Guadalcanal 72 Years On

[kham]

1st Sgt. Donald Doxet collects stragglers from B company (para) ...
Marines along the ilu river defensive line are hearing a lot of noise to the E. 1st Lt Terzi steps out in front of the line to calm his men...Then he sees 1,000 men of the Ichiki Butai sneaking up! Run Terzi, Run! He makes it back to the defensive line, under fire. The marines at ilu wait and wait and wait...1st attack on the Ridge over, J pull back. Edson reports that he's still holding the ridge but he's losing the attrition race. He's running out of manpower and the J. pressure isn't letting up. After lots of mortar preparation, J. storm the Paras position and drive them off their line! With the Paras pushed back B company has J. on 3 sides. Edson uses C company to set up a new defensive line in front of his command post - at the ridge top. The 105s are hitting so close that J. are jumping into Marine foxholes to avoid the shell bursts. Between 6:30pm Sep 13 and dawn Nov 14 Kawaguchi makes TWELVE attacks on the ridge. The 105s fire 1,992* rounds between 9pm and dawn. *Hammel says 2,800 - that might include the other 2 batteries.
Correspondent Nishino: "The artillery fire seemed to be a never ending earthquake. ... Trees toppled over and red-hot shrapnel whistled through the air."
PFC Ray Herndon is in a squad on the S. side of the ridge.
That huge IJN force (Zui/Sho, Yamato and so on) N. of 'canal is STILL waiting for word that the airfield has been captured. They get a message from Rabaul saying recon reports the airfield has been captured! J. lay a smokescreen. They yell, in English, "Gas Attack" and charge. A Marine yells back, "I'll gas you, you cocksucker!" Edson's line is in shambles - he pulls back to the N. end of the Ridge. The attack is broken up by massed 105 fire. Infiltrators penetrate Marine lines and throw grenades.
Along the ilu, the Ichiki Butai have reached the Marine's defensive wire. That's far enough! Everything that can shoot, shoots! When things calm down they find about 200 bodies in front of the wire and another 27 further away.
PFC Jim Corzine takes out a MG with a bayonet charge.
Capt. Kokusho is leading a charge up one side of the ridge. His unit's attack is disrupted when they overrun an abandoned Marine position that's full of rations. The attack stops. They eat meat, smoke cigarettes. (they may also have been waiting out an artillery barrage)

[kham]

Up and down the ridge, massive firepower is breaking up the attacks. 105mm, fired from under a mile away, pound the J. Major Bailey is busy on the Ridge. Organizing counterattacks, running from one foxhole to another dropping off grenades. Leaves him vulnerable not only to J. gunfire but to shrapnel from all those 105s. Tregaskis gives up on sleep for the night. The ground combat he hears is INTENSE. He sees reinforcements marching towards the ridge. Another attack. By flare light you can see the J. *and* the airfield. They're that close. Edson stands up just behind the front line. He intercepts raiders staggering back...Edson berates them and returns them to the front line: "The only thing they've got that you haven't is guts!" Then Edson calls in more artillery - closer and closer to the front line. That attack is broken. Marines have fallen back to their last defensive line. Kawaguchi is running out of attackers. Marines think the J. attack is burning out. Edson reports he is confident he can hold his current defensive line. Vandegrift gets the word, sends in his reserves to the ridge ( now that he won't need them to retake the airfield ) Why does V. send in reserves AFTER he knows the J. attack won't succeed? He convinced he won't need them anywhere else tonight. More firepower along the ridge means he can kill more J. and there'll be fewer Marines killed by the remaining J. Kawaguchi is still sending in new attacks but each is weaker than the last. 105s and MGs are able to respond to each one. Tregaskis is at Div HQ. There are snipers taking potshots from all sides.

[kham]

Edson tells HQ he's almost out of ammo!
Capt. Kokusho leads his men to a battery of AA guns (I assume those are .50 cal MGs) Kokusho: "I'm not going to let any of you get in front of me, understand? Totsugeki!" (charge) Despite withering crossfire, Kokusho and a handful of his men reach the first gun. Kokusho goes after the next gun. A grenade explodes in his face! Capt. Kokusho dies with his sword in his hand. About 100 of his men die in this attack.

[kham]

Ammo delivery for Edson! "The relentless attacks forced the Marine lines back but the IJA ran out of soldiers before the Marines ran out of MG ammo" - Toland
The Firecrackers. ...
That huge IJN force N. of canal sends out float planes to see who holds the airfield. It's *Not* the IJA! All those ships mill about, burning fuel.
Carlos Fulgenzi encounters a large group of infilrators. Eric Hammer book excerpt

TRx6 carrying the 7th Marine Regt, heavily escorted, departs Espiritu Santo for 'canal. The Wasp and Hornet will provide distant support. The convoy takes a circuitous route to avoid Santa Cruz since the USN erroneously thinks IJN has a DD and float plane base there.

(Dawn) (Along the ilu) Snipers keep harassing the Marines defensive line. Every usable plane from H. attacks the J. near the Ridge. That's the last straw, the J. start retreating. The last 3 P-400s are ideal for this. Two P-400s are knocked out by ground fire but are able to glide back to H. Kawaguchi was so confident he left his food at Tasimboko - expecting to eat Marine food Sept 13. Their retreat will be a nightmare. Marines find about 600 J. bodies in front of their lines. Many J. MIA were never found. Over the 2 nights, Marine defenders had about 40 killed and 100 wounded. (20% casualties) And they still hold the Ridge. The Para batt has taken enough losses to be combat ineffective now. They'll be sent off island soon. Kawaguchi's attacked with about 2,000-2,100 men. His estimated losses are 600 killed and 500 wounded. J. might have actually *gained* strength on 'canal over the last 2 nights due to 1,700 new troops off the Tokyo Express.
J. Historian: "The army had been used to fighting the Chinese."
The Marines considered the territory South of H. to be unsuitable for an attack. Kawaguchi has to agree now after his first night's attack fizzled due to the heavy jungle.
Here's Lt. Col Edson! (from 1944)
Edson's Medal of Honor citation.

[kham]

est 4 J. float planes try to repeat yesterday's success over H. Nah, Bro. (all shot down by F4Fs)
TR Bellatrix and Fuller, after waiting a week, are escorted by DDs Hull and Sterett and make it to Lunga.
Kawaguchi wants to get his 1,200 survivors to the coast. He'll try following the route of Lt. Nakayama to Kokumbona. The Ichiki force (about 400 now), E. of H., eventually retreats to Tasimboko. There are stragglers who broke through the lines and are wandering around near the airfield. It takes 3 days to mop up these infiltrators. Marines along the ilu try to counterattack with tanks. 6 light tanks (without infantry support) are sent across river to root them out. 2 are quickly knocked about by AT guns. One falls over a bluff - it overturns and the crew drowns. 2 other tanks are damaged. Later in the day, a Marine company does a probing attack but the J. have already left.
Sgt. Maj. Sheffield Banta is busy at Division HQ. "The Battle for Guadalcanal" - Samuel Griffith tells the tale. "Starvation Island" has a different take. A J. officer with two riflemen (out of ammo, have bayonets) charge the DIV HQ. Banta stops typing a report, shoots the officer. Others shoot the other 2. A *Fourth* infiltrator is discovered in Vandegrift's closet! (Ok, the Sgt-Maj gets on the BAMF list just from the coolness of not missing a beat and blasting the guy...)
Vandegrift shifts another battalion from Tulagi to 'canal

[kham]

Rabaul's air raid broken up before it gets to H. 2 bettys, 1 zero claimed

Rabaul: Gen Hayakutake's staff officers stamp their feet in fury over the defeat at Bloody Ridge. (**Seriously?? But true; THIS is the mentality of these infantile morons; SecNav was not wrong when he said they had no business waging a modern war. And remember, the Corps is on the BOTTOM of the list for toys and shit to wreck things. They were using Springfield '03s and Water-cooled MGs mostly -- although the water-cooled old MGs have an edge against retards using human wave attacks...)

Yamamoto now agrees with his staff that it will take a full division to take H. (Uh Huh. Gotta control the sea and air too, super-genius. And that won't happen as long as Henderson is up)

[kham]

Fighter Ace Marion Carl returns! One of Clemens' scouts, Corporal Eroni, rescued him near Taivu point on Sept 9. Eroni was able to take Carl to Lunga on a boat today. Geiger tells Carl that his rival ace, Smith, now has 16 kills to Carl's 12. Geiger: What are we going to do about that? Carl: Goddammit, General. Ground him for 5 days! Carl tells new pilots that J. pilot quality is degrading. Ones he saw a few days ago were noticeably worse than the ones he faced in August. American pilots, shot down in the Solomons, who met natives were escorted back to a US base. J. pilots were killed. The J. had not been treating the natives well despite their claims of liberating them from British Imperialism.

[kham]

***Finally***, the Oka force attacks! The dilapidated remnants of Col Oka's force make a probe at the Marines W. perimeter. HMG fire is enough to make them leave after one attempt. They must be a shambles after their catastrophic barge trip. (they landed with no food)

[kham]

~1400 14 Sept Fighter sweep from Rabaul. A few bettys, 25 zeros. Marines claim 1 zero, 1 betty down. There's not much motivation for Marines to challenge fighter sweeps. Zeros can't do much harm to H. without coming into range of AA which is quite dangerous for the unarmored zero.
est (around dusk) Float plane raid on H.! 15-20 float planes try a low level raid by sneaking over the mountains S. of H. 9 float planes and 4 float zeros shot down. Some of the float Zeros take a shot at the TRs unloading at Lunga. DD Sterett shoots one down.
As soon as it gets dark, the 4 ships retreat to the safer port of Tulagi. Rabaul - J. records from Aug 29 to Sept 14 show 10 Bettys and 12 Zeros shot down. That doesn't count planes written off due to unrepairable damage or other forms of losses.

TE (cruiser, DDx4) bombard H. They don't investigate Tulagi.

[kham]

est Kawaguchi's defeated force staggers toward Kokumbona. 50-100 wounded are abandoned on the trail and die. Correspondent Nishino passes scores of bodies along the trail. There's nothing to eat except random plants. (**yet more BRILLIANT logistical planning by the IJA...)

Intel officers at H. examine recent J. AC wreckage. They notice the planes are new. Rabaul is getting first call on new production!

IJN gets the word that Kawaguchi's attack failed. "We stamped our feet in bitter anger" - staff officer on BB Yamato

(**and the IJN is no more adult than their comrades in the Army...just imagine what happens when you REALLY start getting your throats slit)