Battle Report: US Marines of the 2nd Battalion, 5th Regiment landed on the north shore of Guadalcanal on August 27th, 1942, to conduct a second attack on the Japanese base at Kokumbona, which had been reinforced by troops from the 3rd Yokosuka and 5th Kure Special Naval Landing Force and “seabees” from the 11th and 13th Construction Units. The Marines moved east along the coast trail with a second force moving in the jungle to the south. By 0815, a firefight had begun in the jungle southwest of the village, with three platoons led by Captain Kelsey reaching a ridge on the Japanese left flank around 0900. At that same time, the Marine units on the coastal trail had pushed the Japanese Construction troops back into the village. Return combined fire from the Japanese village troops caused the Marine units to retreat back west along the coastal trail. The heavy fire from both sides resulted in units becoming confused and misinterpreting orders, which caused a temporary pause while both sides regrouped. Shortly after 1100 hours, Kelsey’s group turned the left flank and took out a Japanese HMG platoon that had been causing quite a bit of havoc. By noon, the Americans had eliminated the Japanese gun platoons that were in the jungle southwest of the village, opening an advance route for the Marines using the protection of jungle cover. At 1400 hours, American forces moved east along the coast road, but were repelled again by strong Japanese resistance from the village. After over three hours of continuous fighting on the south perimeter of Kokumbona, US forces entered the village. However, a mix of replenished units and original construction troops continued to hold ground southeast of the village until 1515. After they fell, a reconstituted group from the construction forces moved west along the coast road toward the village, but they were intercepted and defeated before reaching it. Their banzai charges between 1600-1630 resulted in US casualties, but all the Japanese forces were eliminated with the Commander choosing seppuku rather than surrender. The Marines recognized that control of Guadalcanal would involve a long, hard fight based on the resilience of the construction and SNLF forces in this skirmish.

Analysis: This 38-turn scenario was played using 4th edition rules and using the rules for “village” terrain from The Kokoda Campaign. This latter step was taken since the town terrain rules didn’t seem appropriate for a small jungle coast village. Victory conditions require the Japanese to eliminate at least five American steps and keep the US from controlling Kokumbona village, with US victory being village control with a loss of no more than 3 steps; any other result is a draw. The US strategy involved creation of two fronts by splitting their forces, with one force moving south to approach the village from the south or east, while another moved directly east along the coastal trail. This was implemented via a tactical approach to wear down the Japanese forces prior to direct assault, since the jungle cover favored the Japanese units with first fire in those situations. With time on their side, the Americans can whittle away the Japanese resistance. Japanese strategy was to protect the village at all costs while inflicting maximum casualties on the advancing Americans. This involved use of jungle cover with its advantage of first fire in assaults and stacking maximum firepower to thwart US advance toward Kokumbona. In this playthrough, the Japanese forces held their ground remarkably well in the jungle assaults but didn’t inflict any casualties until late in the scenario. However, only a single US step was lost in contrast to total elimination of the Japanese forces (23 steps), and the US controlled the village for a victory.