Battle of Bloody Ridge
General Kiyotake Kawaguchi briefing Japanese commanders just before the attack on Henderson Field began
| date | September 13 to September 15, 1942 |
|---|---|
| place | Bloody Ridge , Guadalcanal , Pacific |
| output | American victory |
| Parties to the conflict | |
|---|---|
| Commander | |
| Troop strength | |
| 12,500 | 6.217 |
| losses | |
|
104 dead |
850 dead |
The Battle of Bloody Ridge was a battle for Henderson Field airfield on Guadalcanal , Solomon Islands , between the United States of America and Japan in World War II during the Pacific War from September 13-16, 1942. The scene is also under the Name "Edson's Ridge" known, named after Colonel Merritt Austin Edson , the commanding officer of the marines fighting there (US name variants: Battle of Edson's Ridge, Battle of the Bloody Ridge, Battle of Raiders Ridge, Battle of the Ridge).
prehistory
After the armed forces of the United States of America captured the airfield in August 1942, the Kawaguchi Association ( 17th Army ) of the Imperial Japanese Army attempted to regain it. Because of a disagreement between General Kawaguchi Kiyotake , the commander of the landing forces, and Rear Admiral Tanaka Raizō about the transport of the troops to Guadalcanal, some of the troops (2,400 men) under General Kawaguchi were brought to Tauvi Point with destroyers . The remainder (1,100 men) should be under the leadership of Colonel Oka Akinosuke with barges 10 are brought km west of the airfield after Kokumbona, one place.
Kawaguchi assumed that Oka's units had landed properly. However, the trip with the launch was catastrophic. Oka lost 650 men in storms and air raids and the surviving soldiers had little food or ammunition.
The battle
The Japanese attack began on September 13, 1942 at 9:00 p.m. The Japanese advances were so violent that in some places they managed to break through the front line of the Americans. These had to withdraw their lines, which meant that some units were cut off and had to fight their way back to the new line of defense. The attack was repulsed with the support of howitzer batteries that shot over the heads of their own units. The Japanese rallied and attacked again, but could no longer break through the American lines. The Japanese had 600 deaths that night, while the Americans only lost 40.
Colonel Oka and his remaining weakened units intervened in the fighting on the afternoon of September 14th. His attack was hopeless and quickly collapsed. As a result, the entire burden lay with General Kawaguchi, who only had half of the forces originally embarked. In the evening he launched another attack, which was just as unsuccessful as that of the previous day.
The losses of the Japanese (800 men) were very high compared to the American who suffered 100 dead and 200 wounded.
Review
The Americans achieved a tactical victory in this battle because they inflicted such heavy losses on General Kawaguchi that he was unable to carry out any further attacks.
Web links
credentials
- ^ Struggle for Guadalcanal . P. 15. - The number corresponds to the American soldiers deployed all over Guadalcanal, not those directly deployed in this battle.
- ↑ Frank: Guadalcanal. P. 245. The number of Japanese soldiers under Kawaguchi's command on Guadalcanal reflects the number of soldiers actually deployed in this battle.
Coordinates: 9 ° 26 ′ 39 ″ S , 160 ° 2 ′ 50 ″ E