_A Japanese troop transport and her landing craft were badly damaged
by the numerous Marine air attacks and were forced to run aground on
Kokumbona beach after the naval Battle of Guadalcanal. Many enemy
troops were killed in the attacks._]
The enemy troops who had been fortunate enough to reach land were
not immediately ready to assault the American positions. The _38th
Division_ and the remnants of the various Japanese units that had
previously tried to penetrate the Marine lines needed to be shaped into
a coherent attack force before General Hyakutake could again attempt to
take Henderson Field.
General Vandegrift now had enough fresh units to begin to replace his
veteran troops along the front lines. The decision to replace the 1st
Marine Division with the Army’s 25th Infantry Division had been made.
Admiral Turner had told Vandegrift to leave all of his heavy equipment
on the island when he did pull out “in hopes of getting your units
re-equipped when you come out.” He also told the Marine general that
the Army would command the final phases of the Guadalcanal operation
since it would provide the majority of the combat forces once the 1st
Division departed. Major General Alexander M. Patch, commander of
the Americal Division, would relieve Vandegrift as senior American
officer ashore. His air support would continue to be Marine-dominated
as General Geiger, now located on Espiritu Santo with 1st Wing
headquarters, fed his squadrons forward to maintain the offensive. And
the air command on Guadalcanal itself would continue to be a mixed bag
of Army, Navy, Marine, and Allied squadrons.
The sick list of the 1st Marine Division in November included more than
3,200 men with malaria. The men of the 1st still manning the frontline
foxholes and the rear areas--if anyplace within Guadalcanal’s perimeter
could properly be called a rear area--were plain worn out. They had
done their part and they knew it.
On 29 November, General Vandegrift was handed a message from the Joint
Chiefs of Staff. The crux of it read: “1st MarDiv is to be relieved
without delay ... and will proceed to Australia for rehabilitation and
employment.” The word soon spread that the 1st was leaving and where it
was going. Australia was not yet the cherished place it would become in
the division’s future, but _any_ place was preferable to Guadalcanal.
[Sidebar (page 41): 75mm Pack Howitzer--Workhorse of the Artillery
[Illustration]
During the summer of 1930, the Marine Corps began replacing its old
French 75mm guns (Model 1897) with the 75mm Pack Howitzer Model
1923-E2. This weapon was designed for use in the Army primarily as
mountain artillery. Since it could be broken down and manhandled ashore
in six loads from ships’ boats, the pack howitzer was an important
supporting weapon of the Marine Corps landing forces in prewar landing
exercises.
The 75mm pack howitzer saw extensive service with the Marine Corps
throughout World War II in almost every major landing in the Pacific.
Crewed by five Marines, the howitzer could hurl a 16-pound shell nearly
10,000 yards. In the D Series table of organization with which the
1st Marine Division went to war, and through the following E and F
series, there were three pack howitzer battalions for each artillery
regiment.--_Anthony Wayne Tommell and Kenneth L. Smith-Christmas_
]
[Sidebar (page 45): The Japanese Model 89 (1929) 50mm Heavy Grenade
Discharger
[Illustration]
Born out of the need to bridge the gap in range between hand grenades
and mortars, the grenade discharger evolved in the Imperial Japanese
Army from a special purpose weapon of infantry assault and defense to
an essential item of standard equipment with all Japanese ground forces.
Commonly called _Juteki_ by the Japanese, this weapon officially was
designated _Hachikyu Shiki Jutekidarto_, or 1189 Model Heavy Grenade
Discharger, the term “heavy” being justified by the powerful 1-pound,
12-ounce high explosive shell it was designed to fire, although it also
fired the standard Model 91 fragmentation grenade.
To the American Marines and soldiers who first encountered this weapon
and others of its kind in combat they were known as “knee mortars,”
likely so named because they generally were fired from a kneeling
position. Typically, the discharger’s concave baseplate was pressed
firmly into the surface of the ground by the firer’s foot to support
the heavy recoil of the fired shell, but unfortunately the term “knee
mortar” suggested to some untutored captors of these weapons that they
were to be fired with the baseplate resting against the knee or thigh.
When a Marine fired one of these dischargers from his thigh and broke
his upper leg bone, efforts were swiftly undertaken in the field to
educate all combat troops in the safe and proper handling of these very
useful weapons.
The Model 89 (1929) 50mm Heavy Grenade Discharger is a muzzle-loaded,
high-angle-of-fire weapon which weighs 10-1/4 pounds and is 24 inches
in overall length. Its design is compact and simple. The discharger
has three major components: the rifled barrel, the supporting barrel
pedestal with firing mechanism, and the base plate. Operation of the
Model 89 was easy and straightforward, and with practice its user could
deliver accurate fire registered quickly on target.
Encountered in all major battles in the Pacific War, the Model 89
Grenade Discharger was an uncomplicated, very portable, and highly
efficient weapon operated easily by one man. It was carried in a cloth
or leather case with a sling, and its one-piece construction allowed
it to be brought into action very quickly. This grenade discharger
had the advantage over most mortars in that it could be aimed and
fired mechanically after a projectile had been placed in the barrel,
projectile firing not being dependent upon dropping down the barrel
against a stationary firing pin as with most mortars, where barrel
fouling sometimes caused dangerous hangfires. Although an instantaneous
fuze employed on the Model 89 high explosive shell restricted this
shell’s use to open areas, the Model 91 fragmentation grenade with its
seven-second fuze made this discharger effective in a jungle or forest
setting, with complete safety for the user from premature detonation
of projectiles by overhanging foliage. Smoke and signal shells, and an
incendiary grenade, were special types of ammunition used with this
versatile and effective weapon which won the respect of all who came to
know it.--_Edwin F. Libby_
]
_December and the Final Stages_
On 7 December, one year after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor,
General Vandegrift sent a message to all men under his command in the
Guadalcanal area thanking them for their courage and steadfastness,
commending particularly the pilots and “all who labored and sweated
within the lines in all manner of prodigious and vital tasks.” He
reminded them all that their “unbelievable achievements had made
‘Guadalcanal’ a synonym for death and disaster in the language of our
enemy.” On 9 December, he handed over his command to General Patch and
flew out to Australia at the same time the first elements of the 5th
Marines were boarding ship. The 1st, 11th, and 7th Marines would soon
follow together with all the division’s supporting units. The men who
were leaving were thin, tired, hollow-eyed, and apathetic; they were
young men who had grown old in four months time. They left behind 681
dead in the island’s cemetery.
[Illustration: _As he tells it, “Too Many, Too Close, Too Long,” is
Donald L. Dickson’s portrait of one of the “little guys, just plain
worn out. His stamina and his spirit stretched beyond human endurance.
He has had no real sleep for a long time.... And he probably hasn’t
stopped ducking and fighting long enough to discover that he has
malaria. He is going to discover it now, however. He is through.”_
Captain Donald L. Dickson, USMCR
]
[Illustration: