Victory! Marine Corps Gen. Alexander Vandegrift And the Battle of Guadalcanal
Medal of Honor Monday: Marine Corps Gen. Alexander Vandegrift
DEC. 9, 2019 | BY KATIE LANGE
Vandegrift didn’t see combat during World War I, but he did serve overseas later in Cuba, Nicaragua, Mexico, Haiti and China. By 1942, when the U.S. had entered World War II, he had risen to the rank of major general.
Buildup to Guadalcanal
That summer, U.S. military leaders had learned that the Japanese were building an airfield on Guadalcanal, an obscure island in the Solomon Islands chain. It marked Japan’s furthest advance toward the eastern half of the South Pacific, which was a great concern to the Allies. If Japan remained in control of the island, it could have imperiled vital U.S. supply lines to Australia and isolated that Allied nation.
So, Guadalcanal became the focus of the first major U.S. offensive against the Japanese. For six months, Marines, sailors and soldiers took part in Operation Watchtower. Marines accounted for the largest part of the fighting force.
Holding the Line
Vandegrift commanded the 1st Marine Division — the only trained amphibious assault troops available in the Pacific at the time. On Aug. 7, 1942, U.S. naval forces fired on a surprised enemy, driving the Japanese away from the airfield they were building and allowing Vandegrift’s men an easy landing. U.S. Marines finished building the airfield and, on Aug. 20, the first Allied air units landed there.
Over the next few months, Marines and U.S. soldiers held their position against repeated enemy attacks, despite low supplies, malnutrition and malaria. By November, the Allied land, air and sea assault had crushed the Japanese forces.
On Dec. 9, Vandegrift turned over command of the forces to Maj. Gen. Alexander M. Patch. With that, the 1st Marine Division was relieved.
Final Period – 9 December 1942 to 9 February 1943 Navy.mil
Relief of the 1st Division
On 9 December, 1942, command of the troops ashore on Guadalcanal passed from General Vandegrift to Major General Alexander M. Patch, AUS,1 Commanding General of the Americal Division and senior Army Officer present. On the same day the 1st Marine Division began embarking and moving to Australia for rehabilitation and further training.2The 5th marines embarked and sailed on 9 December, followed at intervals of a few days by the Division Troops, the 1st Marines, and, after a somewhat longer interval, by the 7th Marines.
Withdrawal of the 1st Division and the consequent diminution in strength of American forces made it temporarily necessary to leave in abeyance all plans for an immediate resumption of the advance westward. The western sector, therefore, remained quiet for the time being, although active and aggressive patrolling continued toward the west and to the southwest. Conclusion of the long patrol of the 2d Raider Battalion on 4 December had reassured General Vandegrift as to the status of enemy forces to the southward, and it was thought that the remaining enemy resistance would be found in the area lying beyond the Matanikau.
On 9 December, while the transfer of command was taking place, elements of the 164th and 182d Infantry, which were still in position near Point Cruz, were relieved by the 2d Marines (less 3d Battalion), the 8th Marines, and the 132d Infantry, (less 2d Battalion). This relief, undertaken one battalion at a time because of the lack of sufficient reserves, was accomplished by 16 December.3
At the time of completion of this relief, the lines of the sector were as follows: The 8th Marines, with its Weapons Company on the beach in the bight which bounds Point Cruz on the west, had three battalions in line. The 3d Battalion, in position across the narrow coastal plain, was in contact with the 2d Battalion, lines of which ran southward for 1000 yards across broken country, in general following the ridge lines of the grassy hills. This battalion in turn tied in with the 1st Battalion, the line of which, after following a southerly course for some hundreds of yards along the ridge lines, doubled back sharply to the left rear and followed an easterly direction for about five hundred yards.4
At that point the regimental sector of the 2d Marines began, and extended eastward across the upper Matanikau and into the grassy reaches which flanked it. The line was irregular in formation, since the Marine regiment and the 132d Infantry, with which it tied in on the left, found it necessary to take advantage of high ground along the irregular ridge lines.
The sector, which was under the tactical command of Colonel John M. Arthur,5 carved out a rough rectangular strip of land enclosing Point Cruz and the mouth of the Matanikau, a rectangle the long inland side of which took every possible advantage of terrain. Mount Austen (the Grassy Knoll), which had been an immediate objective of pre-landing planning, directly confronted that portion of the sector held by the 132d Infantry (less 1st Battalion). This terrain feature had been crossed by Marine patrols on several occasions, and there was no indication that it was held in great strength by the enemy.
Of greater tactical importance was a knob, immediately southwest of Mount Austen and distinct from it, known as Hill 27. Used by the Japanese as the anchor of their right flank, it was well prepared and strongly held.6
On 19 December, the 132d Infantry was directed by the Sector Commander to take the strategically important Hill 27, still considered to be a menace to the American positions. Preliminary movements of the regiment took it through heavy jungle country of the kind that had caused the disorganization of Japanese troops attacking the inland sector of the perimeter in September and October. On the northern slopes of the hill, while still struggling through heavy jungle, the 3d Battalion, 132d Infantry, ran into unexpectedly heavy resistance and suffered casualties which included the death of the commanding officer, Lieutenant Colonel William C. Wright, AUS. In view of this opposition and of the relative inexperience of the troops, the advance was halted and lines were consolidated.7
During the next few days preparations were made for a resumption of the attack, and by 27 December the 1st and 3rd battalions were ready to advance. There was a preparation by artillery8 and an air strike, but once more the 3d Battalion ran into heavy opposition. The situation was complicated by the fact that the 1st Battalion, whose mission was to develop a flanking attack from the eastward, had assembled too far west and crowded the lines of the 3d Battalion. Once more heavy casualties were incurred, and once more the advance bogged down.
At the time of the second assault on Hill 27, the American forces in the sector engaged in another offensive, this time with the object of expanding their zone of action to the south and west. This expansion was desirable in order to gain room for maneuver in a projected two-division drive up the coast. Additional troops in the form of the 3d Battalion, 182d Infantry, and the Combat Reconnaissance Squadron, and Army unit and the only cavalry troops used, were made available to the Sector Commander. The expansion was accomplished as planned.
On 30 December, the 2d Battalion, 132d Infantry, was released from division control to the Sector Commander, who thereupon ordered that the attack upon Hill 27 be resumed. Some difficulty was encountered in getting one battalion of the regiment in position for the jumpoff, and the Sector Commander authorized a delay in the attack until 2 January.9
The plan10 for the latest assault upon the hill was an elaboration of tactics used in the second. The 3d Battalion, 132d Infantry, in position immediately below the hill and to the north of it, was to attack forward toward the south. The 1st Battalion, 132d, immediately to its left, was to move southward initially and then swing sharply to the right, against the enemy’s right flank. The 2d Battalion,
132d, meanwhile, in position to the southeast of the center battalion, was to move in a southwesterly direction, swing sharp north when behind the hill, and attack from the rear, completing the envelopment.
The movement was well carried out, and the timing allowed a tying in of the three battalions prior to the final drive upon the enemy positions, which was carried through by the 2d Battalion, By late afternoon the heights had been taken, and positions were being consolidated for protection against strong enemy forces on the western slopes of the hill mass.
On 2 January 1943, all ground forces on the island were organized as the XIV Corps, under command of Major General Patch, AUS, who formed his staff from officers already on the island. Included in the command were all Marine Corps units, the Americal Division, and the 25th Division (the 161st Infantry, a component of the latter group, did not arrive on the island until 4 January.) At this time, also, there was a readjustment of the chain of command, after which the Commander, XIV Corps, operated directly under the control of ComSoPac instead of through Admiral Turner. (Commander, Task Force 62) as had been the case up to that time.11
Coming of the 2d Division
On 4 January,. the Advance Echelon of the 2d Marine Division, consisting of the 6th Marines (reinforced) and Division Headquarters, arrived at Kukum and went into bivouac. At 0800, 6 January,12 Brigadier General A. DeCarre, Assistant Division Commander and commander of the echelon, assumed command of all Marine forces save aviation on the island,13 under command of General Patch, and by 11 January a considerable number of officers and senior NCOs of the newly-arrived regiment had served with the front-line Marine units for purposes of instruction.14 Next day, the 6th Marines became part of a provisional unit known, for the short time of its existence, as the Composite Army-Marine Division, generally shortened to CAM Division, and on the same day warning orders were received
The Japanese remained on Guadalcanal for another two months, pretending to bring reinforcements when they were actually evacuating surviving troops, according to the U.S. Department of Education. But the damage was done. Japan officially surrendered the island on Feb. 8, 1943.
THE BATTLE: