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005 - September and the Ridge · First Offensive- The Marine Campaign for Guadalcanal

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  Speaker 1: Chapter three of First Offensive, The Marine Campaign for Guadalcanal
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  Speaker 1: by Henry Shaw. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain.
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  Speaker 1: September and the Ridge. Admiral McCain visited Guadalcanal at the
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  Speaker 1: end of August, arriving in time to greet the aerial
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  Speaker 1: reinforcements he had ordered forward, and also in time for
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  Speaker 1: a taste of Japanese nightly bombing. He got to experience, too,
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  Speaker 1: what was becoming another unwonted feature of Cactus knights bombardment
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  Speaker 1: by Japanese cruisers and destroyers. General Vandergriff noted that McCain
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  Speaker 1: had gotten a dose of the normal ration of shells.
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  Speaker 1: The admiral saw enough to signal his superiors that increased
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  Speaker 1: support for Guadalcanal operations was imperative and that the situation
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  Speaker 1: admits no delay whatsoever. He also sent a prophetic message
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  Speaker 1: to Admiral's King and Nimits, cactus can be a sinkhole
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  Speaker 1: for enemy air power and can be consumedali expanded, and
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  Speaker 1: exploited to the enemy's mortal hurt. On three September, the
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  Speaker 1: commanding General first Marine Aircraft Wing, Brigadier General Roy S. Geiger,
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  Speaker 1: and his Assistant Wing Commander, Colonel Lewis Woods moved forward
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  Speaker 1: to Guadalcanal to take charge of air operations. The arrival
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  Speaker 1: of the veteran marine aviators provided an instant lift to
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  Speaker 1: the morale of the pilots and ground crews. It reinforced
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  Speaker 1: their belief that they were at the leading edge of
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  Speaker 1: air combat, that they were setting the pace for the
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  Speaker 1: rest of marine aviation. Vandergriff could thankfully turn over the
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  Speaker 1: day to day management of the aerial defenses of Cactus
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  Speaker 1: to the able and experienced Geiger. There was no shortage
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  Speaker 1: of targets for the mixed air force of Marine Army
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  Speaker 1: and Navy flyers. Daily air attacks by the Japanese coupled
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  Speaker 1: with steady reinforcement attempts by Tanaka's destroyers and transports, meant
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  Speaker 1: that every type of plane that could lift off Henderson's
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  Speaker 1: runway was airborne as often as possible. Sebe's had begun
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  Speaker 1: work on a second airstrip Fighter I, which could relieve
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  Speaker 1: some of the pressure on the primary airfield. Most of
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  Speaker 1: General Kawaguchi's brigade had reached Guadalcanal. Those who hadn't missed
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  Speaker 1: their landfall forever. As a result, of American air attacks.
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  Speaker 1: Kawaguchi had in mind a surprise attack on the heart
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  Speaker 1: of the marine position, a thrust from the jungle directly
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  Speaker 1: at the airfield. To reach his jump off position, the
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  Speaker 1: Japanese general would have to move through difficult terrain unobserved,
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  Speaker 1: carving his way through the dense vegetation out of sight
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  Speaker 1: of marine patrols. The rugged approach route would lead him
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  Speaker 1: to a prominent ridge topped by Kunai grass, which wove
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  Speaker 1: snakelike through the jungle to within a mile of Henderson's runway.
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  Speaker 1: Unknown to the Japanese general, Vandergriff planned on moving his
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  Speaker 1: headquarters to the shelter of a spot at the inland
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  Speaker 1: base of this ridge, a site better protected, it was hoped,
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  Speaker 1: from enemy bombing and shelf The success of Kawaguchi's plan
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  Speaker 1: depended on the Marines keeping the inland perimeter thinly manned
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  Speaker 1: while they concentrated their forces on the east and west flanks.
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  Speaker 1: This was not to be available. Intelligence, including a captured
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  Speaker 1: enemy map, pointed to the likelihood of an attack on
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  Speaker 1: the airfield, and Vandergriff moved his combined raider parachute battalion
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  Speaker 1: to the most obvious enemy approach route the ridge. Colonel
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  Speaker 1: Etsen's men, who scouted Tsavo Island after moving to Guadalcanal
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  Speaker 1: and destroyed a Japanese supply base at Tasamboko in another
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  Speaker 1: short ashore raid, took up positions on the forward slopes
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  Speaker 1: of the ridge at the edge of the encroaching jungle
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  Speaker 1: on ten September. Their commander later said that he was
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  Speaker 1: firmly convinced that we were in the path of the
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  Speaker 1: next Jap attack. Earlier patrols had spotted a sizeable Japanese
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  Speaker 1: force approaching. Accordingly, Edson patrolled extensively as his men dug
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  Speaker 1: in on the ridge and in the flanking jungle. On
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  Speaker 1: the twelfth, the Marines made contact with enemy patrols, confirming
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  Speaker 1: the fact that Japanese troops were definitely out front. Kawaguchi
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  Speaker 1: had about two thousand of his men with him, enough
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  Speaker 1: he thought to punch through to the airfield. Japanese planes
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  Speaker 1: had dropped five hundred pound bombs along the ridge on
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  Speaker 1: the eleventh, and enemy ships began shelling the area after
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  Speaker 1: nightfall on the twelfth. Once the threat of American air
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  Speaker 1: attacks subsided, the first Japanese thrust came at twenty one
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  Speaker 1: hundred against Edson's left flank. Boiling out of the jungle.
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  Speaker 1: The enemy soldiers attacked fearlessly into the face of rifle
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  Speaker 1: and machine gun fire, closing to bayonet range. They were
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  Speaker 1: thrown back. They came again, this time against the right flank,
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  Speaker 1: penetrating the marine's positions. Again they were thrown back. A
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  Speaker 1: third attack closed out the Knight's action. Again. It was
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  Speaker 1: a close affair, but by zero two Edson told vandergriff
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  Speaker 1: as men could hold, and they did. On the morning
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  Speaker 1: of thirteen September, Edson called his company commanders together and
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  Speaker 1: told them they were just testing, just testing. They'll be back.
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  Speaker 1: He ordered all positions improved and defenses consolidated, and pulled
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  Speaker 1: his lines towards the airfield along the ridge's center spine.
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  Speaker 1: The second Battalion, fifth Marines, his back up on Tulagi,
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  Speaker 1: moved into positions to reinforce again. The next night's attacks
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  Speaker 1: were as fierce as any man had seen. The Japanese
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  Speaker 1: were everywhere fighting hand to hand in the Marines foxholes
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  Speaker 1: and gunpits, and filtering past forward positions to attack from
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  Speaker 1: the rear. Division. Sergeant Major Sheffield Banta shot one in
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  Speaker 1: the new command post. Colonel Etson appeared wherever the fighting
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  Speaker 1: was toughest, encouraging his men to their utmost efforts. The
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  Speaker 1: man to man battles lapped over into the jungle on
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  Speaker 1: either flank of the ridge, and engineer and pioneer positions
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  Speaker 1: were attacked. The reserve from the fifth Marines was fed
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  Speaker 1: into the fight. Artillerymen from the fifth Battalion, eleventh Marines,
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  Speaker 1: as they had on the previous night, fired their one
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  Speaker 1: hundred five millimeter howitzers at any called target. The range
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  Speaker 1: grew as short as one thousand, six hundred yards from
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  Speaker 1: tube to impact. The Japanese finally could take no more.
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  Speaker 1: They pulled back as dawn approached. On the slopes of
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  Speaker 1: the ridge and in the surrounding jungle. They left more
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  Speaker 1: than six hundred bodies. Another six hundred men were wounded.
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  Speaker 1: The remnants of the Kawaguchi force staggered back toward their
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  Speaker 1: lines to the west, a grueling, hellish eight day march
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  Speaker 1: that saw many more of the enemy perish. The cost
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  Speaker 1: to Edson's force for its epic defense was also heavy.
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  Speaker 1: Fifty nine men were dead, ten were missing in action,
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  Speaker 1: and one hundred ninety four were wounded. These losses, coupled
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  Speaker 1: with the casualties of Tulagi, Gavutu and Tanambogo, meant the
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  Speaker 1: end of the first Parachute Battalion as an effective fighting unit.
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  Speaker 1: Only eighty nine men of the Parachutist's original strength could
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  Speaker 1: walk off the ridge soon in the legend to become
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  Speaker 1: Bloody Ridge or Edson's Ridge. Both Colonel Edson and Captain
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  Speaker 1: Kenneth D. Bailey, commanding the Raiders Company C, were awarded
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  Speaker 1: the Medal of Honor for their heroic and inspirational actions.
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  Speaker 1: On thirteen and fourteenth September, the Japanese attempted to support
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  Speaker 1: Kawaguchi's attack on the Ridge with thrust against the flanks
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  Speaker 1: of the marine perimeter. On the east, enemy troops attempting
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  Speaker 1: to penetrate the lines of the third Battalion first Marines
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  Speaker 1: were caught in the open on a grass plain and
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  Speaker 1: smothered by artillery fire. At least two hundred died. On
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  Speaker 1: the west, the third Battalion, fifth Marines, holding ridge positions
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  Speaker 1: covering the coastal road, fought off a determined attacking force
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  Speaker 1: that reached its front lines. The victory at the Ridge
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  Speaker 1: gave a great boost to Allied home front morale and
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  Speaker 1: reinforced the opinion of the men ashore on Guadalcanal that
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  Speaker 1: they could take on anything the enemy could send against them.
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  Speaker 1: At upper Command Echelon's, the leaders were not so sure
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  Speaker 1: that the Grandmarines and their Motley Air Force could hold.
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  Speaker 1: Intercepted Japanese dispatches revealed that the myth of the two
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  Speaker 1: thousand men defending Force had been completely dispelled. Sizeable naval
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  Speaker 1: forces and two divisions of Japanese troops were now committed
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  Speaker 1: to conquer the Americans on Guadalcanal. Cactus air force, augmented
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  Speaker 1: frequently by Navy carrier squadrons, made the planned reinforcement effort
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  Speaker 1: a high risk venture, but it was a risk the
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  Speaker 1: Japanese were prepared to take. On eighteen September, the long
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  Speaker 1: awaited seventh Marines, reinforced by the first Battalion, eleventh Marines
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  Speaker 1: and other Division troops, arrived at Guadalcanal. As the men
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  Speaker 1: from Samoa landed, they were greeted with friendly derision by
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  Speaker 1: Marines already on the island. The seventh had been the
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  Speaker 1: first regiment of the first Division to go overseas. Its men,
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  Speaker 1: many who thought then were likely to be the first
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  Speaker 1: to see combat. The division had been careful to send
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  Speaker 1: some of its best men to Samoa and now had
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  Speaker 1: them back. One of the new and salty combat veterans
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  Speaker 1: of the fifth Marines remarked to a friend in the
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  Speaker 1: seventh that he had waited a long time to see
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  Speaker 1: our first team get into the game. Providentially, a separate
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  Speaker 1: supply convoy reached the island at the same time as
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  Speaker 1: the seventh arrival, bringing with it badly needed aviation gas
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  Speaker 1: and the first resupply of ammunition since D Day. The
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  Speaker 1: Navy covering force for the American reinforcement and supply convoys
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  Speaker 1: was hit hard by Japanese submarines. The carrier Wasp was
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  Speaker 1: torpedoed and sunk, The battleship North Carolina BB fifty five
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  Speaker 1: was damaged, and the destroyer O'Brien d D four fifteen
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  Speaker 1: was hit so badly it broke up and sank on
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  Speaker 1: its way to dry dock. The Navy had accomplished its mission.
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  Speaker 1: The seventh Marines had landed, but at a terrible cost.
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  Speaker 1: About the only good result of the devastating Japanese torpedo
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  Speaker 1: attacks was that the wasps surviving aircraft joined Cactus Air Force,
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  Speaker 1: as the planes of the Saratoga and Enterprise had done
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  Speaker 1: when their carriers required combat repairs. Now the Hornet CV
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  Speaker 1: eight was the only whole fleet carrier left in the
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  Speaker 1: South Pacific. As the ships that brought the seventh Marines withdrew,
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  Speaker 1: they took with them the survivors of the first Parachute
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  Speaker 1: Battalion and sick base full of badly wounded men. General
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  Speaker 1: Vandergriff now had ten infantry battalions, one under strength raider battalion,
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  Speaker 1: and five artillery battalions ashore. The third Battalion Second Marines
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  Speaker 1: had come over from Tulagi. Also, he reorganized the defensive
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  Speaker 1: perimeter into ten sectors for better control, giving the Engineer,
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  Speaker 1: Pioneer and Phibbian tractor battalions sectors along the beach. Infantry
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  Speaker 1: battalions manned the other sectors, including the inland perimeter. In
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  Speaker 1: the jungle, each infantry regiment had two battalions online and
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  Speaker 1: one in reserve. Vandergriff also had the use of a
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  Speaker 1: select group of infantrymen who were training to be scouts
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  Speaker 1: and snipers under the leadership of Colonel William J. Wild
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  Speaker 1: Bill Whaling and experienced jungle hand marksmen and hunter, whom
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  Speaker 1: he had appointed to run a school to sharpen the
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  Speaker 1: division's fighting skills. As men finished their training under Whaling
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  Speaker 1: and went back to their outfits, others took their place,
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  Speaker 1: and the Whaling group was available to scout and spearhead operations.
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  Speaker 1: Vandergriff now had enough men ashore on Guadalcanal nineteen thousand,
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  Speaker 1: two hundred to expand his defensive scheme. He decided to
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  Speaker 1: seize a forward position along the east bank of the
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  Speaker 1: Matanacow River, in effect strongly outposting his way US flank
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  Speaker 1: defenses against the probability of strong enemy attacks from the
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  Speaker 1: area where most Japanese troops were landing. First, however, he
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  Speaker 1: was going to test the Japanese reaction with a strong
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  Speaker 1: probing force. He chose the fresh first Battalion, seventh Marines,
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  Speaker 1: commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Lewis B. Chesty Polar, to move
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  Speaker 1: inland along the slopes of Mount Austin and patrolled north
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  Speaker 1: towards the coast and the Japanese held area. Polar's battalion
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  Speaker 1: ran into Japanese troops bivouacked on the slopes of Austin
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  Speaker 1: on the twenty fourth, and in a sharp firefight, had
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  Speaker 1: seven men killed and twenty five wounded. Vandergriff sent the
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  Speaker 1: second Battalion, fifth Marines forward to reinforce Polar and help
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  Speaker 1: provide the men needed to carry the casualties out of
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  Speaker 1: the jungle. Now reinforced, Pollar continued his advance, moving down
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  Speaker 1: the east bank of the Mattana Cow. He reached the
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  Speaker 1: coast on the twenty sixth, as planned, where he drew
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  Speaker 1: intensive fire from enemy positions on the ridges west of
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  Speaker 1: the river. An attempt by Second Battalion, fifth Marines to
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  Speaker 1: cross was beaten back. About this time, the first Raider Battalion,
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  Speaker 1: its original mission one of establishing a patrol base west
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  Speaker 1: of the Mattana Cow, reached the vicinity of the firefight
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  Speaker 1: and joined in. Vandergriff sent Colonel Edson, now the commander
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  Speaker 1: of the fifth Marines, forward to take charge of the
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  Speaker 1: expanded force. He was directed to attack on the twenty seventh,
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  Speaker 1: and decided to send the raiders inland to outflank the
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  Speaker 1: Japanese defenders. The battalion, commanded by Edson's former executive officer,
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  Speaker 1: Lieutenant Colonel Samuel B. Griffith, second, ran into a hornet's
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  Speaker 1: nest of Japanese who had crossed the Mattana Cow during
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  Speaker 1: the night. A garbled message led Edson to believe that
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  Speaker 1: Griffith's men were advancing according to plan, so he decided
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  Speaker 1: to land the companies of the first Battalion, seventh Marines
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  Speaker 1: behind the enemy's Mattanako position and strike the Japanese from
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  Speaker 1: the rear while while Roscran's men attacked across the river.
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  Speaker 1: The landing was made without incident, and the seventh Marines
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  Speaker 1: companies moved inland, only to be ambushed and cut off
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  Speaker 1: from the sea by the Japanese. A rescue force of
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  Speaker 1: landing craft moved with difficulty through Japanese fire, urged on
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  Speaker 1: by polar who accompanied the boats on the destroyer Ballard
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  Speaker 1: DD six sixty. The Marines were evacuated after fighting their
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  Speaker 1: way to the beach, covered by the destroyer's fire and
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  Speaker 1: the machine guns of a Marine SBD overhead. Once the
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  Speaker 1: seventh Marine's companies got back to the perimeter landing near kakum,
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  Speaker 1: the Raider and fifth Marines battalions pulled back from the Matanakau.
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  Speaker 1: The confirmation that the Japanese would strongly contest any westward
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  Speaker 1: advance cost the Marines sixty men killed and one hundred wounded.
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  Speaker 1: The Japanese the Marines had encountered were mainly men from
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  Speaker 1: the fourth Regiment of the second Sendai Division. Prisoners confirmed
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  Speaker 1: that the division was landing on the island. Included in
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  Speaker 1: the enemy reinforcements were one hundred fifty millimeter howitzers, guns
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  Speaker 1: capable of shelling the airfield from positions near Cocombona. Clearly,
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  Speaker 1: a new and stronger enemy attack was pending. As September
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  Speaker 1: drew to a close, a flood of promotions had reached
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  Speaker 1: the division. Nine lieutenant colonels put on their colonel's eagles,
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  Speaker 1: and there were fourteen new lieutenant colonels. Also. Vandergriff made
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  Speaker 1: Colonel Gerald C. Thomas, his former operations officer, the new
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  Speaker 1: division chief of staff, and had a short time earlier
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  Speaker 1: given Edson the fifth Marines. Many of the older senior officers,
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  Speaker 1: picked for the most part in the order they had
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  Speaker 1: joined the division were now sent back to the States.
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  Speaker 1: There they would provide a new level of combat expertise
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  Speaker 1: in the training and organization of the many marine units
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  Speaker 1: that were forming. The air Wing was not quite ready
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  Speaker 1: yet to return its experienced pilots to rear areas, but
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  Speaker 1: the vital combat knowledge they put po zessed was much
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  Speaker 1: needed in the training pipeline they too. The survivors would
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  Speaker 1: soon be rotating back to rear areas, some for a
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  Speaker 1: much needed break before returning to combat, and others to
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  Speaker 1: lead new squadrons into the fray. End of chapter three
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  Speaker 1: read by Aaron Bennett,