_Five Japanese tanks sit dead in the water, destroyed by Marine 37mm
gunfire during the abortive attempt to force the Marine perimeter
near the mouth of the Matanikau River in late October. Many Japanese
soldiers lost their lives also._]
A wedge was driven into the Marine lines, but eventually straightened
out with repeated counterattacks. Puller soon realized his battalion
was being hit by a strong Japanese force capable of repeated attacks.
He called for reinforcements and the Army’s 3d Battalion, 164th
Infantry (Lieutenant Colonel Robert K. Hall), was ordered forward, its
men sliding and slipping in the rain as they trudged a mile south along
Edson’s Ridge. Puller met Hall at the head of his column, and the two
officers walked down the length of the Marine lines, peeling off an
Army squad at a time to feed into the lines. When the Japanese attacked
again as they did all night long, the soldiers and Marines fought back
together. By 0330, the Army battalion was completely integrated into
the 1st Battalion, 7th Marines’ lines and the enemy attacks were
getting weaker and weaker. The American return fire--including flanking
fire from machine guns and Weapons Company, 7th Marines’ 37mm guns
remaining in the positions held by 2d Battalion, 164th Infantry, on
Puller’s left--was just too much to take. Near dawn, Maruyama pulled
his men back to regroup and prepare to attack again.
With daylight, Puller and Hall reordered the lines, putting the 3d
Battalion, 164th, into its own positions on Puller’s left, tying in
with the rest of the Army regiment. The driving rains had turned
Fighter One into a quagmire, effectively grounding Cactus flyers.
Japanese planes used the “free ride” to bomb Marine positions. Their
artillery fired incessantly and a pair of Japanese destroyers added
their gunfire to the bombardment until they got too close to the shore
and the 3d Defense Battalion’s 5-inch guns drove them off. As the sun
bore down, the runways dried and afternoon enemy attacks were met by
Cactus fighters, who downed 22 Japanese planes with a loss of three of
their own.
As night came on again, Maruyama tried more of the same, with the same
result. The Army-Marine lines held and the Japanese were cut down in
droves by rifle, machine gun, mortar, 37mm, and artillery fire. To the
west, an enemy battalion mounted three determined attacks against the
positions held by Lieutenant Colonel Herman H. Hanneken’s 2d Battalion,
7th Marines, thinly tied in with Puller’s battalion on the left and the
3d Battalion, 7th Marines, on the right. The enemy finally penetrated
the positions held by Company F, but a counterattack led by Major Odell
M. Conoley, the battalion’s executive officer, drove off the Japanese.
Again at daylight the American positions were secure and the enemy had
retreated. They would not come back; the grand Japanese offensive of
the _Sendai Division_ was over.
About 3,500 enemy troops had died during the attacks. General
Maruyama’s proud boast that he “would exterminate the enemy around
the airfield in one blow” proved an empty one. What was left of his
force now straggled back over the Maruyama Trail, losing, as had the
Kawaguchi force in the same situation, most of its seriously wounded
men. The Americans, Marines and soldiers together, probably lost 300
men killed and wounded; existing records are sketchy and incomplete.
One result of the battle, however, was a warm welcome to the 164th
Infantry from the 1st Marine Division. Vandegrift particularly
commended Lieutenant Colonel Hall’s battalion, stating the “division
was proud to have serving with it another unit which had stood the test
of battle.” And Colonel Cates sent a message to the 164th’s Colonel
Bryant Moore saying that the 1st Marines “were proud to serve with a
unit such as yours.”
Amidst all the heroics of the two nights’ fighting there were many men
who were singled out for recognition and an equally large number who
performed great deeds that were never recognized. Two men stood out
above all others, and on succeeding nights, Sergeant John Basilone of
the 1st Battalion, 7th Marines, and Platoon Sergeant Mitchell Paige of
the 2d Battalion, both machine gun section heads, were recognized as
having performed “above and beyond the call of duty” in the inspiring
words of their Medal of Honor citations.
[Sidebar (page 37): Reising Gun
The Reising gun was designed and developed by noted gun inventor Eugene
Reising. It was patented in 1940 and manufactured by the old gun-making
firm of Harrington and Richardson of Worcester, Massachusetts. It is
said that it was made on existing machine tools, some dating back
to the Civil War, and of ordinary steel rather than ordnance steel.
With new machine tools and ordnance steel scarce and needed for more
demanding weapons, the Reising met an immediate requirement for many
sub-machine guns at a time when production of Thompson M1928 and M1
sub-machine guns hadn’t caught up with demand and the stamped-out M3
“grease gun” had not yet been invented. It was a wartime expedient.
[Illustration:
Captain Donald L. Dickson, USMCR
]
The Reising was made in two different models, the 50 and the 55. The
Model 50 had a full wooden stock and a Cutts compensator attached
to the muzzle. The compensator, a device which reduced the upward
muzzle climb from recoil, was invented by Richard M. Cutts, Sr., and
his son, Richard M. Cutts, Jr., both of whom became Marine brigadier
generals. The other version was dubbed the Model 55. It had a folding
metal-wire shoulder stock which swivelled on the wooden pistol grip.
It also had a shorter barrel and no compensator. It was intended for
use by parachutists, tank crews, and others needing a compact weapon.
Both versions of the Reising fired .45-caliber ammunition, the same
cartridge as the Colt automatic pistol and the Thompson.
In all, there were approximately 100,000 Reising sub-machine guns
produced between 1940 and 1942. Small numbers of the weapons were
acquired by both Great Britain and the Soviet Union. However, most
were used by the U.S. Marine Corps in the Solomon Islands campaign.
The Model 55 was issued to both Marine parachute battalions and Marine
raiders, seeing service first on Guadalcanal. After its dubious debut
in combat it was withdrawn from frontline service in 1943 due to
several flaws in design and manufacture.
The Reising’s major shortcoming was its propensity for jamming. This
was due to both a design problem in the magazine lips and the fact
that magazines were made of a soft sheet steel. The weapon’s safety
mechanism didn’t always work and if the butt was slammed down on the
deck, the hammer would set back against the mainspring and then fly
forward, firing a chambered cartridge. The design allowed the entry of
dirt into the mechanism and close tolerances caused it to jam. Finally,
the steel used allowed excessive rust to form in the tropical humidity
of the Solomons. Nevertheless, at six pounds, the Reising was handier
than the 10-pound Thompson, more accurate, pleasanter to shoot, and
reliable under other than combat conditions, but one always had to
keep the muzzle pointed in a safe direction. The Model 50 was also
issued to Marines for guard duty at posts and stations in the United
States.--_John G. Griffiths_
]
_November and the Continuing Buildup_
While the soldiers and Marines were battling the Japanese ashore,
a patrol plane sighted a large Japanese fleet near the Santa Cruz
Islands to the east of the Solomons. The enemy force was formidable, 4
carriers and 4 battleships, 8 cruisers and 28 destroyers, all poised
for a victorious attack when Maruyama’s capture of Henderson Field
was signalled. Admiral Halsey’s reaction to the inviting targets was
characteristic, he signaled Rear Admiral Thomas C. Kinkaid, with the
_Hornet_ and _Enterprise_ carrier groups located north of the New
Hebrides: “Attack Repeat Attack.”
[Illustration: _Heavy tropical downpours at Guadalcanal all but flood
out a Marine camp near Henderson Field, and the field as well. Marines’
damp clothing and bedding contributed to the heavy incidence of
tormenting skin infections and fungal disorders._
Department of Defense (USMC) Photo
]
Early on 26 October, American SBDs located the Japanese carriers
at about the same time Japanese scout planes spotted the American
carriers. The Japanese _Zuiho_’s flight deck was holed by the scout
bombers, cancelling flight operations, but the other three enemy
carriers launched strikes. The two air armadas tangled as each strove
to reach the other’s carriers. The _Hornet_ was hit repeatedly by bombs
and torpedoes; two Japanese pilots also crashed their planes on board.
The damage to the ship was so extensive, the _Hornet_ was abandoned
and sunk. The _Enterprise_, the battleship _South Dakota_, the light
cruiser _San Juan_ (CL 54), and the destroyer _Smith_ (DD 378) were
also hit; the destroyer _Porter_ (DD 356) was sunk. On the Japanese
side, no ships were sunk, but three carriers and two destroyers were
damaged. One hundred Japanese planes were lost; 74 U.S. planes went
down. Taken together, the results of the Battle of Santa Cruz were
a standoff. The Japanese naval leaders might have continued their
attacks, but instead, disheartened by the defeat of their ground
forces on Guadalcanal, withdrew to attack another day.
[Illustration: