Guadalcanal Campaign

The Guadalcanal Campaign was carried out under the code name of Operation Watchtower. This Allied military campaign began on August 7, 1942, when the men of the 1st and 2nd Marine Division set foot on the shores of Guadalcanal, Tulagi, and Florida, which belong to the Solomon group of islands. After fierce fighting, the battle ended on February 9, 1943, when the last Japanese pockets of resistance had been mopped up by the US forces. It was the beginning of the Allied island-hopping campaign in the Pacific Ocean and one of the main military engagements in the Pacific Theater of Operation of World War II. Result: Allied victory.

Summary

Guadalcanal and its neighboring islands of Tulagi and Florida had been taken by the Imperial Japanese Navy and Army in early May 1942, a few months before the US invasion. There, the Japanese engineers had built an airstrip, which became the main objective to capture, to secure and defend against Japanese counterattacks. Once it was taken and secured by the US forces, the landing strip was renamed Henderson Field. This air base was vital to be able to provide the Allied forces with air support, stopping any Japanese incursion into mainland Australia.

This WW2 military campaign was carried out by the US 1st and 2nd Marine Division. It was ferociously fought, since the Japanese would tenaciously attempt to recover these islands, sending there a fleet and land troops, whose commanders launched vicious counterattacks against the US Marines deployed on the perimeter of Henderson airfield. As a result, between November 12 and November 15, the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal was fought between the Imperial Japanese Navy and the US fleet assigned to protect this Allied objectives. However, the Japanese ground forces would be totally defeated and the Americans would be able to secure Guadalcanal and the rest of the Solomon islands.

Commanders

United States: Ad Robert L. Ghormley (US Navy); Alexander A. Vandegrift (commander of the US 1st Marine Div); Brigadier General Alphonse DeCarre (led the 2nd Marine Div).

Japan: Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto; General Harukichi Hyakutake (commander of the 17th Army).

Below, troops from the 2nd Marine Div deployed near Henderson Field

Battle of Guadacanal real footage (video)