Guadalcanal 1942-43 Spiral-Bound | 2019-11-26

The campaign for Guadalcanal, which stretched from August 1942 until February 1943, centered on Henderson Field. The airfield was captured by the Americans on 8. As long as the airfield was kept operational, the Japanese could not run convoys to the island. Instead, they were forced to rely on night runs by destroyers which could not carry enough men or supplies to shift the balance decisively against the American garrison on the island. The American air contingent on the island was comprised of Marine, Navy, and Army Air Force units. It had the challenging mission of defending the airfield against constant Japanese attacks.
The mission of neutralizing Henderson Field fell primarily to the Imperial Navy's Air Force flying out of airfields in the Rabaul area. The units charged with this mission were among the most accomplished in the entire Imperial Navy. However, the distance from Rabaul to Guadalcanal handicapped Japanese operations and their primary bomber was terribly vulnerable to interception. The air battle over Guadalcanal shaped, and eventually decided, the entire campaign. In the process, the Americans won their first victory on the long road to Japan and the Imperial Navy's land-based air force was crippled for the remainder of the war. This book traces the air campaign from both sides and explores the factors behind the American victory and the Japanese defeat.