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009 - November and the Continuing Buildup · First Offensive- The Marine Campaign for Guadalcanal

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  Speaker 1: Chapter five 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: November and the continuing build up. While the soldiers and
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  Speaker 1: marines were battling the Japanese ashore, a patrol plane sighted
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  Speaker 1: a large Japanese fleet near the Santa Cruz Islands to
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  Speaker 1: the east of the Solomons. The enemy force was formidable,
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  Speaker 1: four carriers and four battleships, eight cruisers and twenty eight destroyers,
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  Speaker 1: all poised for a victorious attack. When Mariyama's capture of
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  Speaker 1: Henderson Field was signaled, Admiral Halsey's reaction to the inviting
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  Speaker 1: targets was characteristic. He singled Rear Admiral Thomas sikincaid with
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  Speaker 1: the Hornet and Enterprise carrier groups located north of the
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  Speaker 1: New Hebrides, attack repeat attack. Early on twenty six October,
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  Speaker 1: American SPDs located the Japanese carriers at about the same
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  Speaker 1: time Japanese scout planes spotted the U S. American carriers.
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  Speaker 1: The Japanese Zuiho's flight deck was holed by the scout bombers,
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  Speaker 1: canceling flight operations, but the other three enemy carriers launched strikes.
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  Speaker 1: The two aer armadas tangled as each strove to reach
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  Speaker 1: the other's carriers. The Hornet was hit repeatedly by bombs
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  Speaker 1: and torpedoes. Two Japanese pilots also crashed their planes on board.
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  Speaker 1: The damage to the ship was so extensive the Hornet
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  Speaker 1: was abandoned and sunk. The enterprise, the battleship South Dakota,
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  Speaker 1: the light cruiser San Juan Col. Fifty four, and the
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  Speaker 1: destroyer Smith D D three seven eight were also hit.
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  Speaker 1: The destroyer Porter DD three five six was sunk. On
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  Speaker 1: the Japanese side, no ships were sunk, but three carriers
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  Speaker 1: and two destroyers were damaged. One hundred Japanese planes were lost,
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  Speaker 1: seventy four US planes went down. Taken together, the results
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  Speaker 1: of the Battle of Santa Cruz were a standoff. The
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  Speaker 1: Japanese naval leaders might have continued their attacks, but instead,
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  Speaker 1: disheartened by the defeat of their ground forces on Guadalcanal,
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  Speaker 1: withdrew to attack another day. The departure of the enemy
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  Speaker 1: naval forces marked a period in which substantial reinforcements reached
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  Speaker 1: the island. The headquarters of the Second Marines had finally
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  Speaker 1: found transport space to come up from Espiritu Santo, and
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  Speaker 1: on twenty nine and thirty October, Colonel Arthur moved his
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  Speaker 1: regiment from Tulagi to Guadalcanal, exchanging his first and second
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  Speaker 1: battalions for the well blooded third, which took up the
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  Speaker 1: Tulagi duties. The second Marines battalions at Tulagi had performed
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  Speaker 1: the very necessary task of scouting and securing all the
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  Speaker 1: small islands of the Florida Group while they had camped
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  Speaker 1: frustrated watching the battle across Sea Lark Channel. The med
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  Speaker 1: now would no longer be spectators at the big show.
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  Speaker 1: Onto November, planes from VMSB one thirty two and vm
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  Speaker 1: F two eleven flew into the cactus fields from New Caledonia.
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  Speaker 1: MAG eleven squadrons moved forward from New Caledonia to Espiritu
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  Speaker 1: Santo to be closer to the battle scene. The flight
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  Speaker 1: echelons now could operate forward to Guadalcanal and with relative
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  Speaker 1: ease on the ground side. Two batteries of one hundred
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  Speaker 1: fifty five millimeter guns, one army and one marine landed
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  Speaker 1: on two November, providing Vandergriff with his first artillery units
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  Speaker 1: capable of matching the enemy's long range one hundred fifty
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  Speaker 1: millimeters guns. On the fourth and fifth, the eighth Marines,
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  Speaker 1: Colonel Richard H. Jeski, arrived from American Samoa. The full
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  Speaker 1: strength regiment, reinforced by the seventy five millimeter howitzers of
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  Speaker 1: the first Battalion tenth Marines, added another four thousand men
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  Speaker 1: to the defending forces. All the fresh troops reflected a
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  Speaker 1: renewed emphasis at all levels of command on making sure
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  Speaker 1: Guadalcanal would be held. The reinforcement replacement pipeline was being
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  Speaker 1: filled in the offing as part of the Guadalcanal Defending Force,
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  Speaker 1: where the rest of the Americal Division the remainder of
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  Speaker 1: the second Marine Division in the Army's twenty fifth Infantry
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  Speaker 1: Division then in Hawaii. More planes of every type and
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  Speaker 1: from allied as well as American sources, were slated to
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  Speaker 1: reinforce and replace the battered and battle wheary Cactus veterans.
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  Speaker 1: The impetus for the heightened pace of reinforcement had been
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  Speaker 1: provided by President Roosevelt, cutting through the myriad demands for
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  Speaker 1: American forces worldwide. He had told each of the Joint
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  Speaker 1: Chiefs on twenty four October that Guadalcanal must be reinforced
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  Speaker 1: and without delay on the island, the pace of operations
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  Speaker 1: did not slacken. After the Maryama offensive was beaten back,
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  Speaker 1: General Vandergriff wanted to clear the area immediately west of
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  Speaker 1: the Matanaco of all Japanese troops, forestalling if he could
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  Speaker 1: another build up of attacking forces. Admiral Tanaka's Tokyo Express
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  Speaker 1: was still operating, and despite punishing attacks by a Cactus
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  Speaker 1: aircraft and new and deadly opponents American motor torpedo boats
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  Speaker 1: now based at Tulagi. On one November, the fifth Marines,
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  Speaker 1: backed up by the newly arrived Second Marines, attacked across bridges.
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  Speaker 1: Engineers had laid over the Bttana Cow during the previous night. Inland,
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  Speaker 1: Colonel Whaling led his scout snipers and the third Battalion,
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  Speaker 1: seventh Marines in a screening movement to protect the flank
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  Speaker 1: of the main attack. Opposition was fierce in the shore area,
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  Speaker 1: where the first Battalion, Fifth Marines drove forward toward Point Cruise,
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  Speaker 1: but inland the second Battalion and Whalings group encountered slight opposition.
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  Speaker 1: By nightfall, when the Marines dug in, it was clear
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  Speaker 1: that the only sizeable enemy force was in the Point
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  Speaker 1: Cruise area. In the day's bitter fighting, Corporal Anthony Cassimento,
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  Speaker 1: a badly wounded machine gun squad leader in Edson's first Battalion,
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  Speaker 1: had so distinguished himself that he was recommended for a
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  Speaker 1: Navy Cross many years later. In as August nineteen eighty,
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  Speaker 1: President Jimmy Carter approved the award of the Medal of
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  Speaker 1: Honor in its stead. On the second the attack continued,
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  Speaker 1: with the reserved third Battalion moving into the fight and
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  Speaker 1: all three Fifth Marines units moving to surround the enemy defenders.
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  Speaker 1: On three November, the Japanese pocket just west of the
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  Speaker 1: base at Point Cruise was eliminated. Well over three hundred
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  Speaker 1: enemy had been killed Elsewhere. The attacking Marines had encountered
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  Speaker 1: spotty resistance and advanced slowly across difficult terrain to a
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  Speaker 1: point about one thousand yards beyond the Fifth Marine's action. There,
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  Speaker 1: just as the offensive's objective seemed well in hand, the
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  Speaker 1: advance was halted again. The intelligence that a massive enemy
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  Speaker 1: reinforcement attempt was pending forced Vandergriff to pull back most
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  Speaker 1: of his men to safeguard the all important airfield perimeter.
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  Speaker 1: This time, however, he left a regiment to outpost the
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  Speaker 1: ground that had been gained Colonel Arthur's second Marines, reinforced
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  Speaker 1: by the Army's feverst Battalion, one hundred sixty fourth Infantry.
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  Speaker 1: Emphasizing the need for caution in Vandergriff's mind was the
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  Speaker 1: fact that the Japanese were again discovered in strength east
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  Speaker 1: of the perimeter. On three November, Lieutenant Colonel Hannikin's second Battalion,
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  Speaker 1: seventh Marines, on a reconnaissance and force towards Cooley Point,
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  Speaker 1: could see the Japanese ships clustered near to Tier eight
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  Speaker 1: miles from the perimeter. His Marines encountered strong Japanese resistance
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  Speaker 1: from obviously fresh troops, and he began to pull back.
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  Speaker 1: A regiment of the enemy's thirty eighth Division had landed
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  Speaker 1: as Hayakataki experimented with the Japanese navy promoted scheme of
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  Speaker 1: attacking the perimeter from both flanks. As Hennikan's battalion executed
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  Speaker 1: a fighting withdrawal along the beach, it began to receive
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  Speaker 1: fire from the jungle inland Io. A rescue force was
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  Speaker 1: soon put together under General Rupertus two tank companies, the
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  Speaker 1: first Battalion, seventh Marines, and the second and third battalions
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  Speaker 1: of the one hundred sixty four. The Japanese troops, members
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  Speaker 1: of the thirty eighth Division Regiment and remnants of Kawaguchi's
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  Speaker 1: brigade fought doggedly to hold their ground as the Marines
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  Speaker 1: drove forward along the coast and the soldiers attempted to
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  Speaker 1: outflank the enemy in the jungle. The running battle continued
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  Speaker 1: for days, supported by cactus air naval gun fire and
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  Speaker 1: the newly landed one hundred fifty five millimeters guns. The
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  Speaker 1: enemy commander received new orders as he was struggling to
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  Speaker 1: hold off the Americans. He was to break off the action,
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  Speaker 1: move inland, and march to rejoin the main Japanese force
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  Speaker 1: west of the perimeter. A tall order to fulfill the
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  Speaker 1: two pronged attack scheme had been abandoned. The Japanese managed
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  Speaker 1: the first part. On the eleventh, the enemy force found
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  Speaker 1: a gap in the one hundred sixty force line and
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  Speaker 1: broke through along a meandering jungle stream behind. They left
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  Speaker 1: four hundred fifty dead Over the course of a seven
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  Speaker 1: day battle. The Marines and soldiers had lost forty dead
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  Speaker 1: and one twenty wounded. Essentially, the Japanese who broke out
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  Speaker 1: of the encircling Americans escaped from the frying pan, only
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  Speaker 1: to fall into the fire. Admiral Turner finally had been
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  Speaker 1: able to effect one of his several schemes for alternative
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  Speaker 1: landings in beachheads, all of which General Vandergriff veheminently opposed.
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  Speaker 1: At Aola Bay, forty miles east of the main perimeter,
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  Speaker 1: the Navy put an airfield, construction and defense force ashore
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  Speaker 1: on four November. Then, while the Japanese were still battling
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  Speaker 1: the Marines near to Tier, Vandergriff was able to persuade
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  Speaker 1: Turner to detach part of this landing force, the second
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  Speaker 1: Raider Battalion, to sweep west to discover and destroy any
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  Speaker 1: enemy forces it encountered. Lieutenant Colonel Evans F. Carlson's Raider
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  Speaker 1: Battalion already had seen action before it reached Guadalcanal. Two
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  Speaker 1: companies had reinforced the defenders of Midway Island when the
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  Speaker 1: Japanese attacked there in June. The rest of the battalion
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  Speaker 1: had landed from submarines on Macon Island in the g
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  Speaker 1: gilberts On seventeen to eighteen August, destroying the garrison there.
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  Speaker 1: For his part in the fighting on Makon, Sergeant Clyde
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  Speaker 1: Thomason had been awarded a Medal of Honor posthumously, the
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  Speaker 1: first Marine enlisted man to receive his country's highest award
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  Speaker 1: in World War II. In its march from Aola Bay,
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  Speaker 1: the Second Raider Battalion encountered the Japanese who were attempting
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  Speaker 1: to retreat to the west. On twelve November. The Raiders
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  Speaker 1: beat off attacks by two enemy companies and then relentlessly
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  Speaker 1: pursued the Japanese, fighting a series of small actions over
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  Speaker 1: the next five days before they contacted the main Japanese body.
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  Speaker 1: From seventeen November to four December, when the Raiders finally
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  Speaker 1: came down out of the jungle ridges into the perimeter,
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  Speaker 1: Carlson's men harried the retreating enemy. They killed nearly five
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  Speaker 1: hundred Japanese. Their own losses were sixteen killed and eighteen wounded.
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  Speaker 1: The Aola Bay venture, which had provided the Second Raider
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  Speaker 1: Battalion a starting point for its month long jungle campaign,
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  Speaker 1: proved a bust. The site chosen for a new airfield
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  Speaker 1: was unsuitable too wet and unstable, and the whole force
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  Speaker 1: moved to Koli Point in early December, where another airfield
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  Speaker 1: eventually was constructed. The build up on Guadalcanal continued by
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  Speaker 1: both sides. On eleven November, guarded by a cruiser destroyer
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  Speaker 1: covering force, a convoy ran in carrying one hundred and
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  Speaker 1: eighty second Infantry another regiment of the Americal Division. The
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  Speaker 1: ships were pounded by enemy bombers and three transports were hit,
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  Speaker 1: but the men landed. General Vandergriff needed the new men badly.
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  Speaker 1: His veterans were truly ready for replacement. More than a
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  Speaker 1: thousand new cases of malaria and related diseases were reported
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  Speaker 1: each week. The Japanese, who had been on the island
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  Speaker 1: any length of time were no better off. They were,
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  Speaker 1: in fact in worse shape. Medical supplies and rations were
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  Speaker 1: in short supply. The whole thrust of the Japanese reinforcement
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: effort continued to be to get troops in combat equipment ashore.
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  Speaker 1: The idea prevailed in Tokyo, despite all evidence to the contrary,
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  Speaker 1: that one overwhelming coordinated assault would crush the American resistance.
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  Speaker 1: The enemy drive to take Port Moores beyond New Guinea
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  Speaker 1: was put on hold to concentrate all efforts on driving
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  Speaker 1: the Americans off of Guadalcanal. On twelve November, a multifaceted
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  Speaker 1: Japanese naval force converged on Guadalcanal to cover the landing
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  Speaker 1: of the main body of the thirty eighth Division. Rear
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  Speaker 1: Admiral Daniel J. Callahan's cruisers and destroyers, the closer protection
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  Speaker 1: for the one hundred and eighty seconds transports moved to
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  Speaker 1: stop the enemy. Coastwatcher and scout plane sightings and radio
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: traffic intercepts had identified two battleships, two carriers, four cruisers,
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  Speaker 1: and a host of destroyers all headed toward Guadalcanal. A
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  Speaker 1: bombardment group led by the battleships High Eye and Kiroshima,
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  Speaker 1: with a light cruiser, Negura, and fifteen destroyers, spearheaded the
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  Speaker 1: attack shortly after midnight near Tsavo Island. Callahan's cruisers picked
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  Speaker 1: up the Japanese on radar and continued to close. The
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  Speaker 1: battle was joined at such short range that each side
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  Speaker 1: fired at times on their own ships. Callahan's flagship, the
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  Speaker 1: San Francisco, was hit fifteen times. Callahan was killed and
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: the ship had to limp away. The cruiser Atlanta C
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  Speaker 1: L one O four was also hit and set a fire.
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  Speaker 1: Rear Admiral Norman Scott, who was on board, was killed.
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  Speaker 1: Despite the hammering by Japanese fire, the Americans held and
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  Speaker 1: continued fighting. The battleship High Eye, hit by more than
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  Speaker 1: eighty shells, retired and with it went the rest of
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  Speaker 1: the bombardment force. Three destroyers were sunk and four others damaged.
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  Speaker 1: The Americans had accomplished their purpose. They had forced the
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  Speaker 1: Japanese to turn back. The cost was high. Anti aircraft cruisers,
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  Speaker 1: the Atlanta and the Juno COL fifty two were sunk.
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  Speaker 1: Four destroyers, the Barton D D five ninety nine, Cushing
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  Speaker 1: DD three seventy six, Monson DD four thirty six, and
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  Speaker 1: Laffey DD four fifty nine also went to the bottom.
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  Speaker 1: In addition to the San Francisco, the heavy cruiser Portland
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  Speaker 1: CAA thirty three, and the destroyers Steret DD four oh
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  Speaker 1: seven and Aaron Ward DD fourty three were damaged. Only
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: one destroyer of the thirteen American ships engaged, the Fletcher
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  Speaker 1: DD four forty five, was unscathed. When the survivors retired
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: to the new hebrides. With daylight came the Cactus bombers
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  Speaker 1: and fighters. They found the crippled High Eye and pounded
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  Speaker 1: it mercilessly. On the fourteenth the Japanese were forced to
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: scuttle it. Admiral Halsey ordered his only surviving carrier, the Enterprise,
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  Speaker 1: out of the Guadalcanal area to get it out of
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: reach of Japanese aircraft, and sent his battleships Washington BB
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: fifty six and South Dakota BB fifty five with four
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: escorting destroyers north to meet the Japanese. Some of the
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: Enterprise's planes flew into Henderson Field to help even the odds.
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: On fourteen November, Cactus and the Enterprise flyers found a
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: Japanese cruiser destroyer force that had pounded the island on
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: the night of thirteen November. They damaged four cruisers and
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: a destroyer. After refueling and rearming, they went after the
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: approaching Japanese troop convoy. They hit several transports in one
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: attack and sank one when they came back again. Army
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: B seventeen's up from Espiritu Santo scored one hit and
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: several near misses. Bombing from seventeen thousand feet, moving in
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: a continuous pattern of attack, return, refuel, rearm, and attack again.
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: The planes from Guadalcanal hit nine transports, sinking seven. Many
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: of the five thousand troops on the stricken ships were
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: rescued by Tanaka's destroyers, which were firing furiously and laying
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: smoke screens in an attempt to protect the transports. The
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: admiral later recalled that day as indelible in his mind,
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: with memories of bombs wobbling down from the high flying
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: b seventeens of carrier bombers roaring towards targets as though
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: to plunge full into the water, releasing bombs and pulling
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: out barely in time, each myst sending up towering clouds
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: of mist and spray, every hit, raising clouds of smoke
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: and fire. Despite the intensive aerial attack, Tanaka continued on
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: to Guadalcanal with four destroyers and four transports. Japanese intelligence
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: had picked up the approaching American battleship force and warned
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: Tanaka of its advent. In turn, the enemy admirals sent
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: their own battleship cruiser force to intercept the Americans, led
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: by Rear Admiral Willis. A lee in the Washington reached
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: e Lark Channel about twenty one hundred on the fourteenth.
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  Speaker 1: An hour later, a Japanese cruiser was picked up north
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: of Tsavo. Battleship fire soon turned it away. The Japanese
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: now learned that their opponents would not be the cruisers
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: they expected. The resulting clash, fought in the glare of
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: gunfire and Japanese searchlights, was perhaps the most significant fought
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: at sea for Guadalcanal. When the melee was over, the
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: American battleship sixteen inch guns had more than matched the Japanese.
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: Both the South Dakota and the Washington were damaged badly
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: enough to force their retirement, but the Kiroshima was punished
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: to its abandonment and death. One Japanese and three American destroyers,
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: The Benham d D seven ninety six, the Walk DD
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: four to sixteen, and the Preston DD three seventy nine
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: were sunk. When the Japanese attack force retired, Admiral Tanaka
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: ran his four transports onto the beach, knowing they would
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: be city targets at daylight. Most of the men on board, however,
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: did manage to get ashore before the inevitable pounding by
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: American planes, warships and artillery. Ten thousand troops of the
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: thirty eighth Division had landed, but the Japanese were in
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: no shape to ever again attempt a massive reinforcement. The
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: horrific losses and the frequent naval clashes, which seemed at
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: times to favor the Japanese, did not really represent a standoff.
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: Every American ship lost or damaged could and would be replaced.
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: Every Japanese ship lost meant a steadily diminishing fleet. In
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: the air, The losses on both sides were daunting, but
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: the enemy naval air arm would never recover from its
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: losses of experienced carrier pilots. Two years later, the Battle
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: of the Philippine Sea between American and Japanese carriers would
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: aptly be called the Marianas Turkey Chute because of the
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: ineptitude of the Japanese trainee pilots. The enemy troops who
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: had been fortunate enough to reach land were not immediately
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: ready to assault the American positions. The thirty eighth Division
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: and the remnants of the various Japanese units that had
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: previously tried to penetrate the Marine's lines needed to be
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: shaped into a coherent attack force before General Hayakataki could
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: again attempt to take Henderson Field. General Vandergriff now had
• 19:22
  Speaker 1: enough fresh units to begin to replace his veteran troops
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: along the front lines. The decision to replace the first
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: Marine Division with the Army's twenty fifth Infantry Division had
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: been made. Admiral Turner had told Vandergriff to leave all
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: of his heavy equipment on the island when he did
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: pull out, in hopes of getting your units re equipped
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: when you come out. He also told the Marine general
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: that the Army would command the final phases of the
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: Guadalcanal operation, since it would provide the majority of the
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: combat forces. Once the First Division departed, Major General Alexander
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: M Patch, commander of the Americal Division, would relieve Vandergriff
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: as senior America officer ashore. His air support would continue
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: to be Marine dominated, as General Geiger, now located on
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: Espiritu Santo with First Wing Headquarters, fed his squadrons forward
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: to maintain the offensive, and the Air command on Guadalcanal
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: itself would continue to be a mixed bag of Army, Navy, Marine,
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: and Allied squadrons. The sick list of the First Marine
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: Division in November included more than three thoy two hundred
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: men with malaria. The men of the First still manning
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: the frontline, fox holes and the rear areas. If any
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: place within Guadalcanal's perimeter could properly be called the rear
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: area where plane worn out, they had done their part,
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: and they knew it. On twenty nine November, General Vandergriff
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: was handed a message from the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: The crux of it read, First MARDIV is to be
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: relieved without delay and will proceed to Australia for rehabilitation
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: and employment. The word soon spread that the First was lead,
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: and where it was going Australia was not yet the
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: cherished place it would become in the division's future, but
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: any place was preferred to Guadalcanal. End of Chapter five
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: read by Aaron Bennett