Matanikau River

A four-pronged Japanese plan to attack and recapture Henderson Field on Guadalcanal was scheduled for October 22nd, 1942. The main force, 7,000 men under the command of General Maruyama, planned to approach the airfield from the South, but found itself …

1942-10-23

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A four-pronged Japanese plan to attack and recapture Henderson Field on Guadalcanal was scheduled for October 22nd, 1942. The main force, 7,000 men under the command of General Maruyama, planned to approach the airfield from the South, but found itself quickly bogged down in very difficult jungle terrain, forcing a two days postponement of the attack. Unaware of the delay, the tanks and infantry of Major General Sumiyoshi, at the mouth of the Matanikau River, and Colonel Oka's forces, positioned upstream, crossed the river on schedule and soon found themselves stuck in the river bed, under a withering crossfire of US artillery and anti-tank gunfire that wreaked havoc on them. On the Western flank, Lieutenant General "Chesty" Puller and his 1st Battalion, 7th Marines, with the 2nd Battalion, 7th Infantry in support, held ground once again. By battle's end, over 1000 Japanese soldiers lay dead.

Matanikau River, Guadalcanal

The Actions along the Matanikau—sometimes referred to as the Second and Third Battles of the Matanikau—were two separate but related engagements, which took place in the months of September and October 1942, among a series of engagements between the United States and Imperial Japanese naval and ground forces around the Matanikau River on Guadalcanal Island in the southwestern Pacific northeast of Australia, during the Guadalcanal campaign. These particular engagements—the first taking place between 23 and 27 September, and the second between 6 and 9 October—were two of the largest and most significant of the Matanikau actions.

Wikipedia: Actions along the Matanikau

Japanese

American

Game Type: Standard

Board Type: Countryside

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