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The Battle of Guadalcanal, 1942

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The Battle of Guadalcanal, 1942

“General Vandegrift noted that the Japanese soldier "was trained to go to a place, stay there, fight and die. We train our men to go to a place, fight to win, and to live. I can assure you, it is a better theory." (Henry I. Shaw, 1992)

World War II was possibly the largest and bloodiest war (John Miller, 2003) that America has been a part of. The war was engaged on land, on sea, and in the air, and lasted close to six years (Henry I. Shaw, 1992). The Battle of Guadalcanal was a decisive victory during WWII, and a turning point for the Americans and the Allies in the Pacific theater (staff, 2009) in 1942.
America was forced into action when on December 7, 1941, the Imperial Japanese forces attacked the Asian waters into the Pacific with coinciding attacks on Pearl Harbor, the Philippines, Wake, Guam, Hong Kong, and the Malay Peninsula (John Miller, 2003). The US maintained the "German first" course they had set against the Axis, but were immediately forced to stop the Japanese momentum; the Guadalcanal was a key piece of territory because it was part of the Solomon Islands, located north-eastern of Australia. Failure to stop the Japanese would threaten the lines of communication to Australia and New Zealand (John Miller, 2003).
On August 8th, the Marines landed at Guadalcanal; with no resistance from the Japanese; the Marines wasted no time; they joined their positions and seized the airfield the Japanese started (Trueman, 2000), and forged a new beachhead (Henry I. Shaw, 1992). The US established a show of complete dominance in the area; the Marines were now on ground, the Navy and Australian fleets guarded the waters with three US aircraft carriers, the Saratoga, Wasp and the Enterprise, which in turn were guarded by the USS North Carolina and 24 additional war and support ships (Henry I. Shaw, 1992).
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