Guadalcanal 1942

On a virtually unknown Pacific island, U.S. forces shattered the myth of Japanese invincibility. Hard-pressed American Army, Marine, and Navy units halted the enemy's apparently irresistible advance in its tracks on Guadalcanal. Over 30,000 American and Japanese casualties were suffered in five months of bitter fighting. But from this forge of blood and fire emerged a seasoned fighting force of U.S. veterans that would, island by island, sweep the Japanese back across the Pacific. On a virtually unknown Pacific island, US forces shattered the myth of Japanese invincibility. Hard-pressed American Army, Marine, and Navy units halted the enemy's apparently irresistible advance in its tracks on Guadalcanal. Over 30,000 American and Japanese casualties were suffered in five months of bitter fighting. But from this forge of blood and fire emerged a seasoned fighting force of U.S. veterans that would, island by island, sweep the Japanese back across the Pacific. On what was a virtually unheard of Pacific island the United States shattered the myth of Japanese invincibility. In the first American amphibious assault of the Second World War the U.S. Marines and Army halted the apparently irresistible Japanese advance in its tracks. Over 30,000 American and Japanese casualties were suffered in five months of bitter fighting. But from this forge of blood and fire emerged a seasoned fighting force of U.S. veterans that would, island by island, sweep the Japanese back across the Pacific. The name of this island was Guadalcanal, and the fighting on it was some of the most vicious of the Second World War. This volume authoritatively details the course of the campaign for this strategically vital island, and looks in detail at the battles of the Tenaru, Bloody Ridge, Henderson Field, and the breakout battles by the Matanikau River.