The Saber and Scroll
1st Marine Division Lunga Point perimeter , 12-14 September 1942 . Source : West Point Atlas of the Second World War Asia and the Pacific , Diagram 17C .
Imperial Japanese General Headquarters reacted quickly to the threat . However , their response was ineffective because estimates of the landing force ’ s size and Marine intentions were flawed . IGHQ believed fewer than 2,000 Marines landed on Guadalcanal , and like the 2nd Raider Battalion ’ s raid on Makin Atoll ( 17 to 18 August 1942 ), the Marines would destroy the airfield and depart . The Japanese were wrong on both counts .
By mid-September , Major General Archer A . Vandergrift ’ s 1st Marine Division , 11,000 strong , had scratched out a defensive perimeter surrounding
Henderson Filed despite being short of men and critical supplies . Fearing a Japanese counter-landing on Lunga Point more than an attack from the island ’ s interior , Vandergrift ’ s lines were weakest to the south .
After heavy fighting on Tulagi and a commando-style raid on the Japanese supply depot at Tasimboko , the depleted 1st Raider and the 1st Parachute Battalions needed a rest . Vandergrift placed the exhausted Marines on a grassy hog-back ridge several thousand yards south of the airfield for rest and recuperation . Lieutenant Colonel Merritt A . ( Red Mike ) Edson , in over-
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