IN JANUARY JAPAN DECIDED TO ABANDON GUADALCANAL (22/23, January 1943)

In January Japan decided to abandon Guadalcanal, despite her substantial troops at Rabaul.  It was in January, too, that Rear Admiral Waldron L. “Pug” Ainsworth and a cruiser-destroyer force bombarded the enemy’s staging area of New Georgia, pouring some 3,000 rounds of 6-inch and fifteen rounds of 5-inch into the Munda sector.

Rear Adm. Walden L. Ainsworth

 This was the first offensive action of the Guadalcanal campaign, and it did much to elevate morale.  Meanwhile, General Alexander M. Patch, USA, who had relieved Vandegrift, prepared to mount an offensive calculated to push the enemy off the island.  Using the 2nd and 8th Marines to clean up the Matanikau, he launched his other troops at Mount Asten, three miles from Henderson Field, where there were strong pockets of enemy resistance.

Alexander "Sandy" Patch, pictured here
as a lieutenant general, in August 1945.

 The drive began on the 2nd, and did not stop until all resistance ended; this meant a total mop-up, including the 25,000 troops of the Japanese Seventeenth Army.  The interim period was marked by other furious battles with Tanaka and another bombardment on January 22/23 of the enemy’s positions at Vila.  Then, a few days later, the Battle of Rennell Island developed when it appeared to Halsey’s staff that another reinforcement of Guadalcanal was in the wind.  As a result of the ensuing engagement the Navy lost the heavy cruiser Chicago, plus two destroyers severely damaged.

    Despite efforts to the contrary, the enemy’s evacuation continued.  Some 12,000 men were pulled out by the indomitable Tanaka, leaving 14,800 killed and 1,000 prisoners.  However, the enemy was still full of fight, as is evidenced in the following excerpt by Foster Hailey, New York Times war correspondent.

USS Chicago (CA-29), underway off New York City,
during the fleet review on 31 May 1934.

From: The United States Navy in World War II
Compiled and edited by: S. E. Smith