Hell in the Pacific: A Marine Rifleman's Journey From Guadalcanal to Peleliu by Bill Sloan, Jim McEnery
Authors: Bill Sloan, Jim McEnery
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on the way to their objective. That “Grassy Knoll” they were supposed to use as a landmark was actually a mountain named Mount Austen. It was four or five miles from where the maps showed it, and the area they were trying to march through was crisscrossed with rivers and streams that didn’t show up on the maps at all.
Because of the delays, it was 4 PM by the time the First got the airfield secured, but what they found when they got there was real encouraging. The work the Japs had been doing on the field was almost finished. That meant our planes might be able to start flyingmissions from it in about a week, which was good news. The Marines also captured a lot of heavy equipment and supplies the Japs had left behind. They even took some prisoners, but most of them turned out to be Korean construction workers, not actual Nip combat troops.
The Koreans didn’t have any great love for the Japs because they’d been brought to Guadalcanal by force and then had to work their butts off carving that airfield out of the jungle. So the Koreans didn’t mind a bit telling our intelligence people everything they knew about how many Japs were on the island and where they’d gone. As a result, we got some very interesting information before the day was over.
According to the Koreans, there was nowhere near the 5,000 Nip troops—including a regiment of 2,100 infantry—we’d been told to expect on Guadalcanal. Except for two naval construction battalions with a total of around 1,800 men, there were actually fewer than 500 enemy combat soldiers there. And when our planes and ships started blasting the island, those had panicked and hauled ass to the west as fast as they could go.
What it added up to was the Marines’ first victory on Guadalcanal. But we knew it was way too early to celebrate, and we didn’t have time to do much of that, anyway.
After the news about the small number of Japs on the island reached Fifth Marines headquarters, Colonel Hunt got orders to contract our beachhead and advance west toward where the Japs were supposed to be. There was a road near the beach we could follow, and we were supposed to leave early the next morning, D-plus-2. En route, we were told to check out a village called Kukum and flush out any Japs that might be hiding there.
Suddenly, everything started looking a lot simpler—and easier—than it had that morning. We felt like we’d gotten a big break. All we had to do now to finish our job on Guadalcanal was find and take care of those few hundred Jap combat troops and get the airfield into operation. Then we could kiss this damn island goodbye and turn it over to the Army.
Boy, it looks like we’ve got this one made! we thought.
We never stopped to consider what might happen if the Japs launched an all-out naval attack on our ships in Sealark Channel. In two major air raids, they’d only put one of our ships out of commission, and we heard they’d lost twenty-five or thirty planes in the bargain. So with all the firepower our task force had available, we just assumed it wouldn’t have much problem holding the Nip navy at bay.
But, my God, were we ever wrong!
On the night of August 8–9—before K/3/5 and the rest of the Third Battalion, Fifth, even got started on our new assignment—a powerful strike force of enemy ships left the Jap base at Rabaul and slipped down a sea lane through the Solomon Islands called the Slot. An hour or so before midnight, they attacked the task force of Allied cruisers and destroyers supporting our landings. Then all hell broke loose.
Those of us ashore thought at first it was a great American victory. That’s how out of touch we were. We cheered like crazy when we saw the big guns flashing and heard the explosions far out in the channel. We were convinced our Navy brothers were giving the Japs an ass-kicking they’d never forget.
Instead, what we were watching was the worst American naval defeat since Pearl Harbor.
B Y LATE AFTERNOON
Because of the delays, it was 4 PM by the time the First got the airfield secured, but what they found when they got there was real encouraging. The work the Japs had been doing on the field was almost finished. That meant our planes might be able to start flyingmissions from it in about a week, which was good news. The Marines also captured a lot of heavy equipment and supplies the Japs had left behind. They even took some prisoners, but most of them turned out to be Korean construction workers, not actual Nip combat troops.
The Koreans didn’t have any great love for the Japs because they’d been brought to Guadalcanal by force and then had to work their butts off carving that airfield out of the jungle. So the Koreans didn’t mind a bit telling our intelligence people everything they knew about how many Japs were on the island and where they’d gone. As a result, we got some very interesting information before the day was over.
According to the Koreans, there was nowhere near the 5,000 Nip troops—including a regiment of 2,100 infantry—we’d been told to expect on Guadalcanal. Except for two naval construction battalions with a total of around 1,800 men, there were actually fewer than 500 enemy combat soldiers there. And when our planes and ships started blasting the island, those had panicked and hauled ass to the west as fast as they could go.
What it added up to was the Marines’ first victory on Guadalcanal. But we knew it was way too early to celebrate, and we didn’t have time to do much of that, anyway.
After the news about the small number of Japs on the island reached Fifth Marines headquarters, Colonel Hunt got orders to contract our beachhead and advance west toward where the Japs were supposed to be. There was a road near the beach we could follow, and we were supposed to leave early the next morning, D-plus-2. En route, we were told to check out a village called Kukum and flush out any Japs that might be hiding there.
Suddenly, everything started looking a lot simpler—and easier—than it had that morning. We felt like we’d gotten a big break. All we had to do now to finish our job on Guadalcanal was find and take care of those few hundred Jap combat troops and get the airfield into operation. Then we could kiss this damn island goodbye and turn it over to the Army.
Boy, it looks like we’ve got this one made! we thought.
We never stopped to consider what might happen if the Japs launched an all-out naval attack on our ships in Sealark Channel. In two major air raids, they’d only put one of our ships out of commission, and we heard they’d lost twenty-five or thirty planes in the bargain. So with all the firepower our task force had available, we just assumed it wouldn’t have much problem holding the Nip navy at bay.
But, my God, were we ever wrong!
On the night of August 8–9—before K/3/5 and the rest of the Third Battalion, Fifth, even got started on our new assignment—a powerful strike force of enemy ships left the Jap base at Rabaul and slipped down a sea lane through the Solomon Islands called the Slot. An hour or so before midnight, they attacked the task force of Allied cruisers and destroyers supporting our landings. Then all hell broke loose.
Those of us ashore thought at first it was a great American victory. That’s how out of touch we were. We cheered like crazy when we saw the big guns flashing and heard the explosions far out in the channel. We were convinced our Navy brothers were giving the Japs an ass-kicking they’d never forget.
Instead, what we were watching was the worst American naval defeat since Pearl Harbor.
B Y LATE AFTERNOON
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