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011 - December and the Final Stages · First Offensive- The Marine Campaign for Guadalcanal

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  Speaker 1: Chapter six 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: December and the final stages. On seventh December, one year
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  Speaker 1: after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, General Vander Griffson
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  Speaker 1: a message to all men under his command in the
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  Speaker 1: Guadalcanal area, thanking them for their courage and steadfastness, commending
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  Speaker 1: particularly the pilots and all who labored and sweated within
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  Speaker 1: the lines in all manner of prodigious and vital tasks.
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  Speaker 1: He reminded them all that their unbelievable achievements had made
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  Speaker 1: Guadalcanal a synonym for death and disaster in the language
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  Speaker 1: of our enemy. On nine December, he handed over his
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  Speaker 1: command to General Patch and flew out to Australia. At
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  Speaker 1: the same time, the first elements of the fifth Marines
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  Speaker 1: were boarding ship. The first, eleventh and seventh Marines would
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  Speaker 1: soon follow, together with all the divisions supporting units. The
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  Speaker 1: men who were leaving were thin, tired, hollow eyed, and apathetic.
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  Speaker 1: They were young men who had grown old in four
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  Speaker 1: months time. They left behind six hundred eighty one dead
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  Speaker 1: in the island cemetery the final regiment of the Americal Division,
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  Speaker 1: the one hundred thirty second Infantry, landed on eight December,
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  Speaker 1: as the fifth Marines was preparing to leave. The Second
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  Speaker 1: Marine Division's regiments already on the island. The second, eighth
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  Speaker 1: and part of the tenth knew that the sixth Marines
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  Speaker 1: was on its way to rejoin. It seemed to many
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  Speaker 1: of the men of the Second Marines who had landed
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  Speaker 1: on d Day seventh August, that they too should be leaving.
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  Speaker 1: These took slim comfort in the thought that they, by
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  Speaker 1: all rights, should be the first of the Second to
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  Speaker 1: depart the island. Whenever that hoped for day came. General
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  Speaker 1: Patch received a steady stream of ground reinforcements and replacements
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  Speaker 1: in December. He was not ready yet to undertake a
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  Speaker 1: full scale offensive until the twenty fifth DAIS and the
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  Speaker 1: rest of the Second Marine Division arrived, but he kept
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  Speaker 1: all frontline units active in combat and reconnaissance patrols, particularly
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  Speaker 1: toward the western flank the island. Commander's air defense capabilities
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  Speaker 1: also grew substantially. Cactus Air Force organized into a fighter
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  Speaker 1: command and a strike bomber Command, now operated from a
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  Speaker 1: newly redesignated Marine Corps air base. The Henderson Field complex
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  Speaker 1: included a new airstrip, Fighter II, which replaced Fighter I,
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  Speaker 1: which had severe drainage problems. Brigader General Lewis Woods, who
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  Speaker 1: had taken over as senior aviator when General Geiger returned
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  Speaker 1: to Espiritu Santo, was relieved on twenty six December by
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  Speaker 1: Brigadier General Francis P. Mulcahey, commanding General Second Marine Aircraft Wing.
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  Speaker 1: New fighter and bomber squadrons from both the First and
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  Speaker 1: Second Wings sent their flight echelons forward on a regular basis.
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  Speaker 1: The Army added three fighter squadrons and a medium bomber
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  Speaker 1: squad of B twenty six is. The Royal New Zealand
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  Speaker 1: Air Force flew in a reconnaissance squadron of Lockheed Hudson's,
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  Speaker 1: and the US Navy sent forward a squadron of consolidated
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  Speaker 1: Pby Catalina patrol planes, which had a much needed night
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  Speaker 1: flying capability. The aerial build up forced the Japanese to
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  Speaker 1: curtail all air attacks and made daylight naval reinforcement attempts
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  Speaker 1: an event of the past. The nighttime visits of the
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  Speaker 1: Tokyo Express destroyers now brought only supplies encased in metal drums,
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  Speaker 1: which were rolled over the ship's sides and hoped they
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  Speaker 1: would float into shore. The men Ashore desperately needed everything
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  Speaker 1: that could be sent even by this method, but most
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  Speaker 1: of the drums never reached the beaches. Still, however, desperate
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  Speaker 1: the enemy's situation was becoming, he was prepared to fight.
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  Speaker 1: General Hayakataki continued to plan the seizure of the airfield.
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  Speaker 1: General Hitoshi Immimura, commander of the Eighth Area Army, arrived
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  Speaker 1: in Rabuli on two December with orders to continue the offensive.
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  Speaker 1: He had fifty thousand men to add to the embattled
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  Speaker 1: Japanese troops on Guadalcanal. Before these new enemy units could
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  Speaker 1: be employed, the Americans were prepared to move out from
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  Speaker 1: the perimeter in their own offensive. Conscious that the Mount
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  Speaker 1: Austin area was a continuing threat to his inland flank
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  Speaker 1: in any drive to the west, Patch committed the Americal's
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  Speaker 1: one hundred thirty second Infantry to the task of clearing
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  Speaker 1: the mountain's wooded slopes on seventeen December. The army regiment
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  Speaker 1: succeeded in isolating the major Japanese force in the area.
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  Speaker 1: By early January, the first Battalion, second Marines, took up
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  Speaker 1: hill positions to the southeast of the one hundred thirty
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  Speaker 1: second to increase flank protection. By this time, the twenty
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  Speaker 1: fifth Infantry Division, Major General J. Lawton Collins had arrived,
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  Speaker 1: and so had the sixth Marines sixth January and the
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  Speaker 1: rest of the Second Division's headquarters and support troops. Brigader
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  Speaker 1: General Alphonse de Caerry, the Marine Division's assistant commander, took
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  Speaker 1: charge of all marine ground forces on the island. The
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  Speaker 1: Second Division's commander, Major General John Marston, remained in New
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  Speaker 1: Zealand because he was senior to General Patch. With three
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  Speaker 1: divisions under his command, General Patch was designated Commanding General
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  Speaker 1: fourteen Corps on two January. His corep headquarters numbered less
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  Speaker 1: than a score of officers and men, almost all taken
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  Speaker 1: from the Americal staff. Brigadier General Edmund B. Sebri, who
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  Speaker 1: had already led both army and marine units in attacks
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  Speaker 1: on the Japanese, took command of the Americal Division. On
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  Speaker 1: ten January, Patch gave the signal to start the strongest
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  Speaker 1: American offensive yet in the Guadalcanal Campaign. The mission of
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  Speaker 1: the troops was simple and to the point, attack and
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  Speaker 1: destroy the Japanese forces remaining on Guadalcanal. The initial objective
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  Speaker 1: of the Corps attack was a line of about one
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  Speaker 1: thousand to one thousand, five hundred yards west of jump
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  Speaker 1: off positions. These ran inland from Point Cruise to the
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  Speaker 1: vicinity of Hill sixty six, about three thousand yards from
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  Speaker 1: the beach. In order to reach Hill sixty six, the
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  Speaker 1: twenty fifth Infantry Division attacked first, with the thirty fifth
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  Speaker 1: and twenty seventh Infantry driving west and southwest across a
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  Speaker 1: scrambled series of ridges. The going was rough and the
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  Speaker 1: dug in Enemy elements of two regiments of the thirty
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  Speaker 1: eighth Division gave way reluctantly and slowly. By the thirteen however,
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  Speaker 1: the American soldiers, aided by Marines of the first Battalion
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  Speaker 1: Second Marines, had won through to positions on the southern
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  Speaker 1: flank of the second Marine Division. On twelfth January, the
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  Speaker 1: Marines began their advance, with the eighth Marines along the
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  Speaker 1: shore and second Marines inland. At the base of Point Cruise.
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  Speaker 1: In the third Battalion, eighth Marine Sector, Regimental Weapons Company
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  Speaker 1: half tracks ran over seven an enemy machine gun nests.
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  Speaker 1: The attack was then held up by an extensive emplacement
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  Speaker 1: until the Weapons company commander, Captain Henry P. Jim Crow,
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  Speaker 1: took charge of a half dozen Marine infantrymen taking cover
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  Speaker 1: from enemy fire, with the classic remarks you'll never get
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  Speaker 1: a purple heart hiding in a fox hole. Follow me.
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  Speaker 1: The men did, and they destroyed the emplacement all along
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  Speaker 1: the front of the advancing assault companies. The going was rough.
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  Speaker 1: The Japanese remnants of the Sendai Division were dug into
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  Speaker 1: the sides of a series of cross compartments, and their
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  Speaker 1: fire took the Marines in the flank as they advanced.
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  Speaker 1: Progress was slow, despite massive artillery support in naval gunfire
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  Speaker 1: from four destroyers off shore. In two days of heavy fighting,
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  Speaker 1: flame throwers were employed for the first time, and tanks
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  Speaker 1: were brought into play. The second Marines was now relieved
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  Speaker 1: and the six Marines moved into the attack along the coast,
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  Speaker 1: while the eighth Marines took up the advance inland. Naval
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  Speaker 1: gunfire support spotted by naval officers ashore, improved measurably. On
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  Speaker 1: the fifteenth, the Americans, both army and Marine, reached the
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  Speaker 1: initial corps objective in the marine attack zone. Six hundred
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  Speaker 1: Japanese were dead final phase. Twenty sixth January to nine
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  Speaker 1: February nineteen forty three, the battle wary Second Marines had
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  Speaker 1: seen its last infantry action of Guadalcanal. A new unit
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  Speaker 1: now came into being, a composite Army Marine Division or
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  Speaker 1: CAM Division, formed from units of the Americal and Second
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  Speaker 1: Marine Divisions. The directing staff was from the Second Division.
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  Speaker 1: Since the Americal had responsibility for the main perimeter, two
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  Speaker 1: of its regiments, the one hundred forty seventh and the
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  Speaker 1: one hundred eighty second Infantry, moved up to attack in
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  Speaker 1: line with the six Marines Still along the coast. The
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  Speaker 1: eighth Marines was essentially pinched out of the front lines
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  Speaker 1: by a narrowing attack corridor as the inland mountains and
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  Speaker 1: hills pressed closer to the coastal trail. The twenty fifth Division,
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  Speaker 1: which was advancing across this rugged terrain, had the mission
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  Speaker 1: of outflanking the Japanese in the vicinity of Cocombona, while
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  Speaker 1: the CAM Division drove west on the twenty third. As
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  Speaker 1: the CAM troops approached Coocombona, the first battalion of the
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  Speaker 1: twenty seventh Infantry struck north out of the hills and
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  Speaker 1: overran the village site and Japanese base. There was only
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  Speaker 1: slight but steady opposition to the American advance. As the
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  Speaker 1: enemy withdrew west toward Cape Esperance. The Japanese had decided
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  Speaker 1: reluctantly to give up the attempt to retake Guadalcanal. The
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  Speaker 1: orders were sent in the name of the Emperor, and
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  Speaker 1: senior staff officers were sent to Guadalcanal to ensure their acceptance.
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  Speaker 1: The Navy would make the final runs of the Tokyo Express,
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  Speaker 1: only this time in reverse, to evacuate the garrison so
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  Speaker 1: it could fight again in later battles to hold the Solomons.
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  Speaker 1: Receiving intelligence that enemy ships were massing again to the northwest,
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  Speaker 1: General Patch took steps, as Vandergriff had before him on
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  Speaker 1: many occasions, to guard against overextending his forces. In the
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  Speaker 1: face of what appeared to be another enemy attempt at reinforcement,
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  Speaker 1: he pulled the twenty fifth Division back to bolster the
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  Speaker 1: main perimeter defenses and ordered the cam Division to continue
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  Speaker 1: its attack. When the Marines and soldiers moved out on
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  Speaker 1: twenty sixth January, they had a surprisingly easy time of it,
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  Speaker 1: gaining one thousand yards the first day in two thousand.
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  Speaker 1: The following day, the Japanese were still contesting every attack,
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  Speaker 1: but not in strength. By thirty January, the sole front
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  Speaker 1: line unit in the American advance was the one hundred
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  Speaker 1: forty seventh Infantry. The six Marines held positions to its
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  Speaker 1: left rear. The Japanese destroyer transports made their first run
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  Speaker 1: to the island on the night of one to two February,
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  Speaker 1: taking out two thousand, three hundred men from evacuate positions
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  Speaker 1: near Cape Esperance. On the night of four to five February,
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  Speaker 1: they returned and took out most of the Sendai survivors
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  Speaker 1: and General Hayakataki and his seventeenth Army staff. The final
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  Speaker 1: evacuation operation was carried out on the night of seven
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  Speaker 1: to eight February, when a three thousand man rearguard was embarked.
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  Speaker 1: In all, the Japanese withdrew about eleven thousand men in
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  Speaker 1: those three nights and evacuated about thirteen thousand soldiers from Guadalcanal. Overall.
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  Speaker 1: The Americans would meet many of these men again in
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  Speaker 1: later battles, but not the six hundred evacuees who died
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  Speaker 1: to warn and sick to survive their rescue. On nine February,
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  Speaker 1: American soldiers advancing from east and west met at Tenoro
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  Speaker 1: Village on Cape Esperance. The only marine ground unit still
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  Speaker 1: in action was the third Battalion, tenth Marines, supporting the advance.
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  Speaker 1: General Patch could happily report the complete and total defeat
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  Speaker 1: of Japanese forces on Guadalcanal. No organized Japanese units remained.
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  Speaker 1: On thirty one January, the Second Marines and the first Battalion,
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  Speaker 1: eighth Marines boarded ship to leave Guadalcanal. As was true
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  Speaker 1: with the First Marine Division, some of these men were
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  Speaker 1: so debilitated by malaria they had to be carried on board.
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  Speaker 1: All of them struck observers again as young men grown old,
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  Speaker 1: with their skins cracked and furrowed and wrinkled. On nine February,
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  Speaker 1: the rest of the eighth Marines and a good part
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  Speaker 1: of the division supporting units boarded transports. The six Marines,
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  Speaker 1: thankfully only six weeks on the island left on the
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  Speaker 1: nineteenth All were headed for Wellington, New Zealand. The Second Marines,
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  Speaker 1: for the first time left behind on the island as
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  Speaker 1: a legacy of the Second Marine Division, were two hundred
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  Speaker 1: sixty three dead. The total cost of the Guadalcanal campaign
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  Speaker 1: to the American ground combat forces was one thousand, five
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  Speaker 1: hundred ninety eight officers in menyis killed, one hundred and
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  Speaker 1: fifty two of them Marines. The wounded total four thy,
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  Speaker 1: seven hundred nine and two seven hundred ninety nine of
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  Speaker 1: these were marines. Marine aviation casualties were one hundred forty
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  Speaker 1: seven killed and one hundred twenty seven wounded. The Japanese,
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  Speaker 1: in their turn, lost close to twenty five thousand men
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  Speaker 1: on Guadalcanal, about half of whom were killed in action.
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  Speaker 1: The rest succumbed to illness, wounds, and starvation at sea.
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  Speaker 1: The comparative losses were about equal, with each side losing
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  Speaker 1: about the same number of fighting ships. The enemy loss
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  Speaker 1: of two battleships, three carriers, twelve cruisers, and twenty five
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  Speaker 1: destroyers was irreplaceable. The Allied ship losses, though costly, were
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  Speaker 1: not fatal. In essence, all ships lost were replaced. In
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  Speaker 1: the air, at least six hundred Japanese planes were shot down.
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  Speaker 1: Even more costly was the death of twenty three hundred
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  Speaker 1: experienced plots and air crewmen. The Allied plane losses were
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  Speaker 1: less than half the enemy's number and the pilot and
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  Speaker 1: air crew losses substantially lower. President Roosevelt, reflecting the thanks
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  Speaker 1: of a grateful nation, awarded General Vandergriff the Medal of
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  Speaker 1: Honour for outstanding and heroic accomplishment in his leadership of
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  Speaker 1: American forces on Guadalcanal from seven August to nine December
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  Speaker 1: nineteen forty two, and for the same period he awarded
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  Speaker 1: the Presidential Unit Citation to the first Marine Division Reinforced
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  Speaker 1: for outstanding gallantry reflecting courage and determination of an inspiring order.
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  Speaker 1: Included in the division citation and award besides the organic
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  Speaker 1: units of the First Division were the second and eighth
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  Speaker 1: Marines and attached units of the Second Marine Division, all
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  Speaker 1: of the Americal Division, the first Parachute and First and
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  Speaker 1: Second Raider Battalions, elements of the third, fifth, and fourteenth
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  Speaker 1: Defense Battalions, the First Aviation and eng Near Battalion, the
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  Speaker 1: six Naval Construction Battalion, and two Motor Torpedo Boat squadrons.
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  Speaker 1: The Indispensable Cactus Air Force was included, also represented by
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  Speaker 1: seven Marine Headquarters and Service Squadrons, sixteen Marine flying squadrons,
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  Speaker 1: sixteen Navy Flying squadrons and five Army flying squadrons. The
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  Speaker 1: victory at Guadalcanal marked a crucial turning point in the
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  Speaker 1: Pacific War. No longer were the Japanese on the offensive.
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  Speaker 1: Some of the Japanese Emperor's best infantrymen, pilots, and seamen
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  Speaker 1: had been vested in close combat by the Americans and
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  Speaker 1: their allies. There were years of fierce fighting ahead, but
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  Speaker 1: there was now no question of its outcome. When the
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  Speaker 1: veterans of the First Marine Division were gathered in thankful
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  Speaker 1: reunion twenty years later, they received a poignant message from Guadalcanal.
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  Speaker 1: The center was a legend to all Canal Marines honorary U. S.
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  Speaker 1: Marine Corps Sergeant Major Jacob C. Vua, the Solomon's native,
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  Speaker 1: in his halting English, said tell them I love them all,
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  Speaker 1: me old man now and me no look good no more,
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  Speaker 1: but me never forget. End of Chapter six, read by
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  Speaker 1: Aaron Bennett.