_The 1st Raider Battalion captured this Japanese 140mm coastal defense
gun after striking Enogai from the rear following the unopposed landing
on 5 July 1943._]
A reconnaissance patrol headed by raider Captain Clay A. Boyd had
already been on the island for some time when the American force landed
on 5 July. His small detachment, a coastwatcher, and the ever-present
native scouts helped guide the initial waves of Marines to shore. The
natives had also cut fresh trails leading to the Giza Giza River at the
head of Enogai Inlet. With this advance preparation, the units covered
the seven miles of rough terrain to the Giza Giza before nightfall.
With darkness came heavy rain. There were no trails through the swamp
on the far side of the Giza Giza, and the rain rendered the Tamoko
River unfordable, so it took all of the next day for the force to move
less than a mile and cross the Tamoko. There they halted and endured
another night of rain.
[Illustration: DRAGONS PENINSULA