1942-08-07
Landings on Guadalcanal and Tulagi
Guadalcanal and Tulagi
On 7 August 1942 the 1st Marine Division landed on Beach Red, east of Lunga Point on Guadalcanal, and on Tulagi, Florida, and Gavutu. The maps are the Army and Navy charts of that morning. The force came in from the west and split northwest of Cape Esperance. Transport Group XRAY, under Captain Lawrence F. Reifsnider, went to Beach Red. Division A was Fuller, American Legion, and the cargo ship Bellatrix. Those two transports put the first troops ashore. Division B was McCawley, Barnett, George F. Elliott, and the cargo ship Libra. Turner's flag was in McCawley. He was not her captain. Division C was Hunter Liggett, Alchiba, Fomalhaut, and Betelgeuse. Division D was Crescent City, President Hayes, President Adams, and the cargo ship Alhena. Transport Group YOKE, under Captain George B. Ashe, went to Tulagi: Neville, Zeilin, Heywood, and President Jackson, with the high-speed transports Colhoun, Little, McKean, and Gregory. Heywood finished at Tulagi and came across to Beach Red the same day. These four high-speed transports are the old Wickes-class ships. The later Colhoun, Little, and Gregory are different hulls. On 8 August a Japanese plane crashed into George F. Elliott and set her afire. She was lost. North Carolina screened Enterprise in the air support force south of the island. Wasp's aircraft covered the landings on Guadalcanal and Tulagi. Maury was plane guard for the carrier. Benham was with that force. The night action off Savo Island on 9 August is a separate fight.
Sunk in this fight
One ship.
The Approach, 7 August 1942. United States Army map, from Guadalcanal: The First Offensive. The amphibious force came in from the west. Northwest of Cape Esperance it split. Transport Group Y went up to Tulagi. Transport Group X went down to the debarkation area off Lunga Point and Koli Point. The times printed on the chart are 0637 off Tulagi and 0650 off Guadalcanal. The carriers were south of the island and are not on this sheet. The night action off Savo Island on 9 August is a separate fight.
Landings in the Tulagi area, 7 August 1942. United States Army map. North is up. Company B, 1st Battalion, 2nd Marines, landed at Haleta at 0740. Edson's 1st Raider Battalion and the 2nd Battalion, 5th Marines, went onto Tulagi and drove southeast. The 1st Parachute Battalion landed on Gavutu at noon, from boats, not by parachute. The rest of the 1st Battalion, 2nd Marines, landed on the Halavo peninsula at 0845 and later returned to the ships.
Landing on Guadalcanal and capture of the airfield, 7-8 August 1942. United States Army map. North is up. Beach Red is the stretch of coast east of the river this chart calls the Tenaru. The Marines that morning used that name for the Ilu. The 5th Marines, less the 2nd Battalion, landed there at 0910. The 1st Marines came ashore from 0930 and started inland. They did not reach Mount Austen that day. The airfield was taken on the 8th. The legend marks the evening line of the 7th, the line reached on the 8th, and the axes of advance.
Disposition of the transports off Beach Red, 7 August 1942. United States Navy combat narrative, The Landing in the Solomons. North is to the left on this sheet. The ships came in from the southwest along the 50-fathom curve. The boats ran from the lines of departure to Beach Red, between Lunga Point and Koli Point. Turner and the division command post were in McCawley. This is the Navy's station chart for that morning. It is not the night action off Savo.
