Battle of Guadalcanal o When: August 7, 1942-Feburary 9th, 1943 o Where: Solomon Archipelago, northeast Australia o Who: Japanese: admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, General Hitoshi Imamura General Alexander Patch, General Alexander Vandergrift, Admiral Richmond Turner o Why: First US offensive against Japan o US had been gathering forces in Pacific while Japan took control of South Pacific. US chose to attack Guadalcanal to take their airbase to use against New Guinea later on. o How: August 7 , 1942 marines invaded island Took islands of Florida and tulagi to the north, then took Japanese forces by surprise in Guadalcanal and controlled air base. Japanese resisted and beat the US’s navy in a battle off Savo Island sinking 4 allied cruisers,
