181 - Victory at Guadalcanal - WW2 - February 12, 1943

by Panzer
Phone call- Hitler says what?
That it’s okay to withdraw- you mean retreat?
Wow, he never says that.
But this time it might not matter?
How come?
Too late?
Wow.
For six long months it has been fought over, but this week it comes to its end- the Battle
of Guadalcanal.
I’m Indy Neidell; this is World War Two.
Last week the Battle of Stalingrad came to an end with the destruction of the German
6th Army.
This was an enormous victory for the Red Army, well, for the Allies in general.
It also came on the tenth anniversary of Adolf Hitler’s rise to power.
The Germans were gaining ground in Tunisia, though.
And in the Solomons, there was a naval battle off Guadalcanal and the Japanese began their
evacuation of 17th army from Guadalcanal island.
I did not have time to talk about that last week so I’ll start there today.
It’s called Operation KE and it begins on the 1st.
20 destroyers are assembled for the actual troop movement.
They assemble at Shortland Harbor, but the day begins with five American B-17’s bombing
them.
This is unsuccessful.
These bombers are escorted by fighters, but not so are the 4 more bombers that appear
a little while later, which now have 48 Japanese zeroes to deal with.
Three of those 4 bombers are shot down and KE is neither damaged nor delayed, Shintaro
Hashimoto and those 20 destroyers leave Shortland in two columns at 1130.
The Cactus Air Force sends up 92 planes to hit it in two waves.
The first manages to damage a destroyer, the second damages Hashimoto’s flagship to the
point where he transfers his flag.
This delays the mission by 30 minutes.
The soldiers to be evacuated are ready by 2100, but the Japanese ships are next attacked
by PT boats.
Two attack unsuccessfully off Savo Island and one is destroyed.
Three more attack off Cape Esperance, again losing one of their number without hurting
the convoy.
Two more are hit by air south of Savo and another one goes down.
The transport destroyers reach Esperance and Kamimbo and load the troops aboard to begin
evacuation.