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By the summer of 1942, the Empire of Japan had reached the high point of their conquests in the Pacific, successfully occupying territories from Burma to most of the East Indian islands. In May of 1942, they managed to deploy nearly 3,000 soldiers on Guadalcanal (now called the Solomon Islands) and established a capable naval base on the nearby Tulagi. This made them a serious threat to the United States, who were concerned about Japanese long-range bombers breaking up the trade routes to allied Australia and New Zealand.
A powerful taskforce called Watchtower, composed of 60,000 men across 75 warships and transport vessels, was called to action and managed to successfully land on Guadalcanal on August 7, 1942. The US-led Allies surprised the enemy forces with their sheer numbers and overtook Lunga Point (later called Henderson Field), a strategically important air field that the Japanese were constructing in the region.
What followed was a month-long struggle between both parties, during which the Japanese tried to regain control of Guadalcanal and its satellite islands, while the Allies tried to keep them at bay and defend their newly established bridgehead. Although they were severely bombed throughout this period, Henderson Field and its airplanes remained firmly in U.S. hands, limiting the advancement of Japanese ground troops and forcing their Navy to throw even more at the now well-established Allied forces.
Both opponents collided continuously until November of 1942 on land and sea as well as in daily aerial combats, which featured F4F Wildcats and P-39 Airacobras on the U.S. side, against mostly A6M Zeros for the Japanese. The conflict culminated in the decisive Naval Battle of Guadalcanal from November 12th to 15th when Japan reinforced their troops by 7,000 in a final attempt to retake the airfield. Multiple battleships, heavy cruisers, a dozen destroyers as well as hundreds of planes on both sides, fought it out one last time in two night-time clashes, leading to almost 2,000 losses on each side.
This proved a strategic victory for the Allies, who managed to retain control of the islands and went on to replenish their naval and air fleet forces rather quickly. Japan, on the other hand, could not afford to draw out the conflict even longer, and retreated from Guadalcanal by evacuating their remaining troops in a stealth operation on February 8th, 1943.
Pilots!
In honor of the Battle of Guadalcanal, we'll be discounting two of the featured aircraft that appeared in the skies above as the battle raged below across the Guadalcanal islands. Get airborne!
Event Begins: 23:00 PDT (02:00 PDT the following day) on August 6, 2013
Event Ends: 23:00 EDT (02:00 PDT the following day) on August 8, 2013
V  Grumman F4F Wildcat |
V  Mitsubishi A6M5 Reisen |
