The picture shows the U.S. forces in the Battle of Guadalcanal
At the beginning of World War II, the United States was caught off guard by Japan, and the losses of the U.S. Pacific Fleet were very heavy, but in 1942, the U.S. Pacific Fleet successfully damaged the Japanese Combined Fleet through the Battle of Midway, forcing Japan to abandon its strategic offensive in the Pacific, giving the U.S. military the opportunity to counterattack, the Guadalcanal Island Campaign was the second active attack on the Japanese army launched by the U.S. army during the war, through which the U.S. army not only successfully damaged the Japanese army, but also won the sea supremacy in the South Pacific in one fell swoop. The foundation was laid for the recapture of the japanese-occupied islands and even the defeat of Japan.
The picture shows the US military airfield on Guadalcanal
In May 1942, the Japanese army captured the Solomon Islands and began to build an airfield on Guadalcanal, the largest of them, in an attempt to control a vast area of the surrounding sea area with air force, and after the Battle of Midway in June 1942, the US naval and air forces entered the waters near the Solomon Islands, and immediately discovered the Japanese operation attempts on Guadalcanal, believing that this would threaten the route between the United States and Australia, and the COMMANDER of the US Navy, Nimitz, immediately deployed "Operation Lookout". Marines were to be sent to land on Guadalcanal to prevent the Japanese from building an airfield.
The picture shows the Battle of Guadalcanal
On August 7, 1942, the 1st Marine Division of the United States Marine Corps officially landed on Guadalcanal under the escort of an aircraft carrier formation, because the Japanese army at that time deployed only a small number of engineer troops on Guadalcanal and did not have sufficient defensive forces. Therefore, 11,000 Marines almost effortlessly controlled the entire Guadalcanal, seized the airfield that Japan was about to complete, and also captured a large number of machines and ammunition, the Japanese military department was furious after learning the news, and immediately ordered to stop the action of the AMERICAN army, on the night of August 8, the Japanese 8th Fleet sneaked into the US warships near Guadalcanal, the US army was defeated, but the light enemy Japanese combined fleet forgot to sink the nearby US transport ships, resulting in the Marines on the island receiving sufficient supplies.
On August 13, 1942, the Japanese Army's 17th Army sent troops to land on Guadalcanal, the Japanese army was initially very light enemy, thinking that the U.S. army on Guadalcanal troops would not exceed 3,000 people, so initially only 6,000 troops were sent, and the U.S. army due to negligence, after 4 days of the Japanese landing on the island did not find that the Japanese army had been on the island, 850 Japanese troops launched the first attack on the U.S. army on the night of August 21, using the "long live charge" tactics to try to attack the U.S. position, but the U.S. army was prepared early. Heavy losses were inflicted on the Japanese with barbed wire and machine guns, and the 850 Japanese troops were completely destroyed in one night, and the Americans suffered only more than 80 casualties.
On August 24, the Japanese Combined Fleet and the U.S. Pacific Fleet broke out the 2nd Battle of Solomon, the Japanese aircraft carrier Ryūjō was sunk, although it successfully covered the landing of a large number of troops, but then the Japanese Combined Fleet completely lost its sea control, could not transport food and supplies to the Japanese army on Guadalcanal, and could only use destroyers and submarines to secretly deliver some reinforcements and supplies to Guadalcanal in the dark of night, and the Japanese Naval Aviation corps also fought with the U.S. Air Force many times, but because Guadalcanal was on the edge of the combat radius of Japanese fighters, the Japanese Air Force suffered heavy losses.
In September 1942, the Japanese army launched several attacks on the American army on Guadalcanal, but they were all repelled by the American army, which made Japan determined to deploy a large army to fight with the American army, in October 1942, the commander of the Japanese 17th Army, Hyakutake Haruyoshi personally led 17,000 Japanese troops to land on Guadalcanal, forming a huge force of 20,000 people, and the strength of the US First Marine Division also increased to 20,000 people, on the night of October 24, the Japanese army launched a comprehensive attack on the US army, but the so-called "bravery" of the Japanese army could not match the heavy machine guns and artillery of the US army The losses were so heavy that 1500 soldiers were killed in just one day, and only two days later Hyakutake Haruyoshi ordered the attack to be abandoned and the whole army retreated into the rainforest to hold firm.
And because the Japanese combined fleet at this time could not deliver any supplies to Guadalcanal, 30,000 Japanese troops were trapped on Guadalcanal, resulting in a great famine, especially after November 1942, the Rainy Season in the South Pacific, the remaining grain, arms and medicines of the Japanese army were almost all soaked by the rain, a large number of soldiers starved to death, the surviving soldiers could only eat a rice ball the size of a tangyuan a day, and later even many soldiers began to eat the bodies of their comrades,000, so tragic that the Japanese army base camp also lost the confidence to continue to fight. Eventually forced to evacuate Guadalcanal in January 1943 with the remaining thousands of remnants.