World War II (1 Viewer)

[timschochet]

Guadalcanal Part 13

That night, Pistol Pete's big shells ripped up the Henderson airways and for the moment made flight impossible. Then he shifted sights to hammer the perimeter, swinging to Kukum to blow up naval stores- and finally falling on the men of the 164th with such rending red terror that a sergeant crawled about begging his men to shoot him. Red flares shot up from the jungle, Pistol Pete roared and roared, enemy aircraft circled overhead, eluding flak and dropping bombs, and Marines stumbled into foxholes, climbed out of them, ran back to them, bracing in expectation of they knew not what. At 1:30 in the morning, the Night of the Battleships began. Mighty Haruna and Kongo had steamed down from Rabaul. Cruisers and destroyers had come with them, some to join in the airfield bombardment, others to protect 7 transports loaded with General Maruyama's remaining troops.

The star shells rose, exploding like giant ferris wheels to shower the night with streamers of light. American troops had never before been exposed to such cannonading and would never be again. Henderson Field's bombers were blown to bits and set afire. Foxholes buried their occupants. Men were killed-41 of them- and many more were wounded. But the overall effect on the surviving Marines was devastating. In that cataclysm, when every shell seemed to explode with the pent up flame and fury of a full thunderstorm, men whimpered aloud. Others burst into sobs and ran from their pits rather than betray their weakness, if such it was, to their comrades. The bombardment lasted 80 minutes, and then the ships masked their guns and sailed north. The bombers remained until dawn. Pistol Pete did not stop even then.

The airfield was a shambles. The main strip was unusable. Of 38 bombers, only 4 survived the shelling. But these four went roaring skyward from Fighter Strip 1 to strike at the Japanese transports, which had put Maruyama's troops ashore during the night. They sank one, and flew back to an airfield where Marine engineers and Seabees were already hauling fill to the big strip. They patched together 10 bombers that day. They filled gas tanks by hand, hauled bomb trailers by hand, and did all this while Japanese bombers swept over Henderson Field again and again, for Cactus Air Force must be ready to go by the next day, when the remaining Japanese cargo ships would surely return to unload General Maruyama's supplies. And then they discovered they were running out of gasoline. In desperation, a search party was ordered to find a cache of 400 drums of gasoline which had been buried outside the airfield in the early days. Somehow, somehow, the engineers and mechanics kept the patchwork air force flying.

The Japanese could not believe it. It was incredible, the Americans had no right to be airborne. The departing warships had assured the transports that American air power at Guadalcanal was now defunct; no airfield could possibly survive that pounding. But here they were coming with the sun glinting off their wings- Wildcats, Dauntlesses, Avengers, Army-P-39s and P-400s, and later Flying Forts from Espiritu. Henderson mechanics had not slept in 3 days, but they had made good their vow to salvage all but bullet holes. 1,000 pound and 500 pound bombs fell among the Japanese ships and beached supplies, bullets flayed and scattered enemy shore parties.

One bit of individual heroics needs to be mentioned here before we finish with the ordeal of Pistol Pete. By the morning of October 16, Henderson had lost so many aircraft that they signalled New Hebrides in desperation for more. In came 19 Wildcats and 7 more Dauntlesses, let by Lt. Col. Joe Bauer. His Squadron 212 came in just as the Japanese launced a savage dive bombing attack on the field and American ships in the bay. Bauer's gas tanks were nearly empty, but there were 8 enemy Vals plummeting down on a wildly zigzagging destroyer. Bauer went after them alone, He pulled back on the stick and went slashing up through his own antiaircraft fire and then came roaring down again. He shot down 4 Vals before he landed, and he saved the destroyer, It was swift, as aerial combat goes, but it was then, and has remained, the most extraordinary feat of individual heroism among the Henderson airmen. Bauer got a Medal of Honor for it, and it increased his individual score of kills to an amazing 11.

 

[Mjolnirs]

Tim, a question for when you get back to North Africa:

In the book I'm reading, that I mentioned earlier, I just read the following: "Faced with the advance of the Afrika Korps on one side and with growing Jewish terrorism in Palestine on the other, Britain's hold on Egypt remained precarious until the victory at the second battle of El Alamein."

Could you expand on the bolded part?

 

[timschochet]

Tim, a question for when you get back to North Africa:

In the book I'm reading, that I mentioned earlier, I just read the following: "Faced with the advance of the Afrika Korps on one side and with growing Jewish terrorism in Palestine on the other, Britain's hold on Egypt remained precarious until the victory at the second battle of El Alamein."

Could you expand on the bolded part?

At this time there was a split in the Jewish community of Palestine, known as the "Yishuv". In 1939 the British, fearful of Arab reaction, closed off all further Jewish immigration to Palestine, effectively trapping the 14 million Jews of Europe who had no place to go. The Yishuv formed the Mossad Aliyah Bet as a response (the Organization for Illegal Immigration), attempting to smuggle as many survivors as they could into Palestine. As the death camps emerged beginning in 1942, this effort heightened, but the British fought them all the way, still fearful of angering Arabs. At the same time, the vast majority of the Yishuv offered its services to the British Army, believing, under its leadership of David Ben Gurion and Chaim Weizmann, that the Nazis posed the bigger threat. The Jews that contributed to the British effort were later to form the Palmach, the main striking force of the Haganah, which won the War of Liberation for Israel in 1948.Yet, not all the Jews were satisfied with helping the British on one hand and fighting them on immigration with the other. Two small splinter groups, known as the Irgun and the Stern Group, had a policy of no cooperation whatsoever with the British. The founder of the Irgun, Zev Jabotinsky, had fought heroically for the British in World War I, and had seen the Balfour Declaration promises betrayed when the British got greedy over the Palestine Mandate. Beginning in the early 1930's he broke with Ben Gurion and demanded a violent response to British broken promises. His main protege was Menachem Begin, a Polish Jew who had escaped the Nazi invasion. These were the terrorists your book is referring to.

However, though their intentions towards the British were wholly bad, it is my understanding that the Irgun and Stern Group did not become a threat to British rule until after World War II during the violent period in Palestine prior to the War of Liberation. This is because these groups prior to 1946 or so were too small to have any major effect. After 1946 when the British continued to halt Jewish immigration and actually created new concentration camps for Nazi survivors on the Island of Cypress, several thousand members of the Yishuv defected from Ben Gurion and joined Begin, at which point he executed his major act of terrorism, the bombing of the King David Hotel in Jerusalem. I may be wrong about this, but that's what I've always supposed. If the book you're reading has different info, I'm interested in hearing it.

 

[Mjolnirs]

If the book you're reading has different info, I'm interested in hearing it.

As always, good info.Unfortunately the one sentence has been the only mention of it to this point. If more comes out I'll let you know.

 

[timschochet]

Interlude- The Battle for New Guinea

Before continuing with Guadalcanal, we have to move the narrative to Brisbane, Australia, where General MacArthur had been headquarted since July of 1942 in order to better defend Port Moresby. This vital harbor, so near to the Australian mainland, had been saved from seaborne invasion by the Battle of the Coral Sea. But Gen. Hyakutake in Rabaul had already ordered Gen. Tomitaro's Horii's elite South Seas Detachment of 16,000 men to stand by for movement to New Guinea. They were to land at Buna on the north coast and march 150 miles overland to Port Moseby.

MacArthur also had plans for Buna. He wanted to build an airfield there. It would be the first step in the mission assigned to him by the Joint Chiefs: to reduce the strategic Japanese naval base at Rabaul by advancing along New Guinea's northeastern coast and up the ladder of the northern Solomons. MacArthur was scornful of the Marines' effort in Guadalcanal, and did not relish being upstaged by the Navy. He was surprised by the Japanese landings at Buna, and even more surprised when they moved with speed against the badly outnumbered Australians. Horii actually had a fine time of it until the Battle of Bloody Ridge at Guadalcanal, at which point Hyutake, deciding to concentrate on Henderson Field, ordered Horii to withdraw to Buna to take up defensive positions, fearful of an American invasion. MaArthur responded by sending the U.S. 32nd Infantry Division to take Buna. The situation was now the reverse of Guadalcanal: the Americans were on the assault and the Japanese were dug in.

Invasion from the sea was too risky. There were not enough landing craft, and Buna was within easy range of Japanese aircraft stationed at Lae and Salamaua. Because of these hazards, MacArthur's naval commander, Vice Adm. Arthur Carpenter, refused to risk his ships. Landward approaches to Buna were through dense jungle and swamp passable only along certain trails. The Japanese fortified these with a cleverly concealed network of bunkers. Each of them was a fortress in miniature. Some were strenghthened by great sheets of armor and concrete. From every trench or pillbox or pit. all approaches were covered by wide fields of sweeping fire along fixed lines.

Gen. Harding, MacArthur's man on the scene, sent his troops into this formidable labyrinth on November 19, and they were gunned to the ground. They tried again on the 21st and met the same storm of fire. MacArthur ordered Harding to take Buna "at all costs." This was a cruel command, made without knowledge of the enemy's advantages. Still, Harding sent his men forward, and they failed once again. MacArthur was enraged. For his part, Harding complained that he did not have enough tanks and artillery, and the troops had taken appalling casualties. MacArthur responded by relieving Harding of his command and replacing him with Robert L. Eichelberger.

MacArthur bade Eichelberger farewell with the cheerful admonition: "Go out there, Bob, and take Buna, or don't come back alive!" He meant every word of it, if only because by then, with his own forces failing in their first offensive on land, the Marines and the Navy had turned the tide at Guadalcanal.

 

[rsanford]

Thanks for keeping this going. I found Hitler's Panzers East: World War II Reinterpreted by Stolfi on my wife's book shelf from college. Is it worth the read? I read the first 10 pages and I'm not hooked.

 

[timschochet]

Thanks for keeping this going. I found Hitler's Panzers East: World War II Reinterpreted by Stolfi on my wife's book shelf from college. Is it worth the read? I read the first 10 pages and I'm not hooked.

I have no idea, sorry. I've never read it. I find with history books it's less the subject matter and more the skill of the author that makes any particular work interesting for me. A great writer can make any event fascinating, and a dull writer can do exactly the opposite.

 

[timschochet]

Guadalcanal Part 14

Vandegrift's biggest burden had been the Navy- first Fletcher, then Ghormley refused to risk ships to support the Marines on Guadalcanal. Now, in late October, a new admiral had been been appointed command of the South Pacific Area, and to Vandy's great relief it was William F. Halsey, known to all as a fighting man. Halsey would not let the Marines be abandoned. This created a sense of optimism among the men, which was not shared in Washington. There, Navy Secretary Frank Knox was asked by the press if the Marines of Guadalcanal would hold, and he replied, "I certainly hope so. I expect so. I don't want to make any predictions." This rather lukewarm support was received by the men on the island with good natured disdain for the politicians back home.

Meanwhile, Admiral Yamamoto convened an army-navy conference at Truk. He informed General Hyakutake that in order to retake Guadalcanal, he would receive the complete support of the Combined Fleet: 4 carriers, 4 battleships, 8 cruisers, 28 destroyers, 4 oilers, and 3 cargo ships. In high spirits from this news, Hyakutake came ashore at Guadalcanal on October 17 to take personal command of the troops. He made straight for Maruyama's headquarters. Maruyama gave Hyutake his new battle plan: it called for two thrusts- a tank-led assault across the sandbar at the mouth of the Matanikau, and a flanking movement at Nippon Bridge- plus a surprise crusher from the hills south of the airfield. Maruyama counted not only on surprise but also hoped to pierce the enemy line without a fight. A captured Marine had been tortured, and before being beheaded he had revealed numerous gaps in the defenses south of the airfield. Delighted, Hyutake approved of this plan, and the two men eagerly discussed the way they would allow Vandegrift to surrender to them (by handing over his sword, at the mouth of the river.)

The information the Marine had was faulty. It was based not on anything he revealed, but a map he carried, showing the location of the gap. Actually, this map was a copy of a Japanese map captured earlier, and it's discovery among the Americans had made Vandegrift realize the weakness in his position. The gap was now a fortified position under the command of Chesty Puller. The Japanese were heading into a trap, though both sides were unaware of this. The Sendai moved out slowly, the jungle as always stifling their movement, and low food supplies not helping. Hyutake was impatient for Maruyama to move faster. But the latter kept citing delays. Admiral Nagumo also grew angry. Would soldiers never learn that ships sailed on oil? The Combined Fleet could not remain in position much longer. Finally on October 21, Hyakutake ordered Pistol Pete to begin pounding the Marines on the ridge overlooking the sandbar at the Matanikau river mouth. Newly arrived Marine Long Toms- 5 inch rifles- answered- and Pistol Pete was badly shaken. Two of the Japanese 150s were silenced and the others forced to change position. When 11 tanks burst from a sheltering tunnel cut in the jungle across the river, followed by Nakagama's 4th Regiment, the Long Toms joined lighter howitzers to destroy the lead tank and send the remaining 10 clanking back the way they had came. Nakagama's men swarmed after them.

Hyakutake was furious. Nakagama had not only been badly mauled, Colonel Oka upstream by Nippon Bridge had not moved. Hyakutake told Oka he had better get across the river to hit the enemy's left flank by the night of October 23 or else. Malingerers were to be shot. Hyakutake hoped that by this time Maruyama would be in position to strike. But he wasn't. And Oka was still dragging his feet. Only Nakagama attacked.

Nakagama was one of those "bamboo spear" commanders of whom the Japanese army had an abundance. He would attack under any conditions. He scorned living to fight another day and would look upon death before defeat. So he sent his men into the concentrated fire of 10 Marine artillery batteries, into the murderous interlocking fire of machine guns, rifles, and automatic weapons. They were like swarms of moths seeking to blot out the light with their exploding bodies. They matched flesh against fire and steel and were torn apart.

General Maryuama was at last ready to attack, and Colonel Oka had finally been goaded into crossing the river to strike at the exposed Marine left flank. Both commanders were extremely confident, for both believed that they were moving against a gap in the enemy lines.

 

[Offa]

However, though their intentions towards the British were wholly bad, it is my understanding that the Irgun and Stern Group did not become a threat to British rule until after World War II during the violent period in Palestine prior to the War of Liberation.

The Irgun started an armed campaign in 1944 against British rule, notaby assassinating the Middle East Secretary, Lord Moyne.

 

[timschochet]

However, though their intentions towards the British were wholly bad, it is my understanding that the Irgun and Stern Group did not become a threat to British rule until after World War II during the violent period in Palestine prior to the War of Liberation.

The Irgun started an armed campaign in 1944 against British rule, notaby assassinating the Middle East Secretary, Lord Moyne.

It was actually a separate terrorist group named Levi that carried out this assassination, and it was not, to the best of my knowledge, part of a larger armed campaign.The original question concerned the British faced with the AfrikaKorps on one side and Jewish terrorism on the other. The AfrikaKorps threat ended in January, 1943, with Torch and the victory at El Alamein, and this event in 1944 would have no bearing. I also don't believe in any case that the British regarded Levi, the Irgun, or the Stern Group as any kind of threat during the 2nd World War. As I have previously stated, the vast majority of Palestinian Jews served loyally in the British Armed Services and were a great and valuable asset to the Alllied war effort.

 

[DCThunder]

Tim, are you going to go back and talk about the China-Burma-India theatre and Vinegar Joe Stilwell? Claire Chennault and the Flying Tigers and the Burma Road and flying "over The Hump" (Himalayas) in C-47s?

Stilwell was a theatre commander and hence equal to Ike or Dugout Doug, but he "don't get no respect".

 

[timschochet]

Tim, are you going to go back and talk about the China-Burma-India theatre and Vinegar Joe Stilwell? Claire Chennault and the Flying Tigers and the Burma Road and flying "over The Hump" (Himalayas) in C-47s? Stilwell was a theatre commander and hence equal to Ike or Dugout Doug, but he "don't get no respect".

Yep. I'll get there. I actually look forward to that story, because it also involves Orde Wingate and the Chindits, which is a great tale in itself. But Guadalcanal, as you can see is slow going. After that, I need to cover Torch, and then we'll see where we go from there. But Burma will be told!

 

[timschochet]

Guadalcanal Part 15

At 11:00pm on the night of October 25, it began to rain in torrents, and the Japanese charged Puller's battalion by the thousands, so many of them that the sodden ground shook beneath their feet. They hit the barbed wire even as the Marine guns erupted in a bedlam of firing. Japanese fell on the wire, others hurled themselves upon it while their comrades used their bodies as bridges. Colonel Furumiya was at the head of his troops, shouting and waving his saber. He led the color company- the 7th- through a break in the American wire and racing with them towards the enemy's guns. Inspired by the breakthrough, willing to follow their colonel into hell, the Japanese soldiers flowed towards the gap. But the Marines closed it. Colonel Furuyama and the color company were cut off from the rest of the regiment.

Now the attack was veering towards dead center. The Japanese hordes were rushing at Manila John Basilone's machine guns. They came tumbling down an incline, and Basilone's gunners raked them at full trigger. They were pouring out 500 rounds a minute, the gun barrels were red and sizzling inside their water jackets= and the precious water was evaporating swiftly. "Piss in 'em, piss in 'em!" Basilone yelled, and some of the men jumped up to refill the jackets with a different liquid. The guns stuttered on, tumbling the onrushing Japanese down the incline, piling them up so high that by the time the first enemy flood had begun to ebb and flow back into the jungle, they had blocked Basilone's field of fire. In the lull, Manila John ordered his men out to push the bodies away and clear the fire lanes. Then he ducked out of the pit to run for more ammunition. He ran barefooted to Puller's Command Post, and ran back again, burdened with spare barrels and ammo belts slung over his shoulders. As he did, Furiyama's men drifted west. They overran the guns to Basilone's right. They stabbed two Marines to death and wounded three others. They tried to swing the big Brownings on the Americans, but the guns jammed. They left the pit and drove further to the rear.

Basilone returned to his pit just as a runner dashed up gasping: "They got the guys on the right." Basilone raced to his right. He ran past a barefoot private named Evans called Chicken because he was only 18. "C'mon, you yellow bastards!" Chicken screamed, firing and bolting his rifle, firing and releasing. Seizing a mounted machine gun, Basilone spread eagled it across his back, shouted at half his men to follow him- and was gone. A squad of men took off in pursuit. They caught Basilone at a bend in the trail and blundered into a half dozen Japanese soldiers. They killed them and ran on. Then they were inside the silent pit, firing the gun that Basilone had brought back while he (Basilone) lay on his back in the mud working frantically to free the jammed guns. Beyond the wire in the covering jungle, the Sendai were massing for another charge.

Chesty Puller called Col. del Valle, the artillery commander to as all the support possible. "I'll give you all I can, Puller, but we need to save some for tommow." Puller replied, "Colonel, if those bastards get through tonight, there won't be a tommorow."

Now it was 1:30 am, and the Sendai were coming again. Basilone had his guns fixed, and his men fired into the hordes. The Sendai rolled forward in even greater strength, with both wings charging, now, punching holes in the Marine lines, forcing General Geiger in the rear- now in command while Vandegrift conferred with Halsey in Noumea- to counter with his reserve, and leading Maruyama to radio the one signal all Japan was waiting for: "Banzai!" At 3:30 General Maruyama hurled his third charge at the Americans. And this time his men heard for the first time the 8 round semiautomatic firing of Garnd rifles in the hands of American soldiers. The 164th Infantry was in action. This was the last of Geiger's reserve; they had come to the battle through the darkness led by a navy chaplain as the only man who knew the way at night. There were very few men left at Henderson Field. This was the Marines last stand. And they held.

By 7:00 the next morning, the Sendai had stopped coming. Nearly 1,000 of them were dead. They lay in sodden heaps outside and partly within the American wire. Within the jungle, General Maruyama beheld his survivors: bands of dazed and hollow-eyed men stumbling woodenly back to their assembly areas. Nowhere could Maruyama find Colonel Furuyama, who was presumed killed. The airfield was still American. Maruyama got off a message to General Hyukutake indicating he was "having difficulty" capturing the field. And then Dugout Sunday began.

 

[Copeman]

bump

 

[timschochet]

bump

I have some errands to run. I will continue with Guadalcanal later tonight. We're getting towards the end of it. What a long friggin' battle it was! Fascinating to read about though, (at least to me.)

 

[timschochet]

One question I have, though, for weapons experts, about the previous battle I described: how much water is needed for a machine gun? Why is the water necessary? What would happen if the water is gone? And if it's raining, why wouldn't that suffice? Also, do other automatic weapons need a constant supply of water as well? TIA

 

[Copeman]

One question I have, though, for weapons experts, about the previous battle I described: how much water is needed for a machine gun? Why is the water necessary? What would happen if the water is gone? And if it's raining, why wouldn't that suffice? Also, do other automatic weapons need a constant supply of water as well? TIA

The machine guns that are water cooled (some were air cooled) need it because the constant firing makes the barrel of the weapon so hot that the gun will malfunction. The intense heat causes the barrel to warp out of shape.I remember reading where John Basilone actually picked the 30 cal up and fired it from his hip during this battle, instead of using the tripod. His hands must have gotten burnt.

 

[timschochet]

Guadalcanal Part 16

Sunday, October 25, 1942, was known as Dugout Sunday, because only those engaged in battle dared to stray away from their dugouts. It was set in motion by General Maruyama's premature victory signal, "Banzai!" Although he subsequently modified this message to an admission of "difficulty" at 7:00 in the morning and then to one of outright defeat that afternoon, the Japanese Combined Fleet had begun its assignment in the joint land-sea-air attack that was designed to crush the Americans. Airplanes raked the Marines all day. Yet, somehow or another Henderson Field, which was supposed to be knocked out, managed to get the Cactus Air Force into the skies again. (The actions of the Marine engineers on Guadalcanal is simply amazing. With few tools and under constant bombardment, these extraordinary men time and again somehow managed to keep the airfield usable.) At sea, three Japanese destroyers were sunk, and Admiral Nagumo, fearing another Midway, fled with his carriers when spotted an American spy plane. And, that night, the remnants of the Sendai gathered for one last heroic charge, and came again. Led by Colonel Oka, they came screeching up the hillside at the ridge held by Sgt. Mitchell Paige's machine gun section.

The Japanese were in so close it was hand to hand combat. Paige saw a private down on one knee fighting three attackers. Paige shot two of them. The third killed the private with a bayonet, but Paige killed the killer. All over the ridge the short shapes and the tall shapes flowed, merged, struggled, parted, sank to the ground or rolled down the slope. Then the short shapes flowed down the ridge, and Mitchell Gage ran to fix a disabled machine gun. He pried out a ruptured cartridge and slipped in a fresh band of ammo just as a burst from a Japanese machine gun seared his hand. Yelling again, the Japanese came up the hill once more. They could not force the left, bu tin Paige's center they hit three men and moved through the gap. Paige ordered his remaining men to fix bayonets. Then he led them on a charge which forced the Japanese back down the hill. Paige returned to his machine gun, reset it in the center, and fired it until dawn. As daylight came creeping in, he saw one of the platoon's machine guns standing unattended on the forward nose of the ridge. Three Japanese were crawling toward it. Paige rose and ran forward...

Meanwhile, in the same faint light Maj Odell Conoley sawa an enemy force in company strength occupy a ridge between his left flank and Puller's right flank. They raked Conoley's position. This penetration could be expanding into a breakthrough. Conoley rounded up a ragtag pick-up force: cooks, stretcher bearers, bad musicians, wiremen and couriers. There were 17 in all, and they drove the Japanese off the ridge. Then Conoley called for a protective screen of mortars while he consolidated his position and awaited reinforcements. When they arrived, one of the cooks boasted of having brained an enemy officer. "What'ja do?" a rifleman jeered. "Hit him with one of your pancakes?"

Mitchell Paige reached the gun first. He dived for it, pulled the trigger, and killed the crawling Japanese. A storm of bullets fell on Paige, kicking up dust. Paige fired back. Three other Marines reached him with belts of ammo, and two of these fell. The last, a man named Jonjeck, got next to Paige. "Get the hell back!" Paige cried. Jonjeck refused. Paige hit him in the jaw and Jonjeck left. Paige moved the gun back and forth to avoid enemy grenades. He saw about 30 men rise in the tall grass below him. One of these waved for a charge. Paige fired a long burst, and the enemy vanished. Paige now called to his rifleman. Like him, they had been up all night, killing the oncoming hordes. Like him, they were exhausted, spent. Paige stood up, unclamped the machine gun, and burning his hands, cradled it in his arms and went down the hill yelling, "Let's go!" "Yahoo!" the Marines yelled running after him.

And they went racing down the hill after the dispersing enemy. A Japanese officers head popped up out of the grass and Paige disembowled him with a burst, and then he and his Marines had burst into the jungle. It was silent and empty. The enemy had already gone; Maruyama had ordered a full retreat. Paige, finally able to take a break, stared at his hands. He had not noticed that his arms, hands and fingers were completely burned at the points where flesh had held hot steel.

The Battle of Henderson Field was over. The Japanese had taken over 2, 5000 causualties. In two nights they had sent their best men, the Sendai, in a mindless rush against a minority of Marines holding a superior position, the ridge. Had the Japanese not attacked piecemeal, they likely would have won, for they had numbers on their side. Had they managed to better coordinate their attack with sea and air operations, they might have won, but twice this failed because of miscommunication, a prideful willingness earlier on Maruyama's part to seek all the glory for himself, and most of all the amazing Marine engineers and aviators of the Cactus Air Force which kept the airfield going.

Even so, the Sendai came very close to taking the ridge. Had they done so, the Pacific War might very well have lasted another year, for it would have completely upset American timetables. Countless more lives might have been lost on both sides. The Japanese failed because of the bravery and valor of men like Puller, Basilone, and Paige, and the young Marines who followed them. In the history of American fighting men, these marines will always hold a special place of honor for their heroism.

 

[timschochet]

The Battle of Santa Cruz

Denied Henderson Field once more, an angry Isoroku Yamamoto sought all the more that decisive battle with the American fleet that would redeem both Midway and Guadalcanal. He still had 4 flattops, 5 battleships, 14 cruisers and 44 destroyers to hurl against what he knew to be an inferior enemy air-surface fleet. He knew Wasp had been sunk and that Saratoga was being repaired. But he did not know that Enterprise was back at sea. With Hornet, it formed the nucleus of Fighting Tom Kincaid's force, which included 2 battleships, 9 cruisers, and 24 destroyers. In the new battleship South Dakota with her dozens of new 40-mm antiaircraft guns, Kincaid possesed a formidable weapon. In the early morning of October 26, 1942, Kincaid received plane contacts of enemy carriers only 200 miles away. He signalled Bull Halsey in Noumea, who instantly signalled him back: "ATTACK-REPEAT, ATTACK!" At the same time, the Japanese had discovered Hornet and launched their own attack. The squadrons of airplanes, American and Japanese, passed each other on the way to their targets.

Hornet was surrounded by floating gun platforms, and these destroyed most of the Japanese planes before they could attack the carrier. But one Val pilot, crippled by a shell burst, aimed his plane for the smokestack of Hornet and two of his bombs exploded on impact. Hornet lost all power. She was soon sunk by destroyers. This first "Kamikazi" was a sign of things to come in the Pacific War, especially as the Japanese became more desperate. Later on, American ingenuity would solve this problem by having large tugboats assigned to each capital ship, and several to each fleet, equipped and ready to fight fires and repair damage caused by the Kamikazis. But this would be too late for Hornet.

Enterprise's planes managed to sink a light carrier, Zuiho. Hornet's 52 planes found the other enemy carriers. They put Shokaku out of the war for 9 months, and sank the cruiser Chikuma. Other Japanese planes sought to sink Enterprise but this carrier, already so lucky in the Pacific War, escaped thanks to the presence of South Dakota. Three bombs landing on Enterprise killed 44 men, but inflicted no serious damage on the ship.

Thus the decisive battle both Yamamoto and Halsey sought was fought off the Santa Cruz Islands and ended indecisively. Probably, because of the loss of Hornet, it was a Japanese victory. But the Imperial Navy had lost the service of one heavy and one light carrier, as well as one light cruiser. So both sides were disappointed.

Back in Rabaul, General Hyakutake was frustrated at the endless stalemate. The navy, he felt, could not win the war. Only the army could win it, and only if he could take Guadalcanal. He had come so close so many times, and each time the damned American marines had eluded his grasp. The Japanese had a nickname of their own for Guadalcanal: Death Island.

Hyakutake decided it was worth one last attempt. On Guadalcanal were still the remnants of the Ichiki, Kawaguchi, and Sendai- all of which had been defeated by the Marines. But perhaps the Marines were exhausted, worn out? Hyakutaki had one last division, the 38th composed of 15,000 fresh troops. He sent them up the Slot to Death Island. The final assault would take place in November.

 

[Ozymandias]

The Battle of Santa Cruz

Denied Henderson Field once more, an angry Isoroku Yamamoto sought all the more that decisive battle with the American fleet that would redeem both Midway and Guadalcanal. He still had 4 flattops, 5 battleships, 14 cruisers and 44 destroyers to hurl against what he knew to be an inferior enemy air-surface fleet. He knew Wasp had been sunk and that Saratoga was being repaired. But he did not know that Enterprise was back at sea. With Hornet, it formed the nucleus of Fighting Tom Kincaid's force, which included 2 battleships, 9 cruisers, and 24 destroyers. In the new battleship South Dakota with her dozens of new 40-mm antiaircraft guns, Kincaid possesed a formidable weapon. In the early morning of October 26, 1942, Kincaid received plane contacts of enemy carriers only 200 miles away. He signalled Bull Halsey in Noumea, who instantly signalled him back: "ATTACK-REPEAT, ATTACK!" At the same time, the Japanese had discovered Hornet and launched their own attack. The squadrons of airplanes, American and Japanese, passed each other on the way to their targets.

Hornet was surrounded by floating gun platforms, and these destroyed most of the Japanese planes before they could attack the carrier. But one Val pilot, crippled by a shell burst, aimed his plane for the smokestack of Hornet and two of his bombs exploded on impact. Hornet lost all power. She was soon sunk by destroyers. This first "Kamikazi" was a sign of things to come in the Pacific War, especially as the Japanese became more desperate. Later on, American ingenuity would solve this problem by having large tugboats assigned to each capital ship, and several to each fleet, equipped and ready to fight fires and repair damage caused by the Kamikazis. But this would be too late for Hornet.

Enterprise's planes managed to sink a light carrier, Zuiho. Hornet's 52 planes found the other enemy carriers. They put Shokaku out of the war for 9 months, and sank the cruiser Chikuma. Other Japanese planes sought to sink Enterprise but this carrier, already so lucky in the Pacific War, escaped thanks to the presence of South Dakota. Three bombs landing on Enterprise killed 44 men, but inflicted no serious damage on the ship.

Thus the decisive battle both Yamamoto and Halsey sought was fought off the Santa Cruz Islands and ended indecisively. Probably, because of the loss of Hornet, it was a Japanese victory. But the Imperial Navy had lost the service of one heavy and one light carrier, as well as one light cruiser. So both sides were disappointed.

Back in Rabaul, General Hyakutake was frustrated at the endless stalemate. The navy, he felt, could not win the war. Only the army could win it, and only if he could take Guadalcanal. He had come so close so many times, and each time the damned American marines had eluded his grasp. The Japanese had a nickname of their own for Guadalcanal: Death Island.

Hyakutake decided it was worth one last attempt. On Guadalcanal were still the remnants of the Ichiki, Kawaguchi, and Sendai- all of which had been defeated by the Marines. But perhaps the Marines were exhausted, worn out? Hyakutaki had one last division, the 38th composed of 15,000 fresh troops. He sent them up the Slot to Death Island. The final assault would take place in November.

The problem for the Japanese was that their losses were essentially irreplaceable. Whereas the Americans were bringing new carriers and ships to the war with increasing velocity, as the US war machine geared up.

 

[timschochet]

Guadalcanal Part 17

In November of 1942, the Marines on Guadalcanal came close to losing their minds.

A bitter aching fatigue had come upon them. They had met the enemy on the beaches, in caves, atop the hills, down in the jungle swamps- and they had defeated him. They had been battered by every weapon in the arsenal of modern war. They had been blown from their holes or been buried in them. They had not slept. They had been ravaged by malaria, weakened by dysentery, nagged by tropical ulcers and jungle rot, scorched by the sun and drenched by the rain. They had met each ordeal with the hope of victory and had survived only to prepare for greater trial. They had come to the island lean and muscular young men, and now there was not one of them who had not lost 20 pounds, and there were some who had lost 50. They had come here with high unquenchable spirit, but now the blaze of ardor was flickering low, and there was a darkness gathering within them and their minds were retreating into it.

All the world was circumscribed by their perimeter. Guadalcanal had become Thermopylae multiplied by 90 days. There might be 90 more, for all they knew, for there seemed no way out, around or through. Thie was that "feeling of expendability" of which so much has been written, but which, like a toothache, can never be understood but only felt. It was a long shuddering sigh of weariness whith which men rehearsed in their minds what had gone before, wondering dully, not that it had been sustained, but in what new hideous shape it would reappear. It was a sense of utter loneliness made poignant by their longing for encouragement from home, which never seemed to be forthcoming, by their hope of help, which was always being shattered. It seemed to these men that their country had set them down in the midst of this enemy and left them there to go it alone. They could not understand- had no wish to understand- that high strategy which might assign a flood of men and munitions to another theater of war, a trickle to their own. They reasoned only as they fought: that a man in trouble should get help, and here they were alone.

So they turned upon themselves. They developed that vacant, 1000 yard stare- lusterless unblinking eyes gazing out of sunken red-rimmed sockets. They drew in upon themselves in little squad groups, speaking constantly in low voices to each other, rarely to men of other units. They avoided those top NCOs and officers who might put them on working parties unloading ships. They were not shirking duty, they were saving strength- for the daily patrols, fo the ordeal of the night watch with its terrors of the imagination, terrors fancied but real. Some of these men had not the strength to go to the galley to eat, for galleys usually lay in the lowlands behind the lines. Weakened men might get down to the galley, but they could not get back up. Their friends brought them food, just as men brought food to buddies sickened by malaria but not so sick enough to occupy a precious cot in the regimental sick bays. Men with temperatures a few points above 100 were not regarded as bona fide malaria cases. There had been only 239 of these in September; there had been 1,941 of them in October- and before November ended there would be 3,200 more.

So these men faced the month of November, forgetting the outside world, forgetting even that they were Americans- mindful only that they were Marines and trying always for those flashes of rough comedy that could nourish their spirit. Sometimes men stood on the hills and shouted insults at an unseen or nonexistent enemy in the darkened jungle. They called Emperor Hirohito "a bucktoothed *******." They dwelt at loving length on the purity of his heritage. They yelled unprintables at Premier Tojo while ascribing to him every vice in the book of human depravity. And there came an astonishing night when a thin reedy voice shrilled up at them in outraged retaliation:

"#### Babe Ruth!"

 

[timschochet]

Guadalcanal Part 18

During November General Vandegrift struck again at enemy forces massing to east and west of him. To the west the Fifth Marines killed 200 Japanese before being recalled while a major battle developed east of the Tenaru. Here a new force on Guadalcanal- the 2nd Marine Raider Battalion under Lt. Col. Evans Carlson- entered the battle. The helped the 2nd Battalion, Seventh, under Lt. Col. Herman Henry Hanneken destroy the Japanese 230th Regiment. Well over 1,000 Japanese were killed and at least three times that many wounded, at American losses of fewer than 100 killed and 200 wounded. But then Vandegrift was compelled to recall these units as well, for Admiral Yamamoto had gathered his forces for that long-sought final and decisive battle.

Admiral Kondo commanded an armada of 2 aircraft carriers, 4 battleships, 11 cruisers, 49 destroyers, 11 transports, and 14,000 men. The troops were to augment General Hyakutake's 17th Army, which at last outnumbered Vandegrift's forces 30,000 to 23,000. Actually, with 4,000 of Vandegrift's Marines on Tulagi, Hyakutake's forces on Guadalcanal were that much larger. Some 3,000 of his reinforcements were from a naval landing force, while the remaining 11,000 formed the main body of the 38th Division. Hyakutake also could expect help from the 51st Division, already alerted to move from China to the South Pacific, and a mixed brigade, also in the Far East.

The 14,000 men immediately coming to him were to land on the morning of November 13, after Henderson Field had been bombarded from the bay both night and day. THe first barrage was to be delivered the night of November 12-13 by battleships Hiei and Kirishima, the cruiser Nagara and 14 destroyers under Vice-Adm. Hiroaki Abe. Gunichi Mikawa with 6 cruisers and 6 destroyers would continue the shelling during daylight of November 13 while a convoy of 11 high-speed transports escorted by 12 Tokyo Express destroyers under Tanaka the Tenacious put the soldiers ashore at Tassafaronga. Meanwhile, Kondo with the remainder of his fleet would sail in distant support about 150 miles north of Savo. His carrier planes would join the eagles from Rabaul in pounding Henderson.

Sensing that the truly decisive battle was impending, Admiral Halsey- true to his word to Vandegrift- threw in everything he had. 6,000 soldiers and Marines were sent steaming north to even the odds that had been against Vandegrift. The Marines arrived first, on November 11 in a convoy commanded by Admiral Scott, Een as they hurried ashore they were savaged by two air raids which ended the aerial doldrums and signaled the beginning of something big. The soldiers- men of the 182nd Infantry Regiment- were in a convoy commanded by Admiral Turner and would arrive November 12. So also, Halsey learned, would the carriers and battleships of Kondo's powerful fleet.

Bull Halsey again threw in everything he had. Crippled Enterprise had been in Noumea harbor since her limping arrival from the Santa Cruz battle. For nearly two weeks a battalion of Seabees, all repair ship Vulcan's specialists and the Big E's own craftsmen had been working furiously to make the carrier shipworthy again. But she still needed 10 more days of repairs when Halsey sent her back into action, her decks still shaking and echoing to air hammers, welder's arcs still sparking, with a big bulge in her starboard side forward, one oil tank leaking and her forward elevstor still jammed from the bomb that hit there at Santa Cruz. Enterprise sailed back to battle only half a carrier. With her were the battleships South Dakota- also crippled- and Washington, 2 cruisers and 8 destroyers. Outnumbered and outgunned by Kondo's massive fleet, Admiral Kinkaid nevertheless put to sea looking for a fight.

 

[Uwe Blab]

Guadalcanal Part 17

In November of 1942, the Marines on Guadalcanal came close to losing their minds.

A bitter aching fatigue had come upon them.... They had come here with high unquenchable spirit, but now the blaze of ardor was flickering low, and there was a darkness gathering within them and their minds were retreating into it....

I'm starting to know how those Marines felt with how long the Guadalcanal narrative is taking.

 

[timschochet]

Guadalcanal Part 17

In November of 1942, the Marines on Guadalcanal came close to losing their minds.

A bitter aching fatigue had come upon them.... They had come here with high unquenchable spirit, but now the blaze of ardor was flickering low, and there was a darkness gathering within them and their minds were retreating into it....

I'm starting to know how those Marines felt with how long the Guadalcanal narrative is taking.

It's getting close to the end. I may be able to finish it today, we'll see.

 

[Uwe Blab]

Guadalcanal Part 17

In November of 1942, the Marines on Guadalcanal came close to losing their minds.

A bitter aching fatigue had come upon them.... They had come here with high unquenchable spirit, but now the blaze of ardor was flickering low, and there was a darkness gathering within them and their minds were retreating into it....

I'm starting to know how those Marines felt with how long the Guadalcanal narrative is taking.

It's getting close to the end. I may be able to finish it today, we'll see.

I hope you know I was being very tongue-in-cheek. Its more of a testament to how I enjoy reading these. You've been doing an outstanding job, I just looked up and saw 'Part 18' and was getting "battle-weary".

 

[timschochet]

Yeah, I'm a bit surprised and gratified by the reaction. I have received numerous messages both here and by PM. This seems to be the most popular thread I've ever started. Of course, mostly I'm just copying from a few books, and adding my own intepretations from time to time. But it's very enjoyable, though time consuming, obviously.

Maybe when we're done with this (and that won't be for quite a while yet) we'll do one on the Civil War. I have a feeling just as many people will enjoy that.

 

[Joseph]

I'd imagine this has to do with the parties involved and where we live, but its fascinating to me that we're aware of the minute troop movements in a battle like Guadacanal where there were a total of maybe 50,000 troops involved, and yet for a mammoth like Stalingrad we only have generalizations but there were literally millions of casualties in that battle.

 

[timschochet]

I'd imagine this has to do with the parties involved and where we live, but its fascinating to me that we're aware of the minute troop movements in a battle like Guadacanal where there were a total of maybe 50,000 troops involved, and yet for a mammoth like Stalingrad we only have generalizations but there were literally millions of casualties in that battle.

I've given this quite a bit of thought. Much, of course depends on the source. Stalingrad, El Alamein, and Guadalcanal are basically contemporaneous. Here's how it shakes out:

1. The main source I am currently using, Robert Leckie's Delivered From Evil is from an American viewpoint. It devotes one chapter to El Alamein, one chapter to Stalingrad, and 7 chapters to Guadalcanal.

2. Martin Gilbert's History of the Second World War is written by a British/Jewish author. It devotes one paragraph to Guadalcanal, several pages to El Alamein, two pages to Stalingrad, and minute detailed descriptions of the suffering of Jews that was occuring (the Holocaust) during all of this narrative.

3. Winston Churchill's The Hinge of Fate is an entire book devoted to El Alamein. At some point, he devotes about a dozen pages to Stalingrad. Guadalcanal gets a single sentence.

4. I've been using William Manchester's The Glory and The Dream as a good source for info on the American homefront, and for the development of the A-Bomb and political considerations (American) but I don't use it for battles.

5. William L. Shirer's The Rise and Fall of The Third Reich of course spends no time on Guadalcanal, but it spends very little time on El Alamein, either, and a whole chapter is spent on Stalingrad, mostly from Hitler's POV. I did use this partly in my description of Stalingrad.

6. John Toland's The Rising Sun does spend time describing Guadalcanal from a Japanese POV. Since Leckie already does this somewhat adequately, I haven't really referred to this source. I may later on when other Pacific battles are described.

So there you go, those are my sources. In part, I am giving a longer description of Guadalcanal because that's what I have to work with. But also, despite the smaller numbers, I believe it is a very significant battle in world history. And of course I find it very entertaning. But your main point is true; because it's American, we're going to have more details known to us.

 

[DCThunder]

I'd imagine this has to do with the parties involved and where we live, but its fascinating to me that we're aware of the minute troop movements in a battle like Guadacanal where there were a total of maybe 50,000 troops involved, and yet for a mammoth like Stalingrad we only have generalizations but there were literally millions of casualties in that battle.

I've given this quite a bit of thought. Much, of course depends on the source. Stalingrad, El Alamein, and Guadalcanal are basically contemporaneous. Here's how it shakes out:

1. The main source I am currently using, Robert Leckie's Delivered From Evil is from an American viewpoint. It devotes one chapter to El Alamein, one chapter to Stalingrad, and 7 chapters to Guadalcanal.

2. Martin Gilbert's History of the Second World War is written by a British/Jewish author. It devotes one paragraph to Guadalcanal, several pages to El Alamein, two pages to Stalingrad, and minute detailed descriptions of the suffering of Jews that was occuring (the Holocaust) during all of this narrative.

3. Winston Churchill's The Hinge of Fate is an entire book devoted to El Alamein. At some point, he devotes about a dozen pages to Stalingrad. Guadalcanal gets a single sentence.

4. I've been using William Manchester's The Glory and The Dream as a good source for info on the American homefront, and for the development of the A-Bomb and political considerations (American) but I don't use it for battles.

5. William L. Shirer's The Rise and Fall of The Third Reich of course spends no time on Guadalcanal, but it spends very little time on El Alamein, either, and a whole chapter is spent on Stalingrad, mostly from Hitler's POV. I did use this partly in my description of Stalingrad.

6. John Toland's The Rising Sun does spend time describing Guadalcanal from a Japanese POV. Since Leckie already does this somewhat adequately, I haven't really referred to this source. I may later on when other Pacific battles are described.

So there you go, those are my sources. In part, I am giving a longer description of Guadalcanal because that's what I have to work with. But also, despite the smaller numbers, I believe it is a very significant battle in world history. And of course I find it very entertaning. But your main point is true; because it's American, we're going to have more details known to us.

For a detailed, "I was there" take on The Canal, read "Guadalcanal Diary" by Richard Tregaskis, who was a war correspondent attached to the Marines serving there.Also, Samuel Eliott Morison, wrote the official US Navy history of the war, called: History of United States Naval Operations in World War II.

And Eisenhower wrote "Crusade in Europe" which is more of a personal memoir of his service, but nevertheless is a counterweight to Churchill.

 

[timschochet]

Guadalcanal Part 19

Admiral Turner had arrived at Guadalcanal, quickly putting his soldiers ashore and beginning to unload. At two in the afternoon 24 Betty bombers escorted by 8 Zekes slashed at him. Turner skillfully avoided their torpedoes while a storm of AA and the slashing attacks of Wildcat fighters shot down all but one bomber and 5 out of the 8 fighters. This attack, together with those on Scott the day before, aroused Turner's suspicions. When a Catalina sighted and reported the Japanese battle fleet heading south, he realized immediately that the enemy's big push had begun. He did not fear for his transports and supply ships because they were already 90% unloaded and he could easily lead them to safety. But he had to protect Henderson Field so that the Cactus Air Force would be able to strike at the enemy reinforcements- the soul of the enemy operation- and the planes from Enterprise would be able to land there. Moreover, the Japanese fleet must be stopped to give Kinkaid's powerful new battleships enough time to enter the battle. But to do this, Turner possessed only two heavy and three light cruisers and 8 destroyers. Nevertheless, he put Rear Adm. Daniel Callaghan in command of this force and ordered him to stop the enemy.

Callaghan had been Ghormley's Chief of Staff. After Halsey took charge, he went back to sea. He had neither the experience or training for this desperation mission. Because of the success at Cape Esperance, Callaghan formed his ships in column, hoping once again to "cross the T". This was far from being the best formation to confront the night-fighting, torpedo firing Japanese. Callaghan hoped it would make maneuvering in the Iron Bottom Sound less risky. Unfortunately, Callaghan did not make proper deployment of his radar ships. Atlanta with inferior radar, for instance, was ahead of San Franciscowith excellent radar. And no plan of battle was issued. Nevertheless, for all these oversights and omissions, the Americans led by Callaghan did possess that single quality which, so often in this desperate struggle, had extricated them from a defeat of their own making: valor.

"Commence firing!" Daniel Callaghan shouted on the bridge of San Francisco. "Give 'em hell, boys!" It was 2:15 in the morning, Friday the 13th of November, and Callaghan's little stopgap fleet drove ahead, straight into the flaming 14-inch guns of the battleships that had sailed south to pulverize Henderson Field. Guns roaring, sterns down, keels carving hard white wakes in the glittering obsidian surface of Iron Bottom Bay, they rushed forward to destruction and glory in the fiercest surface engagement of World War II.

Ashore Marines and soldiers on the beaches, the rivers, the ridges and the fields sprang to make for the safety of their gun pits, and watched the battle at sea. Little Laffey (a destroyer) ran in under great Hiel's mighty 14 inch turrets and peppered her bridge. She was so close that Hiel's pagoda towered above her, Hiel thundered and Laffey began to burn. San Francisco dueled Hiel, hurling salvo after 8-inch salvo into her superstructure. Hiel thundered again. A full salvo screamed into San Francisco's bridge, killing Callaghan and every other man there. San Francisco's gun turrets, in the smoke and confusion, hit the cruiser Atlanta. On both sides, ships fired on other friendly ships. Inevitably the Japanese firepower was asserting it's superiority. Every American ship but Fletcher had been hit. Several blew up.

But the Japanese were running! Every one of them had been staggered by the surprise attack from a plucky (suicidal?) smaller fleet. Destroyer Yudachi was going down, followed by Akatsuke. And the great battleship Hiel her superstructure a twisted mass from 85 shell hits, moved at a wallowing crawl. This was the Battle of Savo Island, which Admiral King later called, "the fiercest naval battle ever fought." Though Callaghan had died, and many men had died and six ships had been lost, their sacrifice had achieved its purpose. Henderson had not been scratched, the Cactus Air Force had been preserved, and now its fighters and bombers were coming to finish off Hiel. For a full day they attacked her, joined by Avengers from Enterprise. Still the great sea monster wallowed in the swells, refusing to go under. At night, finally, the Japanese scuttled her.

The Japanese were so stunned by these turn of events that no report to headquarters was made, fearing retribution. In fact, Gunichi Mikawa had already reported the complete destruction of Henderson Field in advance, and this report led to one of the greatest slaughters in the entire war- the Buzzard Patrol.

 

[timschochet]

Guadalcanal Part 20

Because Mikawa had reported not only the destruction of Henderson Field but also the absence of enemy surface ships, the Tokyo Express- 11 transports escorted by 12 destroyers, came down the Slot in a rare daylight run. At a little after noon, the Americans found them. Every last plane from Henderson Field was sent out. Every plane from Enterprise was sent, some from Espiritu Santo, even from the Fijis. They flew in, dropped their bombs, and flew away, either to home or to Henderson for rearming. The transports were massacred. The water was stained with Japanese blood, and the bobbing heads of men who had been blown overboard or jumped to flee the shipboard fires. The Americans were merciless. There was no surrender allowed. Any Japanese who swam ashore or to an American ship and tried to surrender was killed instantly.

As I describe this action, known in history as the Buzzard Patrol, I have to wonder about the fact that, from what I can ascertain, there was no questioning by anyone in authority of this slaughter at the time, nor was this ever regarded as a war crime. Yet, you're not supposed to kill enemy soldiers who surrender. Certainly, the conditions of the Marines as previously described does much to explain their actions, (and that of the Navy), but commanders are supposed to be above that. These commanders were not. They had seen their friends die heroically, they had seen the Japanese behave savagely, and now they were acting savagely themselves. Is this the inevitable result of warfare? The truth is, I don't know. Another truth is, I don't think, reading about this history of the Guadalcanal struggle, I could ever sit on a court martial board attempting to judge the men who fought there. And yet, this was a crime. Some pilots may have realized that; overlooking the mass slaughter they vomited in their cockpits.

If you have any thoughts on this matter, on the nature of war crimes, and warfare itself, and whether or not such actions can and should be excused, I would love to hear them, because I admit being morally confused here. Now, to continue the narrative:

The Buzzard Patrol scourged the enemy until nightfall. By then 7 transports were sunk or sinking. The remaining 4 staggered ashore in flames, beaching themselves to land a few hundred leaderless soldiers, who were then attacked by Marine fliers, or escaped into the Jungle. Of the 14,000 Japanese who had sailed south, perhaps less than 4,000 survived. Most of these were taken aboard destroyers and returned north. As a fighting force, the Nagoya Division had been annihihilated.

It was a magnificent victory, and to Vandegrift's Marines it seemed that they had been saved.

But not yet.

Tenacity was the virtue of the Japanese fighting man. But the vice of that virtue was stubborness or inflexibility. In all the Combined Fleet there was no man more tenacious or stubborn than Nobutake Kondo. On two nights his ships had failed to knock out Henderson Field. Now on the third night, November 14-15- Kondo kept to his plan. He came down the Slot with battleship Kirishima, heavy cruisers Atago and Takao and a flock of 9 destroyers. He was loaded for bombardment and was not expecting surface opposition.Only those tiny PT-boats that had buzzed Mikawa were about, and these would easily be destroyed. Surely the Americans would not risk battleships in the narrow waters of Iron Bottom Bay.

But they did.

 

[timschochet]

Guadalcanal Part 21

Rear Adm. Willis Augustus Lee had come north with South Dakota and Washington and a small screen of 4 destroyers. He had no battle plans, not evern a radio call signal. All he knew was that enemy capital ships were coming south again, and he would meet them at Iron Bottom Bay. The two forces met at night; it would prove to be the last night battle of Guadalcanal. Enemy searchlights pinioned South Dakota like a big bug on the screen. She shuddered under a shower of shells. Her top decks were littered with wreckage and the dead and wounded. But Lee's flagship Washington had tracked Kirishima and was taking her apart with giant 16 inch guns. Soon Kirishima would join her sister ship Hiei beneath the waves. Now South Dakota helped Washington batter the heavy cruisers Atako and Takao. They staggered out of the battle and would remain out of action for many months. The light cruisers and destroyers fled after them. Not for two years would Japanese battleships again venture forth to surface battle. The three day Naval Battle of Guadalcanal had ended in a decisive American victory. General Vandegrift sent the following message to Admiral Halsey:

We believe that the enemy has suffered a crushing defeat. We thank Lee for his sturdy effort of last night. We thank Kinkaid for his intervention of yesterday. Our own air has been grand in its relentless pounding of the foe. Those efforts we appreciate, but our greatest homage goes to Scott, Callaghan, and their men who with magnificent courage against seemingly hopeless odds drove back the first hostile stroke and made success possible. To them the men of Cactus lift their battered helmets in deepest admiration.

Halsey told his staff: "We got the bastards licked!"

At Buna-Sanananda-Gona, the Japanese were still unconquered. An all-out assault on Buna launched by Eichelberger on December 5 had been broken in blood. The American general wisely decided to postpone such costly attacks until he could receive the tanks and reinforcements Harding had sought in vain. An airstrip completed at Dobadura on the North New Guinea coast had greatly improved Eichelberger's supply situation. Meanwhile the Australians, reinforced and equipped with a new artillery shell with a delayed-action fuse, had fought their way into Gona on December 9. But they had taken heavy casualties, with 500 men killed. A few days later Eichelberger received his tanks and an Australian brigade. On December 18 he struck again at Buna. Allied casualties were again heavy. But the enemy was being steadily whittled. His men were battle-shocked and almost starving. Even rifle ammunition was rationed. The tanks and renewed Allied assaults were too much for them. On January 2, 1943, Buna fell.

Sanananda, most formidable of the three Japanese strong points, still held out. For two months its men had stopped the Australians. Now, both Americans and Australians assaulted the village. They gained little ground. But the Japanese defenders were starving. By the first week of January they had eaten the last of their rice. They fell on January 22. It had taken 3,500 casualties to reduce this coastal position. After 6 months of bitter fighting,MacArthur's forces had suffered 8,500 casualties- 3,000 dead- to reconquer an area that might have been his at no cost of time or blood if, during the previous July, he had moved quicker than the Japanese. But in war as in all other things, hindsight is 20-20. What really mattered here and elsewhere is that the Allies were starting to win because the American material was having a decisive advantage at the battlefront. And this was only the beginning.

 

[timschochet]

Guadalcanal, Concluded

On December 9, 1942, command at Guadalcanal passed from the Marine General Vandegrift to the army General Patch. Patch wisely waited until he had sufficient force to go out on the offensive against the Japanese. Eventually, he would have an entire corps- the XIV, consisting of three army divisions and one Marine division. With these troops, Patch struck at Hyakyutake and the diseased and hungry troops of his 17th Army. The Japanese resisted with characteristic stubborness. Nevertheless, they fell steadily backward in the face of a slow, grinding, overwhelming American assault supported by air and artillery. Patch finally dislodged them from their positions west of the Matanikau and pursued them relentlessly toward the sea.

Now in Tokyo a tremendous debate occured in the highest level of Japanese government, between Premier Tojo, who wanted to evacuate Guadalcanal, and several other generals who insisted that it could not be done. It is important here, IMO, to recognize that even after Midway these leaders, including the Emperor, still believed they could win the war because the Americans would never expend so much life and treasure coming against them. The resolve of the Marines and Navy at Guadalcanal had shocked them into rethinking this. If Guadalcanal was abandoned, it would also mean the end of all Japanese offensives in the South Pacific. Instead, the Empire would be at its heels, retreating and preparing fatalistic defenses against the oncoming Americans. The meeting came to blows, with two generals engaged in a fist fight. Finally, Hirohito expressed his support for Tojo, and the order was given to evacuate.

Once again, swift destroyer-transports swept down the Slot, this time to embark rather than disembark Japanese soldiers. On three February nights, 20 destroyers took off General Hyakutake and 13,000 survivors of his battered 17th Army. By the afternoon of Febuary 9th, 1943, there were no Japanese left on Guadalcanal. Soon there would be few Marines as well.

They had begun going out to their ships in late December, these men of the First Marine Division, and their departure would continue through early January 1943. Some of them had been on the front lines for almost 5 months without relief. All of them were ragged, bearded, and bony when they came down to the beach at Lunga Point. Many had barely the strength to wade out to the boats waiting to take them out to the ships. But all of them had visited the Division Cemetery before they left.

It was called "Flanders Field". It was a neatly cleared square among the coconut trees. Each grave was covered with a palm frond and marked with rough crosses and occasional Stats of David onto which mess-gear tins and dog-tags had been nailed. In their cemetery these Marines found an epitaph celebrating this greatest of Pacific Victories and the most glorious of American stands. It was a poem. It's words had been picked out on a mess-gear tin with the point of a bayonet. It read:

And when he gets to Heaven

To St. Peter he will tell

One more Marine reporting, sir

I've served my time in Hell

 

[timschochet]

Guadalcanal: An Analysis

Here are the overall American casualties from Guadalcanal:

Marines: 1,042 dead, 2,894 wounded.

Army: 550 dead, and 1,289 wounded.

The Navy casualties have never been compiled, nor those of the Cactus Air Force. Certainly it is estimated that Navy casualties matched or exceeded those on land.

The Japanese lost 28,800 men on the ground alone, while thousands more died at sea. Perhaps 50,000 total Japanese soldiers and seamen were lost in the vain attempt to recapture the "Island of Death".

While no life is insignificant, we must acknowledge that the total American and Japanese casualties combined represent perhaps a day or two of battle at Stalingrad. In terms of historical American losses, it certainly does not compare to some of the bloodier Civil War battles (Antietam comes to mind), or World War I, or even some of the land battles in Europe we'll be getting to later. So why then, is so much time and attention spent on this one battle?

One reason is it's "turning point" significance, and also how long it lasted (nearly 6 months.) Another reason is the romantic aspects- a group of Marines land on a tropical island and have to hold it for months against one attack after another. And the bravery of American Marines, Army, and Navy is simply magnificent to read about even to this day.

As for the Japanese, this was their last chance to have initiative, as they realized in Tokyo. Now their war would be one of defense, and desperation. As in Midway, they made a series of inexplicable errors which lost them the battle. But as with the Americans, their bravery under fire cannot be questioned.

Any final comments about Guadalcanal? Now is the time.

 

[hook014]

Well, I can certainly appreciate this narrative. You see my Uncle Charles was a marine sargeant who fought all the way across the Pacific.

When, as young boys, we would ask him about his wartime experience he would talk somewhat about Iwa Jima but would never talk about Guadalcanal. Never. Even though he was among the first to arrive and the last to leave.

Now I understand it. It was too damaging to relive it. At some point our father told us not to ask again, guess I was about 8yo or so. But we never asked again.

Dad fought in Korea at Chosin among other places so he knew the horrors of war. That was a bond between them and lasted till they died. We miss them both terribly as they were certainly courageous men and had the respect of everyone in our family.

Dammmmit.

 

[beer 30]

In regards to Stalingrad, this Russian site has some great first hand accounts. I know it comes up in Russian but you can translate it over in the top right hand corner. Still makes for a difficult read but you can get through it. Only site I've found that details the Russian side of the war, some real good testimonials on just how hard life was for the Russians during the war.

 

[timschochet]

Prelude To Torch Part One

We return now to the summer of 1942. Following the German conquest of Sevastopal, Stalin redoubled his cries for a second front in France. He dispatched Molotov to Britain and the United States to urge it, and the vocal left wings of both nations redoubled their strident demands. Huge open-air concerts were given at the Hollywood Bowl and Madison Square Garden to promote the Second Front. (As I have written, attendence at these meetings was later used as an accusation of Communism during the Red Scare that began later in the decade.)

Undoubtedly, the Soviets had to be rescued. A Hitler gorged with the body of Russia might be unbeatable, or at least so formidable that the democracies might grow weary of attacking him. Stalin's demands actually dovetailed with American plans for building forces in Britain for an early cross-Channel invasion of the Continent. The Americans were enthusiastic for this, from FDR on down.

The British were not. They had facts and figures to support their reluctance, but it is likely that they also had at the back of their minds the memory of the dreadful slaughter which followed the stalemate of the last war. Churchill had visions of the thousands of lives lost gaining an foot or two at the battles of the Somme and Passchendaele, and also, of course, of the horrific British landings at Gallipoli, of which he was the major author. And he was aware that three times already in this war, Norway, France, and Greece- British land troops had been defeated and forced to flee the continent. He did not want to happen again. Finally the Dieppe disaster demonstrated how costly an invasion would be. Churchill proposed instead that the Second Front should invade French North Africa, evict the Axis and cross the Mediterranean into Southern Europe.

The Americans thought the idea was absurd. They thought: why go thousands of miles to find Germans to kill when there were armies of them 25 miles away from Dover? To defeat the Germans in North Africa would not beat Hitler. He was only beatable in northwest Europe. This was the argument advanced by General Dwight Eisenhower.

Eisenhower had worked tirelessly for George Marshall, and to the press and public, he was a non-entity. He liked it that way; unlike MacArthur, Ike was not a man who sought celebrity. But he did have a knowledge of his own superb abilities, and so he sought greater and greater authority, and of course it is one of the curses for the private man that celebrity comes with such power. On June 24, 1942, Eisenhower was appointed command of ETO (European Theater of Operations.) That date was the last private day of his life. The next day, he gave a press conference- reluctantly. And, thanks to a press which pasted his face on every magazine and newsreel around the world, suddenly this reticent, quiet figure was famous.

No other man with the possible exception of FDR ever became so popular with the American press. He became the darling of the British newspapers too, with his good looks, good humor, enchanting grin, but most of all his earthiness- for the way his face reddened with anger when he spoke about the Nazis, or brightened with hope when he talked about the chances for victory. Ike was just plain folks. This wasn't shtick; he meant it. Eisenhower was a Methodist, deeply religious but in a quiet way; he rarely talked about his private beliefs. (It is an absolutely fascinating and significant fact that, going into the 1952 Presidential elections, both political parties sought Ike as their candidate, even though no one had any clue as to what he politics were: he never discussed them.) He rejected the opulent rooms the British tried to give him at a fine hotel; he said, "I feel as though I were living in sin." He much preferred the small military quarters he was used to. He moved to a small house in Surrey only 40 minutes from Grosvenor Square, where he could spend his weekends relaxing. (Ike had three hobbies during his life: golf, bridge, and reading old westerns.)

Ike's chauffeur at Telegraph Cottage was a pretty and vivacious woman named Kay Summersby, of whom it was whispered that they were lovers. This is almost certainly not true. They may have fallen in love, but according to Kay in her book, the relationship was never consummated. She wanted to; he remained true to his wife and career. Who knows?

Not everyone was fond of Eisenhower. Certain British officers, in particular Montgomery, were envious of his position as Allied commander. Monty percieved this not a slight on him personally (though this may have been a factor) but also on the fact that, with the presence of America in the war, the British were forced to take a back seat. Ike recognized this and did his best to smooth things over. Due to his persistance, the Americans and British during World War II worked better together than two allies ever had or ever would again. But things did not start out that way. Eisenhower came to England dead set on invading France and forgetting this whole North Africa nonsense.

 

[timschochet]

Prelude to Torch Part 2

Eisenhower had prepared a plan for invading France in 1942 called Sledgehammer. Sledgehammer called for a landing at Le Havre under British command with 2 American divisions participating. He estimated that the lead division had a 50% chance of getting ashore, while the chance of establishing a 6 division beachhead was only 1 in 5. Eisenhower was aware that this was much too big a risk for such a limited operation. But he also wrote and underscored: "But we should not forget that the prize we seek is to keep 8 million Russians in the war."

Field Marshal Sir Alan Brooke, chief of the Imperial General Staff, attacked Sledgehammer. If it failed, it would do the Soviets no good. If it succeeded, it would not draw any Germans from the Eastern Front. Again, he and Churchill pushed for North Africa. Ike and Marshall countered that to commit the resources necessary to North Africa meant no invasion of France in 1942 OR 1943- it would put the invasion off for 2 years. The British replied that this was nonsense- North Africa could be invaded in 1942, and it would not deter a larger invasion of France in 1943.

Were the British being disingenous? Eisenhower certainly thought so. In his memoirs, he comes close to accusing Churchill of not being too disturbed by the prospect of the destruction of the Soviet Union. Was it in the back of Churchill's mind that the destruction of Nazi Germany would do no good if the result was an even more powerful Stalin? By putting off the invasion of France for two years, it was virtually guaranteed that millions of men would be lost on both sides of the Eastern Front. Churchill of course claims that he and his generals truly believed that North Africa would lead to no delay; the invasion of France could still be accomplished in 1943, and it was only over time that they realized Ike and Marshall had been right after all.

It must also be stated here that the delay in invading France by 2 years was a disaster for the Jews of Europe. The death camps that had been planned at the Wansee conference were in full operation by the summer of 1942, and the Polish ghettoes were beginning to be emptied out. Over the next two years, nearly six million people would be sent to their deaths in these camps, and by the time the Allies defeated Nazi Germany in the spring of 1945, only a small remnant would be saved. Were the Allies truly aware of what was happening to the Jews? There is much debate over this, and I plan on discussing the subject in more detail later on. But the issue was at least publicly not part of their war planning, either then or later.

The two sides were deadlocked. On July 22, the frustrated Marshall sent a telegram to FDR stating that the two sides could not agree. It was now up to Roosevelt. Had he agreed with Ike and Marshall, it is almost certain that Churchill would have deferred; he would had to, given Lend-Lease. But FDR decided to give in, to Eisenhower's disgust. He wired back that the Americans would commit themselves to North Africa, and then see what happened. A delighted Churchill immediately gave this operation, so near to his peripheral heart, the nickname "Torch." Eisenhower was disgusted, then surprised when FDR named him commander of the operation. Characteristically, now that he had done his utmost to prevent Torch, he plunged with great enthusiasm into organizing it.

Churchill, meanwhile, never a slouch at cloaking bad news in the gay raiment of glad tidings, flew to Moscow to inform Joseph Stalin about Torch.

 

[Maurile Tremblay]

New doubt on Hitler suicide theory?

 

[timschochet]

Prelude to Torch Part Three

In early August of 1942, Churchill and Stalin met for the first time in the Kremlin, for 4 hours. What transpired during that discussion depends on whose version you want to believe. The following is mostly agreed to by all sides:

Stalin's face was glum as he listened to Churchill's arguments against a landing in France in 1942. He frowned when Churchill said that if throwing a few hundred thousand men into France at this time would draw off appreciable German forces from the Soviet Union, the Anglo-Americans would do it, but if it drew no men away and spoiled the chances of 1943, it would be a great error, By then, he told Stalin, a million American soldiers would be in Britain poised to invade France.

Stalin broke in sharply. Men who did not take risks did not win wars, he said. He asked why the British were so afraid of the Germans. Churchill replied that Hitler did not try to invade Britain when she was on her knees because he was afraid of the risks. To cross the Channel was not easy. Stalin said this was not a true analogy. Hitler would have been invading a hostile country, while the Anglo-Americans would be going into a friendly France. Churchill observed because of this it was more important not to fail, for a friendly France would then face Hitler's vengeance. As it bacame obvious that neither leader was prepared to give in, Stalin concluded by saying that although he could not demand or insist upon a French invasion in 1942, he was bound to say he did not agree with Churchill's arguments. At this point, Churchill unfolded a map of the Mediterranean. With customary eloquence he began to detail the advantages of Torch. If by the end of the year the Allies could hold North Africa, they could then threaten "the underbelly of Hitler's Europe." He drew a picture of a crocodile, using it to illustrate the Allied intention of hitting Europe's soft underbelly while also attacking it's hard snout.

Now the tale diverges greatly. According to most western historians (based on Churchill's memoirs):

Stalin was impressed. He quickly grasped the strategic advantages of Torch: it would strike Rommel in the rear, it would overawe Franco, it would produce fighting between Germans and Frenchmen in France and it would expose Italy to the full thrust of the war. to these, Churchill, deeply impressed by the Soviet dictator's swift insight, added a fifth: It would shorten Britain's sea route through the Mediterranean. "May God prosper this undertaking," Stalin murmured, his dark eyes glowing. The conference ended in a spirit of goodwill, with Churchill happy that, although Stalin now knew the worst, they had parted friends.

According to most Eastern historians (based on Stalin's account)

Stalin was unimpressed. He quickly grasped the strategic advantages for Torch for the Anglo-Americans, but not for Russia. Again he accused Churchill of cowardice. Finally, knowing he was defeated, he said bitterly, "May your God prosper this undertaking." The conference ended in a forced and strained manner, with a faked goodwill, and Stalin both resented and mistrusted Churchill throughout the remainder of the war, and made efforts to slight him at later meetings with FDR as a result.

We can pick and choose between these accounts, but although Churchill was a great defender of liberty, and Stalin was a mass murderer and liar, it is actually Stalin's version which sounds more plausible to me. Certainly the Russians, staring at the dire circumstances of Stalingrad staring them in the face, could not have been too impressed by the North Africa landings. But the die had been cast, and now Torch was set into motion.

 

[timschochet]

New doubt on Hitler suicide theory?

We'll try and get to this in full detail later in the narrative (probably next year, considering how long this is taking!) I think Hitler killed himself in the bunker, but nobody knows for sure.

 

[timschochet]

Prelude To Torch Part 4

Now that Eisenhower had been command of Torch, he disagreed sharply with Marshall on how it should be conducted. Marshall, ever cautious about the Mediterranean, was worried about Spain. If the Torch forces saled "inside" the Mediterranean, as Ike and the British desired, Franco could overrun Gibraltar and close off its western end, thus cutting the Allies' line of supply. To prevent this, Marshall wanted a landing at Casablanca on the Atlantic coast of Morocco. Then there would be two landings inside the Med, at Oran and Algiers. But this plan involved vast distances: it was 800 miles from Casablanca to Algiers and another 400 miles to Tunis. Eisenhower believed that these landings would place his forces too far from Tunis, the ultimate objective. It was at Tunis that the Allied pincers- the seaborne invasions from the west and the British 8th Army driving overland from Egypt in the east- were to meat and crush Rommel's forces between them. Ike argued that the landings should be much closer to Tunis before the Germans could have time to rush in reinforcements from Sicily 100 miles away. He did not believe that Franco would intervene, while he also doubted that the French in Tunis would fight the Germans. Events would prove him correct on both counts, but Marshall would not budge. From the start, Marshall disliked Torch, not out of spite but because he was convinced it would lead nowhere. Hitler could only be beaten in northwest Europe. In the end, Marshall overruled Ike and got his way: there would be landings at Casablanca, Oran, and Algiers.

This issue settled, Ike's next problem was what to do about the French army in Morocco and Algeria. Between the Free French of Charles de Gaulle and the Vichy French of Marshal Petain who garrisoned North Africa, there was open enmity. Put simply, if de Gaulle was right, then the officers who had taken an oath to the Petain government were wrong. This they could not accept. This was why at the outset de Gaulle was not even considered for a role in Torch, and because of French sensitivity about l'honneur it had also been decided to have only American soldiers make the landiings for fear that the French might fire on their former ally, the British. But would they also shoot at the Americans? This was the problem that vexed Eisenhower, and on September 16, he met secretly with Robert Murphy. Since the Franco-German armistice, Murphy had been serving the U.S. State Department in Algeria, negotiating an economic accord there, He had impressed Marshall with his contacts in the French army and his claims that he understood the French mind, and he was flown to London to meet Ike.

Murphy's concept of the French was narrow. De Gaulle said Murphy thought France consisted of the people he dined with in town at night. Nevertheless, Murphy, an extremely confident sort, assured Eisenhower that he could cut straight through the squabbles between the Free French and the Vichy French, and also gain the allegiance of the French army, if he brought in an outsider. This was Gen. Henri Giraud, a retired officer who had lost a leg to the Germans in the last war and had escaped from a POW camp in 1940. He was then living in unoccupied France. If he were to appear in Algiers, Murphy said, the French colonial troops would rally to him and thus provide an unopposed landing. Murphy said he had been assured of this by General Mast, the chief of staff of the French corps commander in Algeria.

Eisenhower was impressed by Murphy, but did not completely trust him. Murphy wanted arms for underground groups he was organizing in Algeria; Ike rejected it. When Murphy asked for the invasion date, Eisenhower declined to give it to him, instructing him to tell the French it would come in February. But he did instruct Murphy to remain in touch.

On October 16, Eisenhower received two messages from Murphy. The first was that General Mast had insisted that command of Torch should go to Giraud and that Admiral Darlan's son had told him (Murphy) that his father would cooperate with the Allies. But Mast had also told Murphy that neither he bir Giraud nor the French army would have anything to do with Darlan. Murphy wanted a directive on how to proceed. In his second message, he said that Mast wanted Eisenhower to send a secret delegation to Algiers to meet with him and his fellow conspirators.

(All of this may seem like a comic opera, given the weakness of French forces and their ridiculous insistence on "honor" in such situations, and their hatred and resentment against each other. But in fact it was deadly serious. A hostile French reaction in Algeria would have meant the death of thousands of American soldiers, plus severly delaying the timetable of the landings and allowing Rommel to either escape or greatly strengthen his defenses. Ike was well aware of this.)

Eisenhower was aroused. Jean Francois Darlan then epitomized all that was odious to the Allies. He hated Britain, and he hated de Gaulle, whom he had branded a traitor; he was an uncompromising Fascist and an eager Nazi collaborator, author of Vichy's anti-Semitic decrees, Yet, Darlan was commander in chief of all Vichy forces, and Giraud commanded nothing. Even with Darlan's repulsive record, the notion of switching to him was tempting, and war makes strange bedfellows. Ike immediately telephoned Churchill, who arrived to meet him and Mark Clark, Eisenhower's attache. Churchill said, "Kiss Darlan's ### if you have to, but get the French navy." What appealed to Churchill's romantic, adventurous nature was General Mast's request for a secret rendezvous. His eye fell with approval on the tall, lean, hawk nosed Clark whom Ike had already chosen for the assignment. He ordered Fleet Admiral Sir Dudley Pound to have a submarine waiting for Clark that night in Gibraltar to take him to Algiers.

 

[timschochet]

At Gibaltrar, Clark and his party boarded a small British submarine, which was highly uncomfortable for the 6'2" general. The sub sailed close to the beach at Algier, at which point Clark and his group disembarked, accompanied by three British commandos with floating boats. On the beach, the party was met by Murphy and driven to a colonial villa, the home of one M. Teissier, a pro-Allied Frenchman but a very nervous sort. Teissier had sent his servants away for fear that they might report the meeting. Unknown to him, they became suspicious and did report his action to the police. Teissier was lucky; he had friends in the police force which would save Mark Clark's life and his mission.

At the Villa, Clark ordered his commandos to hide their boats upstairs and stay there. General Mast and his party arrived at 5:00 am. They were in full uniform. They had brought bags full of voluminous written information and valuable maps. Clark was highly pleased, and especially impressed by Mast's sincerity. Clark was careful not to let Mast know that Torch was already underway, with some of the leading elements already at sea. In Norfolk, Virginia, ships were being combat-loaded to sail straight to the invasion beaches at Casablanca. During the day both the French and American staffs conferred, at which more priceless information was received. But at police headquarters, the gendarme were informed that something suspicious was going on at Teissier's villa, and a car was sent to investigate. One officer quietly went to a private office and telephoned Teissier. The Frenchman turned to the party, and said, "The police will be here in a few minutes!"

The French exploded, changing quickly into civilian clothes, stuffing their uniforms into bags and rushing out the doors or popping out of windows to vanish in the brush fringing the beach. Within a few moments, only Teissier, Murphy and his assistant and one French officer, together with Clark and his party remained within the house. Clark ran up the stairs to order the commandos to take to the woods on the beach with their boats. But there was no time! Police cars were entering the courtyard. The commandos fled without the boats, and a shaking Teissier locked the room containing them. Then he led Clark and his party to a trapdoor, opened it- and motioned for them to descend. They did, entering a dank, dark wine cellar, dragging their bags stuffed with incriminating French documents behind them. The trap door fell shut. Clark knelt on the stairs, grasping a carbine. He hoped to escape without shooting, but was prepared to fight his way out. (My book doesn't mention it, but I have to wonder if Clark was prepared to kill himself before being captured. He surely would have been turned over to the Germans and tortured, and what he knew could have caused a major American defeat, the loss of thousands of lives, and perhaps delayed the war by a year or two.)

All four men upstairs had been drinking wine and singing when the police came. Murphy identified himself as the American consul in Algiers. He said that they were having a little party which would be enlivened by women waiting upstairs, and he asked the policemen not to embarrass him. This satisfied the gendarmes' questions of why the Arab servants had been sent away. They left, and the trap dpor was opened. Clark was warned he had to leave now in case they returned. Clark and his party went upstairs and brought the folding boats down. They left the villa, to the immense relief of the frantic Teissier. Down at the beach, Clark was dismayed to see the sea had risen. It seemed much too rough for the frail folding boats. Still, he tried it. He stripped to his shorts and OD shirt, and got in the boat. The first wave capsized him. and he barely hung on to his bag of info the French had provided him, now soaking wet, and climbed back inside the boat. But it was no good, the waves were too strong. He lost contact with the rest of his men, and he was alone.

Clark returned to Teissier's house, cutting his now bare feet on the stones. Murphy was gone now too; the Frenchman was alone, and upset. He clearly didn't want Clark near him. The police were coming back. But he gave Clark pants, sweaters, bread, wine, and a radio. Clark was just tucking the stuff into his sweater when the police arrived again. Teissier was terrified. "Please, for God's sake, get out of the house!" he pleaded. Clark jumped the wall on the seaward side, landing painfully on his cut feet. He made his way to the beach again, and radioed the British sub. They sent more men to him, and Clark was ultimately rescued. When he climbed aboard the sub, he learned to his dismay that one of the folding boats containing French papers had been lost. The papers it contained could implicate Mast and the others in a plot. Worse, it also held secret letters from Murphy to be delivered in Britain.

But the folding boat was never found. Clark and his party arrived safely in London again, loaded down with excellent maps and valuable military information. Winston Churchill was so delighted at the success of the mission, and so eager to hear the details that he invited Clark to dinner that night. But Clark was too exhausted to accept.

 

[bentley]

Guadalcanal: An Analysis

One reason is it's "turning point" significance, and also how long it lasted (nearly 6 months.)

One could say the same thing about its place in this thread. Pretty sure Guadalcanal is the turning point where the neverending narrative caused the thread to implode upon itself.

 

[timschochet]

Guadalcanal: An Analysis

One reason is it's "turning point" significance, and also how long it lasted (nearly 6 months.)

One could say the same thing about its place in this thread. Pretty sure Guadalcanal is the turning point where the neverending narrative caused the thread to implode upon itself.

Perhaps. I enjoyed writing it. Hopefully a few other people enjoyed reading it. What else matters?

 

[bentley]

Guadalcanal: An Analysis

One reason is it's "turning point" significance, and also how long it lasted (nearly 6 months.)

One could say the same thing about its place in this thread. Pretty sure Guadalcanal is the turning point where the neverending narrative caused the thread to implode upon itself.

Perhaps. I enjoyed writing it. Hopefully a few other people enjoyed reading it. What else matters?

Just suggesting a bit more brevity. I really enjoyed reading this thread at one point, too. Guadalcanal read like a textbook.

 

[timschochet]

Just suggesting a bit more brevity. I really enjoyed reading this thread at one point, too. Guadalcanal read like a textbook.

I actually appreciate the critique, but I have to disagree. The source I was using for Guadalcanal was about 150 pages long, and I converted it into about 10 pages. I thought the stuff I left in was only the most exciting stuff. It was for me, anyhow. I'm a little disappointed that it didn't get more discussion. World War II is an awfully long event, obviously. I'm trying to narrate the key and most exciting events, and add commentary when I can. It's an awful lot of fun for me. I have no idea how long it will take. But I'm pretty satisfied with it so far.

 

[Mjolnirs]

Ike immediately telephoned Churchill, who arrived to meet him and Mark Clark, Eisenhower's attache.

I pass under part of the Mark Clark Expressway every day of the week.

 

[timschochet]

Ike immediately telephoned Churchill, who arrived to meet him and Mark Clark, Eisenhower's attache.

I pass under part of the Mark Clark Expressway every day of the week.

I'm not surprised, since he's from South Carolina, right? But not everybody loved him. I think the villain of Pat Conroy's The Lords of Dicipline, General Bentley Durrell, is based on Mark Clark. Clark was president of the Citadel when Conroy attended in the 1960's, and when the novel takes place.

 

[Mjolnirs]

Ike immediately telephoned Churchill, who arrived to meet him and Mark Clark, Eisenhower's attache.

I pass under part of the Mark Clark Expressway every day of the week.

I'm not surprised, since he's from South Carolina, right? But not everybody loved him. I think the villain of Pat Conroy's The Lords of Dicipline, General Bentley Durrell, is based on Mark Clark. Clark was president of the Citadel when Conroy attended in the 1960's, and when the novel takes place.

No, he isn't from here, but as you said he was the president of The Citadel ('54-'66) and is buried on campus. An obscure name in military history, but one that I'm familiar with growing up in Charleston.