“Land the Landing Force”

The Marines go on the Offensive: The Invasion of Guadalcanal. Last week, we discussed the Marines planning the offensive to retake the Solomon Islands. The Marines did not have a good idea of where they were going, with poor maps and sketchy intelligence. They repacked their ships in New Zealand and weighed anchor.

Marine fighter force in the Pacific was still a small force by Jun 42. Battered but unbroken, 6 squadrons held the line against the Japanese from Midway, New Caledonia, and Hawaii. They would see major changes over the next 6 months, but for now things were cautiously optimistic. Those 6 squadrons were flying one of two types of aircraft; either the Grumman F4F-3 Wildcat or the Brewster F2A-3 Buffalo. Neither aircraft was a stunning performer, but both were skillfully employed by their well-trained pilots during the battle for Midway.

BATTLE OF THE CORAL SEA The Japanese military is still expanding in the Pacific. One of their main objectives was to cut off the US-Australia line. After wresting Rabaul from the Australians, they landed at Lae and Salamaua on 8 March. USS Lexington & USS Yorktown perform a strike on the landing force.

GUNS AND SHIPS Let’s talk logistics. With the Allied agreement on “Germany First”, the lion’s share of resources were headed to the European theater, yet Japanese expansion was still almost completely unchecked across the Pacific.

Wake Island - Pacific Theater 1941
An 80th-anniversary social media experience from the #USMCMuseum. West of the int’l dateline on 8 Dec 1941, Japanese bombs were falling on three US bases across the Pacific Ocean. Guam would be the first American territory to fall to the Japanese on 10 December. The defenders of Wake Island, however, would hold out for another 2 weeks.