Evening star., 1944-04-28

canal, and enemy air forces bon
by night.
In spite of offensive operatio
troops and supporting naval forces
by our ground troops and by oul
Marine air forces, the enemy by ths
end of September had succeeded ir
putting practically an entire new
division on the island. In addition
more strong Japanese fleet units
had been assembled to the north
ward and the situation again was
threatening. Reinforcements to the
Marines had now become a neces-
sity even though made in the face
of enemy naval and air superiority
Contemplated reinforcements in
cluded Army elements available (the
164th Infantry.
BATTLE OF CAPE ESPERANCE
After our carrier planes had at
tackled enemy shipping in the North
ern Solomons as preliminary, our
naval forces in the area were dis
posed in three groups. One was
built around the carrier Hornet, to
the westward of Guadalcanal. A
second, to the eastward Of Malaita
Island, included the new battleship
Washington. The third, under the
command of Rear Admiral Norman
Scott, was stationed south of Quad
alcanai pending developments. Rear
Admiral Scott's force consisted of
the heavy cruisers San Francisco,
and Salt Lake City, the light cruis-
ers Boise and Helena and the de-
stroyers Buchanan, Duncan, Faren-
holt, Laffey and McCa1la.
On the afternoon of october IL,
enemy forces were reported in 'the
slot" between Choiseul Island and
the New Georgia group, headed for
Guadalcanal. simultaneously, Hen
derson Field on Guadalcanal was
attacked by about rs enemy air.
craft. Rear Admiral Scott there
fore headed north with his force,
which rounded the northwestern
end. of the island about two hours
before midnight. just before mid
night contact was made, and cur
force opened fire.
Taken by surprise, the enemy did
not return the fire for nearly 10
minutes, during which time our
cruisers made the most of the OPP
portunity and delivered a devastat-
ing fire on the enemy force. In less
than five minutes four enemy tar
gets had disappeared, two more
were put out of action by the Helena
and Boise and the Farenholtz, Dun
can and Buchanan each scored tor
pedo hits on enemy cruisers. In
addition. the Buchanan wrecked an
enemy destroyer with gunfire and
set an unidentified enemy ship on
fire.
Boise Engages Cruiser.
When the Japanese opened fire,
the Boise found herself engaged
with q heavy cruiser, and although
the enemy cruiser soon burst into
flames, the Boise wasS damaged.
During this exchange, the Salt Lake
City scored hits on an enemy aux
iliary and destroyer. At this stage
of the battle, Rear Admiral Scott
ceased firing to rectify his forma-
ton, and as most of the enemy tar
gets had disappeared there followed
a short lull.
The Salt Lake City, the Helena
and the San Francisco reopened fire
with telling effect. The Boise dam
age (fire) had been brought under
control and she re-entered the ac-
tion, engaging heavy cruiser and
an unidentified ship, but upon re-
ceiving further damage she was
forced to retire. The Salt Lake
City, meanwhile, had covered the
Boise and, assisted by the San Fran
cisco, concentrated her fire on an
enemy heavy cruiser until the ac-
ton was broken off by the enemy.
During the engagement the Dun
can was so badly damaged that she
had to be abandoned and the Far
enholt was damaged. The San
Francisco had been hit and, as pre-
vicusly stated, the Boise was Sc
verely damaged. Even so, the en-
gagement was a victory for us, at
tributable in part to surprise and
confusion, and in part to the ac-
curaey of our gunfire.
X
Japs Begin Land Assault.
On the night of October 1924. the
japanese began a land assault at
the south of the Matanikau River
anG although thrown back with
heavy losses, continued their attack
the following day. On the 25th
enemy ground forces were sup
ported by naval gunfire from two
Japanese cruisers and four destroy
ers which slipped into Savo Sound
and on the night of October 1925
the enemy ground offensive reached
its peak. At this point the JAP
anese moved their naval units In
force toward Guadalcanal.
Early in the morning of October
26, our patrol planes made contact
with three enemy forces. One OF
these forces included a carrier. An
other consisted of two battleships
one heavy cruiser and seven de-
stloyers. The third, which included
two carriers, was attacked by the
patrolling planes and hits were
scored on one of the carriers.
simultaneously, our carriers
launched three attack waves, one
from the Enterprise and two from
the Hornet. While en- route, the En-
terprise attack group encountered
Japanese planes. After a short en-
gagement, during which some of our
planes were shot down, it located the
enemy force containing the battle
ships and made bomb hits on one OF
them. The first Hornet wave reached
the enemy carrier group without in
reference and reported at least four
1,000-bomb hits on a carrier. Other
Hornet aircraft in that group regis
tered three torpedo hits on a heavy
cruiser. The second Hornet grour
discovered an enemy cruiser force
and succeeded in bombing two
heavy cruisers and a destroyer.
Hornet Hit by Bomb.
While n,lr al irrrof . x,a,S