The All-Out Battle for Guadalcanal

The first all-out land, air, and sea battle against Japan in World War II helped change the course of the Pacific war for the United States from a series of defensive measures to an aggressive offensive that started pushing back against the Japanese control of the Pacific. While thousands of troops on both sides battled months for control of Guadalcanal Island, it was the air and sea battles around the surrounding Solomon Islands that proved the pivotal turning point for the victorious U.S. forces that created enough underwater wreckage around the island for it to be called “Iron Bottom Sound.”

[Editor’s Note: This is the first of a two-part series on the underwater wrecks around Guadalcanal, with this article concentrating on the campaign and sunken aircraft around the island. The second article will focus on the multitude of sunken ships that helped create the nickname of Iron Bottom Sound.]

Prelude: Why Guadalcanal and the Solomon Islands?

Japan experienced a modernization movement in the late 1800’s and transformed into an industrialized nation seeking to be on equal status with the other great nations of the world. To do this militarily, Japan established alliances with Britain to analyze and emulate the Royal Navy and with France to model their land forces. During this time, Britain trained Japanese naval officers, and most of the Japanese warships were built in British and French shipyards.

To become an industrialized nation, Japan needed raw materials that were not abundant in Japan itself. The need for these materials drove Japan to seek trade and establish influence in neighboring lands that had the needed resources. The first major test of the new, modern Japanese military was the First Sino-Japanese War in 1894 against the Qing Empire of China that lasted eight months and wrestled Korea and Taiwan