“Brilliant...an enormous work based on the most meticulous research.”—LA Times Book Review The battle at Guadalcanal—which began eight months to the day after Pearl Harbor—marked the first American offensive of World War II. It was a brutal six-month campaign that cost the lives of some 7,000 Americans and over 30,000 Japanese. This volume, ten years in the writing, recounts the full story of the critical campaign for Guadalcanal and is based on first-time translations of official Japanese Defense Agency accounts and recently declassified U.S. radio intelligence, Guadalcanal recreates the battle—on land, at sea, and in the air—as never before: it examines the feelings of both American and Japanese soldiers, the strategies and conflicts of their commanders, and the strengths and weaknesses of various fighting units.

Masterful pacing, vivid character sketches, and gripping action blend with rigorous historical detail in Samuel B. Griffith's The Battle for Guadalcanal. Launched on August 7, 1942, to protect Allied control of the strategic South Pacific islands, the Guadalcanal operation was the most costly American offensive of World War II in the history of the U.S. Navy up to that time. Griffith, who fought with Edson's Raiders on Guadalcanal, describes in gritty detail the vicious close-range fighting, the valiant defense of the Henderson Field airstrip, and the dramatic naval engagements that led, in February 1943, to an American victory. Drawing on American and Japanese sources, Griffith delineates the strategic decisions that shaped the conflict as well as the determination and endurance of combatants on both sides. A breathtaking narrative of military action anchored by a historian's objectivity, The Battle for Guadalcanal is a story of raw courage, desperate measures, and ultimate triumph.

A detailed account of the Americans' first ground offensive against the Japanese in World War II, which occurred in August 1942 on the island of Guadalcanal.

Building upon the expertise of the authors and historians of the Naval Institute Press, the Naval History Special Editions are designed to offer studies of the key vessels, battles, and events of armed conflict. Using an image-heavy, magazine-style format, these Special Editions should appeal to scholars, enthusiasts, and general readers alike. The Guadalcanal Campaign began in August 1942 with Operation Watchtower. This first Allied offensive in the Pacific, undertaken before U.S. forces were fully prepared, thwarted an impending Japanese operation and initiated a six-month struggle to control the island and its surroundings. Desperate fighting occurred in the jungles of Guadalcanal, in the skies above it, and on--as well as below--the seas around it. Possession of the island's airfield allowed the U.S. garrison to dominate the skies during the day. At night, the Imperial Japanese Navy bombarded the airfield and brought supplies and reinforcements to the island. The U.S. Navy's attempts to stop these nocturnal incursions triggered a series of battles that were some of the most furious, confused, and chaotic in naval history. As melees erupted in bewildering darkness, concerted action proved impossible. Formations disintegrated, and ships fought individually. So many were sunk that sailors nicknamed the narrow waters off Guadalcanal "Iron Bottom Sound." Within those waters, the men of the U.S. Navy fought tenaciously. In nights filled with flares, flames, the reek of gunpowder, and blinding explosions, their "heroic actions without number" blunted Japanese reinforcement efforts. Victories at the Battle of Cape Esperance in October and the First and Second Naval Battles of Guadalcanal in November were especially crucial. Unable to keep pace with the increasing number of U.S. supplies and reinforcements, the Japanese abandoned the island. This volume recounts those battles, the heroic actions that led to victory, and the Allied triumph at Guadalcanal.

“A VIVID NARRATIVE . . . A splendid first-person account of the costly campaign that enabled Allied forces to wrest Guadalcanal from the Japanese in World War II’s Pacific theater.” —Kirkus Reviews “By reading and studying No Bended Knee, the military professional can gain an appreciation for war at the strategic, operational, and tactical levels. Twining writes as he served his corps—boldly and straightforwardly, with impeccable detail and superb understanding of things strategic.” —Airpower Journal “A VIEW FROM THE NERVE CENTER COMPLETE WITH TELLING PERSONAL ANECDOTES.” —Journal Inquirer (Manchester, CT) “Twining adds notably to the literature on Guadalcanal and provides one of the best accounts of war as seen from the perspective of the often maligned yet absolutely indispensable headquarters staff.” —Booklist “CANDID AND REVEALING.” —Publishers Weekly

One of the most ferocious naval battles of World War II, the night action off the coast of Guadalcanal on 13 November 1942 - between U.S. cruisers and Japanese battleships fighting at point-blank range - claimed the lives of two American admirals. Though famous for tipping the scales in favor of the U.S. Navy in this critical area of the Pacific, this action has never before received the treatment provided in this book. Here, James Grace describes events from deck level and from both sides. He draws on a wealth of previously untapped primary sources, including the vivid personal recollections of some two hundred Japanese and American survivors of the fight. These eyewitness accounts lend immediacy to a work that will appeal to the general reader as well as to serious World War II buffs and historians.

A highly illustrated account of the series of naval battles around the embattled island of Guadalcanal in late 1942. The battle for Guadalcanal that lasted from August 1942 to February 1943 was the first major American counteroffensive against the Japanese in the Pacific. The battle of Savo Island on the night of 9 August 1942, saw the Japanese inflict a severe defeat on the Allied force, driving them away from Guadalcanal and leaving the just-landed marines in a perilously exposed position. This was the start of a series of night battles that culminated in the First and Second battles of Guadalcanal, fought on the nights of 13 and 15 November. One further major naval action followed, the battle of Tassafaronga on 30 November 1942, when the US Navy once again suffered a severe defeat, but this time it was too late to alter the course of the battle as the Japanese evacuated Guadalcanal in early February 1943. In this compact, engaging volume, Mark Stille examines the contrasting fortunes experienced by both sides over the intense course of naval battles around the island throughout the second half of 1942 that did so much to turn the tide in the Pacific.

On August 7, 1942, a scant nine months after Pearl Harbor, the Marine Corps struck back against Japan on a small island half a world away: Guadalcanal, in the Solomon Islands. The stakes were high. The Japanese had been running roughshod across Asia and the Pacific and even into the Indian Ocean. If the Marines failed in the Solomons, New Guinea would almost certainly fall, mortally threatening Australia. The victory of the 1st Marine Division at Guadalcanal, told here in pictures for the first time, ranks with the most heroic, dramatic, and enduring of military history. The six-month long Guadalcanal campaign was by far the longest and most complicated operation the Marines faced in the Pacific War. It began with the weapons and tactics of the Marine Corps 1918 combat in France and ended with the revised weapons and tactics that would sweep aside the Japanese defenders of numerous formidable bases all across the wide Pacific--bringing the United States armed forces to total victory in the Pacific in World War II. This book is a fitting tribute to the men who sacrificed so much in winning this first stepping stone on the path to Tokyo Bay and victory over Japan.