Guadalcanal: America's First Offensive

[Music] SP [Music] [Music] during the first 6 months of war in the Pacific the Japanese conquered hundreds of thousands of miles of territory in eastern Asia and Oceania by 1942 they reached the Solomon Islands which just a few years earlier writers described as the most remote place on Earth where one could Escape completely from the cares of the world to the Japanese guadal Canal was a most desirable piece of land using that Island as a base they might well succeed in severing the lifeline from the US to Australia but in June 1942 to Japanese troops who occupied guad Canal it was just another Island Conquest in their Southward Advance the forces of Imperial Japan had been overwhelmingly successful in their ambitious campaign during that first half year of allout war in Washington the government's concern over Japan's domination of Eastern Asia and the Western Pacific was voiced by its last ambassador to the Japanese empire Joseph Gru I know by long experience of the overweening ambition of that Japanese military machine of its great strength and power of the intensiveness of its training over long years is for any kind of fighting of its fanatical determination I know what it aims to do to these United States I have had ample evidence of the work of those barbarous hordes first bombing burning bonting and then when Masters raping torturing our country is today in peril believe me for I know it must and shall not happen here and yet it will with mathematical certainty happen here if we lose this war the combined Chiefs of Staff in Washington were prompted by the enemy threat to the vital us to Australia Lifeline to schedule a quick counterblow designed to stop the aggressors short on the South Pacific in Late July 1942 the first Marine Division embarked from its Advanced Training area in New Zealand the division under the command of Major General Alexander V derri was hurriedly loaded aboard the transports on the Attack [Music] Force the assault Force moved North in deep secrecy for the first few days the Seas were Placid but this condition was not to Prevail for long in view of the Li Li mited size of the naval Force It was decided to make as much use as possible of the weather as cover in Late July observers forecast a cold front sweeping northeastward passing across the northeast corner of Australia on August 4th and moving toward guad Canal at a speed of 300 M A Day under cover of the bad weather the assault force was able to move into enemy controlled Waters with little chance of detection by Japanese planes many of the men on board had never experienced any weather rougher than a Squall on a mountain lake and when the weather turned bad in the Pacific that ocean seemed to be poorly named indeed The Assault on gule Canal was timed so that the naval force would make the last part of the trip under cover of the cold front to a point just off the island Target the plan worked perfectly during the night of August 6th the cold front passed over the gu Canal area and on dday morning August 7th the Seas were calm soon after Dawn Naval guns announced the beginning of America's first offensive action in World War II under the direction of officers who were experts in newly developed techniques of amphibious Warfare the assault waves of the first Marine Division headed for the beach on Shore the enemy was ominously quiet promptly at 8:00 a.m. on that August morning in 19 42 American Marines set foot on the first piece of Japanese held territory tagi across the channel on guad Canal the main Landing was not opposed at any moment the commanders knew the enemy might launch a Counterattack which would surely be made before the assault forces had a chance to get well established no contact was made with the Enemy until the second day when the Japanese opened up on the American position while other Marine battalions were fighting on tagi and several other islands off guad Canal the campaign for the key Japanese stronghold in the southern solomans gathered momentum enemy soldiers Adept at jungle fighting were difficult targets for marine Riflemen this was the first experience for American fighting men in a new kind of warfare by Nightfall of the second day August 8th the Marines Beach head extended less than a mile Inland and four miles along the shore but at least they had a foothold as the campaign on guad Canal continued the Marines grew accustomed to fighting in Jungle country where it was necessary to battle the enemy on his own terms in his own style it took a little longer to get accustomed to some of the routine features of life on a tropical island and this pre-war South Sea Paradise was inclined to be just a bit damp the first half of the six-month long struggle for guat Canal was fought during what was called the dry season the men often wondered what the wet season would be like on August 9th the first of a series of unprecedented Naval battles for control of the waters surrounding guad Canal was joined off Savo Island a fast Japanese Fleet of seven Cruisers and one Destroyer raced down the slot The Passage through the central Solomons bent on destroying us ships at guad Canal the Japanese Fleet managed to sneak into the Savo Island Waters unchallenged by the American warships the Battle of Sabo Island turned into an overwhelming Japanese Victory augmenting the naval successes the enemy made effective use of his air superiority in the Solon operating from bases in the Northern and Central Solomons from banville and nearby Islands Japanese planes dominated the Skies over the area daily they came down the slot to bomb American forces on guad Canal where the issue was still in doubt the Japanese pilots who made the run to guad Canal were among the best in the Japanese Air Force the enemy was throwing his most thoroughly trained Personnel into the Frantic effort to stop the American counter offensive on guad Canal the American fighting men could almost set their watches by the regular visits of the enemy planes Japanese Pilots had things pretty much their own way the main target which all the enemy bombers concentrated on was the air strip for which the American Marines had fought so hard Henderson field which had been seized on the second day and never lost was quickly repaired after each bombing the few American planes on the island took a steady beating from forward bases on American held Islands us fighter pilots took off to battle the enemy in the Solomon [Music] Skies as the gule canal campaign stretched from weeks into months the the fight for the air over the Solomons began to change complexion at Japanese bases in the northern Solomons Gunners were pressed into action for the defense of their installations with increasing frequency the enemy was now forced to reconcile himself to the sight of American Plains over what he had come to regard as his territory us bombers began to F or [ __ ] air bases in the northern Solomons regularly these attacks on enemy positions in the northern solans helped lessen Japanese pressure on guadal Canal air strikes by landbased us bombers mostly Marine against enemy Fields grew increasingly important as the Solomon's campaign passed into its third month [Music] on guad Canal Marine Commanders were helped materially by information supplied by friendly natives officers like Raider Colonel Evans Carlson received hey cooperation from most of the melanesian inhabitants during October US forces fought off counter Blows By A stubbornly resisting enemy the Japanese battled fanatically but their Counterattack failed the campaign began to look a little brighter to the Marines and their commandant General Thomas hul the Battle of guad canal is now shaping up in our favor it's a fight of man against man in the jungle and man for man American Marines and soldiers are superior Warriors it is not yet one but we possess the balance of power and intend to hold this Advantage the US foothold was now firmly established after months of bitter fighting there were decorations for Uncommon Valor to be made to men like Marine Raider Colonel Merritt Edson for his heroic stand at bloody Ridge in late October the Japanese made another strong bid to turn the tide of battle in the Solomon by sending a fast Fleet into action Japanese Naval units were to search out and Destroy American warships operating in Solomon's Waters Japanese Pilots were to play the key role in the planned annihilation of the American Fleet if the planes achieved their objectives the Japanese were confident they could regain complete control of gule canal after two days and nights of preliminary sparring the battle of Santa Cruz was finally begun in Earnest on October 26th this Naval engagement followed the new pattern of Pacific Naval Warfare with the planes functioning as the principal attack weapon and the ships zigzagging to keep out of the enemy PL [Music] sight the battle raged without letup throughout the morning carriers on both sides were under almost const Air Attack a flat top like the Hornet was a prime target for Japanese Pilots between 9 and 10: a.m. enemy planes scored several hits on the Hornet and the big carrier was seriously crippled badly damaged The Hornet lay dead in the water at about 3:30 p.m. all hands were ordered to abandon ship Santa Cruz was a tactical victory for the enemy on guad Canal US Army troops were arriving in considerable numbers to relieve the original assault units their assignment was to hold at all costs the territory which had been seized by the invading force of Marines and to resist all enemy attempts to retake that invaluable patch of ground equally important was the marine engineers assignment to build Henderson field into a sizable Air Base capable of accommodating bombers in some quantity the newly arrived units brought with them the material so necessary in the transformation of the water loged air strip into a bomber base from Henderson field large attack groups would carry American bombs North to be deposited on Japanese position in a very few weeks Henderson field had the look of an efficient welle equipped Airbase ready to handle any problem which its new complement of planes might present on December 9th 4 months after after the invasion of the island the command of the US fighting forces on guad Canal passed from the Marine Corps to the Army the same day elements of the first Marine Division began leaving the island the weary assault troops were headed for a rear area for rest and relaxation Most Japanese soldiers refused to be taken prisoner but there were a few those who Wen taken spoke freely about their units and many carried military orders Diaries and other valuable sources of information Japanese money was a popular souvenir until the novelty wore off the first Marine Division could have set itself up in a tidy little business on Tokyo's Ginza if it hadn't had other matters to occupy it in January gule Canal was visited by the Navy's brass Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox had made the long trip from Washington to see for himself how well the sailors and Marines were carrying the fight to the enemy Admiral Chester Nimitz commander-in-chief Pacific Fleet and Admiral bull Hy were also in the party captured enemy equipment proved particularly fascinating to Hy the tour of inspection of the area seized in America's first offensive impressed the visitors with the capabilities of the fighting men under their command gule Canal was tered officially secure on February 9th 1943 from an area of only a few dozen square miles American soldiers and Marines held control of the island the US position was never again seriously threatened but the price paid for that small corner of an island in the South Pacific was high more than 3,000 Americans had died fighting the enemy at guad Canal so that the US could seize the offensive and move forward in the long chain of bloody campaigns toward final Victory the heroes of guad canal were fighting men of various races and Creed thanks to their Supreme sacrifice the US had stopped the enemy's sweep of aggression US forces now held a commanding area in the Strategic Southern Solomon from guad Canal the US was in excellent position to follow up its first Victory on the road to Tokyo but although the US had won an important position in the Solomons the enemy still controlled the major part of the island chain in February 1943 American soldiers and Marines invaded the Russell Islands there was no opposition the US gained another foothold in drive up the Solomon's ladder in late June Marine Raiders and Army troops invaded two key islands in the new Georgia group in the central Solomon on June 30th the Army's 172nd regimental combat team headed for Shore in the invasion of Renova Island The Landing was a pushover meanwhile on new Georgia Island itself the fourth Marine Raiders went ashore and quickly overcame the initial enemy resistance Landings were also made at several other points on new Georgia by the first Marine Raiders and by GIS of the 37th and 43rd divisions All The Landings in the new Georgia group were quickly achieved and Beach heads secured the terrain of the islands in the new Georgia group was worse if possible than that at qule Canal in the drive toward Munda Airfield the troops were concerned not only with the Enemy but with the swamps and impenetrable Jungle which slowed the American offensive down this first taste of combat for some of the gis on the new Georgia operation was hardly what they'd been expecting artillery was brought into position for the shelling of Munda corduroy roads were built to bridge the mud and facilitate transport wherever possible but most of the artillery had to be dragged into position through the Everlasting mud the concentrated us attack in the fight for Munda Airfield included units of all branches of America's Armed Forces Allied bombers supplemented the naval bombardment of Japanese positions surrounding the strongly defended air strip on New Georgia [Music] for 5 weeks the embattled Munda area held out against everything that US forces could pour on it but slowly the Japanese area shrank The Defenders often had to be dealt with individually by The Americans finally the Japanese grip on the area was broken nepan troops who had defended Munda so fanatically met the same end as their brothers in arms on guad Canal American troops went to work quickly in cleaning out the area of any last ditch Defenders but the Japanese Defense Force had been virtually annihilated us bombers had done a thorough job on Munda as American ground units discovered when they surveyed the Airfield the Reconstruction of Munda Airfield was most urgent to the American forces although the strip was less than 150 mi from strong enemy bases in the northern Solomon Munda was not heavily attacked by Japanese air unit the job of reconstruction moved ahead with Incredible speed while the work was being rushed planes were taking off from the widen strip [Applause] meanwhile at Sea another major battle was joined at koua Gulf during the first week of July this time the Japanese fleet was attempting to annihilate US invasion forces in the central Solomons but as the battle in Kula Gulf began it was the American ships which surprised the Japanese for a change although the cruiser Helena was lost the US two Japanese destroyers in the 4-Hour Long Engagement the American Force gained a great tactical advantage in the battle by performing a classic Naval maneuver crossing the enemy's te this time honored trick put the enemy in the unfavorable position of finding suddenly that only his lead ships could fire and only forward the American Fleet on the other hand could fire simultaneous broadsides against the enemy ships but the first battle of the coola gulf was not beside you exactly one week later Before Dawn The Fleets joined battle again in the same [Music] Waters in the Second Battle of the Kola Gulf the US Fleet suffered the loss of one Destroyer but in addition two of her fast Cruisers were seriously damaged the Honolulu had taken several Torpedoes in her side the St Louis was also hit by a [ __ ] fish in her bow at the height of the battle the enemy fleets had inflicted heavy damage in several major Naval battles in the waters off guad Canal between August 1942 and February 1943 this series of bitterly fought engagements in the Seas of the South Pacific marked a new era in the Naval History of the World the final tabulation of the naval battles off guad Canal indicated almost a draw but Japan in particular could not afford the losses sustained by its Navy in the Solomons on August 15th 1943 American soldiers and Marines invaded V laela still farther up the Solomon's ladder US forces now controlled the Solomon's area almost to the shores of banville to relieve the original assault Force which had landed virtually without opposition two New Zealand combat teams were sent to occupy V laela and Stave off any Japanese attempts to wipe out the Allied Beach head some of the kiwis in this unit had served with distinction in the quite different but gruelling war in the Middle East this was their first active appearance in the Pacific War but in the months ahead they and their countrymen were to play an important role in small unpublicized campaigns in which enemy pockets of consider able size were involved the kiwis were tough fighting men ideal for the war against Japan the American position in the Solomons had improved tremendously by virtue of the increased range of its air power until mid 1943 US planes in the Solomons were limited to targets within range of Henderson field but with Munda in American hands us bombers could hit Japanese positions anywhere in the Solomons from m us planes soon took off daily in a series of coordinated attacks on key Japanese bases in the South Pacific in addition to raids against the most important enemy fields in the northern Solomons us planes were preparing to drop thousands of tons of bombs on major bases like rabal the enemy's South Pacific Fortress in October 1943 the first large flights took off on missions to Ral 400 m away from Munda airstrip a much more formidable base than it had once been us planes headed north to neutralize reall as the missions to rebal continued us planes dropped the St staggering total of nearly 2,000 tons of bombs on the Japanese Bastion in one month I December the Skies over the Solomon's area were undeniably American but in the Northern Pacific the war bore little resemblance to the war that was fought in the equatorial latitudes in the illus the troops were also indulging in island hopping but the islands were of quite a different type lying on the great circle route between North America and Japan the utions were Bleak isolated outposts but only 1500 miles from the heart of the enemy's home Islands for [Music] [Applause] [Music] ofice in [Music] the every feel your oh