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Hello Kings and Generals, don't forget about "Dutch East/Indonesian campaign" full video on RU-vid. Just keep doing to upload new video about second world war 😊.
This series is by far your longest running and your most in depth dive into any historical era or conflict and from the start till now I've never been disappointed. Having my grandfather serve in the CBI theater this series holds a particular place in my heart and I look forward to every new release and will look forward up to the end of 45'. Absolutely keep it up K&G team 👍
@@npierce14 so why are you using a 4 and a half long video from a different channel as an example to try to compare it to their longest running series that clocks well, well, well over 4 and a half hours long?
@@frantictoast3741 ……I literally just said you were right and idk what I was thinking and W&W is the same channel bro that’s why they have it linked on here
My uncle served with a construction battalion in this campaign and said it was hell all the way. He and most of the battalion were very sick and it took weeks for them to recover. They started on Guadalcanal and built some of the airstrips that were mentioned along side the SeeBees. They were always short of clean water and could not wash up because they needed water for drinking, their rations rotted as did their clothing and shoes. When he and the battalion worked on Luzon their clothing and shoes were better quality and lasted longer. The Japanese had it even worse as their logistics could not keep up with their needs.
This is a massive bin of information put together in way that makes one of the longest and most complex campaigns of WW2 readily accessible and easily digestible. I've been a WW2 Solomons Campaign buff since the mid 70s after reading Air War and Guadalcanal Diary, and even after reading just about every book published on the subject since then, it was still hard to coherently piece together. Thank you for taking the time to weave it all together in a masterful manner, worthy of a modern war college.
If I was a history teacher, I would probably get in trouble for showing too much RU-vid videos to the students. Honestly a lot of great history channels on RU-vid that I’ve learned a lot more from than I ever did in history class. But that’s the American public school system at work for ya.
I don't remember learning anything about WW2 in high school. We learned about Hannibal crossing the Alps & other ancient battles like Agememnon sacking Troy cuz his brother's wife ran away with the Prince of Troy. Stupid kid got his whole family & kingdom killed & ransacked over a piece of ass. I think that they covered the Pearl Harbor attack & the atomic weapons being dropped on Hiroshima & Nagasaki but pretty much nothing in between. And I always wondered what happened for the 4 years in between. I don't even remember learning about the Battle of Midway in school. Or the Battle of Britain. I learned about all of that simply by reading books. I would hear about stuff in movies & knowing you can't trust Hollywood to give a clear picture of what happened, even when they are trying. If something interested me I'd hit the library to see what I could find. And in the words of JRR Tolkien... "If you want to find something, there is nothing like looking. You don't always find what you were looking for but you usually find something." That is a statement that will probably forever remain true. And in a quest for knowledge of what happened.. there are two sides to every story & the truth lies somewhere in between them. And then there are facts too. A fact is something that is the truth no matter what side you are on.
"little less known" is what every one says about every other battle/campaign ever. I know the Marines dont live on laurels but the "1" on the blue diamond literally stands for Guadalcanal. The story got around.
@@Person0fColor Yet, this very battle is about the Battle for New Georgia, which is indeed seldom covered in most documentaries (even most Pacific-centric documentaries ignore it in favor of skipping to the Battle of Tarawa).
This series always reminds me of something that many Japanese people forget. It wasnt only Japanese and American people who fought, slaughtered, and sacrificed their lives on Pacific Front
My father was a member of the 1st Marine Air Wing and arrived in the Solomons in March of 1943. He remained there until 1945 when he came home on leave. He used to tell my brother and I stories (funny ones) about the war. I'll never forget the romantic names of places- Vella Lavella, Rendova and Espiritu Santu. I've never found a more complete account of the battle up the Solomons than this one. Thank you! Greg Daniels
Must have had some cool stories I'm sure! My grandmother's older brother from Malaita was part of the Fiji Commando unit 23, fought in Guadalcanal and later in New Georgia.
The fact that the USN in 1943 used night tactics for bombardment, surface interception and convoy movement, just what the IJN did mostly in 1942, also the USN was getting more proficient with nighttime gunnery on their ships and tactics. How the tide has turned
Interesting. My grandmother's older brother (George Maelalo) a South Pacific Islander from Malaita, Langalanga lagoon, was 19 years old in 1943, and was part of the Fiji Commando Guerella Unit mentioned in 1:10:14 under the New Zealand team that also fought alongside the Americans in New Georgia. He were assigned to unit 23 under Lt. Len Barrow, trained alongside other Solomon Islanders, and Fijians and fought in jungle guerrilla warfare, and scouting missions in Guadalcanal as well as here in New Georgia. He was also part of the end of the Guadalcanal campaign. But then they moved to New Georgia to chase back the Japanese until 1945. He said in Guadalcanal, general Vandergrift divided them into platoons. He recalls that the Japanese occupied the Gaudalcanal area from Honiara to the tip of Guadalcanal and he was sent with many soldiers to Mataniko where the Japanese were holding off the other side of the river in a place today called, Tuvaruhu (the area has hills and jungles). The fighting was very intense, day and night the Japanese bombed the place and fired shells, and then the Ameicans would reply by raining bullets back, even the American ships at sea would rain bullets on to the hill tops, it was like hell on earth he described. At Mboganavera, he recalled he went up the hill and arrived to see nothing but all the allied marines laying down on the grass smoking. He asked "Ai, wea nao enemi?" Translated: "where's the enemy?" Then they said to him, just smoke your cigarette, no enemies here, just hotel here, you got anything to drink?" LOL. He found the American behavior was different. They had a no care attitude. Because, being in the jungle, they don't care of doing anything, if they wanted to do something they just did it, unlike the Australian soldiers who respected their senior officers well. The fighting in Guadalcanal that George Maelalo was part of was around toward the end of the Guadalcanal campaign from what I gatheref from his stories because he never gave specific dates but he did give names. I only reference the events in this RU-vid video as well as the Guadalcanal campaign also covered by Kings and Generals here. So at Guadalcanal they fought the Japanese back. This happened day, and night always before the Japanese retreated. When crossing to the Mataniko river to the other side, you couldn't just run down the hill or you were easy target due to machine gun fire, so plenty people rolled down the hill like drums because it was faster. Many soldiers got hit but you had to keep going on or else you'd get hit too. George Maelalo described that when going down he rolled down the hill and splashed into the river, and crossed to other side to kill a few Japs in Guadalcanal before they retreated. His helmet had leaves on it, making it hard for the enemy to spot him. He splashed into the river and bullets were firing toward him but not at him. He saw five Japs, and shot at them, hitting one. And they pushed them back. Afterwards, now in New Georgia, after the Guadalcanal campaign was over they were transported to and rested at Kokorano on Renova Island. They were preparing for the New Georgia campaign which he would be stationed at until the end of the war. Then toward the end of the war, George Maelalo and the rest of the Pacific islanders there would help build an airport at Ibu. One of his best contributions was for the Americans against a fortified hilly place called Sorokina which was an annoying "fortified position". The Japs had a base there and a radar that alerted them of American planes which really hindered dropping off essential supplies and more importantly, food rations for months. A few Americans and Australians tried to go up to Sorokina to destroy the radar but many never returned. George Maelalo volunteered to go up, and so he was reassigned to a mines division so they would train him how to use a specific mine. Then, was sent off essentially on a stealth mission in the morning where it was still dark to destroy that radar by 6 oclock. He travelled up the bush by himself in the dark toward the Japanese fortified camp at Sorokina to detonate a radar. It's here that he crept and crawled his way into the area, and noted that the Jap guards were asleep. He remarked how fortunate that all guards he passed by were asleep how it was like his custom was operating (side note, he says custom referring to Melanesian practice of heathens before Christianity came to the Islands, which is ironic because George Maelalo was the Son of a Christian Pastor our great Grand father, Clement Maelalo who was a preacher and the first Islander from Malaita to switch from Heathen ways to Jesus, and encouraged us all his children to pray to God properly to stop Heathen/pagan ways, so George makes a reference to saying his fortunes were attributed to custom when without a doubt it must have been God's blessing he was alive is just a way for him to be cocky I guess). He even crept up to one Jap soldier, stole his magazine clip to show as proof to his American superiors that he was in the area, and went up to find the radar. He set the mines on location, then pulled the detonator, and pressed down the two handles, round and round it went to 1600 pressure, ready, touch pull, and waited for 6 o'clock the time to pull. At one minute to 6 ocklock he recalls thinking about his mom back in Malaita who didnt want him to go to war, and how his dad let him come to war because he is a boy. He was thinking probably his mum was right, and why he has to involve himself in this war and maybe this is his last day alive on earth about to kill himself with this mine. By 6 o'clock, he put his leg on the mine pushed it inside, jamming it inside the small hole, and destroyed the radar as it flew up in the air. He successfully destroyed the radar at Sorokina at 6 oclcok that morning, because the Americans said if it isn't by 6 o'clock they would assume he was dead or taken prisoner. Then when the radar exploded, the Japs scrambled around shouting "Merika Merika". Place was so dark, he couldn't see his own hands in front his face but threw smoke bombs around, but when he saw the shadows of Japs, tak tak, down they went, they didn't even see him as he shot around 17 Japs that morning, before running down a hill as the rest of the Americans who saw the radar destroyed and were waiting surrpunding Sorokina, fired bullets and explosions into the area. George found a safe place and waited for the fighting to die down, eventually around 0930 hours, when the Americans came searching for prisoners, and they one of the soldiers saw him raise the American helmet. And the Americans saw it was their scout. He said the name of the captain was Cpt. Tregaskis (spelled phonetically I think) and he showed the magazine he clipped from the sleeping Japanese soldier before destroying the radar that night. After the events of Sorokina destroying that radar, George Maelalo and the other islanders remaining helped the Americans build an airport, clearing trees, digging earth, to evacuate injured Allied soldiers back to Guadalcanal until 1945 when the war ended. There's a lot more stories he told us but that's all for now. Thanks to Kings and Generals
Amazing to hear about some actual cooperation between the IJA and IJN. One wonders what might have happened at Guadalcanal if the Japanese could have managed this.
Nothing would have happened, by February 1942 the Japanese are already over extending their lines just 3 months after Pearl. By September while the Japanese and the Marines are battling for Guadalcanal America is already on a war footing that Japan cant match, The liberty merchant ships by September 1942 are being made in 4 weeks flat, the Robert E Peary is built that autumn in just 4 days. The Japanese cannot build like the Americans and once production outpaces tonnage sunk its all over for Germany and Japan. What if the Marines had a fully equipped marine division prior to Pearl? What if during the 30's we heeded Japan's challenge and after the dissolution of the five power treaty we just went ahead and started building aircraft carriers the way the Japanese did? Oddly enough Japan and Germany's best course of action would have been to keep the Americans out of the war, but for Japan this was impossible buts its only America's commitment to non intervention isolationism that allows the German and Japanese empire to grow. The minute America is pulled into war with Japan and then Germany the war is lost. Japan didnt do enough at Pearl, Coral Sea and Midway, maybe they couldve pounded the Americans so hard they would have lost the stomach for a fight, which I doubt, but by Guadalcanal the ship has already sailed and the Japanese while they still have naval superiority are really having their own strategy turned against them. Yamamoto wanted to draw out the PACFleet for a decisive engagement, but what is actually happening is the Japanese Navy is the one being drawn into naval engagements it cant afford to lose or even draw, it must deliver the knockout blow. Guadalcanal for the Japanese was a great expenditure of men and material, for the Americans its a morale booster and gives America some experience with their new enemy. Same thing happened during the American civil war so long as the South was in the union is could sure up its interest in slavery and defend it through the SCOTUS and President and senate and congress, but the minute they become radical secessionists and declare the only way to defend it is through a policy of war and aggression thats the minute they lose control of the situation which is what war really is. Its an admission that you can no longer defend your interests through conventional means. The Japanese for decades were involved in Navy conventions and peace treaties with the Western powers, once Japan realizes they can non longer obtain their national goal through these means they seek a policy of war and aggression.
@@Person0fColor Counterfactuals are always tricky, but specifically at the start of Watchtower, American resources were very limited. They had a big division but not all their equipment and 3 good regiments. With collaboration between the army and navy the Japanese had more resources than that -- just ended up delivering the piecemeal and launching unfounded attacks. Now if your point is that the US could have survived a loss at Guadalcanal with little to no long term impact, I agree. In all probability in just means that they progress through the central pacific as their greater resources start to come online. Once they have Essex class carriers with Hellcats everything that follows is just a matter of time and a loss on Guadalcanal might actually have led to more resources being allocated to the Pacific. (Actually I think everything is a matter of time after Midway and after the US sorts out their torpedo issues) I'm thinking specifically of Guadalcanal itself which from the Japanese point of view is a study in disfunction. A loss on Guadalcanal would never have made the Americans give up.
@@rohanthandi4903 Invective doesn't make an opinion more compelling. The loss of the First Marines was certainly possible at the time -- Vandergrift was concerned about that possibility. Does it change the eventual outcome of the war? No Does it change the outcome of the next few months? Yes.
i love long videos. i genuinely believe that this wouldve been even better if it was twice as long and went into even greater detail. and the day by day thingy at the top helped keep everything in order so it wasnt just an unintelligible inundation of information. it was more like taking turns in a total war videogame. an easy breakdown on wtf happened all over the place that day
This is an excellent video - well researched and well presented. You have to really pay attention, though as there are a lot of moving parts and it is easy to lose track of the larger picture. It speaks to the command and staff work, especially on the Allied side, to manage a truly joint force (all US branches plus New Zealanders and Fijian commandoes) in so many locations. My father served in the US Army this region at the time so it has a special meaning to me.
This is the info I have been looking for without having to read through a ton of books. If I weren't so old and had more time I would stop the video to read all the extra info included. I may come back some day and do just that. Thank you.
Cool. I just got the giant neoprene map for Pacific Victory from Columbia Games, and have it all set up on the table behind me. And this epic documentary pops up in my feed. Merry Christmas!!!!
Central Solomons Campaign=knife fight in a phone booth. Man, it was just a slug match between 2 forces! What's amazing is that the Americans were actually conducting over seas offensives just under 15 months after their fleet was smashed at Pearl.
@@Person0fColor Damn, I forgot about them taking the airfield in August, I had too much tunnel vision on thinking about the Solomon Campaign in the beginning of 43 lol.
35.10 Note on Wildcat firing times: That 18 seconds of firing time assumes you supply power and use ALL guns at once. Turning on only 2 power switches at a time, increases your firing time by using only 2 of 4 or 2 of 6 guns at once. With Japanese aircraft being lightly armored and the captured A6m from the Aleutians having been evaluated by this time, I don't doubt the claims of Lt.Sewett. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-L27bpIKlqo0.html Loaded with Incendiary ammunition, twin 50's can do a LOT.
Indeed. Kursk, Tunisia, New Georgia, Operation Cartwheel, the North Burma campaign, the Dniper River crossings, Sicily and Italy, etc. 1943 was a very busy year for both the Allies and Axis, as well as the year where things turned decidedly on the Allies' favor.
@KingsandGenerals You should write a history book with links made up mostly of your videos and sell it to the public school system. You wouldnt have to do much beyond printing out the transcript lol These videos are so awesome. I just cant get enough 💙💙😂😂👌🏼
My grandfather served in the pacific and in my opinion I think the pacific was a worst theater of war than Europe. In Europe soldiers liberated cities and got women in celebration before back to war. In the Pacific, you got jungle rot, malaria, suicidal pilots, guerrilla warfare, and possibility of being stranded in an island, drowned or worse a pow camp by the Japanese.
Christmas comes early!! Hey Kings and Generals, have you ever thought (once the series is complete) about releasing a hardcover coffee table book of this series? Like,
53:44 Ugaki's Betty Bomber OBVIOUSLY DIDN'T "disintegrate," because he and a pilot survived. They CRASH-LANDED the plane in the water and were barely able to swim to shore
It is considered a Central Solomons Campaign was so widely called "New Georgia Campaign" in this video regardlessly, but the indication since the latest episode of Pacific War Series having they waited back since on July 2023. Hope that on going would like to be more post videos of Pacific War Series
Holy shit, I was waiting for the next long video on the Pacific War, really nice!!! Bit of feedback, can you keep the info boxes just 2 more seconds on the screen? I stop the video for each and every one of them, even if I know it gets summarised in the narration
Why didn’t the Japanese sent the Kokotai fighter wing, the best Japanese fighter group in the area to escorted Yamamoto.. this wing composed of Japanese aces Nishizawa, Saburo Sakai…
I know you folks at K&G and Wizards and Warriors are working on new projects all the time, but I would love to see a video of this detail about Iwo Jima. Keep it up! I can't wait for the next installment about the Horus Heresy on W&W! 🤟
Yeah, I had thought that by the conclusion of the Guadal Canal campaign that the USN had finally realized how devastating the IJN's long lance torpedoes were & that they had a very significant range. In watching this video, it becomes apparent that evidently the USN was still ignorant of the capabilities of the type 93 torpedo. And you would also think that they would hear them on the hydrophones before they launched their own torpedoes. Although I'm fairly certain the USN torpedoes were still having problems at this point too.
Excellent video. One comment, the picture of Major General Hester is wrong. That is the picture of USAF Major General John K. Hester, who was just a LTColonel at that time, serving in the Air Force Provisional Training Command, India-Burma sector. Right picture of Major General John H. Hester can be found in this wikipedia link: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_H._Hester. Again, excellent video. Great effort.
The strangest thing I haven't heard mention is the US Marines invaded Guacanal. My father was in the 3rd wave of Marines to hit the beach. 1st Division 5th Marines.
