Battle for Henderson Field

Battle for Henderson Field
Part of the Pacific Theater of World War II

Dead soldiers from the Japanese 16th and 29th Infantry Regiments cover the battlefield after the failed assaults on 25–26 October.
Date23–26 October 1942
Location
9°26′51″S 160°2′56″E / 9.44750°S 160.04889°E / -9.44750; 160.04889 (Henderson's Airfield)
Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands
Result American victory
Belligerents
United States Japan
Commanders and leaders
Alexander Vandegrift
William Rupertus
Harukichi Hyakutake
Units involved
1st Marine Division
164th Infantry Regiment
821st Engineering Aviation Battalion[1]
17th Army
Strength
23,088[2] 20,000[3]
Casualties and losses
61–86 killed,
1 tugboat,
1 patrol boat sunk,
3 aircraft destroyed[4][5]
2,200–3,000 killed,
1 cruiser sunk,
14 aircraft destroyed[6]

The Battle for Henderson Field, also known as the Battle of Guadalcanal or Battle of Lunga Point by the Japanese, took place from 23 to 26 October 1942 on and around Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands. The battle was a land, sea, and air battle of the Pacific campaign of World War II and was fought between the Imperial Japanese Army and Navy and Allied forces, mainly U.S. Marines and Army. The battle was the last of three major land offensives conducted by the Japanese during the Guadalcanal campaign.

In the battle, U.S. Marine and Army forces repulsed an attack by the Japanese 17th Army under the command of Lieutenant General Harukichi Hyakutake. The American forces were defending the Lunga perimeter that guarded Henderson Field on Guadalcanal, which the Allies had captured from the Japanese in landings on Guadalcanal on 7 August 1942. Hyakutake's force was sent to Guadalcanal in response to the Allied landings with the mission of recapturing the airfield and driving the Allied forces off the island. His soldiers conducted numerous assaults over three days at various locations around the Lunga perimeter, all repulsed with heavy Japanese losses. At the same time, Allied aircraft operating from Henderson Field successfully defended American positions on Guadalcanal from attacks by Japanese naval air and sea forces.

The battle was the last serious ground offensive conducted by Japanese forces on Guadalcanal. They attempted to deliver further reinforcements, but failed during the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal in November 1942, and Japan conceded defeat in the struggle for the island and evacuated many of its remaining forces by the first week of February 1943.

  1. ^ History of the 821st. Unit issued pamphlet. pp. 4–5. A group of 100 enlisted men, and two officers were transferred to Guadalcanal under orders from the 13th Air Force to assist in general construction purposes...joined a smaller group which had previously been sent there on detached service, and rejoined the 821st on Banika.
  2. ^ Miller, Guadalcanal: The First Offensive, p. 143; Frank, Guadalcanal, p. 338. Number reflects total Allied forces on Guadalcanal, not necessarily the number directly involved in the battle. 4,500 more American troops defended Tulagi.
  3. ^ Hough, Pearl Harbor to Guadalcanal, p. 323; Miller, Guadalcanal: The First Offensive, p. 139. 5,000 were present on the island after the Battle of Edson's Ridge and 15,000 more were delivered between that time and October 17.
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference Hough Pearl 337 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ Frank, Guadalcanal, pp. 364–65. About 200 U.S. troops were wounded. Casualty figures from various official U.S. military records differ somewhat from each other.
  6. ^ Frank, Guadalcanal, p. 365. U.S. 1st Marine Division official history estimates 2,200 Japanese were killed but Frank states that that number, "is probably below the actual total." Rottman, Japanese Army, p. 63, says 3,000 Japanese were killed.