Guadalcanal 72 Years On

[kham]

~ 1330 Aug 8 Fletcher gets the message from Ghormley approving his request to withdraw carriers so he heads away from Guadalcanal.

[water_bug_62208]

The fog of war...

Many thanks for sharing that! Goes to show those naval engagements in the Pacific could've gone either way...

Leaves ya wondering... in the Battle of Leyte Gulf, when Halsey fell for the bait and sent the fleet and its fast battleships after the Japanese decoy of carriers of Northern Force... what IF the U.S. fast battleships had stayed behind and engaged Yamato... of course, if Taffy 3's destoyers USS Johnston, USS Samuel B. Roberts, USS Hoel, and USS Heermann were able to cause so much havoc against a superior Japanese Center Force to eventually convince Kurita to withdraw his fleet from the battle...

The fog of war...

[kham]

~ 1700 Adm. Turner decides to allow transports to unload the rest of the day but they will withdraw by nightfall.

Canberra is scuttled to prevent falling into enemy hands
~1300 - 2000 Tanambogo: Marines keep pushing across the island wiping out pockets and blowing up caves. By nightfall the island is secure. Tulagi/Gavutu/Tanambogo captured at the cost of 144 killed and 194 wounded Marines. Marines were outnumbered on Gavutu/Tanambogo. Surprise and firepower made the difference.
The Tulagi garrison was about 250 J. 200 killed, 3 surrender, rest swam to Florida island. (still a few holdouts in caves) On Gavuto/Tanambogo all 500 J. were killed
Vandegrift still doesn't know what happened in the battle last night.

Rabaul recon plane spots Warspite class Battleship off the W. coast of 'canal - by herself!
Adm. Tsukahara said no more air attacks unless they could get a CV or BB. Here's a BB so he sends 16 Bettys after her. (what the hell are they seeing?)

Mar 1st Eng. Batt. gets to work on finishing the airfield Captured equipment includes 5 powered rollers, 2 tractors and cement

CA Chicago gets patched up at Noumea and fixed at San Francisco before returning to the Solomons next year
DD Ralph Talbot is shot up but has temporary repairs and heads back to the US

[kham]

~ 2100 USS Astoria sinks

6 Bettys swoop down to torpedo a Warspite class BB off the W. coast of Guadalcanal
They find the badly damaged DD Jarvis - unlucky to have the same shape as a Warspite class BB (but smaller)
They torpedo it anyway. Jarvis doesn't go down easy! Shoots down 2 Bettys and damages 4.
Jarvis splits apart and sinks. Jarvis is the only US warship in WW2 to be lost with no survivors. 247 dead
USN didn't know what happened to Jarvis until after the war when they examined IJN records

[kham]

Marine Air Group 23, on the way to Henderson, gets word of the Savo Island battle.

Their ferry, CVE Long Island, turns around and heads for the Fijis and awaits further orders

Hot rumor around Lunga: Big battle last night - 5 Allied and 5 IJN Cruisers Sunk!

[kham]

~ 1700 9 Aug All the transports have left. Marines have to fight with what they have. One bulldozer was unloaded. Most of the heavy artillery is still on those transports.

Marines at the airfield recover the Japanese crypto material the Japanese commander thought had been destroyed. This includes a complete version of JN25c and additive books.
10,900 Marines landed on 'canal, 6,075 on Tulagi Many of the Tulagi troops move to 'canal over the next month.

11th Air Flotilla at Rabaul has lost (net) 24 Bettys, 9 Vals, 4 zeros and 16 seaplanes from Aug 7-9.
This weakness gives the marines on Guadalcanal breathing time to move supplies and get set up.

[kham]

More on CA Chicago and Savo Island. She was hit by another torp - it didn't explode. (lower dent from same torp)

Sub S-44, near Kavieng harbor - New Guinea, sees Mikawa's returning CAs 9,000 yards away. one looks like this

S-44 manuvers for a good shot. The 3rd CA is now 700 yards away - broadside to S-44. 4 Torps fired.

Multiple hits on the CA Kako! Boiler explodes!!
CA-Kako sinks. 34 killed, 582 survivors S-44 is depth charged but escapes

The airfield on Lunga plain is named Henderson field by Vandegrift after Lofton Henderson, KIA June 4 at Midway. BTW, only 400 barrels of AvGas are available.
Helped by natives, Pug Sutherland makes it back to marine lines after being shot down by Saburo Sakai on Aug 7.

Rabaul scrapes up 300 naval riflemen and 100 SNLF - will send them to 'canal. The IJA isn't interested - their target is Port Moresby and nobody has ordered them to do anything about 'canal. Remember, the IJN and IJA are fighting their separate wars in the Pacific. They only cooperate when ordered to or when high ranking officers do each other favors

[kham]

There are still SNLFs in the caves of Tulagi. Sgt. Goss is on the job. Sgt. Goss deals with it.

Mikawa returns to Rabaul. Gets message from Yamamoto


Between now and Aug 16 IJN starts making informal requests to the IJA for enough troops to clear out the Americans from 'canal. IJN estimate there are only 2,000 Americans on the island (off by factor of around 8)

[kham]

The 2,000 Americans-on-island estimate is from the IJN attache in Moscow. IJN pilots know better - they've seen the invasion fleet. But the IJN pilot observations never make it to the IJA who accept the 2,000 number.

[kham]

*Behind posting a few days, something emulating the tropical diseases of the region took residence in lower intestines....


10 Aug At Rabaul, Adm Tsukahara has, in flyable shape, just 22 bombers and 17 fighters.
6 Zeros fly over 'canal - strafe the airfield The "longest fighter operation in history" is becoming a routine!
Today, the last cave in the Tulagi area with Japanese defenders was destroyed

A marine probe of Matanikau meets heavy resistance. (Matanikau is a bit left of Lunga point on this map)
Marine's food ration cut to two meals a day. It would be less if not for all the J. food captured.

~0100 11 Aug Yesterday's patrol to Matanikau nabbed a POW, a naval warrant officer. he says most of the Japanese at Matanikau may be willing to surrender. A marine says he saw a white flag over the village. (might have been this flag with a fold obscuring center)