kham]

est 2nd Lt Dale Leslie was shot down in his SBD on Sept 28. His tail gunner died. He's been evading the J. near Cape Esperance. Yesterday, he finally found a native village. Today, they deliver him to the new Warlord of the West Coast. Aka Father/Coastwatcher De Klerk. I still can't find a picture of De Klerk so this will have to do. (**I'm sure the padre is not the Humungus, but still )
Also at De Klerk's mission is fighter pilot 2nd Lt. Douglas Grow.

est Tanaka ponders. All the troops are on land. Attacks from H. getting stronger.He decides to pull back with the 3 non-burning TRs and return that night to finish unloading. Henderson Field regenerated with shocking speed! All troops (3-4,000), a tank company landed and 80% of the cargo* unloaded. Not landed.... Most of the fuel for the tanks*. A lot of ammo was lost. *tanks don't have a long way to go.

est Another B-17 attack gets 3 hits on the transports

[kham]

est Not enough AC to go around - 15 pilots ferried away from H. The *last six* spare SBDs in the SoPac are ferried in by fighter pilots.

Ghormley to Nimitz: It appears to be an all-out enemy effort against (H.), possibly other positions also. My forces totally inadequate [to] meet situation. Urgently request all aviation reinforcement possible.

Last straw for Nimitz. He decides that SWPac needs a more aggressive commander. (Cactus Air Force, Miller) Vandegrift reports to Nimitz.

Fitch tells Nimitz and Ghormley that all merchant shipping (except for 1 oiler) will be withdrawn from the Espiritu Santo area ...since the IJN CVs are on the loose and unopposed. Nimitz's opinion: "It now appears we are unable to control the seas in the Guadalcanal area. Thus our supply of the positions .. ...will only be done at great expense to us. ***The situation is not hopeless but it is certainly critical.***"
Sometime today USN recon spots those IJN CVs again

With 30+ Zeros flying over the TRs, why were so few bombers shot down?
Air roundup for Oct 15 Japan loses Float biplane, 6 Zeros US loses SBDx3, P-39/400x2, F4Fx1 - 4 pilots, 3 tail-gunners killed. C47s flew in 36 drums of AvGas. Sendai Div landed it's troops - no big USN forces have been spotted reinforcing 'canal - Nagumo takes this chance to refuel his CVs . He moves N. to avoid a trap.

[kham]

For the next hour CAs Myoko, Maya bombard H. with 926 8" shells and 500+ smaller rounds. (Don't know it those are AP or the fancy bombardment shells) All aimed at the main runway. J. don't seem to know about Fighter One, the grass airstrip next to main runway. Since they didn't target the only working runway, Fighter One, the bombardment had little effect. Tanaka never came back last night with those 3 transports.

H. flyable AC count: SBDx10, 7 P-39/400s, "enough" (12 maybe) F4Fs.
Halsey is flying to Noumea to take command of Hornet/Enterprise

est Nimitz has decided Halsey will replace Ghormley when Halsey arrives in Noumea.

A lot of air activity out of H. today - all day. Most of it is summed up in the following tweets but it takes all day to happen. Today's objective for H. - bomb the hell out of the supplies that landed yesterday.
Geiger to a Fighter squadron commander: "Roy, I don't believe we have a fucking navy." Now that Geiger knows he has backup, he attacks! Considering that H. was just about wiped out a couple of days ago, it's amazingly active today!

Japan's idea of knocking out H. on the cheap by bombarding it and NOT blockading it later looks shaky. Their inf. attack better work.

est IJA marches on the Maruyama trail - Day One

Oct Offensive overview - IJA v Marines

est Enterprise departs Pearl along with BB S. Dakota and DDx9 (She's still being repaired)
Enterprise will join Hornet and seek out IJN CVs Enterprise has leveled up!
1. Out with the horrible Quad 1.1" AA guns In with the mighty Quad 40mm AA guns! (a quad mount, no guns, at tankland)
2. Radar direction for the 5"/38s
3. A SECRET WEAPON! Possibly the most powerful tactical weapon of WW2!! What is it? A SECRET!

Espiritu Santo air increased to 85 PBYs and B-17s.

Commander Minoru Genda arrives Rabaul to oversee the aviation effort. He is Japan's #1 aviation commander