Battle of Edson's Ridge

Battle of Edson's Ridge
Part of the Pacific Theatre of World War II
A U.S. Marine stands near some of the fighting positions on Hill 123 on "Edson's" Ridge after the battle. Edson's command post during the battle was located just to the right of where the Marine is standing.
Date 12–14 September 1942 Location Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands Result Allied victory
Belligerents
United States  United Kingdom British Solomon Islands	Japan
Commanders and leaders
Alexander Vandegrift Merritt A. Edson	Harukichi Hyakutake Kiyotake Kawaguchi
Units involved
Henderson Field HQ Defenses 1st Raider Battalion 1st Parachute Battalion 1st Tank Battalion 2nd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment 3rd Battalion, 11th Marine Regiment 67th Fighter Squadron	Kawaguchi Detachment, Seventeenth Army 35th Infantry Brigade 124th Infantry Regiment 1st Battalion 2nd Battalion 3rd Battalion 28th Infantry Regiment Kuma Battalion Aoba Detachment (4th Infantry Regiment) 2nd Battalion
Strength
12,500[1]	6,217 (total Japanese troops on Guadalcanal at the time)[2]
Casualties and losses
104-111 killed or missing 278-283 wounded 4 tanks destroyed	700–800 dead or missing[3]

The Battle of Edson's Ridge, also known as the Battle of the Bloody Ridge, Battle of Raiders Ridge, and Battle of the Ridge, was a land battle of the Pacific campaign of World War II between Imperial Japanese Army and Allied (mainly United States Marine Corps) ground forces. It took place from 12–14 September 1942, on Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands, and was the second of three separate major Japanese ground offensives during the Guadalcanal campaign.

In the battle, U.S. Marines under the overall command of U.S. Major General Alexander Vandegrift repulsed an attack by the Japanese 35th Infantry Brigade under the command of Japanese Major General Kiyotake Kawaguchi. The Marines were defending the Lunga perimeter that guarded Henderson Field on Guadalcanal, which was captured from the Japanese by the Allies in landings on Guadalcanal on 7 August 1942. Kawaguchi's unit was sent to Guadalcanal in response to the Allied landings with the mission of recapturing the airfield and driving the Allied forces from the island.

Underestimating the strength of Allied forces on Guadalcanal—over 12,000 men—Kawaguchi's 6,000 soldiers conducted several nighttime frontal assaults on the U.S. defenses without proper preparation. Kawaguchi, hoping not to repeat Ichiki's mistake, planned to attack through the jungle, but lacked the maps or terrain to do so. The main Japanese assault was carried out by the 2nd Battalion of the Aoba detachment and the 1st battalion of the 124th regiment and occurred around Lunga ridge south of Henderson Field, defended by troops from several U.S. Marine Corps units, primarily troops from the 1st Raider and 1st Parachute Battalions under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Merritt A. Edson. Although the Marine defenses were almost overrun, Kawaguchi's attack was ultimately defeated after fierce fighting, with heavy losses for the Japanese. The ferocity of the assault and the breach of the American defensive line culminated in significant consequences for the Guadalcanal campaign, with the allied land forces requesting reinforcements and support from the navy, leading to the chain of events that led to the sinking of USS Wasp by a Japanese submarine while it was escorting a supplement convoy to Guadalcanal. The marines would later be reinforced adequately on 18 September, and were well prepared with an even larger numerical superiority, more heavy weapons and tanks to meet the next Japanese offensive.

Because of the key participation by Edson's unit in defending the ridge, the ridge was commonly referred to as "Edson's" ridge in historical accounts of the battle in Western sources.^[4] After Edson's Ridge, the Japanese continued to send troops to Guadalcanal for further attempts to retake Henderson Field, affecting Japanese offensive operations in other areas of the South Pacific.