The Japanese launch an assault on Guadalcanal, only to be repeatedly and brutally pushed back by American troops

The Battle of Edson's Ridge, also known as the Battle of the Bloody Ridge, Battle of Raiders Ridge, and Battle of the Ridge, was a land battle of the Pacific campaign of World War II between Imperial Japanese Army and Allied (mainly United States Marine Corps) ground forces. It took place from 12–14 September 1942, on Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands, and was the second of three separate major Japanese ground offensives during the Guadalcanal Campaign. Based on a diary kept by Lt. Generou Inui of the 8th Independent Tank Gun Company, the following was the address given by Major General Kawaguchi before the attack commenced: > "It's the time to offer your life for His Majesty the Emperor. The flower of Japanese infantrymen is in the bayonet charge. This is what the enemy soldiers are most afraid of. The strong point of the enemy is superiority of firepower. But it will be able to do nothing in the night and in the jungle. When all-out attack begins, break through the enemy's defences without delay. Recapture our bitterest airfield. Rout, stab, kill, and exterminate the enemy before daybreak. We are sure of ultimate victory of the Imperial Army!" At 8pm, a cruiser and three destroyers shelled the Marine positions on Lunga Ridge. In the early hours of September 12th, Kawaguchi launched his first probing attacks between Lunga River and the ridge, and pressed until daylight. > "The sky and the jungle were blazing with fireworks and a hellish bedlam of howls." 500 Japanese soldiers died in the probing attacks. Waiting out the day, Kawaguchi resumed the attack on the night of September 13th with his remaining 2,500 troops - a four to one advantage against the American defenders. Kawaguchi's 1st Battalion led by Major Yukichi Kokusho breached the first line between the Lunga River and the ridge, forcing the Marines back to Hill 123. Major Kokusho and all of his troops were killed at 3am when the Americans wiped them out in a fierce counter attack. With no other options, the Japanese chose to engage in desperate frontal assaults of Hill 123. Machine guns "glowed red with heat", and in some instances the attackers were only repulsed with fierce hand to hand combat. At night, when not attacking, the Japanese troops would chant in rhythmic unison, "US Marines be dead tomorrow, US Marines be dead tomorrow"; it was as Captain William J. McKennon recalled, like "a mad religious rite." The banzai charges were suicidal in their intensity. McKennon noted, "When one wave was mowed down - and I mean mowed down - another followed it into death." During the heavy fighting for Hill 123, three companies managed to reach the edge of Henderson Field before being repulsed by a counter attack by Seabee engineers. This was the last important action. As dawn broke, pockets of Kawaguchi's troops littered the field only to be strafed by fighters from Henderson Field. The battle was over. Lieutenant Colonel Griffith recalled the sight of the Japanese dead, "With heads lolling and mouths agape, the inscrutable dead stared with glazed and sightless eyes at the morning sun." Rear gunner, David Galvin, recalled: > "That night was savagery on both sides. That night everything was firing; nothing was held back. Shells went flying over our head. We were very close to the battle and could hear the artillery, the gunfire, the screaming... The next morning everybody was worn out and exhausted, but elated. Nobody was saying anything, nobody talking because it was so horrible... we were quiet, we had our private thoughts. Everybody had a cigarette. I didn't smoke, but even I had one to calm down. Amazingly, the few remaining Japanese survivors continued to fight on the morning of September 14th, making suicidal charges towards Hill 123 and the surrounding areas. Japanese snipers succeeded in killing the head of operations, Major Robert Brown. Sources: [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Edson's_Ridge) Hirohito's War: The Pacific War, 1941-1945, by Francis Pike