In our last episode, we covered the direct aftermath of the key Battle of Edson’s Ridge,
the second Japanese offensive in Guadalcanal that caused so many losses for the invaders
that it’s today remembered as the Battle of the Bloody Ridge. Because of this major defeat and
because they started to feel like they were losing the initiative against their enemies,
the Japanese then began to prioritize the Guadalcanal theater, sending almost 17500
men in their characteristic Tokyo Express to finally win what they perceived to be
the most decisive battle of the Pacific War. Today, we are going to cover the American
attempt to intercept the Japanese express runs during the Battle of Cape Esperance,
as well as the recent developments in the air warfare over the Aleutian Islands.
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On October 10, General Hyakutake had at last arrived on Guadalcanal to take personal command
of the third major Japanese offensive on the island; yet upon stepping ashore, he was promptly
informed about the near annihilation of the Aoba Detachment and about the loss of the key line of
the Matanikau and the artillery positions on its eastern bank. This was a huge loss
for the Japanese general, as from there, he was planning to assemble his forces in preparation for
the offensive and also to launch an important bombardment of Henderson Field. More shocking
reports then followed, as Hyakutake was informed as well that the Japanese forces in Guadalcanal
received only one-half the necessary amount of provisions, leaving them severely weakened from
starvation. In that regard, Hyakutake immediately halted the movement of more men in favor of food
and ammunition for the campaign, although more reinforcements would be effectively transported in
the following days. On October 11, for instance, there was a planned express run using the seaplane
carriers Nisshin and Chitose to bring heavy artillery and reinforcements to the island,
covered by some short-range Zeros that would fly from the new airfield at Buin,
which had been recently completed to give the Japanese more air power in the South Pacific.
Concurrently, the Japanese would also undertake a naval bombardment of Henderson Field, sending
forward Admiral Goto’s 6th Cruiser Division to carry out the shelling of the American airfield.
Meanwhile, General Vandegrift and Admiral Ghormley continued to prepare their forces for the incoming
offensive. The state of health of the American admiral was rapidly deteriorating due to the
quick developments of the overall operation, being really pessimistic about the lack of resources for
the campaign, and this had been affecting his ability to command for some time now.
Admiral Nimitz himself toured the South Pacific in September, taking notice of his
poor state and complaining about his lack of initiative to secure the Santa Cruz Islands.
Thus, on October 6, Ghormley decided to continue with the plans to secure an
airfield site on Ndeni, something that was very contested by the US Army , and also to send the
164th Regiment of the Americal Division to reinforce Guadalcanal. Operation Fetlock,
the occupation of the Ellice Islands, was also launched on October 2, with three destroyers
landing the 5th Defense Battalion at Funafuti in complete secrecy. On the morning of October 8,
the 164th finally departed New Caledonia en route to their new destination. They were to be escorted
by Task Force 64 , consisting of four cruisers and five destroyers under Rear-Admiral Norman Scott,
and were further supported by the reinforced Task Force 17 of Rear-Admiral George Murray,
now boasting the battleship Washington. Scott also had a secondary mission:
to intercept and destroy Japanese forces moving to bombard or reinforce Guadalcanal. In that regard,
he had to develop a doctrine for night surface actions, in which the Japanese knew that they were
vastly superior , sinking eight Allied cruisers and three destroyers without a single loss.
Scott’s battle-plan was to steam in a column with destroyers ahead and astern of the cruisers,
tasked with illuminating the targets with searchlights after radar contact,
while the cruisers used their floatplanes to find and illuminate the enemy vessels. As soon
as they had a target, they were to expertly use their gunnery to decimate the invaders.
Yet his plan also had some flaws, as the offensive capabilities of the destroyers were
neglected and he also failed to take advantage of the superior SG radars, placing his flagship
on a cruiser with obsolete SC radars instead . By October 9, Scott would reach Rennell Island,
lingering there until he could hear of enemy movements. Two days later, as the Japanese convoy
was approaching Guadalcanal, the 11th Air Fleet finally launched their air raid over Henderson
Field, hoping to keep the American planes away from the seaplane carriers. The air battle ended
up being fairly inconclusive , but it did fulfill the objective of pinning down the American planes.
Yet during the struggle, the Marines would report the sighting of the Japanese convoy,
and although they failed to detect Admiral Goto’s force, this was enough for Scott to
move towards Guadalcanal to intercept the enemy vessels. By 22:00 on October 11, the Americans
were around the northwestern tip of the island as the cruisers launched three floatplanes in
search of the invaders, and half an hour later, Scott’s ships entered battle formation . Two of
the floatplanes were eventually forced down, but the last remaining one managed to report enemy
presence east of Savo Island by 23:30, so Scott would order a course change towards the southwest.
Unbeknownst to him, the Helena’s SG radar had actually detected a contact at some 27700 yards
away, but this was not reported to Scott, thus wasting a perfect opportunity to achieve full
surprise. During the course change, two cruisers would also execute an immediate turn instead of
following the column, so Scott would fail to maintain formation . Meanwhile, the destroyer
Duncan also had a clear radar contact and, believing that the enemy was closing in to attack,
it charged alone against the enemy force. At 23:42, the Helena at last reported enemy vessels
to the northwest in a T formation, placing Goto’s forces in the opposite direction than the one
reported by the floatplane, although this allowed Scott to “cross” the Japanese T . With hesitation
due to the destroyers’ position at starboard, the Helena’s captain refused to fire without orders
as he was expected to, and instead asked for permission from Scott, finally opening fire at
23:46. The sudden ripple of gunfire caught Goto’s ships unprepared and unaware, believing it was the
reinforcement convoy that was mistakenly firing at them. As Goto drew near, lookouts alerted him
that these were American vessels, yet the Japanese admiral still didn’t believe the enemy would dare
to challenge him at night . The American cruisers, meanwhile, joined Helena in the attack and started
to fire at the Aoba, although they would also hit some of the leading destroyers at starboard.
As the invaders started to turn in a parallel course, the first salvos began to smash Goto’s
flagship, inflicting heavy damage and mortally wounding the experienced admiral. In the ensuing
confusion, the Japanese broke formation amidst a rain of gunfire and then began to retreat.
But at 23:47, believing that his ships were firing at the leading destroyers , Scott ordered
a ceasefire. Some captains didn’t heed these orders though, so the Japanese would continue to
be hammered down as the Furutaka turned to relieve the damaged Aoba, receiving many critical hits as
a result. At 23:51, after communicating with the leading destroyers , Scott finally ordered fire
to be resumed. During the fire lull, however, the San Francisco had tracked the destroyer Fubuki,
unmistakingly identifying its nationality and executing such a strong barrage that the hapless
destroyers burst into flames and began to sink. Meanwhile, Duncan rapidly found itself close
enough to launch its torpedoes against Furutaka. Yet the destroyer was under heavy friendly fire,
so it would only get to fire two torpedoes before it was set afire by shells from both sides.
The vessel would eventually have to be abandoned off Savo Island, and it would finally sink the
following day. At the same time, the destroyer Buchanan also launched five torpedoes against
Furutaka, hitting the cruiser once and causing severe damage. In pursuit of the fleeing Japanese,
Scott’s cruisers would launch concentrated fire over the enemy, scoring over 40 hits on Aoba
and over 90 hits on Furutaka. Although Goto’s flagship would be able to survive the battle,
the Furutaka would at last sink around 02:30 due to the sustained damage.
The Kinugasa, however, had expertly avoided getting damaged, and around midnight, it reentered
the fight by engaging San Francisco with accurate gunfire and by launching torpedoes against Boise.
The cruiser’s searchlights would further reveal its position, and Kinugasa would
score two critical hits that inflicted heavy damage and forced Boise to retreat.
The Salt Lake City then moved in to cover Boise’s withdrawal, engaging the Japanese
cruiser in a duel that left her with major fires after two hits. In exchange, the Kinugasa
only suffered four minor hits in the entire battle before they successfully pulled back.
Scott continued to press the Japanese until he acknowledged the enemy’s withdrawal around 00:20,
when he finally decided to retire. This had been the first Japanese defeat in a night action in
the entire war, and they paid dearly for it . Despite this, their reinforcement convoy would
be successful nonetheless, landing some heavy artillery that would soon be felt by the Marines.
The convoy would then be attacked by a series of air strikes from Henderson Field,
losing two destroyers against the Marine planes in the final actions of the battle;
and on October 13, the 164th Regiment would safely arrive at Guadalcanal.
Though victorious, the Americans had also suffered many losses , and they would not be in a position
to continue to contest the command of nighttime seas from the Japanese in the near future.
Furthermore, while the 164th was landing, the IJN launched a strong air raid that rained bombs over
Henderson Field from 30000 feet, thus surprising the American fighters that couldn’t intercept them
and were then struck while they were refueling. And during the night, as the high-speed convoy
of Rear-Admiral Takama Tamotsu steamed forward towards Guadalcanal carrying almost 4500 troops
as well as stocks of ammunition and provisions, Hyakutake’s artillery began to shell the western
end of the American airfield while a strong fleet under Vice-Admiral Kurita eased past
the south of Savo Island to launch a huge naval bombardment of the American positions,
as planned by Admiral Yamamoto. The invaders reported that explosions were seen everywhere
and the entire airfield was a sea of flame during the 83 minutes of bombardment . Firing a total of
973 shells from his battleships, Kurita managed to smash Henderson Field into temporarily unusable
rubble, killing over 41 Marines, destroying so many aircraft that only 37 planes were left
standing and burning almost all of the American aviation gasoline . Although General Geiger was
then reinforced with 17 SBDs and 20 Wildcats and a smaller grassy strip was laid down to
launch his plains while the main field was out of action, the power of the Cactus Air Force had been
crippled and they could do little to stop the next Japanese convoys , which would successfully land
on Tassafaronga to bring more men and supplies. Thus, Hyakutake was ready for his final offensive.
But now, we’ll head to the Aleutian Islands to continue with our coverage of the arctic air
duel between the Japanese-controlled Kiska Island and the Americans at Alaska. Since we last saw
back in early August, many of the resources allocated to the North Pacific by both sides
would begin to be redirected to the south due to the importance of the Guadalcanal Campaign.
Despite this, the Americans believed they continued to enjoy a 4-to-1 advantage in
air strength over their enemies, and this encouraged them to start planning for an
advance down the Aleutians towards Kiska and Attu. For this, however, they would need to be closer
to the Japanese bases to adequately support their offensive with air raids. Because of the region’s
poor flying conditions, General DeWitt decided to carry out the construction of an airfield on
Tanaga Island, which was closer to the Japanese presence, although the island of Adak and its
superior anchorage would finally be selected to be the site for the new airfield. In the meantime,
the relationships between the American commanders were growing more tense each day, with General
Buckner writing a poem about Admiral Theobald that the latter found “gratuitously insulting”. This
almost cost both men their commands, but with the aid of DeWitt, they would eventually find common
ground to cooperate again. On the night of August 28, the Adak operation was at last set in motion,
with the submarines Triton and Tuna stealthily moving to the island to land some 38 Alaska Scouts
under Colonel Lawrence Castner. The commandos would then rapidly paddle to Kuluk Bay, where
they found no enemy presence, so they would relay this information to Buckner the following morning.
Thus, some 4500 men from the 7th Division, commanded by Brigadier-General Eugene Landrum,
were prepared to sortie from Unalaska in some 250 transports , finally landing at
Adak on August 30 to establish an outpost and begin construction of the new airfield.
On that same day, a Japanese submarine snuck into Nazam Bay,
stealthily torpedoing the seaplane tender Casco before it was sunk by the destroyer Reid. At Adak,
construction of the new airfield was highly prioritized, with many Marauders and Warhawks
continuously patrolling the island from dawn until dusk to cover the engineers as they worked.
In just about ten days, the hard-working Americans would finish their Adak airfield, and on September
10, the first aircraft would begin to arrive, now being only 250 miles away from Kiska.
Four days later, the first air strike from this closer location was launched, repeatedly strafing
and swiftly dropping bombs over Japanese vessels and installations on the island.
Considerable damage was inflicted in result, including two minesweepers sunk,
yet the bad weather would prevent the Americans from launching more air incursions for some time.
Meanwhile, a detachment of 800 soldiers was sent to occupy the nearby Atka Island on September 16,
establishing an emergency fighter landing field there; and on the next day, fearing a probable
enemy invasion on the nearby Amchitka island, Major-General Higuchi Kiichiro of the Northern
District Army would decide to temporarily abandon their outpost on Attu island to reinforce their
position on Kiska. Finally, the Americans would launch their second air strike on September 25,
in which the Canadian Squadron Leader Kenneth Boomer shot down an A6M2 and
became the only Allied pilot of the war to claim both German and Japanese kills.
Despite their second successful raid, the Americans would lose the element of surprise a
mere five days later when Japanese reconnaissance at last managed to discover the new Adak base.
A number of Japanese sorties then followed before ceasing unsuccessfully on October 5.
On that same day, a survey of Amchitka convinced Higuchi that it was impossible to build an
airstrip there, so he would decide to send the 83rd Independent Battalion of Lieutenant-Colonel
Yonegawa Isamu to reoccupy Attu. Departing from Paramushiro, Yonegawa’s men would arrive at the
island on October 29, with reinforcements following over the next several weeks.
The last major action of the month would happen on October 16, when six Marauders managed to damage
the destroyer Hatsuharu in Kiska Harbor. More importantly, they also scored one critical hit
on the destroyer Oboro, which exploded and sank without survivors at the cost of one lost B-26.
But this is it for today; next week, join us as we cover the Japanese withdrawal across the Kokoda
Track and the Australian counteroffensive that would put General Horii’s South Seas
Detachment in great peril. Don’t forget to subscribe and press the bell button,
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