Why did a battle to seize the island become a nightmare for the Japanese Navy, and what kind of hellish torture they experienced on Guadalcanal?
In June 1942, Japan suffered a crushing defeat at Midway, losing its superiority in naval and air operations in the Pacific. In order to save the situation, japan began to search for unknown islands near the Solomon Islands, preparing to build airfields and establish operational superiority. As a result, they picked an island called Guadalcanal and quietly began the construction of the airport.
Battle of Guadalcanal
As a result, just as the airfield was nearing completion, the U.S. Navy spotted them and launched a small landing operation. The Japanese sappers who built the airfield saw that the American troops had landed, and there was no resistance at all, so they plunged into the tropical rainforest. The reason is simple: these sappers are all japanese laborers captured from Korea.
After the occupation of Guadalcanal, Japan panicked. The Japanese 17th Army, through six battles, sent troops of up to 30,000 men to try to take the island. But the bad thing is that after the landing, the American army has built strong fortifications, and there are tank units on land and fighters in the air. In the U.S. method of encircling points and fighting reinforcements, every time the Japanese 17th Army sent troops, it was like a meat bun beating a dog.
The Japanese soldier who fought the Americans on Guadalcanal soon felt desperate.
Under the fire of the US army, they hid in the tropical rainforest and completely consumed the food and medicine in their hands. Unable to wait for support, they began to search for food in the mountains, and some even set their sights on their dead comrades. But even so, nearly 15,000 of them died of hunger and disease.
Later, the Japanese side saw that Guadalcanal could not be saved, and could only choose to negotiate with the United States to rescue the remaining thousands of hungry people. Since then, Guadalcanal has also been known as the "Island of Hunger" by the Japanese.