Hello and welcome to episode 116 of the unauthorized history of the Pacific War podcast. My name is Seth Perid and historian and deputy director of the Mississippi Armed Forces Museum here at Camp Shelby. And with me as always is my esteemed co-host retired Navy Captain Bill Toaddy, former skipper of the fast attack submarine USS Indianapolis, Commodore of Submarine Squadron 3 in Pearl Harbor, and many other postings. Bill, how are we today? Well, I got a bit of a sore throat today, Seth, so I may not say much, but Guadalcanals near and dear to my heart. My great uncle was there, actually with the Army following the Marines as a combat engineer. So I've heard Guadalcanal stories since I was a child.

Same here. Same here. This week we would like to welcome back, Dave Holland. Dave is just to reintroduced.

Dave, Dave is a former United States Marine. He owns and runs the Facebook and YouTube channel called

Guadalcanal walking a battlefield. He's a Solomon Islands battlefield guide and most importantly, called Guala Canal Walking a Battlefield.

He's a Solomon Islands Battlefield Guide and most importantly, a Guila Canal expert.

Welcome back, Dave. How you doing, man?

I'm doing well and thanks for having me back. I really enjoyed our talk last week and looking forward to this one. Absolutely. This is a very important one here. They all are, but this is very

important. So to set the stage

of where we are, it's been over a month since the Marines landed on Guadalcanal, Tulagi, Gavudu, and

Tanambogo. August has passed, and with it, the lives of over 1,200 Allied sailors and

airmen at the battles of Savo Island and Eastern Solomons, as well as the lives of over 200 U.S. Marines ashore.

The Japanese have lost over 1,700 men ashore on the aforementioned islands, including nearly 800 at the Teneru River on August 21st, as well as nearly 300 lost at sea.

Operation Watchtower was never assumed that it would be a quick in and out operation.

It was never thought of, at least by the United States, as a quick trip. The Americans knew it

would be a slug fest. How much of a slug fest, however, was anyone's guess. As September dawned in the

first week passed, the slug fest ashore abruptly turned into a meat grinder. A bloody drawn-out campaign of

attrition was something that the Japanese could not withstand. The Japanese were sick of the Marines

on Guadalcanal and wanted them out and wanted them out now. Beginning in the first week of

September, over 5,000 Japanese troops under the command of General Kawaguchi landed on Guadalcanal,

with their sole mission being to, quote, route and annihilate the enemy in the vicinity of

Guadalcanal Island Airfield, end quote. The focus of their initial assaults on the Marines in September

would center on an area just south of Henderson Field near three small hills and an as yet

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