WAR infographic

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Guadalcanal is 2,500-square-mile part of the Solomon Islands which lie to the north-eastern approaches of Australia.

 

PRELUDE

 

Possession of a Guadalcanal was important to control the sea line of communication between Australia and the United States.

 

The Battle was notable for the interrelationship of a complex series of engagements at sea, on the ground and in the air.

 

The United States had finally gathered forces in the Pacific to begin to attack Japan back, after Pearl Harbor.

 

Japanese troops arrived on Guadalcanal on June 8, 1942, to construct an airbase

 

American marines landed two months later to take it away from them…

 

 

 

AT THE END

 

The Japanese had lost 2/3 of the 31,400 army troops committed to the island

 

They lost 14,800 in battle and 9,000 from a disease. About 1,000 Japanese men were taken as prisoners. 

 

The battle had cost them far more than this – altogether, 50,000 men lost on land, at sea and in the air.

 

Japanese lost 683-880 aircraft.

 

The U.S. Army had lost less than 2,000 soldiers, 4,183 were wounded

 

The U.S. lost 615 aircraft.

 

The various naval battles cost each side 24 warships: the Japanese lost 2 battleships, 4 cruisers, 1 light carrier, 11 destroyers, and 6 submarines

the Americans lost 8 cruisers, 2 heavy carriers, and 14 destroyers.

 

 

 

INTERESTING FACTS

 

The Americans made no contact with the Japanese after the landing and for the first 24 hours there was no fighting on Guadalcanal.

 

Radio Tokyo referred to the Marines as “insects”.

 

Any attack on the American lines was done by an old-fashioned infantry charge against positions that were equipped with artillery and mortar.

 

The aircraft at Henderson became known as the "Cactus Air Force" (CAF) in reference to Guadalcanal's code name.

 

The nighttime convoys of Japanese reinforcements were nicknamed the Tokyo Express.

 

Banzai charges - the Japanese way of war in which hundreds of men raced fearlessly at the defending guns.

 

Malaria caused more American deaths than Japanese bullets

 

The U.S. was able to protect the island during the day by sending out planes to bomb Japanese ships. On the other hand, the Japanese would land at night using small and fast ships