Battle for Henderson Field

Maps

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  World War II Pacific theater in August, 1942.
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  Pacific Ocean divided up into WWII Allied commands.
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  South Pacific, 1942.
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  Map of southwest Pacific area in 1942-1943.
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  Strategic situation in South Pacific, summer 1942. Red circles are Japanese bases. Blue arrows are Allied shipping and communication lines between U.S. and Australia and New Zealand.
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  Allied lines of communication in the South Pacific, 1942.
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  Solomon and Santa Cruz Islands and New Caledonia area, 1942.
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  Map of the Solomon and Santa Cruz Islands.
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  Guadalcanal
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  Map of Guadalcanal.
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  Map of Matanikau action between U.S. Marines and Japanese forces, September 24-27, 1942, on Guadalcanal.
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  Aerial map of Point Cruz, Guadalcanal overlaid with actions by U.S. and Japanese forces during operations in late September, 1942.
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  The 1st Battalion, 7th Marines, withdraws from its dangerously exposed position west of Point Cruz, Guadalcanal, under cover of naval gunfire and artillery support in late September, 1942.
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  U.S. and Japanese actions along the Matanikau River, Guadalcanal, 23-27 Sep, 1942.
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  Lunga perimeter, late September, 1942.
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  U.S. Matanikau offensive on Guadalcanal, October 7-9, 1942.
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  ACTION ON THE MATANIKAU, Guadalcanal, from 7 to 9 October, 1942, enabled General Vandegrift to establish forward positions in that area during the balance of the campaign.
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  U.S. positions along the Matanikau and Lunga Point, October 9, 1942.
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  U.S. Marine defensive positions along the Matanikau River, Guadalcanal, October, 1942.
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  The 1st Raider Battalion and the 2d Battalion, 5th Marines, found themselves immobilized by the Japanese along the Matanikau River on Guadalcanal in October, 1942.
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  Japanese attacks on U.S. forces, October 23-25, 1942.
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  Japanese attacks on the U.S. perimeter on Guadalcanal, Oct 23-25, 1942.
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  Japanese attacks, October 23-25.
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  Conoley's Action, 24-26 October 1942, near the Matanikau River, Guadalcanal.

Commanders

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  U.S. Marine General Alexander A. Vandegrift.
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  Lieutenant General Harukichi Hyakutake in front of HQ at Rabaul.
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  Japanese Rear Admiral Raizo Tanaka, main leader of the Tokyo Express operations and victor in the Battle of Tassafaronga.
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  Japanese Maj Gen Maruyama commanded Japanese forces on Guadalcanal.
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  U.S. Marine Lieutenant Colonel "Chesty" Puller on Guadalcanal in September, 1942.
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  Japanese Major General Kiyotake Kawaguchi (seated center) in a group photo with his brigade staff at Palau shortly before departing for Guadalcanal. Kawaguchi was relieved of his command during this battle.

Tokyo Express

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  Japanese troops load onto a destroyer in preparation for a "Rat Transportation" (called "Tokyo Express" by Allied forces) to Guadalcanal in 1942.
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  A Japanese transport destroyed by aircraft from Henderson Field at Tassafaronga, Guadalcanal on October 14, 1942.

Japanese forces

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  Japanese troops from the 4th "Aoba" Infantry Regiment march along the shore of Guadalcanal shortly after landing in September, 1942.
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  Japanese soldier demonstrates use of the Model 89 (1929) 50mm Heavy Grenade Discharger. Often called a "knee mortar" by U.S. troops, they were used extensively in Pacific battles by Japanese forces, including on Guadalcanal.
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  Wreckage of the Japanese 1st Independent Tank Company on the sandbar at the mouth of the Matanikau River on Guadalcanal after the failed October offensive to take Henderson Field.
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  Dead Japanese soldiers from Nakaguma's 4th Infantry regiment lie near the mouth of the Matanikau after their failed attack on October 23-24.
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  Dead 2nd Infantry soldiers after their failed assaults on Hall's and Puller's lines, October 26, 1942.

U.S. Marine forces

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  A M1918 155mm howitzer is fired by artillery crewmen of the 11th Marines in support of ground forces attacking the enemy on Guadalcanal.
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  Flooded U.S. Marine camp near Henderson Field.
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  A U.S. 11th Marines 75mm pack howitzer and crew on Guadalcanal, September or October, 1942.
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  A U.S. Marine patrol crosses the Matanikau River on Guadalcanal, probably in late September or early October, 1942.
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  U.S. Marines suffering from malaria in a rough field hospital on Guadalcanal, probably in October, 1942.
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  A U.S. Marine guards Hill 80 on "Edson's" Ridge, Guadalcanal in 1942. The view is towards the south from whence the Japanese attacked during the battle in October, 1942.
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  A U.S. Marine patrol descends from "Edson's" Ridge, Guadalcanal, sometime in 1942. Henderson Field is in the background.
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  Marine positions south of Henderson Field in October in the area that was attacked during the battle.
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  During the lull in the Battle for Henderson Field, a Marine machine gunner takes a break for coffee, with his sub-machine gun on his knee and his .30-caliber light machine gun in position.
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  U.S. Marine 150mm howizter fires at Japanese forces on Guadalcanal west of the Matanikau River in late October, 1942.
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  U.S. Marine 105mm gun on Guadalcanal, September, 1942.
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  Anti-aircraft gun and crew of the U.S. Marine 3d Defense Battalion helping defend Henderson Field from Japanese air attack on Guadalcanal in October, 1942.

Miscellaneous, related photos

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  this view looking south over Point Cruz shows the jumble of sharp-grassed ridges, foothills and mountainous jungle which was Guadalcanal.
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  Aerial view of Henderson Field in late August, 1942.
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  Henderson Field on Guadalcanal as it looked in September, 1942.
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  U.S. Marine Sgt John Basilone was awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions during the late October, 1942 battles on Guadalcanal.
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  SGT MITCHELL PAIGE receives the Medal of Honor from Gen Vandegrift as a reward for outstanding heroism while manning a machine-gun of the 2d Battalion, 7th Marines during the late October, 1942 battles for Henderson Field on Guadalcanal.
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  Henderson Field on Guadalcanal is bombed during the October 24-25, 1942 Japanese offensive.
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  Third from left, LtGen Thomas Holcomb, seventeenth Commandant of the Marine Corps, looks over a captured Japanese despatch-case during his front-line inspection of Guadalcanal in October 1942.