Matanikau Patrol

The Matanikau River of Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands, is located in the northwest part of the island. It runs from South West to North East through various terrain. In the South there are many hills densely forested and to the North it begins to plateau towards the coastline.

On 7 August 1942, Allied forces (primarily American) landed on Guadalcanal. In response to the Allied landings on Guadalcanal, the Japanese Imperial General Headquarters assigned the Imperial Japanese Army’s 17th Army. The “First Element” of Ichiki’s unit, consisting of about 917 soldiers, landed from destroyers at Taivu Point, east of the Lunga perimeter, on 19 August, attacked the U.S. Marine defenses, and were almost completely annihilated during the resulting Battle of the Tenaru on 21 August. By 7 September 6,000 men of Kawaguchi’s brigade, including the rest of Ichiki’s regiment and much of the Aoba regiment, had landed Guadalcanal.

Ferocious battles ensued between Allied and Japanese forces over Edson’s Ridge and Henderson Field resulting in Japanese forces retreating back into the Jungle.

24 September, Colonel “Chesty” Puller’s men hiked up the northeast slope of Mount Austen, they surprised and killed a bivouac of 16 Japanese soldiers. The noise from the skirmish alerted several companies of Oka’s Maizuru Battalion, who were emplaced nearby. A Smaller USMC Recon Platoon in the Matanikau Valley intercepts some alerted troops.