Bloody Ridge: The Battle that Saved GuadalcanalThe Japanese called it the centipede. The northern part of Lunga Ridge, a narrow grass-covered rise that looked like an insect from the air, overlooked a coastal plain. In the center of that plain was Henderson Field, the vital home of the Cactus Air Force and the prize of the Guadalcanal campaign. Whoever commanded the ridge commanded the airstrip. In September 1942, the ridge was the scene of a bloody, three-day battle for control of Henderson Field. In Bloody Ridge, the first book written exclusively on this battle, historian Michael S. Smith has utilized a treasure trove of primary and secondary sources on both sides of the Pacific. NOTE: This edition does not include photographs. |
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11th Marines 124th Infantry 124th Regimental 1st Battalion 1st Lt 1st Marines 1st Parachute Battalion 1st Raider Battalion 2d Battalion 5th Marines aircraft airfield American Annex F antitank guns artillery assault attack August barges Battle for Guadalcanal beach Bloody Ridge Capt Captain Coconuts Colonel command post defenses destroyers division division’s Echelon Edson enemy Engineer fighting fire flank force Goettge grenades Griffith Guadalcanal Diary Guadalcanal Echoes Gun Platoon Headquarters Henderson Field Hill Hyakutake Ibid Ichiki Detachment intelligence Island Japanese soldier jungle Kadomae Kawaguchi Detachment killed Kokumbona Kokusho landing Lieutenant Kashii Lunga Point Lunga River machine gun Maizuru Matanikau MCHC Merillat mortar naval night officer Oka’s operations ordered Parachutists patrol Personal Papers platoon position Puller Rabaul radio Report rifle sand spit Senshi Sosho September 1942 Seventeenth Army Taivu Point Tanaka tanks Tasimboko Tenaru Thomas transports Tregaskis troops Tulagi Turner Twining unit Vandegrift weapons wounded yards