Chapter 20 Chapter 4 The Vast Ocean Is a Slaughterfield

In May 1942, the US Pacific Fleet severely damaged the Japanese fleet in the waters of the Coral Sea.In June of the same year, the U.S. military sank four Japanese aircraft carriers in the Battle of Midway, and hundreds of experienced Japanese pilots died on the seabed. After experiencing these two major setbacks, the Japanese army was forced to admit: "The initiative in the Pacific Ocean has been transferred to the enemy's hands." However, the Japanese army did not shed tears when they saw the coffin, and decided to continue their attack on the South Pacific islands.The Japanese army planned to build an airport first on Guadalcanal Island (referred to as Guadalcanal), the largest island in the southern Solomon Islands, in order to display its air force, and cooperate with the attack on Port Moresby, New Guinea Island. , and then advance to the southeast, pushing towards Australia, an important base of the Allies in the South Pacific, in order to regain the strategic initiative.

In order to achieve this goal, the Japanese Army vigorously expanded the Seventeenth Army.This army is commanded by Lieutenant General Baiwu Haruki, the younger brother of the emperor's aide-de-camp, and the military headquarters is located in Rabaul, New Britain.By the beginning of August 1942, the army had 13 brigades, tasked with capturing Port Moresby.The Japanese Navy established the Eighth Fleet in July 1942, appointed Lieutenant General of the Mikawa Army as the commander, and a number of warships and submarines including 4 heavy cruisers and 3 light cruisers. The main force was also deployed in Rabaul. The Seventeenth Army fought.The Japanese Combined Fleet also sent more than a hundred shore-based aircraft to Rabaul to provide air support.

At this time, although the U.S. military had won a major victory in the Battle of Midway, it was still relatively passive in the South Pacific. In January 1942, after the Japanese army occupied Rabaul, Admiral King, the chief of naval operations of the United States, proposed a combat plan to prevent the Japanese army from advancing.At this time, Nimitz, commander of the US Pacific Theater, and MacArthur, commander of the Southwest Pacific Theater, both believed that Rabaul was already the core base of the Japanese army, and the key to turning the tide of the war was to capture Rabaul as soon as possible.However, the two famous generals disagreed on specific tactics. MacArthur advocated concentrating the largest force on the Bismarck Islands for landing operations and capturing Rabaul in one fell swoop; Nimitz believed that the Japanese army’s defense in Rabaul was already very strong and could not attack rashly. , should first land in the southern Solomon Islands, establish an airport on the newly occupied island, and then gradually advance with the support of the aviation force, step by step, and finally capture Rabaul.

Regarding the candidate for the commander of this battle, the top US military officials also have disputes.Army Chief of Staff Marshall advocated that MacArthur should be in command, and Admiral King, Chief of Naval Operations, believed that the battle in the archipelago waters must be commanded by someone who understands the navy, so Nimitz should be in command. The two sides refused to give in to each other, and they couldn't settle the dispute. In the end, President Roosevelt had to make a decision himself.Facing these two generals, President Roosevelt was also very embarrassed, and finally made a plan acceptable to both sides. In the first phase of the campaign, Nimitz would command, and MacArthur would command the second and third phases.

The personalities of MacArthur and Nimitz are also very different.MacArthur was arrogant and arrogant, while Nimitz appeared more modest and magnanimous.At one point, Nimitz was exercising on a beach walk in Hawaii.A sailor buried himself in the sand to rest, and Nimitz accidentally kicked him as he walked by.The sailor cursed casually, and when he recognized Nimitz, he quickly changed his words: "I didn't recognize you, General!" Nimitz said apologetically, "I'm sorry, I thought this piece The beach is a bit rough." It can be said that in this battle, it was Nimitz's general demeanor that promoted the close unity between the US army and navy.

The preparation time for landing on Guadalcanal was only 4 weeks, and the work was extremely intense.In the combat exercise, the performance was very bad, and Major General Vandergrift, the commander of the US Marine Corps First Division, had to comfort himself: "According to Hollywood practice, a bad rehearsal indicates a successful performance." In the early morning of August 7, 1942, the US landing formation reached the waters only 10 nautical miles away from Guadalcanal. At about 6 o'clock, the warships covering the formation began to bombard the Japanese positions on Guadalcanal Island, and then the carrier-based aircraft that took off from the aircraft carrier also began to attack.With the support of naval guns and aviation firepower, the first batch of landing troops began to land at 9:40, and gradually expanded the beachhead and developed in depth.

The Japanese army on the island did not expect the US military to land at all, so they were unprepared.The Japanese army on the island was said to be an engineering unit, but in fact they were North Korean laborers who built the airport. The Japanese did not trust them and did not distribute weapons to them at all.A small number of garrison troops fled into the jungle without resisting when they saw American soldiers pressing down on the border.As a result, the U.S. military successfully landed without firing a shot, and by sunset, more than 10,000 people had landed on Guadalcanal. But the U.S. military did not have an accurate map. After landing, they groped forward in the jungle and did not reach the airport until the next morning.When the U.S. troops arrived suddenly, the Japanese army panicked and quickly dropped the breakfast they had just made and fled into the jungle. The U.S. troops easily occupied the airport.The runway of the airport has been completed by 80%, and the US military has also seized a large amount of supplies.

After the First Marine Division landed on Guadalcanal, Vandergrift knew that a large number of Japanese troops had just fled into the jungle, and reinforcements could arrive at any time.Therefore, he immediately organized the defense of the troops and prepared to implement anti-landing operations. On the morning of his first day on the island, Vandergrift sent a telegram to Nimitz asking for 14,400 condoms to be delivered immediately.Those who received the telegram were incomprehensible.With the war looming, what did Vandergrift want so many condoms for?Only Nimitz was not surprised at all, and said with a smile: "General Vandergrift wants to use condoms as raincoats for his soldiers' gun barrels."

Nimitz's analysis is absolutely correct. The purpose of Vandergrift's condom is to protect the barrel of the gun from rain.From this little incident, it can be seen that Vandergrift has very rich combat experience, and Nimitz knows his love very well. Since then, from August 7 to 31, the U.S. military not only strengthened the fortifications, dispatched additional troops, and replenished supplies, but also used the Japanese army's new airport in Guadalcanal.To commemorate the Marine Corps pilot Lofton Henderson who died in the Battle of Midway, the U.S. military renamed the airport Henderson Field.The U.S. military used Henderson Field to launch frequent attacks on Japanese ships transporting troops and supplies, effectively delaying the Japanese landing process.The landing force of the "Asahi Ichiki Detachment" of the Japanese army suffered a catastrophe, and the leader of the detachment, Kiyonao Ichiki, was killed by the US military.

In May 1936, Kiyonao Kazuki became the commander of the third brigade of the Chinese Garrison's Mutiankou Regiment. The "July 7th Incident" in 1937 was provoked by the Third Battalion under the pretext of "missing soldiers".At Lugouqiao, Yimu Qingzhi personally led the troops to launch the first attack on Wanping County, and was one of the culprits who launched the war of aggression against China. After the "July 7th Incident", this fanatical invader repeatedly declared to the outside world that he "fired the signal gun for the progress of the empire's prosperity".

Soon, Kiyomi Ichiki was promoted to Lieutenant Sergeant of the Infantry, transferred back to Japan as an instructor at a military academy, and won the third-class medal of the Golden Eagle awarded by the Emperor. At the end of April 1942, the Seventh Division formed the "Asahi Ichiki Detachment" with the 28th Infantry Regiment as the team. Kiyonao Ichiki served as the captain of the Dazuo detachment. He led 3,870 elite soldiers and went south to participate in the midway Battle of the island. On June 6, the Japanese navy suffered a disastrous defeat at the Battle of Midway.Kiyonao Kazuki on the transport ship didn't even see what Midway Island looked like, so he returned to Guam to stand by.Since then, his troops have leapt to become the directly-administered troops of the Japanese base camp. After the outbreak of the Battle of Guadalcanal, Kazuki's detachment was ordered to land as the vanguard to support Guadalcanal. On August 16, Kiyonao Kazuki divided the troops into two echelons, and personally led the first echelon of 916 people to go straight to Guadalcanal on 6 destroyers. On the night of August 18, Kiyonao Kazuki's headquarters successfully landed on Guadalcanal about 30 kilometers east of Henderson Airport.According to pre-war intelligence, Ichiki Kiyonao believed that the U.S. military had only 6,000 troops on the island. He thought that the U.S. military was still as vulnerable as it was in the Philippines, and was afraid of night battles and hand-to-hand combat.Therefore, without waiting for the follow-up troops to arrive, the arrogant Ichiki Kiyomi left more than 100 people to guard the beachhead, and then led the remaining 800 people, carrying 8 heavy machine guns, and rushed to the airport, trying to regain the lost position in one go.He never imagined that the U.S. troops stationed on Guadalcanal were the Marine Corps with a tenacious fighting style and a strong will to fight.And the total number of US Marines in Guadalcanal is 11,000. On August 20, a 40-member reconnaissance team of the Ichiki Detachment encountered a US patrol.The battle broke out suddenly, and the Type 38 manual rifles and crooked light machine guns in the hands of the Japanese army could not compete with the Browning automatic rifles equipped by the US military.The hand-to-hand combat, which the Japanese army is proud of, is not the opponent of the Colt automatic pistol of the US military in close combat and self-defense.The U.S. military is not stubborn, so they won't fight you hard. Why use a bayonet when you can shoot? In this battle, the U.S. military killed 31 Japanese soldiers and captured a marked map.According to this map, Major General Vandergrift found that the Japanese army had seen the weak link in the U.S. defense line, so he immediately made adjustments, erected barbed wire fences at places where the Japanese army might attack, and arranged firepower points. At 1 am on August 21, more than 500 Japanese troops launched an attack on the US positions.The U.S. troops waited for the Japanese troops to approach before starting to shoot. The U.S. firepower was so fierce that the Japanese troops were shot down immediately, and the charge was quickly repulsed. At 5 o'clock, Kiyonao Kazuki organized and launched a second charge. The Japanese army rushed forward desperately with a bayonet-mounted Type 38 rifle.However, under the intensive firepower of the U.S. military, the only result of the Japanese army was to fall down one after another, unable to break through the U.S. defense line at all. After fierce fighting in the middle of the night, the Japanese army suffered heavy casualties, but made no progress.After dawn, Kiyomi Ichiki commanded the remnants to build fortifications on the other side of the river and confront the US troops. At first, the U.S. military thought that this was the vanguard of the Japanese army, and when the follow-up troops arrived, they would launch a larger-scale attack.It was not until the reconnaissance team reported that the Japanese army had no follow-up troops that Vandergrift sent a battalion to go around the Japanese army's back and attack from both sides. The Japanese army has only a bunch of remnants and defeated generals left. How can it withstand the attack of the US army?Had to retreat to the sea.The wounded soldiers continued to fall along the way, and the U.S. military sent medical personnel to rescue them in a humanitarian spirit. The Japanese wounded soldiers fired grenades and died together with the medical personnel.Vandergrift had never seen such a cruel army. He was furious when he heard the news, and ordered the dispatch of light tanks to completely wipe out the remnants of the Japanese army. At dusk, five M3 "Stuart" light tanks rushed towards the jungle occupied by the Japanese army.Shrapnel and machine gun bullets fired from the tanks swept across the Japanese army, and the tracks ran over the dead and wounded soldiers, covered in blood, like a meat grinder. Only a handful of Japanese soldiers remained in the coconut grove, and they surrounded Colonel Ichiki Kiyonao.Kazuki Kiyomi was seriously injured, grabbed the military flag with one hand, ordered the flag to be burned, and the flag bearer began to burn the flag.When the U.S. tanks found the remaining Japanese soldiers, the flags were already on fire, and the Japanese soldiers were quickly killed one by one.Before being beaten to death, Kazuki drew out his saber and performed seppuku. In this battle, the U.S. military killed 35 people and injured 75 people, while the Japanese army left more than 800 corpses on the battlefield alone.Under the fierce firepower of the U.S. military, Kiyoshi Kazuki's landing force was wiped out.Little Japan finally experienced the power of modern warfare once again, knowing that Lord Ma has three eyes. According to the tradition of the Japanese Army, it is difficult for soldiers who have not graduated from the Army University to be promoted to the rank of Colonel or higher.After the death of Kiyonao Kazuki, he was posthumously named a major general of the army because of the "merit" of annihilating the entire army.This guy finally fulfilled his dream of being a general after his death, and he probably could occupy a place in some kind of bird shrine. The Japanese are one-sided.After Ichiki Kiyonao's landing force was wiped out, the Japanese army transported about 5,000 soldiers to the island. On August 31, Major General Kiyotake Kawaguchi landed on Guadalcanal and commanded all the Japanese troops on the island. However, several consecutive attacks were repulsed by the U.S. military. On September 15, Hyakutake Haruki learned the news of Kawaguchi Kiyotake's defeat in Rabaul, and immediately forwarded it to the Japanese base camp.At the emergency meeting, the Japanese commanders concluded that Guadalcanal might develop into a decisive battle, the outcome of which would have a strategic impact on Japan's outcome in the Pacific theater.Momotake Harukichi realized that in order to concentrate on defeating the Allied forces in Guadalcanal, he could not support the Japanese forces in New Guinea at the same time.Therefore, after consulting the base camp, Hyakutake Haruki ordered the troops in New Guinea, including the Japanese army that had advanced to only 30 miles from Port Moresby, to retreat. On September 18, an allied naval escort fleet transported 4,157 members of the Third Provisional Marine Brigade, 137 military vehicles and various military supplies to Guadalcanal.Unfortunately, the USS "Waspie" aircraft carrier covering the fleet was sunk by a Japanese submarine.As a result, the U.S. military has only the aircraft carrier "Hornet" left in the South Pacific for the time being. In the next few days, due to bad weather, the Japanese army did not launch air strikes, and the air battle on Guadalcanal stopped for a while.During this period, both sides worked hard to strengthen their respective air forces.The Japanese sent 85 additional fighters and bombers to reinforce the air force at Rabaul, and the U.S. military sent 23 fighters and attack aircraft to Henderson Field. On September 20, the Japanese had 117 aircraft at Rabaul, while the Allies also had 71 aircraft at Henderson Field. On September 27, the Japanese army attacked Guadalcanal again, but was blocked by the US Air Force at Henderson Airport. At this time, the biggest problem facing the Japanese army on Guadalcanal Island was not the counterattack of the US military, but the threat of starvation.In order to solve the supply problem, the Japanese army came up with the distinctive "mouse express" and "necklace transport". The title "Mouse Express" comes from the helplessness of Yamamoto Fifty-Six.Due to the heavy losses of the Japanese navy in the sea battle north of Guadalcanal, Yamamoto Fifty-Six was unwilling to send large warships into the waters of Guadalcanal, and only used destroyers to smuggle troops and supplies at night.The Japanese jokingly called this kind of transportation that can only appear at night like a mouse "mouse express".Japanese destroyers can often run back and forth overnight, so they are also dubbed the "Tokyo Express" by the US military. However, the "Mouse Express" cannot transport a large amount of materials at the same time as the army, such as heavy artillery, vehicles, and many food and ammunition, and cannot be transported to Guadalcanal with the army.The actual supply of materials on the island is less than one-third of the standard ration.Due to the long-term lack of supplies, the officers and soldiers on the island were exhausted, the food was extremely scarce, tropical diseases were prevalent, and the lack of medicines led to a large number of deaths of the wounded and sick, which exacerbated the non-combat attrition of the Japanese army. In order to solve the supply problem, the Japanese army invented "necklace transportation" in late November.The Japanese army put medicines and food into the gasoline barrels, but they were not full, and then sealed the gasoline barrels so that the gasoline barrels could just float on the sea.Gasoline cans were attached to the deck of the ship with ropes.When the destroyer approached the designated sea area of ​​Guadalcanal, the rope was cut, and the iron barrels were thrown into the water one after another, using the tide to drift towards the coast of Guadalcanal.The Japanese army on the island used small boats to collect gasoline barrels.Because these gasoline barrels are hung on the side of the ship in the shape of necklaces, they are nicknamed "necklace transportation". However, the amount of materials transported in this way is very limited after all, and cannot meet the normal needs of tens of thousands of Japanese troops on the island.The passive situation of the Japanese army on the island has not changed at all, and Guadalcanal Island has become the "hungry island" of the Japanese army. The "Mouse Express" and "Necklace Transport" invented by the Japanese army racked their brains, which were still far from meeting the material needs of the island, but the number of Japanese troops on Guadalcanal Island increased sharply. The battle in Guadalcanal was unfavorable, and the Japanese headquarters had to order the 38th Division of the Army stationed in the East Indies, as well as troops drawn from the Chinese battlefield, the Southern Army and Japan, to be assigned to the 17th Army. In early October, Commander Hyakutake Harukichi led part of the Second Division to land on Guadalcanal. From October 13th, the Japanese Navy carried out three consecutive large-scale bombings on Guadalcanal Island Airport. The US military had 34 "Dreadnought" bombers, 16 "Wildcat" fighter jets and all "Avenger" torpedo bombers were blown up. On the 15th, the main force of the Second Division of the Japanese Army and a part of the 38th Division landed on Guadalcanal.At this time, the Japanese troops on Guadalcanal had increased to more than 22,000 people. As the U.S. coastal defense positions had been consolidated, Hyakutake Haruki decided to attack Henderson Field from the south. On October 23, the three brigades commanded by Lieutenant General Masao Maruyama of the Second Division went through the jungle to attack the US defense line in the south near the east bank of the Lunga River.In order to divert the attention of the US military, Haruki Hyakutake's heavy artillery and 5 infantry brigades attacked the US defense line along the West Coast corridor.Haruki Hyakutake estimates that the US military has 10,000 troops on the island. In fact, the US military has 23,000 troops on the island. On the afternoon of October 24, just before the Japanese army was about to launch a fierce attack, the sky suddenly rolled with dark clouds and heavy rain poured down. The communication between the troops was interrupted and the order was chaotic.At 7 o'clock in the evening, although the heavy rain stopped, the drizzle was still floating all over the sky.When Maruyama Masao's troops reached the U.S. Lunga defense circle, there were no troops to cooperate, so they had to launch an offensive hastily.A salvo of rifles, machine guns, mortars, artillery and anti-tank guns from the U.S. 7th Marine Regiment wreaked havoc on the Japanese.The U.S. troops waiting in full battle did not start shooting until the Japanese army rushed to the barbed wire fence. The first batch of Japanese soldiers who charged were killed in front of the barbed wire fence. The second batch of Japanese soldiers climbed over the corpses of their companions and continued to rush forward.After a day and night of fighting, the Japanese army left more than 2,500 corpses, while the US military lost only 60 people.Fighting like this is simply death, and the Japanese army finally had to retreat into the jungle again. On October 26, Hyakutake Harukichi was forced to call off the follow-up attack and ordered a retreat. In the battle on October 24, a hero emerged from the U.S. military——John Basilone.He was a sergeant in the Marine Corps and served twice before the war.This time, as a heavy machine gunner, he participated in the Battle of Guadalcanal.The opponent of the U.S. Army, Masao Maruyama’s 2nd Division, had soldiers mainly from Sendai, where the mountains and rivers were poor and the climate was cold. The soldiers came from poor backgrounds, and their fighting style was extremely fierce. That night, Basilone and 15 comrades in arms were responsible for the defense of a position. They pulled up the barbed wire, set up the machine gun, loaded the bullets, and waited for the Japanese to rush to the front before firing.Two Browning machine guns formed a powerful crossfire, and the charging Japanese troops were brought down in pieces like straw.The beaten Japanese army quickly retreated into the jungle under the cover of night, and two hours later, the Japanese army launched a more fierce charge.The Japanese devils stepped on the corpses of their companions and rushed over like a tide. Basilone did not rush and continued to intercept the enemy with the tactics of barbed wire, trenches and machine guns.But the devils were not afraid of death at all, and within 48 hours they used fierce crowd tactics to launch more than a dozen charges.Basilone's two machine guns fired hotly, and the position was breached by the Japanese several times, but Basilone and his comrades struggled to repel them. When the Japanese offensive came to an end, only Basilone, two seriously injured comrades, and a damaged machine gun with insufficient ammunition were left alive on the ground.At this time, Basilone understood that the Japanese would launch one last violent attack. He did not have the slightest fear, and while trying his best to take care of the two wounded comrades, he ventured out of the position to collect ammunition everywhere to deal with the next Japanese charge.A full 12 hours before the arrival of reinforcements, Basilone faced the enemy's last "Viva" charge alone with a machine gun and a Colt pistol out of ammunition. At the most critical moment of the battle, Japanese troops rushed from all directions to Basilone, who was alone.The Browning heavy machine gun is a water-cooled machine gun, very heavy, and it is inconvenient to turn around when it is mounted on a tripod. At the critical moment, Basilone took off the machine gun and swept it at the Japanese army with his hand.The barrel was scorching hot, and Basilone's hand was burned to the bone.He wrapped his hands in a cloth and continued to shoot at the enemy.When the comrades arrived, they found that there were more than 200 Japanese corpses fallen around Basilone, and Basilone's hand was also seriously injured.Due to Basilone's tenacious resistance, thousands of remnants of the Second Division of the Japanese Army died on the battlefield after shouting "Long Live the Emperor". After the battle, Basilone was awarded the highest level in the United States, the Congressional Medal of Honor.So far, there is still a statue of him shooting with a machine gun in the United States. After Basilone was honored, the U.S. government made him a war ambassador to promote war bonds.The official assigned him a professional publicity team, designed speeches, made exquisite uniforms, and allocated a train specially for him as his special train.Wherever they go, people line up to welcome them, eat delicacies from mountains and seas, live in five-star hotels, accompanied by beauties and celebrities, and live a fairy-like life. However, Basilone was not happy. He missed his comrades-in-arms and those soldiers who died for their country.Therefore, Basilone insisted on returning to the army.He started training recruits at a California Marine Corps training camp, where Basilone found love and married a female Marine of Italian immigrant descent.He didn't look for any big star, but became united forever with an ordinary female soldier. After getting married, Basilone still wants to go back to the battlefield, to the place where the motherland needs.He wrote one application after another to his superiors, urging him to return to the battlefield.The Marine Corps finally cleared him to return to the front line.Basilone, who ultimately died for his country at the Battle of Iwo Jima, was a true hero. After the Japanese attack failed again, they still did not give up and planned to try to recapture the airport again in November. To this end, the Japanese Army requested Yamamoto Isoroku's support for the impending offensive.Yamamoto Fifty-Six provided 11 large transport ships to transport the remaining 7,000 soldiers of the 38th Division, as well as ammunition, food and heavy equipment from Rabaul to Guadalcanal.He also dispatched the battleships "Hiei" and "Kirishima" equipped with special fragmentation shells, under the command of Koki Abe, to bombard Henderson Field from the night of November 12 to 13 to cover the Japanese transport fleet. Arrive safely in Guadalcanal to unload equipment and reinforcements. Already in early November, the Allies had received intelligence that the Japanese were preparing another attempt to retake Henderson Field.Accordingly, the U.S. military dispatched Task Force 67, a large reinforcement and transport fleet carrying Marine replacements, 2 U.S. Army infantry battalions, and ammunition and food, to Guadalcanal on 11 November.The fleet was covered by two task forces commanded by Rear Admiral Callahan and Scott and aircraft from Henderson Field. Although it was attacked by Japanese aircraft many times on the way, most of the ships still arrived safely. Guadalcanal. At the same time, American reconnaissance aircraft spotted the bombardment fleet commanded by the Japanese army Koki Abe. In the early hours of November 13, Callaghan's fleet intercepted Abe's bombardment fleet between Guadalcanal and Savo Island.Abe's fleet consisted of 2 battleships, 1 light cruiser and 11 destroyers.In the darkness, the fleets of both sides opened fire at extremely close range.In the melee, Abe's fleet sank or severely damaged all the ships of Callahan's fleet, and Callahan himself was killed.Two destroyers of the Japanese army were sunk, and one destroyer and the battleship "Hiei" were severely damaged. Although Callahan's fleet was defeated, Abe feared that his fleet had been exposed, so he did not carry out the mission of bombarding Henderson Field, and ordered the fleet to retreat.As the Japanese fleet failed to destroy Henderson Field, Yamamoto Fifty-Six ordered Yorizo ​​Tanaka's transport fleet to wait one more day before sailing to Guadalcanal. At the same time, he ordered Nobutake Kondo to command the battleship in Truk to merge with Koki Abe's fleet As a bombardment fleet, attacked Henderson Field on 15 November. On November 14, a fleet of cruisers and destroyers under the command of Junichi Mikawa set sail from Rabaul to bombard Henderson Field, causing some damage but not much damage to the airport.Mikawa Junichi's fleet returned after the bombardment. Tanaka Raizo's transport fleet believed that Henderson Field had been severely damaged, and immediately began to sail south to Guadalcanal. However, the Japanese calculation was wrong. Throughout the day on November 14, planes from Henderson Airport and the aircraft carrier "Enterprise" attacked Mikawa and Tanaka's fleet continuously, sinking 1 heavy cruiser and 7 transport ships.After nightfall that day, Nobutake Kondo's fleet marched towards Guadalcanal again, preparing to bombard Henderson Airport. In order to intercept Kondo Nobutake's fleet, the U.S. military dispatched two battleships "Washington" and "South Dakota", and separated four destroyers from the "Enterprise" task force. Bamboo's bombardment fleet arrived between Guadalcanal and Savo Island one step earlier. Kondo's fleet included the battleship Kirishima, 2 heavy cruisers, 2 light cruisers, and 9 destroyers.After the war between the two sides, Kondo Nobutake's fleet quickly sank 3 US destroyers.When Kondo Nobutake's warships concentrated on attacking the battleship "South Dakota", the US battleship "Washington" took the opportunity to approach the "Kirishima" and opened fire. The "Kirishima" was hit by multiple shells and suffered heavy damage.Nobutake Kondo had no choice but to abandon the plan to bombard Henderson Airport and ordered the warships to retreat. When Nobutake Kondo's fleet retreated, the Japanese army had 4 transport ships berthed at Tassafaronga on Guadalcanal to unload.U.S. aircraft and artillery attacked fiercely, destroying the four transport ships and most of the supplies they transported.Only 2,000 to 3,000 soldiers went ashore.The failure of this shipment forced the cancellation of the planned attack on Henderson Field in November. On November 26, Japanese Army Lieutenant General Imamura was appointed as the commander of the newly formed Eighth Front Army in Rabaul.Under the jurisdiction of the Seventeenth Army of Haruki Hyakutake and the Eighteenth Army of New Guinea.After Imamura took office, he tried to continue to attack Henderson Airport and Guadalcanal.However, the Allied attack on Buna in New Guinea forced him to change his plans.For Imamura, the Allied attempt to take Buna was a more serious threat to Rabaul.Therefore, Imamura postponed reinforcements to Guadalcanal in order to concentrate its forces to deal with the situation in New Guinea. As a result, the life of the Japanese army on Guadalcanal Island was even more difficult.By late November, it was difficult to maintain the minimum needs of the Japanese army on the island by only using submarine supplies. On November 26, the 17th Army sent electricity to Imamura Jun, saying that the island was seriously short of food. Some frontline troops had not eaten for 6 days, and the rear troops only received one-third of their rations.This forced the Japanese army to return to using destroyers to transport supplies. On the evening of November 30, Raizo Tanaka commanded the Eighth Fleet to escort the transport fleet to Guadalcanal, but the US military intercepted the information in advance. Major General Wright commanded the US interceptor fleet to wait for a rabbit off the coast of Guadalcanal.Just as the Japanese transport fleet was about to unload, a naval battle broke out between the two sides.Although the Japanese torpedo sank 1 US cruiser and severely damaged 3 cruisers, Tanaka Raizo's fleet hurriedly withdrew before it had time to unload. The failure of the large-scale supply of the Japanese army this time completely abolished the Japanese army on Guadalcanal Island.By December 1942, the Japanese army on the island was losing about 50 people a day due to malnutrition, disease, and American attacks.Many wounded Japanese soldiers could not get gauze at all, and they used iron wire to bandage their wounds.However, no one pities them, because although such soldiers are resolute, they are like beasts. Since then, Raizo Tanaka's fleet has made three more replenishment attempts in early December, all of which ended in failure.The transportation capacity of the Japanese army had been exhausted, so they had no choice but to sigh. On December 12, the Japanese Navy proposed to abandon Guadalcanal.At the same time, some army staff members in the Japanese base camp also believed that it was impossible to recapture Guadalcanal.Therefore, the Japanese base camp sent people to Rabaul on December 9 to consult Imamura Jun and the staff.After the delegation returned to Tokyo, it was suggested to abandon Guadalcanal.The base camp agreed to abandon Guadalcanal on December 26, and the staff drafted a plan to withdraw from Guadalcanal, establish a new line of defense in the central Solomon Islands, and prioritize the transfer of troops to support military operations in New Guinea. On December 31, Emperor Hirohito officially approved the retreat plan.The Japanese army began secretly preparing to evacuate Guadalcanal. The Japanese army's retreat plan was very careful.First of all, Japan took advance as a retreat, and transferred about 700 people from the 38th Division, and sent them to Guadalcanal Island on January 14, 1943.This force claimed to be the vanguard of a new round, but it was actually the rear force that covered the evacuation of the Japanese troops on Guadalcanal Island.In order to distract the attention of the U.S. military, the Japanese army also organized a diversion operation on January 15 to confuse the U.S. military through radio feints.Due to careful planning, sufficient preparation, realistic camouflage, and decisive actions, starting from February 1, 20 destroyers of the Japanese army evacuated more than 13,000 people three times under the condition that the U.S. military controlled the sea and air, creating a war history. Rare miracle.The U.S. military knew nothing about the retreat of the Japanese army. It was not until two days later that the Japanese army was nowhere to be found on Guadalcanal. On the afternoon of February 9, the U.S. military completely occupied Guadalcanal and became the final winner of the 6-month fierce battle for Guadalcanal. During the battle for Guadalcanal, the Japanese army continued to send reinforcements to Guadalcanal, weakening the strength of other battlefields.The Australian Army and the U.S. Army took the opportunity to launch a counterattack on New Guinea Island, and finally captured the main Japanese bases in Buna and Gona in early 1943, winning the strategic initiative. In August 1943, the Allies established two strategies: to isolate Rabaul and to cut off the Japanese sea line of communication.The U.S. military was then divided into the Southwest Pacific Theater under the command of General MacArthur and the Central Pacific Theater under the command of General Nimitz. Forces from these two directions advanced together towards the Japanese mainland.As the war progressed, the remaining Japanese defenses in the South Pacific were eventually destroyed or disintegrated after being bypassed by Allied forces.Rabaul was isolated by the U.S. military and lost its role. In the battle for Guadalcanal, the United States and Japan fought more than 30 times, and the Japanese army lost more than 24 destroyers and more than 600 aircraft.Of the 36,000 Japanese soldiers on the island, 14,000 were killed or missing, 9,000 died of illness, and 1,000 were captured.Of the 60,000 U.S. soldiers who participated in the war, 1,600 were killed and 4,200 were injured. The battle for Guadalcanal Island was the beginning of the end of the Japanese army in the Pacific Ocean. Not only did the Japanese army fail to realize its attempt to regain the strategic initiative, but it was further weakened.After the Battle of Guadalcanal, the U.S. military also launched a strategic counteroffensive in the Pacific Ocean.