Guadalcanal 72 Years On

[kham]

Marines air raid J. base near Gizo with SBDx11 2 SBDs lost due to bad weather. Inspired by Riley's kill yesterday, 2 PBYs gang up on a Mavis. This Mavis has elite gunners and outduels the PBYs! 1 PBY is torn up and ditches 65 miles from base. Adm. McCain orders his PBYs to recon, not dogfight!
No Betty raid, bad weather
The air war is getting more important. Some background info here for the next few days. In response to the coming war, USN loosened pilot standards and shortened training time in 1939-41. The IJN *increased* training time in 1940 from 8 months to a year. IJN flight schools washed out 2/3rds of trainees USN graduated 2/3rds. *Advanced Training* USN pilots would attend an advanced school in their specialty (fighter school, dive bomber school) after graduation. IJN pilots received advanced training at their actual duty station from veteran pilots. Problem. If that station (Rabaul) had a lot of combat losses, the new pilots first advanced training flight might also be a combat mission! From "Fire in the Sky" by Eric Bergerud.

[kham]

For no particular reason, let's look at IJN submarine torpedoes....

Ens. John Cresto is flying a TBF on anti-sub patrol near CV Hornet. He sees what he thinks is a sub headed straight at Hornet! He immediately drops a depth charge on it.
Ens. Earl Zook is in Command of the USN Aircraft Carrier Hornet! 100s of people on the deck of Hornet see torpedoes pass by on either side! Cresto had dropped a depth charge on a torpedo. (one explosion). The torpedo blew up (2nd explosion) The emergency turn by Hornet allowed her to evade at least 2 other torps. Hornet came *that close* to eating 3 *big* torpedoes. Cresto has landed and the Captain is praising him in front of other officers.
est Lt. Richard Amerine, bailed out 7 days ago, makes his way to Henderson Field! He had studied entomology - was able to eat various bugs in the jungle.

est SBDx6, formerly from Saratoga, arrive at Henderson Field.
est Kawaguchi sets off from Tasimboko to take H. He has 3 times (3,100) the manpower of Ichiki. He expects to take H. on Sept 13. He expects Oka to attack the same time from the W. Kawaguchi leaves 300 men with arty behind to guard Tasimboko. Clemens' scouts are able to keep tabs (more or less) on Kawaguchi and Oka

est Father De Klerk returns from his scouting mission. Everything is ok, he tells the refugees.

[kham]

est The 92 refugees at De Klerk's mission are agitated again. De Klerk decides he has to get them evacuated. He'll walk 35 miles across central 'canal to reach H. and drop off pilot Warden at the same time.
TR Bellatrix and Fuller approach Lunga and have to turn back due to too many J. warships lurking around. Rain all day. No Betty raid.
Thach weave and other team tactics were critical for F4Fs to survive against Zeros. "One Zero against one Grumman (F4F) is not an even fight, but with mutual support two Grummans are worth four or five Zeros." Chennault's* Rules vs. the Zero *Mr. Flying Tiger.
Aug 7 - Sept 7. J. have landed 5,200 men on 'canal. only 450 by barge. est 4 more F4Fs arrive at Henderson Field. F4Fs strafe empty barges by San Jorge island.
Marine Raiders depart Kukum on 2 APDs and 2 tuna boats. They're going to pay a visit to Tasimboko. Adm. King (USN boss) wants more aircraft for the SWPac. Washington refuses. Operation Torch in North Africa has priority. (next 45 min) Raiders land E. of Tasimboko. Edson thinks Tasimboko has 1-3,000 lightly armed J. troops The raiders will have naval gunfire support. Kawaguchi saw the Raiders at sea moving to Tasimboko. He was too far away to return so kept moving towards H. As the raiders land, there's a supply convoy, headed for Lunga passing by. The J. defenders think an ENORMOUS invasion has arrived. They panic and abandon their defenses! (a week of air raids will lower morale) Marines find 2 37mm guns, abandoned field fortifications.
est Father De Klerk, Warden and 11 native bearers and scouts set out for H. - 35 miles away. De Klerk has been on 'canal for years. Thinks the trip will take just 3 days. He's been on the COAST for years. The interior of 'canal... est P-400s fly air support over Taivu. The muddy field at H. makes it hard. (There's a been a *lot* of rain last few days.) 1 almost crashes on takeoff. Another crashes and burns up. (pilot escapes) 3 more P-400s take off through the smoke of the burning P-400. J. defenders recover - now there's intense fighting near Tasimboko Edson calls in naval gunfire from DDs.

[kham]

Tasimboko overrun by the raiders. A 75mm gun is captured along with half a million rounds of small arms ammo, food. Marines burn what they don't take back. (they take the food!) Marines reboard their ships and return to Lunga 27 J. dead, Marines lose 2 killed 6 wounded. Marines surprised that they fought fresh troops. Vandegrift estimates they fought elements of a force between 3 and 4,000. (correct!)
Rains all day. Despite this, Rabaul makes a maximum effort raid. Betty's can't find anything due to thick weather.
F4Fs vs. Bettys The way Marines are being taught to attack a Betty formation is an "overhead run." To do this you need to start 5,000 ft above and ahead of the Betty formation. Executed properly, you get a good attack *and* don't give the Betty gunners a good shot at you.After the attack, the pilot evaluates: Are there Zeros around?
Betty Formations ...
est (Sept 8-10) Vandegrift moves his command post away from runway so his staff can sleep at night. The new position is S. of the airfield - Due N. of a ridge. The raiders and para battalion will defend the ridge and patrol the area.

[kham]

est Delmer Wiley, shot down near Ryujo on Aug 24, washes up on Carteret Island. 40 miles from IJN airbase on Buka. After some adventure, a PBY takes him to Guadalcanal April 11!
Air raid alarm. F4Fx16 scramble, 1 crashes on take off. They find nothing. 4-5 more F4Fs crash land on the muddy field in the dark. There *was* an air raid. 11 float planes from Rekata bay. They couldn't find H. in the bad weather so they attacked Tulagi instead. Ref all the crashes at H. today... Pilot: At this rate, we can whip ourselves without any help from the japs. Gen. Geiger has been briefed by the flight surgeons, he realizes there's more to this than bad weather.
est Kawaguchi and Oka plan to attack H. from S and W at the same time. They're 30 miles apart today! Hard to coordinate. Kawaguchi was confident when he landed. He has Vandegrift's surrender scheduled for Sept 13 - has his dress uniform ready for the ceremony. Left the uniform behind at Tasimboko - Marines captured it and snarked a lot.
Kawaguchi briefs his officers near Koli point. The Plan:
The call "Planes!" is heard. Men are about to scatter - then they realize that a *parrot* called it. They've had so many air raids that the parrots have learned the word!
Later, Kawaguchi tells Nishino that it is hard to take an enemy position by night assault.
IJN sends CA, DDx8 to destroy the APDs near Taivu. Of course, they're long gone. They settle for bombarding Tulagi and destroying a patrol boat. IJN warships bombard Tulagi

[kham]

est Combined Fleet (Zuikaku/Shokau, BB Yamato, 50 odd other warships) depart Truk to support Kawaguchi's offensive. They expect to strike at Guadalcanal Sept 12th
J. transports unloading men and material for an airfield at Kahili - S. Bougainville. Uncomfortably close to coastwatcher Paul Mason. He'll have to move inland but he'll be in a spot with worse visibility.

Air Group commander Geiger briefs Vandegrift. Says most of his pilots are shot - unfit for duty due to PTSD.
Did Japanese pilots have the same problem?

[kham]

est Edson reports to Vandegrift. Says there must be a large J. force moving towards H. He suggests fortifying ridge to the S. V. agrees. F4Fx16 scramble to intercept Bettys. Based on the yesterday's mistake, J. think a big landing is underway. Bettys target shipping. Marines claim 5 Bettys, 3 Zeros. An F4F Ace, Marion Carl (12 kills) does not return. An F4F crashes on takeoff. 4 F4Fs lost in all, 1 damaged. Besides Carl, 2 pilots wounded. The Marine pilots' bad diet gives them gas. At high altitudes the gas in their guts swell up and give them painful cramps.

[kham]

est Seabees finish auxiliary fighter field, Fighter One. (compare with J. construction speed - EIGHT DAYS! That's how it's done, son.) Very rudimentary. Not even a dirt surface like H., it's mown kunai grass. Suitable for F4Fs. SBDs in a pinch. The new airstrip is a little to the West of Henderson field. Since it's a grass surface, it might not appear to be an airstrip when viewed from 25,000 ft. up... BTW, the J. have hardly any photo-recon cameras...
est After Kawaguchi turns inland progress is very slow. Already half his men have malaria (after less than 2 weeks on 'canal!) and bad drinking water is causing dysentery. est J. warships bombard Tulagi . USN Intel tips that IJN will be supporting a ground attack by Kawaguchi. Ghormley tells Vandegrift that IJN will be able to put a lot of ships near 'canal by Sept 12. Mostly CAs and DDs but the IJN has been good at hiding the location of their CVs so they can't be ruled out. USN estimates that IJN have in SWPac CVx7, BBx3-4, CAx8-9, CLx5-6, DDx20ish and TRs with capacity of 25,000 tons.
Diseases, especially Malaria, are a big deal in this campaign. Malaria is becoming a big problem for the Marines. For the entire campaign Malaria infection rate for US forces was about 90%. Atabrine is issued starting today. With Atabrine or Quinine you still have malaria - but the symptoms aren't as bad. Japan captured most of the world's Quinine production a few months ago but they have supply issues. Therefore, J. on 'canal suffered from Malaria more than the Marines and Army. Missionaries settled in the less malarial areas and took quinine. The natives? "Most people living in tropical regions have developed genetic defenses against malaria." Also, they avoid the worst spots. Because of military need, US and J. might *build* in the spots natives avoid. During WW2 about 60,000 US soldiers died of Malaria in Africa and the Pacific. Other "popular" diseases were dengue fever, scrub typhus, dysentery and jungle rot (a skin infection) Food shortages make these worse.
Marine Defenses

[kham]

Vandegrift puts the Raider and parachute battalions on the ridge S. of H. He thinks the ridge is a good line of attack from the S. Documents captured at Tasimboko by the Raiders are an additional bit of intel confirming this. Edson talks to his men: "Too much bombing and shelling here close to the beach. We're moving to a quiet spot". Raiders prepare to occupy ridge S. of Henderson Field.
The Quiet Spot. Either cross this ridge or go through the jungle if you want to reach the airfield from the South.
Henderson Field as of Mid-September
air raid - 27 Bettys. F4Fx5 intercept, claim 5 Bettys. Another F4F lost. H. is down to 12 flyable F4Fs

De Klerk is still in the middle of 'canal and is almost out of food.

[kham]

Lt. Nakayama and his men are still moving through the jungle. He hasn't got past H. yet. They encounter a native. He sets his pack of dogs on them! It's bayonet and katana vs. the killer dogs of Guadalcanal! Nakayama and his men survive. No word on the dogs.
Raiders get a arty batt attached to them. 12x105mm howitzers They register those guns on the jungle S. of their positions.
Still no food for De Klerk's expedition. A native offers them a pig head. Dinner Is Served! V. pleads with Adm. King for reinforcements. King says only 7th Mar Regt. is available and they need another month of training.
SBDs sink a J. patrol boat near Gizo
Lt. Nakayama is barely W. of H. His man scavenge Marine rations. One man breaks wind. "Yankee, smell my fart!"