Guadalcanal 72 Years On

[kham]

(The Jacob Vouza times today are *very* rough estimates.)

Vouza has a pocket sized US flag from the Marines. It's his safe conduct pass to get through US lines. Vouza leads one of those Eastward patrols from yesterday morning (local time) They know there's a J. force to the E. somewhere and Marines want to find it before the J. can attack. Vouza temporarily leaves the patrol to stash his treasured US flag in a nearby house. Before he gets there he's nabbed by a J. patrol! They search him, find the US flag and take him prisoner. At the time Vouza is captured, Col Ichiki is about 10 miles East of H. J. tie Vouza to a tree. Ishimoto questions him. He wants info on US strength and positions. Vouza clams up. Ishimoto whacks him with a rifle butt. Stabs him in the chest with a bayonet. Vouza doesn't talk. More stabbing. Vouza doesn't talk. Ishimoto gives up - he slashes Vouza's throat with a sword and they leave him, dying, tied to the tree. Vouza has been stabbed or slashed in both arms, throat, shoulder, face and stomach. (***Just underlines the nature of the enemy in case any had any doubts)

Marine F4Fx19 and SBDx12 arrive from CVE long island! Henderson Field is operating!! H. is 3,500 ft. long, 150 ft. wide. Each aircraft has a fortified revetment. Revetments are walls surrounding the AC. They protect against blast or shrapnel from bombs. No roof so the plane is still exposed to strafing or a direct hit from a bomb or shell. H. is a marginal airfield. No bomb hoists, no motorized fuel pumps, no gas trucks, no steel matting for the runway. (the matting arrives in dribs and drabs) The time delay in pumping fuel with hand pumps is a big big deal. Without matting, the dirt runway can become unusable when there's too much rain. That happens almost every day. It dries quickly. Quite a challenge to lift 500 or 1,000 pound bombs, by hand, onto SBDs. C-47s start continuous supply flights to H. Each can carry 3,000 pounds in and 16 wounded out.
Jacob Vouza is only mostly dead (hell of a joke,but...)
He chews his way out of the rope and makes his way 3 miles to Marine lines. I'll say it again. He chews his way out of the rope and makes his way 3 miles to Marine lines!
He gives warning about J. patrols and Marines beef up their Eastern perimeter. Says there are about 250-500 J. approaching. He's in such bad shape the Marines aren't sure what he's saying but his condition is warning enough. After the warning, he says he must speak to Martin Clemens. He recites his last will and testament to Clemens. Vouza is on the edge of death. What will become of him?

[kham]

est 1400 As soon as Col. Ichiki hears AC operating at H. he knows he has no choice but to attack tonight. Breaking the Marine lines will be tough enough. If they can bomb him in the day time...
Odds are the Marines will get a lot of use from their rifles tonight. Why do these Marines have '03s and not M1s?
Japan can only win if things work their way - so they assume things will work their way.
How can Japan fight against overwhelming industrial superiority?

[kham]

The Marines have their own ideas on how to fight a war.
The J. fighting man was ready to die for his Emperor. Marines are trained to kill, not die.
The name of the battle is Tenaru. But it was actually fought on the ilu. Sometimes called Alligator Creek. Because it has crocodiles. Shortly after 1am Marines near the river mouth hear movement.
Ichiki's Diary entry for Aug 21 - "Enjoyment of the fruits of victory." (he wrote that ahead of time) This is the only J. attack in the S. Pacific during the war where the J. are healthy. They've only been on this horrible island 3 days. Marines are already starting to notice their malaria.
Ichiki assumes Marines are on the other side of ilu but is counting on surprise to break their line. The sand bar is 45 yards wide. The J. attack at the ilu mouth (soon called Hell's Point) gets off to a bad start.
J. are surprised by the single strand of barbed wire the Marine had erected that afternoon. They start talking.
A major screw up from infantry who know all about moving silently.
(It's 1:30am local time.) Marines open fire with everything and 200 J. rush right at the Marines with a bayonet assault! In a night attack, timing is critical. The unexpected barbed wire has disrupted that timing. Marines have 2 37mm AT guns, MGs and rifles covering the sand bar. The 37mm fires canister - like a 1.5 gauge shotgun. (not 15, 1 point 5!) J. successfully penetrate the Marine line! J. expect the Marines to react like the defenders in SE Asia or China.
They're supposed to break and run to the rear. Instead, the Marines stay in their foxholes and shoot anything that moves! Corporal Al Schmid, Corp. Diamond, PFC Rivers man a MG at Hell's Point. This MG position is critical in disrupting the first attack. Some J. get to within arm's length of the MG. Rivers punches them! (he's a boxer) The gunner, PFC Rivers, is killed by a head shot. Diamond takes over the gun - then he's wounded and can't handle the gun. Schimd takes over the gun. Schmid is blinded by a grenade! The maimed Diamond tells him where to shoot and Schmid keeps firing the MG. Marine's ready reserve for Hell's Point is about 300 yards back. They move up when they hear gunfire and get involved in the combat. On the first attack, Ichiki Butai is the breakee not the breaker. Marines will not send more reserves to Hell's point because they don't know if there are other strong forces to the east. Most of Ichiki's officers in this wave, the platoon leaders, are killed. These officers lead assaults. Ichiki's attackers pull back into the coconut grove, across the river, to regroup. It's not just the officers - most of the 200 man assault force is killed in this attack. Ichiki has his men regroup in the coconut grove while his mortars and light arty soften up Hell's point.
right now would be a great time for Col. Ichiki to acknowledge that it's all gone horribly wrong, ...pull back to Taivu and wait for the rest of his men and weapons to show up. For the rest of night Ichiki force continues firing MG, light arty and mortar at Marine positions covering Hell's Point. Marines don't want Ichiki to reorganize. They use a reserve company for a spoiling attack. (An attack to disrupt an enemy buildup) Soon after that counter-attack starts Marines see *hundreds* of J. wading through the ocean ..trying to get past the river mouth and attack from the flank. Another Ichiki shock tactic. Marines respond with dakka and more dakka. Marines use it all. 12 75mm howitzers, 2 75mm AT guns on half-tracks that just got there. All the rifles and MGs at Hell's point. The ocean wading attack is shattered. Marines fire howitzer rounds into the area where Ichiki force is concentrated. Marines fire howitzer rounds into the area where Ichiki force is concentrated. Dawn. Warplanes take off from H. to bomb and strafe Ichiki's position in the coconut grove.
Dawn The Marines will be able to hold the sandbar. A reserve battalion crosses the Ilu downstream in order to flank Ichiki. Schmid and Rivers are alive - still manning their MG at Hell's point. They held their position all night. There are 200 J. bodies in front of them All 3 awarded Navy Cross. Schimd is played by John Garfield in "Pride of the Marines" (1945)

[kham]

Marines fire howitzer rounds into the area where Ichiki force is concentrated.
In hospital, after his throat is sewn up, Jacob Vouza asks for something to eat.
Marines fire howitzer rounds into the area where Ichiki force is concentrated

Coastwatcher Jack Read tips off a bomber formation coming down the slot. Air raid (zeros only) on Henderson Field. No damage. Capt. John Smith, commander of the fighter squadron, leads 3 other F4Fs to engage the 6 Zeros. Smith shoots down one and his F4F takes enough damage to be written off after he lands. The 2 wingmen have a total of 16 days training with this squadron. Their F4Fs are shot up but they all are able to fly back to H. This helps the confidence of the new pilots - F4Fs are tough! It's 572 miles from Rabaul's airfield to Henderson. Similar to the distance from Taiwan to the Philippines BUT that was just a few special missions not a day after day campaign. Zeros not only have to carry drop fuel tanks - they have to KEEP those tanks on until they're on the way back. These tanks slow them while they're in combat with the F4Fs.

2 SBDs from Wasp fly past Ndeni island and spot a Seaplane tender and 2 DDs. They attack!

[kham]

During the dive, 1 pilot notices the US flag on the ships. The other pilot doesn't and delivers a 500 pound near-miss to the tender. It wrecks 2 float planes, damages the tender's AvGas system and injures nearby natives. At Lunga, 3 APDs drop off 120 tons of supplies and Seaplane Tender MacFarland delivers aviation supplies. BTW you'll be hearing about Seaplane tenders (both sides) delivering cargo over and over again. What's up with that? They're big, so they can carry a lot of stuff (especially when you remove the seaplanes)
They have cranes and stuff designed for lifting seaplanes - those are handy for dropping off cannons and tanks. They're fast - handy for dashing to 'canal. Marines that crossed ilu 6 hours ago have Ichiki surrounded.
6 Marine light tanks enter the coconut grove, firing canister. They're going after MG positions. 3 tanks quickly disabled, the other 3 force J. out to where rifles can get them.

(Over the next hour) Marines attack Ichiki force. This fight is in a semi-open coconut grove, *not* jungle. Lt. Sakakibara and an enlisted man wade into the ocean up to their necks to attempt escape. There are more than a few who enter ocean and swim east. Marines with rifles kill most of them.

[kham]

F4Fs do horrible things in the coconut grove.
~ 1300 21 Aug The last straw. Wounded J. are trying to kill Marines with grenades as they approach. This happens over and over. Marines take this lesson. It becomes *very hard* for a J. to surrender after this. Ichiki and the last few suriviors burn the regimental colors and commit suicide. All resistance over - Ichiki's force wiped out. 871 J. dead, 130 survivors were able to flee (this number might include the ones left behind at Taivu) 1 J. surrendered, 14 taken prisoner* (*these didn't surrender, they were wounded) 35 Marines dead, 75 wounded. Lt. Sakakibara and the enlisted man eventually get to the jungle and escape. They head back to Taivu. Other than prisoners, they're the only two survivors of the part of Ichiki's force that did the assault.
Like a cockroach, Ishimoto escapes

The IJA is *not* invincible in the Jungle! The IJA is *not* invincible at Night! "The heart of IJA ground tactics was based on delusion." - Bergerud
est 1600 Father De Klerk has persuaded downed pilot Warden to come with him to his mission. (west coast of 'canal) De Klerk was able to con Ishimoto last month into thinking he was friendly with the J. n fact, he's been passing info to coastwatchers. Now De Klerk has decided to actively fight the J. This is a big deal since the local natives love him. The wounded Warden settles down to recuperate in one of the few "south sea paradise" style spots on 'canal. Since I can't find a picture of De Klerk, I choose to assume he looks something like this.
Yamamoto gets word of the near-destruction of Ichiki Butai. Wants to get other half landed asap so the remnant doesn't get wiped out. (yeah, another moment of Yamamoto SHEER genius... )

Tells the big TFs headed to Truk to bypass it and refuel at sea instead.

[kham]

DDs Blue and Henley were part of the escorts for yesterday's convoy. Blue and Henley are patrolling near the center of Iron Bottom sound. There's word of an inbound IJN DD and they're going to ambush it. DD Blue has a radar contact... then loses it. DD blue now has a radar and sonar contact - about 5,000 yards off moving at least 23 mph. Both DDs ready their weapons and wait. Lookouts on DD Blue see torpedo tracks! DD Kawakaze long lances the stern right off Blue! 8 men on Blue killed. (later) Henley tries to tow Blue back to Tulagi. IJN lookouts beat USN radar. Again.
est 0200 22 Aug Nimitz warns Fletcher of a strong IJN force approaching 'canal to attack it Aug 23-26. Suspects the force has CVs but can't confirm it. Nimitz mentions how important it is to keep the CV TFs refueled and that they should be refueled one TF at a time.

(Thach Weave explanation) Lt. Cmdr Thach is one of the top F4F pilots. He got reports on Zero performance in 1941-42. Higher ups didn't believe it. Thach did and started working on countermeasures. Simply put, F4Fs should avoid getting into a dogfight with a Zero. BUT, if it happens, 2 F4Fs should go into a Thach weave and play defense until the Zeros have to leave. SBDs/TBFs can use it also. Their tail guns make it even more dangerous for the attacker! A TBF can't "weave" during a torpedo run. But *after* the run, on the way back, 2 TBFs could fend off Zeros with a weave. Thach weave used for first time at Midway and worked very well. Pilots at H. and on carriers know about the Thach weave. Works even better over 'canal because opposing Zeros have little fuel reserve and don't have the time to try picking it apart. Bonus video! A 1943 training film - Thach tells newbies what they're doing wrong.
WW II Air Combat Laws
I recommend watching it - fighter vs recon duels are a big deal when carriers are stalking each other.
Combat in the video loosely based on Thach's exploits in the "Action off Bougainville" in early 1942 ...
when Saratoga tried to raid Rabaul Action off Bougainville
Aircraft supplies are a constant problem at H. There's always a shortage of some small thing that threatens to shut down flight ops. Today, it's oxygen bottles. There are so few that standing patrols by F4Fs are cancelled.
They must save the oxygen only for those times they'll fly up to meet high altitude Bettys. If the current shortage item isn't too heavy, the transport planes can fly them in. But there's only so much space and weight available on those flights. The Marines are coming down with Malaria. It will only get worse. Eventually, the policy will be that malarial Marines will stay on the front line unless they have a fever of 103f. We'll assume it takes about 2 weeks for the J. to catch Malaria as well Quinine? Atabrine? I'll talk about those treatments next month. Marines have been very industrious in building stills. Moonshine sells for $20 a bottle. Also - Marines will take a coconut, poke a hole in it, insert a handful of raisins, close the hole and wait a week.
Then they'll have a coconut full of some vile concoction that'll get them drunk.

~0800 Incoming bogey on Enterprise radar! F4Fs go out looking for it. It's only 15 miles away but the bad weather is making it tough. The F4Fs find a J. flying boat. Lt. Vorse burns it with just 150 rounds - the Mavis falls apart in mid-air Thach would be proud.

[kham]

~1200 5 P-400s from Army's 67th Pursuit SQ. arrive H. These can fly direct from Espiritu Santo - if they have the rare drop fuel tank. A B-17 had to lead them here. P-400s don't have the right navigational equipment for long overwater flights. Due to the poor condition of the airfield, the rest of the 67th stays at Espiritu Santo until H. can handle them. What's a P-400? A P-40 with a Zero on its tail! Hah. Actually, ...
The 67th Pursuit Squadron has had a fun history.

Lookouts on CA Portland, in same TF as CV Wasp, see a torpedo whiz by. DDs attack a sonar contact but nothing develops.

[kham]

The IJN CVs are about 400 miles N. of 'canal. Tanaka's convoy is about 350 miles N. of 'canal. It carries the other half of Ichiki Butai with the heavy weapons. Yamamoto wants the troops on the convoy to land asap to reinforce the Ichiki remnants that are East of H. Doesn't know Marine numbers - thinks the extra 1,000 men will be enough for them to hold on until the Kawaguchi force lands. 3 USN CVs are NE of Malalita island USN outnumbered about 2-1 in warships but has a 3 - 2 edge in CV AC ... if the USN has all 3 CVs ready.

The long flights to H. from Rabaul are leading to a high attrition rate for IJN aircraft. They start building new airstrips at the N and S ends of Bougainville - much closer to H. BTW, the N airstrip is at Buka - which the J. captured on MARCH 9TH! In order to build an airfield! Coastwatchers Read and Mason are near these strips and that's a problem as the increased J. ground activity will endanger them. Enterprise launches her morning search. When SBDs search they carry a 500 pound bomb - just in case. When B-17s search, they carry 4 500 pound bombs. If they find something big they *must* radio a report first. After that, it's the pilot's choice on whether to attack or not. When SBDs are sent after enemy ships they carry a 1,000 pound bomb.

Enterprise search SBD (N. of Ent) spots sub on surface headed south. Another Ent search SBD (N. of Ent) spots sub on surface headed south. IJN usually puts a picket line of fleet submarines in front of their large TFs. Fletcher isn't convinced that these 2 sightings mean a large IJN fleet is N. of the subs. PBY spots the TRs E. of Bougainville. Tanaka's convoy. Fletcher will take a crack at it. He has to get closer before launching.

[kham]

Tanaka's convoy reverses direction - now heading N. Yamamoto and Tanaka assumed enemy AC were coming since the PBY kept shadowing. The PBY that had been shadowing Tanaka loses him in the bad weather but it does report the change in direction. That report doesn't get to Fletcher or Vandegrift until tomorrow. The PBY that is supposed to take over that area crashes on takeoff leaving the area uncovered for hours.

Saratoga launches a strike at the TR convoy sighted that morning. SBDx31, TBFx6. 275 miles to convoy - too far for F4Fs. 2 SBDs on the afternoon search find another J. sub on the surface heading S. They bomb it, get 2 near misses. They see an oil slick after it dives. IJN records didn't report losing a sub around then so it got away. USN CVs have been in this area almost 2 weeks. Therefore, it's doesn't surprise Fletcher that there are subs. He thinks they're simply after his CVs as opposed to being a picket line to alert a large IJN fleet. Saratoga strike runs into heavy weather - can see nothing. Trying to maintain formation and to have some chance of seeing ships, the strike flies through the rain at 100 feet above the ocean. H. sends a strike of SBDx9, F4Fx12 after Tanaka convoy. Vandegrift saw the report of the transport convoy. Views it as a major threat - decides to attack despite the oxygen shortage. V takes this decision without knowing what Fletcher is doing. Fletcher *can't* talk to V without breaking radio silence. BTW, IJN is good at radio direction finding. McCain's personal PBY lands at H. with every oxygen bottle that can be scrounged from Espiritu Santo. After an hour of nerve wracking low level flying through a rainstorm the Saratoga strike breaks into clear sky... and sees nothing. After searching they find no convoy. The strike flies to H. in order to avoid attempting night carrier landings. H. strike hits the same bad weather the Saratoga strike found.

The pilots are dismayed. They think they'll be a large J. landing that night - not realized that Tanaka reversed course. Fletcher gets intel IJN CVs are N. of Truk - takes the chance to send Wasp S. for refueling. (his 3 CVs are each less than half full) With Wasp gone for 2 days, Fletcher and Nagumo have about the same number of carrier AC. The bombers from Saratoga land at H. It's dark. Jeeps and captured J. trucks are lined up so their headlights can illuminate runway. As they land SBD Tail gunner David Johnson tells his pilot he can see fireflies in the trees off to the left. Those are J. machine guns greeting the new arrivals. (no hits) It takes all night to refuel the Saratoga planes using hand pumps. DD Henley's tow of the the crippled DD Blue (torped last night) isn't going well. With combat expected in this area tonight, Blue is scuttled.
Blue's last location is the red dot inside the red box. All those white dots are what you think they are.
After sending Wasp South for refueling, Fletcher keeps moving N. overnight with Enterprise and Saratoga.