Costly Encounter

With their defeat at Lunga Ridge, Kawaguchi’s remaining force has retreated to the western bank of the Matanikau River and the village of Kokumbona where they have prepared defenses. Kawaguchi has assigned the 124th Infantry Regiment, commanded by Colonel Akinosuka …

1942-09-24

Guad07

With their defeat at Lunga Ridge, Kawaguchi’s remaining force has retreated to the western bank of the Matanikau River and the village of Kokumbona where they have prepared defenses. Kawaguchi has assigned the 124th Infantry Regiment, commanded by Colonel Akinosuka Oka, to defend the Matanikau River. Major General Vandegrift believes there are only 400 Japanese remaining there, but the Japanese at the river have been reinforced to 4,000 men. The Marines have also been reinforced with 4000 men of the 7th Marine Regiment and Vandegrift now feels he has enough men to keep Henderson Field defended and mount an attack on the Japanese at the Matanikau River. Lieutenant Colonel Puller’s newly arrived 1st Batallion, 7th Marines have been chosen to start the offensive and will later be joined by the 5th Marines. Puller and his men are now climbing the north-eastern slope of Mount Austen and have sur prised a small group of Japanese. The nearby Japanese 2nd Battalion, 124th Infantry have heard the fighting and are moving to engage the Marines.

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