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I '1 4L½? 2?2. F4 -I "C a —a- ,_A — - -a-. - - 'S First Offensive: The Marine Campaign for Guadalcanal by Henry I. Shaw, Jr. n the early summer of ic had to be secured. The Japanese Battle of Midway (3-6 June 1942) had 1942, intelligence re- advance had to be stopped. Thus, caused Imperial General Head quart- ports of the construc- Operation Watchtower, the seizure of ers to cancel orders for the invasion tion of a Japanese Guadalcanal and Tulagi, came into of Midway, New Caledonia, Fiji, and airfield near Lunga being. Samoa, but plans to construct a Point on Guadalcanal in the Solo- major seaplane base at Tulagi went The islands of the Solomons lie mon Islands triggered a demand for forward. The location offered one of nestled in the backwaters of the offensive action in the South Pacif- the best anchorages in the South Pa- South Pacific. Spanish fortune- ic. The leading offensive advocate in cific and it was strategically located: hunters discovered them in the mid- Washington was Admiral Ernest J. 560 miles from the New Hebrides, sixteenth century, but no European King, Chief of Naval Operations 800 miles from New Caledonia, and power foresaw any value in the is- (CNO). In the Pacific his view was 1,000 miles from Fiji. lands until Germany sought to ex- shared by Admiral Chester A. pand its budding colonial empire The outposts at Tulagi and Nimitz, Commander in Chief, Pacific more than two centuries later. In Guadalcanal were the forward evi- Fleet (CinCPac), who had already 1884, Germany proclaimed a protec- dences of a sizeable Japanese force in proposed sending the 1st Marine torate over northern New Guinea, the the region, beginning with the Seven- Raider Battalion to Tulagi, an island Bismarck Archipelago, and the teenth Army, headquartered at 20 miles north of Guadalcanal across northern Solomons. Great Britain Rabaul. The enemy's Eighth Fleet, Sealark Channel, to destroy a countered by establishing a protec- Eleventh Air Fleet, and 1st, 7th, 8th, Japanese seaplane base there. torate over the southern Solomons and 14th Naval Base Forces also were Although the Battle of the Coral Sea and by annexing the remainder of on New Britain. Beginning on 5 Au- had forestalled a Japanese amphibi- New Guinea. In 1905, the British gust 194 2,Japanese signal intelligence ous assault on Port Moresby, the Al- crown passed administrative control units began to pick up transmissions lied base of supply in eastern New over all its territories in the region to between Noumea on New Caledonia Guinea, completion of the Guadal- Australia, and the Territory of and Melbourne, Australia. Enemy canal airfield might signal the begin- Papua, with its capital at Port Mores- analysts concluded that Vice Admiral ning of a renewed enemy advance to by, came into being. Germany's hold- Richard L. Ghormley, commanding the south and an increased threat to ings in the region fell under the the South Pacific Area (ComSoPac), the lifeline of American aid to New administrative control of the League was signalling a British or Australian Zealand and Australia. On 23 July of Nations following World War I, force in preparation for an offensive in 1942, the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) with the seat of the colonial govern- the Solomons or at New Guinea. The in Washington agreed that the line of ment located at Rabaul on New Bri- warnings were passed to Japanese communications in the South Pacif- tain. The Solomons lay 10 degrees headquarters at Rabaul and Truk, but below the Equator—hot, humid, and were ignored. On the cover: A Marine machine gun- buffeted by torrential rains. The The invasion force was indeed on its ner and his Browning .30-caliber M1917 celebrated adventure novelist, Jack heavy machine gun stand guard while way to its targets, Guadalcanal, Tula- London, supposedly muttered: "If I 1st Marine Division engineers clean up gi, and the tiny islets of Gavutu and were king, the worst punishment I in the Lunga River. (Department of lànambogo close by Tulagi's shore. The could inflict on my enemies would be Defense [USMC] Photo 588741) landing force was composed of Ma- to banish them to the Solomons." rines; the covering force and transport At left: It was from a Boeing B-I 7 Fly- On 23 January 1942, Japanese force were U.S. Navy with a reinforce- ing Fortress such as this that LtCol Mer- rill B. Twining and Maj William B. forces seized Rabaul and fortified it ment of Australian warships. There was extensively. The site provided an ex- not much mystery to the selection of McKean reconnoitered the Watch tower target area and discovered the Japanese cellent harbor and numerous posi- the 1st Marine Division to make the building an airfield on Guadalcanal. tions for airfields. The devastating landings. Five U.S. Army divisions were (National Archives Photo 80-G-34887) enemy carrier and plane losses at the located in the South and Southwest Pa- 1 Itilko .q • Adult c%4/?acfie c/7rea e • HAWAIIAN GLANDS • • '—'HIS,—,, (era/7.Jacf/ec c4'rs& GILBERT —Owutooi I ottrI • •• PHOENIX IS Jout%ac/fica1cea SOCIETY IS -. FIJI ' . YONGA IS. THE PACIFIC AREAS I AUGUST 1942 — A,.o DotndAMI 'e--Su'bdIvispon Boundoriul •O 200 400 /10 0/..tO-Olr I INtuIt M.I.t cific: three in Australia, the 37th In- tached, from the 11th Marines, in the round of working parties, often dur- fantry in Fiji, and the America! case of the 5th and 1st; the 2d Marines ing rainstorms which hampered the Division on New Caledonia. None was drew its reinforcing 75mm howitzers task, but the job was done. Succeed- amphibiously trained and all were con- from the 2d Division's 10th Marines. ing echelons of the division's forces sidered vital parts of defensive garri- The news that his division would all got their share of labor on the sons. The 1st Marine Division, minus be the landing force for Watchtower docks as various shipping groups ar- one of its infantry regiments, had became as a surprise to Major General rived and the time grew shorter. gun arriving in New Zea!and in mid- Alexander A. Vandegrift, who had General Vandegrift was able to con- June when the division headquarters anticipated that the 1st Division vince Admiral Ghormley and the and the 5th Marines reached Welling- would have six months of training in Joint Chiefs that he would not be ton. At that time, the rest of the rein- the South Pacific before it saw ac- able to meet a proposed D-Day of 1 forced division's major units were tion. The changeover from adminis- August, but the extended landing getting ready to embark. The 1st Ma- trative loading of the various units' date, 7 August, did little to improve rines were at San Francisco, the 1st supplies to combat loading, where the situation. Raider Batta!ion was on New Caledo- first-needed equipment, weapons, An amphibious operation is a nia, and the 3d Defense Battalion was ammunition, and rations were posi- vastly complicated affair, particularly at Pearl Harbor. The 2d Marines of the tioned to come off ship first with the when the forces involved are assem- 2d Marine Division, a unit which assault troops, occasioned a never-to- bled on short notice from all over the would replace the 1st Division's 7th be-forgotten scene on Wellington's Pacific. The pressure that Vandegrift Marines stationed in British Samoa, docks. The combat troops took the felt was not unique to the landing was loading out from San Diego. All place 'of civilian stevedores and un- force commander. The U.S. Navy's three infantry regiments of the land- loaded and reloaded the cargo and ships were the key to success and they ing force had battalions of artillery at- passenger vessels in an increasing were scarce and invaluable. Although 2 1 General Alexander A. Vandegrift A distinguished military analyst once noted that if favors the bold and strong of heart;' he led the 1st Marine titles were awarded in America as they are in Eng- Division ashore in the Solomon Islands in the first large- land, the commanding general of Marine Corps scale offensive action against the Japanese. forces at Guadalcanal would be known simply as "Van- His triumph at Guadalcanal earned General Vandegrift degrift of Guadalcanal." But America does not bestow the Medal of Honor, the Navy Cross, and the praise of a aristocratic titles, and besides, such a formality would not grateful nation. In July 1943 he took command of I Ma- be in keeping with the soft-spoken, modest demeanor of rine Amphibious Corps and planned the landing at Em- Alexander A. Vandegrift. press Augusta Bay, Bougainville, Northern Solomons, on 1 November 1943. He then was recalled to Washington, to The man destined to lead the 1st Marine Division in become the Eighteenth Commandant of the Marine Corps. America's first ground offensive operation of World War II was born in 1887 in Charlottesville, Virginia, where he On 1 January 1944, as a lieutenant general, Vandegrift grew up fascinated by his grandfather's stories of life in the was sworn in as Commandant. On 4 April 1945 he was Confederate Army during the Civil War. It was axiomatic promoted to general, and thus became the first Marine that young Alexander would settle on a military career. officer on active duty to attain four-star rank. Commissioned a Marine lieutenant in 1909, Vandegrift In the final stages of the war, General Vandegrift direct- received an early baptism of fire in 1912 during the bom- ed an elite force approaching half-a-million men and wom- bardment, assault, and capture of Coyotepe in Nicaragua. en, with its own aviation force. Comparing his Marines Two years later he participated in the capture and occupa- with the Japanese, he noted that the Japanese soldier "was tion of Vera Cruz. Vandegrift would spend the greater part trained to go to a place, stay there, fight and die. We train of the next decade in Haiti, where he fought Caco bandits, our men to go to a place, fight to win, and to live. I can and served as an inspector of constabulary with the Gen- assure you, it is a better theory' darmerie d'Haiti. It was in Haiti that he met and was After the war, Vandegrift fought another battle, this time befriended by Marine Colonel Smedley D. Butler, who in the halls of Congress, with the stakes being the survival called him "Sunny Jim" The lessons of these formative years of the Marine Corps. His counter-testimony during Con- fighting an elusive enemy in a hostile jungle environment gressional hearings of the spring of 1946 was instrumental were not lost upon the young Marine officer. in defeating initial attempts to merge or "unify" the U.S. Armed Forces. Although his term as Commandant ended He spent the next 18 years in various posts and stations in the United States, along with two tours of China duty on 31 December 1947, General Vandegrift would live to see at Peiping and Tientsin. Prior to Pearl Harbor, Vandegrift passage of Public Law 416, which preserved the Corps and was appointed assistant to the Major General Comman- its historic mission. His official retirement date of 1 April dant, and in April 1940 received the single star of a 1949 ended just over 40 years of service. brigadier general. He was detached to the 1st Marine Di- General Vandegrift outlived both his wife Mildred and vision in November 1941, and in May 1942 sailed for the their only son, Colonel Alexander A. Vandegrift, Jr., who South Pacific as commanding general of the first Marine fought in World War II and Korea. He spent most his final division ever to leave the United States. On 7 August 1942, years in Delray, Florida. He died on 8 May 1973.—Robert after exhorting his Marines with the reminder that "God V. Aquilina 3 the Battles of Coral Sea and Midway force approaching Guadalcanal in about their opponents. Those maps had badly damaged the Japanese early August was vested in Vice Ad- that were available were poor, con- fleet's offensive capabilities and crip- miral Frank J. Fletcher as Expedition- structions based upon outdated pled its carrier forces, enemy naval ary Force Commander (Task Force hydrographic charts and information aircraft could fight as well ashore as 61). His force consisted of the am- provided by former island residents. afloat and enemy warships were still phibious shipping carrying the 1st While maps based on aerial photo- numerous and lethal. American loss- Marine Division, under Rear Ad- graphs had been prepared they were es at Pearl Harbor, Coral Sea, and miral Richmond K. Turner, and the misplaced by the Navy in Auckland, Midway were considerable, and Air Support Force led by Rear Ad- New Zealand, and never got to the Navy admirals were well aware that miral Leigh Noyes. Admiral Ghorm- Marines at Wellington. the ships they commanded were in ley contributed land-based air forces On 17 July, a couple of division short supply. The day was coming commanded by Rear Admiral John staff officers, Lieutenant Colonel when America's shipyards and facto- S. McCain. Fletcher's support force Merrill B. Twining and Major Wil- ries would fill the seas with warships consisted of three fleet carriers, the liam McKean, had been able to join of all types, but that day had not ar- Saratoga (CV 3), Enterprise (CV 6), the crew of a B-17 flying from Port rived in 1942. Calculated risk was the and Wasp (CV 7); the battleship Moresby on a reconnaissance mission name of the game where the Navy North Carolina (BB 55), 6 cruisers, over Guadalcanal. They reported was concerned, and if the risk seemed 16 destroyers, and 3 oilers. Admiral what they had seen, and their anal- too great, the Watchtower landing Turner's covering force included five ysis, coupled with aerial photo- force might be a casualty. As it hap- cruisers and nine destroyers. graphs, indicated no extensive pened, the Navy never ceased to risk defenses along the beaches of The Landing and August Battles its ships in the waters of the Solo- Guadalcanal's north shore. mons, but the naval lifeline to the On board the transports approach- This news was indeed welcome. troops ashore stretched mighty thin ing the Solomons, the Marines were The division intelligence officer (G-2), at times. looking for a tough fight. They knew Lieutenant Colonel Frank B. Goettge, Tactical command of the invasion little about the targets, even less had concluded that about 8,400 _________________________ V --- FURIOA IStAND - TULAGlGAVUTU Florida Islands 0 5 10 MiIfl : 4 First Marine Utility Uniform Issued in World War II fi1' 1L T he United States Marine Corps entered World War 1V' LI 1 r$ II wearing essentially the same summer field uni- V V. form that it had worn during the "Banana Wars." -I.4. The Marines defending America's Pacific outposts on Guam, Wake Island, and in the Philippines in the late .- months of 1941 wore a summer field uniform consisting of a khaki cotton shirt and trousers, leggings, and a M1917A1 steel helmet. Plans to change this uniform had been underway for at least one year prior to the opening of hostilities. As had the Army, the Marine Corps had used a loose-f it- ting blue denim fatigue uniform for work details and some field exercises since the 1920s. This fatigue uniform was either a one-piece coverall or a two-piece bib overall and jacket, both with "USMC" metal buttons. In June 1940, it -, , was replaced by a green cotton coverall. This uniform and the summer field uniform were replaced by what would become known as the utility uniform. Approved for general The new uniform was issued to the flood of new recruits issue on the Marine Corps' 166th birthday, 10 November crowding the recruit depots in the early months of 1942 and 1941, this new uniform was made of sage-green (although was first worn in combat during the landing on Guadal- "olive drab" was called for in the specifications) herring- canal in August 1942. This uniform was subsequently worn bone twill cotton, then a popular material for civilian work by Marines of all arms from the Solomons Campaign to clothing. The two-piece uniform consisted of a coat (often the end of the war. Originally, the buttons on the coat and referred to as a "jacket" by Marines) and trousers. In 1943, the trousers were all copper-plated, but an emergency al- a cap made of the same material would be issued. ternate specification was approved on 15 August 1942, eight The loose-fitting coat was closed down the front by four days after the landing on Guadalcanal, which allowed for two-piece rivetted bronze-finished steel buttons, each bear- a variety of finishes on the buttons. Towards the end of ing the words "U.S. MARINE CORPS" in relief. The cuffs the war, a new "modified" utility uniform which had been were closed by similar buttons. Two large patch pockets developed after Tarawa was also issued, in addition to a were sewn on the front skirts of the jacket and a single patch variety of camouflage uniforms. All of these utility uni- pocket was stitched to the left breast. This pocket had the forms, along with Army-designed Ml helmets and Marine Marine Corps eagle, globe, and anchor insignia and the Corps-designed cord and rubber-soled rough-side-out letters "USMC" stencilled on it in black ink. The trousers, leather "boondocker" shoes, would be worn throughout the worn with and without the khaki canvas leggings, had two war in the Pacific, during the postwar years, and into the slashed front pockets and two rear patch pockets. Korean War. —Kenneth L. Smith-Christmas Japanese occupied Guadalcanal and units. Infantry regiments numbered of engineers, pioneers, and Seabees, Tulagi. Admiral Turner's staff figured 3,168 and consisted of a headquart- provided a hefty combat and serv- that the Japanese amounted to 7,125 ers company, a weapons company, ice element. The total was rounded men. Admiral Ghormley's intelli- and three battalions. Each infantry out by division headquarters battal- gence officer pegged the enemy battalion (933 Marines) was or- ion's headquarters, signal, and mili- strength at 3,100— closest to the ganized into a headquarters compa- tary police companies and the 3,457 actual total of Japanese troops; ny (89), a weapons company (273), division's service troops —service, 2,571 of these were stationed on and three rifle companies (183). The motor transport, amphibian tractor, Guadalcanal and were mostly artillery regiment had 2,581 officers and medical battalions. For Watch- laborers working on the airfield. and men organized into three 75mm tower, the 1st Raider Battalion and To oppose the Japanese, the Ma- pack howitzer battalions and one the 3d Defense Battalion had been rines had an overwhelming superiori- 105mm howitzer battalion. A light added to Vandegrift's command to ty of men. At the time, the tables of tank battalion, a special weapons provide more infantrymen and much organization for a Marine Corps di- battalion of antiaircraft and antitank needed coast defense and antiaircraft vision indicated a total of 19,514 guns, and a parachute battalion ad- guns and crews. officers and enlisted men, including ded combat power. An engineer regi- Unfortunately, the division's heav- naval medical and engineer (Seabee) ment (2,452 Marines) with battalions iest ordnance had been left behind in 5 Fletcher added some bad news. In view of the threat from enemy land- based air, he could not "keep the carriers in the area for more than 48 hours after the landing:' Vandegrift protested that he needed at least four days to get the division's gear ashore, and Fletcher reluctantly agreed to keep his carriers at risk another day. On the 28th the ships sailed from the Fijis, proceeding as if they were headed for Australia. At noon on 5 August, the convoy and its escorts turned north for the Solomons. Un- detected by the Japanese, the assault force reached its target during the night of 6-7 August and split into two landing groups, Transport Division X-Ray, 15 transports heading for the Naval Historical Photographic Collection 880-CF-117-4-63 north shore of Guadalcanal east of Enroute to Guadalcanal, RAdm Richmond Kelly Turner, commander of the Am phi- Lunga Point, and Transport Division bous Force, and MajGen Alexander A. Vandegrift, 1st Marine Division commander, Yoke, eight transports headed for review the Operation Watchtower plan for landings in the Solomon Islands. Tulagi, Gavutu, Tanambogo, and the New Zealand. Limited ship space and vision, but the majority of the men nearby Florida Island, which loomed time meant that the division's big were going into their initial battle. over the smaller islands. guns, a 155mm howitzer battalion, The commanding officer of the 1st Vandegrift's plans for the landings and all the motor transport battal- Marines, Colonel Clifton B. Cates, would put two of his infantry regi- ion's two-and-a-half-ton trucks were estimated that 90 percent of his men ments (Colonel LeRoy P. Hunt's 5th not loaded. Colonel Pedro A. del had enlisted after Pearl Harbor. The Marines and Colonel Cates' 1st Ma- Valle, commanding the 11th Marines, fabled 1st Marine Division of later rines) ashore on both sides of the was unhappy at the loss of his heavy World War II, Korean War, Vietnam Lunga River prepared to attack in- howitzers and equally distressed that War, and Persian Gulf War fame, the land to seize the airfield. The 11th essential sound and flash-ranging most highly decorated division in the Marines, the 3d Defense Battalion, equipment necessary for effective U.S. Armed Forces, had not yet es- and most of the division's support- counterbattery fire was left behind. tablished its reputation. ing units would also land near the Also failing to make the cut in the The convoy of ships, with its out- Lunga, prepared to exploit the beach- battle for shipping space, were all riding protective screen of carriers, head. Across the 20 miles of Sealark spare clothing, bedding rolls, and reached Koro in the Fiji Islands on Channel, the division's assistant com- supplies necessary to support the 26 July. Practice landings did little mander, Brigadier General William reinforced division beyond 60 days more than exercise the transports' H. Rupertus, led the assault forces of combat. Ten days supply of am- slated to take Tulagi, Gavutu, and landing craft, since reefs precluded an munition for each of the division's actual beach landing. The rendez- Tanambogo: the 1st Raider Battalion weapons remained in New Zealand. (Lieutenant Colonel Merritt A. Ed- vous at Koro did give the senior com- In the opinion of the 1st Division's manders a chance to have a son); the 2d Battalion, 5th Marines historian and a veteran of the land- face-to-face meeting. Fletcher, (Lieutenant Colonel Harold E. Rose- ing, the men on the approaching McCain, Turner, and Vandegrift got crans); and the 1st Parachute Battal- ion (Major Robert H. Williams). transports "thought they'd have a bad together with Ghormley's chief of time getting ashore:' They were con- staff, Rear Admiral Daniel J. Calla- Company A of the 2d Marines would reconnoiter the nearby shores of fident, certainly, and sure that they ghan, who notified the conferees that could not be defeated, but most of ComSoPac had ordered the 7th Ma- Florida Island and the rest of Colonel John A. Arthur's regiment would the men were entering combat for the rines on Samoa to be prepared to em- first time. There were combat vete- bark on four days notice as a stand by in reserve to land where ran officers and noncommissioned reinforcement for Watchtower. To needed. officers (NCOs) throughout the di- this decidedly good news, Admiral As the ships slipped through the 6 channels on either side of rugged 0909 on Red Beach. To the men's sur- cial naval landing force sailors and Savo Island, which split Sealark near prise (and relief), no Japanese ap- they had no intention of giving up its western end, heavy clouds and peared to resist the landing. Hunt what they held without a vicious, no- dense rain blanketed the task force. immediately moved his assault surrender battle. Edson's men land- Later the moon came out and sil- troops off the beach and into the sur- ed first, following by Rosecrans' bat- houetted the islands. On board his rounding jungle, waded the steep- talion, hitting Tulagi's south coast command ship, Vandegrift wrote to banked Ilu River, and headed for the and moving inland towards the ridge his wife: "Tomorrow morning at enemy airfield. The following 1st which ran lengthwise through the is- dawn we land in our first major Marines were able to cross the Ilu on land. The battalions encountered offensive of the war. Our plans have a bridge the engineers had hastily pockets of resistance in the under- been made and God grant that our thrown up with an amphibian trac- growth of the island's thick vegeta- judgement has been sound tor bracing its middle. The silence tion and maneuvered to outflank and whatever happens you'll know I did was eerie and the absence of oppo- overrun the oppostion. The advance my best. Let us hope that best will sition was worrisome to the riflemen. of the Marines was steady but casual- be good enough." The Japanese troops, most of whom ties were frequent. By nightfall, Ed- At 0641 on 7 August, Turner sig- were Korean laborers, had fled to the son had reached the former British nalled his ships to "land the landing west, spooked by a week's B-17 bom- residency overlooking Tulagi's harbor force' Just 28 minutes before, the bardment, the pre-assault naval gun- and dug in for the night across a hill heavy cruiser Quincy (CA 39) had fire, and the sight of the ships that overlooked the Japanese final begun shelling the landing beaches at offshore. The situation was not the position, a ravine on the island's Guadalcanal. The sun came up that same across Sealark. The Marines on southern tip. The 2d Battalion, 5th fateful Friday at 0650, and the first Guadalcanal could hear faint rum- Marines, had driven through to the landing craft carrying assault troops bles of a firefight across the waters. northern shore, cleaning its sector of of the 5th Marines touched down at The Japanese on Tulagi were spe- enemy; Rosecrans moved into posi- MajGen Alexander A. Vandegrift, CG, 1st Marine Division, LtCol Gerald C. Thomas, operations officer; LtCol Randolph confers with his staff on board the transport USS McCawley McC. Pate, logistics officer; LtCol Frank B. Goettge, intelli- (APA-4) enroute to Guadalcanal. From left: Gen Vandegrift; gence officer; and Col William Capers James, chief of staff. National Archives Photo 80-G-17065 7 National Archives Photo 80-CF-112-5-3) First Division Marines storm ashore across Guadalcanal's Barnett (AF11) and attack cargo ship Fomaihaut (AK-22). The beaches on D-Day, 7 August 1942, from the attack transport invaders were surprised at the lack of enemy opposition. ______ LANDING ON GUADALCANAL and Capture of the Airfield LunGoPOmi - 7-8 AUGUST 1942 Morne Postioris, Evenrn2. TAuavst Poiitioni Aeachsd, B Auuit 4 Ads of Advonce LLIN3A - %'%SS Japanese Bwouoc Area 600 0 2000 lords - 2[it+i - BEACH RED EXTEN210tC"T BEACH RED iQii-n 3S5t+)I rENARU I "be- ,- a' e- 11+) Third Bn First Modm,(R,inf John Cannes — 8