Solomon Is., Guadalcanal

Mired Jeep on Guadalcanal

bigpigeon.us webpage WWII Japan > South & SW Pacific < Solomon Is., Guadalcanal, © 2024 by Robert A. Christiansen, updated by RAC 25 Mar 2024.

Operation Watchtower, The Guadalcanal Campaign - 7 August 1942-9 February 1943

The related Securing Australia webpages:

Securing Australia
The Solomon Islands, Guadalcanal, August 1942–February 1943
The Solomons Naval War, Guadalcanal
Southeast New Guinea, Papua, July 1942–January 1943

The 1942-43 Allied recapture of the Solomon Islands began on Guadalcanal in the southern Solomons and moved to the northwest up the Solomons chain. This webpage sketches the six-month Guadalcanal campaign. Remaining operations in the Solomon Islands are summarized in the Isolating Rabaul webarea.

Concurrent with the land battle on Guadalcanal were a series of massive sea battles in the Solomon Islands, listed in the Solomons Naval War, Guadalcanal webpage.

The related Order of Battle webpages:

Prelude to the Guadalcanal Campaign March - July 1942

Starting in March 1942, Japanese forces began developing bases on the northern Solomon Island of Bougainville.
In May 1942, as part of Japan's planned Operation Mo expansion further into the South and Southwest Pacific, the Japanese began developing a naval base at Tulagi, a small island near Guadalcanal, and at the time the capital of the British Solomon Islands Protectorate.
In July 1942, the Japanese began to build an airfield on the large island of Guadalcanal south of Tulagi.

The Japanese expansion into the southern Solomon Islands alarmed Australian and United States military leaders, as it increased the threat to the vital sea lanes between Australia and America, risking the use of Australia as a future base for US operations against Japan. Thus the US began planning a response.

The Solomon Islands

The First Marine Division Landings

On 7 August 1942, elements of the 1st Marine Division launched the first US amphibious landing of WWII:

Marines from Task Group Yoke landed on Tulagi and other small islands near Florida Island. Brief but sharp combat followed.

As shown on the following map, marines from Task Group X-Ray landed on the north side of Guadalcanal east of the unfinished air strip.

US Invasion of the Guadalcanal Area

On 8 August, Marines occupied the air strip area and began establishing a defensive perimeter.

The Guadalcanal landing was not resisted, as the Japanese had no combat troops on Guadalcanal.

Early on 9 August, an Allied cruiser force was crippled in the Battle of Savo Island to the northwest of the air strip. So many ships were lost off Savo Island that the area became known as Ironbottom Sound.

Fearful of an impending Japanese naval attack on the beach area, US transport ships were withdrawn before unloading was complete.

Guadalcanal - The First Two Days

Henderson Field

US Navy Seabees completed the air strip on Guadalcanal, which thereafter was called Henderson Field.
On 20 August, the first combat aircraft flew into Henderson Field from the escort carrier USS Long Island.
The Marine Corps, Navy and Army aircraft that flew from Henderson Field comprised a unit known as the Cactus Air Force.
Today Henderson Field survives as Honiara International Airport.

Henderson Field and the Defensive Perimeter, Early October 1942

The Guadalcanal Campaign - The First Three Months

Japanese combat troops soon began landing on the north shore of Guadalcanal, initially to the east of the Marine Corps perimeter, and subsequently to the west.

In each of August, September, and October Japanese ground forces launched a ferocious attack on the Marine perimeter. Each attack was a decided Marine Corps victory, being was beaten back with devastating Japanese losses.

Meanwhile, the Henderson Field area was subject to numerous attacks by Japanese air and sea forces.

As late as the end of October 1942, American troops were confined to only a small portion of Guadalcanal.

The Guadalcanal Campaign - The First Three Months

Japanese naval losses eventually made it prohibitive for the Imperial Japanese Navy to continue to transport replacement troops and supplies to Guadalcanal. Thus, Japanese effectiveness declined while the United States added ground forces and expanded its control over Guadalcanal.

Finally, after nearly six months, Japanese troops were secretly withdrawn from the western tip of Guadalcanal. The Guadalcanal Campaign ended on 9 February 1943.

As the Guadalcanal Campaign progressed, additional divisions were sent to Guadalcanal.

2nd Marine Division, a portion of which had landed back on 7 August.
Americal Division, beginning 13 October 1942.
25th Infantry Division, beginning 17 December 1942.

In mid December 1942, the 1st Marine Division left Guadalcanal to be rebuilt in Australia, and Solomon Island operations came under control of the US Army's XIV Corps.

Sources for Big Pigeon's South & SW Pacific > Solomon Islands, Guadalcanal webpage:

The webpage header photo, Mired Jeep on Guadalcanal, is courtesy of Fine Arts America.
The source for the Solomon Islands map is unknown.
The Guadalcanal Area in 1942 map is courtesy of emersonkent.com.
The Henderson Field and the Defensive Perimeter, Early October 1942 map courtesy of the US Naval Institute, https://www.usni.org/magazines/naval-history-magazine/2017/august/cactus-air-forces-humble-home.
The Guadalcanal Campaign - The First Three Months map is courtesy of onwar.com and was found at https://onwar.com/wwii/maps/pacific/13pacific.html.

Pottawattamie Area WWII Dead - South & SW Pacific > Solomon Islands, Guadalcanal:

Taken from the bigpigeon.us WWII Dead module.

05-02 - South & SW Pacific > Solomon Islands, Guadalcanal: (four dead, updated 7 Aug 2023)
† Matthews, William Henry, SN 39-019-527, US Army, Harrison Co. & Los Angeles Co., CA

Co. L, 35th Inf. Regt., 25th Inf. Div., XIV Corps; KIA 21 Jan 1943 near Mt. Austen, Guadalcanal, Solomon Is.; Battle of Mount Austen - South & SW Pacific > Solomon Islands, Guadalcanal.

† Ross, William Thomas, SN 620-23-62, US Naval Aviation, Union & Montgomery Cos.

Patrol Sqdn. VP-54; Consolidated PBY-5A Catalina BUNO 04403 radio operator w/ pilot Walter Howell Cummings; d. 15 May 1943; aircraft disappeared on routine night patrol from Guadalcanal; crew of 12 lost; South & SW Pacific > Solomon Islands, Guadalcanal; BNR.

† Spicer, Francis Dean, SN 374884, US Marine Corps, Page Co.

Hq. Co., 1st Bn., 6th Marine Regt., 2nd Marine Div., XIV Corps; KIA 26 Jan 1943 Guadalcanal, Solomon Is.; South & Southwest Pacific > Solomon Is., Guadalcanal.

† Wagner, Egbert Vernon, SN O-9476, US Marine Corps Aviation, Pott. Co.

Marine Air Fighter Sqdn. VMF-112, Marine Air Group 11, based at Henderson Field, Guadalcanal, Solomon Is.; Grumman F4F-4 Wildcat BuNo 05087 pilot; KIA 26 Jan 1943 near Henderson Field, air collision on patrol over Ironbottom Sound; South & SW Pacific > Solomon Islands, Guadalcanal; BNR.