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Guadalcanal Battles

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The Battles of Guam and Guadalcanal
Many people are familiar with the attack on Pearl Harbor, but not many people know of the smaller battles that took place soon afterwards. These such battles include the Battle of Guadalcanal and the Battles of Guam. The Battles of Guadalcanal and Guam were two battles that took place in the Pacific during World War II in the early 1940s. They were both very important battles between the Allied and Japanese forces (Battle of Guadalcanal) (Battle of Guam).
The Battle of Guadalcanal
The Battle of Guadalcanal lasted from August of 1942 to February of 1943. This battle took place on the island of Guadalcanal, located in the southern Solomon Islands, and was fought between the Allied and Japanese forces (Battle …show more content…

The Allies sent naval forces and Marines led by Frank Fletcher and Alexander Vandegrift (Mann, 117) to carry out a surprise attack on the island (History.com). The amphibious force they sent was the most powerful ever assembled (Trueman). Other similar forces were also sent to capture Tulagi and other smaller islands (Mann, 118). The Allies advanced inland. The bad climate made the journey very difficult for the soldiers, especially those carrying supplies. The Allied troops arrived at the Japanese airfield on August 8, 1942 and the Japanese troops fled, abandoning the airfield. This led to fierce naval fighting (Trueman). The Allies finished building the abandoned airfield and named it Henderson’s Field (Mann, 118). Japanese troops were landed on the island (Trueman). Japan wanted the Allies off the island, so they fought hard and hit the island often with air attacks (Mann, 118). By a system called the Tokyo Express, Japanese cruisers and destroyers came by night and landed men and supplies on the island. This allowed them to run thousands of men to the island and build up a good attack force (Mann, 119). Further attempted attacks by the Japanese failed and were pushed back. Soon the Allies began using an offensive strategy, pushing the enemy away (Mann, 121). The Japanese refused defeat, but the emperor ordered a withdrawal from the island …show more content…

It took place on the island of Guam, located in the Mariana Islands in the Pacific Ocean (Battle of Guam).
The first battle lasted only two days. It started on December 8, 1941 and ended December 10, 1941 (Orzechowski). The battles were fought between the Allied and Japanese forces (Guam). Tomitaro Horii led the Japanese in 1941 and the Allied leader was George J. McMillin (Battle of Guam). There were 547 Marine soldiers and sailors fighting for the Allies. They had one minesweeper, two patrol boats, and one freighter engaged. The Japanese had 5,900 infantry soldiers and Marines using warcraft including four heavy cruisers, four destroyers, two gunboats, six submarine chasers, two minesweepers, two tenders, and unknown aircraft (First). The first battle was a Japanese victory (Battle of Guam). The Allies lost 17 men, one minesweeper, two patrol boats, and one freighter. Thirty five were wounded and 406 were captured. The Japanese only suffered one death while six were wounded, and one aircraft was lost

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Whilst war in the Pacific commenced on the 7th of December 1941, with the bombing of Pearl Harbour, Japanese forces landed in PNG on the morning of the 21st of July 1942. Japanese force were identified by both the native PNG population and long-range lookout officers of the Australian army with the first contact by Australian forces commencing on the 22nd of July. Several skirmishes took place up until the 26th of September when Australian forces commenced their major offensive. Numerous battles occurred over the next several months including the battle for templeteoms crossing, eora creek and oivigorari. The final push was marked by the incorporation of American troops and specifically the battle for the beachheads and Sanananda it has been estimated that these last two battle have cost the lives of upwards of 10 000 Japanese lives.

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When the Allies noticed construction of an airfield on Guadalcanal, the U.S. did an amphibious landing, and the two forces went back and forth. It became a major turning-point in the war because it stopped Japanese expansion.

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The Battle of Iwo Jima took place in 1945. The United States wanted to capture the island of Iwo Jima, which was controlled by Japan. This would mean a big step in the right direction for the U.S. in the war. On the date “of February 19, 1945, the 4th and 5th Marine Divisions invaded Iwo Jima after an ineffective 72-hour bombardment” (“History”). They planned to march in, and the soldiers were ordered to take control of Mt. Suribachi on the Iwo Jima Island.

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The European and Pacific Theatre There were many battles in World War II, all of them being important and having different outcomes. Two main theaters we are focusing on are going to be the European Theatre where the Invasion of Normandy took place, along with the Pacific Theatre where the Attack on Pearl Harbor occurred. Both events had major impacts on the outcome of World War II, along with all the other battles we encountered. If ether of these battles turned out differently, America may not have become the amazing beautiful place it is today. The battle of Pearl Harbor occurred early morning in Honolulu, Hawaii on December 7, 1941.

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This battle consisted of naval and air bombardment. The battle was fought in a network of dugouts, caves, underground installations, and tunnels. Japan used one of their strategies by not fighting above ground. After about a month of fighting, the U.S. Marines wiped out the Japanese forces. The United States used about sixty-eight hundred tons of bombs.

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Even though we weren’t officially in the war until Pearl Harbor in 1942, a lot still happened. America’s first significant gains came in this same year against Japan. These were the Coral Sea in May and the Midway Island in June. This halted the Japanese advance. In the North Atlantic, British and American ships used superior technology to lower the effectiveness of the German Subs.

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The first five weeks on Iwo Jima the United States suffered 26,000 casualties (Grant 154). Most people think that only the US Marines fought in Iwo Jima, but that is not true. The Marines, Army, Navy, and Coast Guard fought in Iwo Jima (Willie 19). The long and bloody battle was fought by the United States and Japan. The Battle for Iwo Jima was a turning point for the United States in World War II.

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After the bombing, the United State troops approached the island. At their first sight, the troops thought that they had wiped out all of the Japanese troops. This is because the Japanese had dug a tremendous amount of underground tunnels and hideouts (Chen). This is why the United States had a very limited amount of success with the bombing. The Japanese Imperial Navy was instructed to stay in their positions until all of the beaches around Iwo Jima were full.

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Marines hit the beaches (see Appendix B), they were all allowed to dismount before they were hit with artillery and mortar shells, not to mention grenades and small-arms fire. The Japanese had buried numerous anti-personnel mines all over the island, and the heavy deposits of magnetite on the island made it impossible to use standard metal detectors to sweep for the mines. (Amphibious Operations: Capture of Iwo Jima) “I watched from the deck of my transport ship as the flag went up on (Mount) Suribachi. Then it came down.

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Also depleting air strength meant the remaining warplanes had to be hoarded to defend Japanese Home Islands. With no available means to defend Iwo Jima, Japan decided to rely on the established defensive equipment in the area and check U.S. by delaying tactics to gain time for defense of the mainland. Japanese Lieutenant General Tadamichi Kuribayashi was assigned the task of defending Iwo Jima. Knowing he couldn’t win the battle, he aimed at inflicting heavy casualties on American forces to force them to reconsider invasion of Mainland Japan. His strategy was radically different from Japan’s usual strategy of beach defense to face the landings directly.

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The Battle of the Coral Sea was the first major engagement in naval history where both sides never came in direct contact from their main guns. The battle was waged in the Coral Sea, in the south Pacific and lasted from 4 to 8 May 1942. The utilization of the aircraft carrier and naval warplanes as the main battle platforms, shaped the outcome of this battle and those that would ensue during the Pacific theater of World War II. Allied forces under the command of Rear-Admiral (RADM) Frank Fletcher, were comprised of Task Force 11 with the USS Lexington as the main battle platform and Task Force 17 with the USS Yorktown as the main battle platform.

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Marine battalions under the command of U.S. Marine Major General Alexander Vandegrift attacked Japanese troop concentrations at several points around the Matanikau River. The Marine attacks were intended to "mop-up" Japanese stragglers retreating towards the Matanikau from the recent Battle of Edson 's Ridge, to disrupt Japanese attempts to use the Matanikau area as a base for attacks on the Marine Lunga defenses, and to destroy any Japanese forces in the area. The Japanese—under the overall command of Major General Kiyotake Kawaguchi—repulsed the Marine attacks. During the action, three U.S. Marine companies were surrounded by Japanese forces, took heavy losses, and barely escaped with assistance from a U.S. Navy destroyer and landing craft manned by U.S. Coast Guard

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Battle of Leyte Gulf The Battle of Leyte Gulf is also known as the Battles of Leyte Gulf and was fought October 23-26, 1944 between The Japanese Imperial Navy and the US Navy near the islands of Leyte, Samar and Luzon. This battle is known as one of the greatest battles of all times as well as the largest naval battle fought in modern history due to 200,000 soldiers involved. In 1942 General Douglas MacArthur had promised the Filipinos that he would return to liberate them. On October 20, 1944 - a few days before the Battle of Leyte Gulf began- General MacArthur kept his promised and arrived in Leyte with the Allied Forces and the US Navy’s Third and Seventh Fleets as support for his invasion (8 Facts About the Battle...that will blow your mind).

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