Guadalcanal Campaign

The Guadalcanal Campaign, also known as the Battle of Guadalcanal and codenamed Operation

Watchtower by Allied forces, was fought between August 7, 1942 and February 9, 1943 on and around
the island of Guadalcanal in the Pacific theatre of World War II. It was part of the Allied strategic plan to
protect the convoy routes between the US, Australia and New Zealand. Launched a few months after
theKokoda Track campaign, it was the second major offensive by Allied forces against the Empire of
Japan.[8]

On August 7, 1942, Allied forces, predominantly American, landed on the islands of Guadalcanal, Tulagi,

and Florida in the southern Solomon Islands with the objective of denying their use by the Japanese as
bases to threaten supply routes between the U.S., Australia, and New Zealand. The Allies also intended
to use Guadalcanal and Tulagi as bases to support a campaign to eventually capture or neutralize the
major Japanese base at Rabaul on New Britain. The Allies overwhelmed the outnumbered Japanese
defenders, who had occupied the islands since May 1942, and captured Tulagi and Florida, as well as an
airfield (later named Henderson Field) that was under construction on Guadalcanal.

Surprised by the Allied offensive, the Japanese made several attempts between August and November
1942 to retake Henderson Field. Three major land battles, five large naval battles, and continual, almost
daily aerial battles culminated in the decisive Naval Battle of Guadalcanal in early November 1942, in
which the last Japanese attempt to land enough troops to retake Henderson Field was defeated. In
December 1942, the Japanese abandoned further efforts to retake Guadalcanal and evacuated their
remaining forces by February 7, 1943 in the face of an offensive by the U.S. Army's XIV Corps, conceding
the island to the Allies.

The Guadalcanal campaign was a significant strategic combined arms victory by Allied forces over the
Japanese in the Pacific theatre. The Japanese had reached the high-water mark of their conquests in the
Pacific, and Guadalcanal marked the transition by the Allies from defensive operations to the strategic
offensive in that theatre and the beginning of offensive operations that resulted in Japan's eventual
surrender and the end of World War II.