Battle at the Overland Trail, One Night of Combat on Guadalcanal
Battle at the Overland Trail, written by Jason Abady, a descendant of one of the principal participants in the fight, is a dream of military history storytelling. The book traces the larger story of the intense World War II battle for the island of Guadalcanal, but principally, the story of the Marines of Company K, 3d Battalion, First Marine Regiment, First Marine Division in their decisive fight for access to the Overland Trail on the night of Sept. 13, 1942. This critical, and often overlooked battle, re-emerged in prominence when William Bartsch wrote an article for the September 1997 Marine Corps Gazette, titled Crucial Battle Ignored. Guadalcanal was the fist major U.S. land offensive against Japan. The Battle at the Overland Trail took place at the same time as the more famous fight on Bloody Ridge, also called the Battle for Edson s Ridge. In each case, the Japanese were attempting to break through the Marines defensive perimeter and recapture the important airstrip, Henderson Field. While Marine Raider and Parachute battalions were staving off determined attacks on the ridge, the 3d Bn, commanded by Lieutenant Colonel William McKelvy, was set to screen the east approaches to the airfield. King Co guarded the battalions s extreme right flank. Most importantly it guarded the entrance to the only clear-cut roads pointing like a spear directly at the heart of the airfield. Known as the Overland Trail, it also led directly toward the headquarters of the First Marine Division, commanded by Major General A. A. Vandergrift. In the battle, the Japanese fiercely and continually assaulted the King Co position. A thin line of Marines was spread out along a company front. The Marines were dug in and were expecting the attack, thanks to a well-positioned listening post. Thinking they had hit the main line of resistance, the Japanese then lost the element of surprise. All through the long night, the King Co leathernecks of 1st Platoon, led by Second Lieutenant William Sager; 2d Plt, led by 2dLt Philip Wilheit; and the 3d Plt, led by 2dLt Herman Abady, fought off savage and repeated bayonet attacks. Assisted and supported by mortars and pack howitzers, they held and blocked the entrance to the vital Overland Trail. After the battle, Colonel Clifton B. Cates, the commander of 1st Marines and later the 19th Commandant of the Marine Corps, remarked that the slaughter he witnessed was worse than what he had been through at Belleau Wood. The book s introduction contains a well written analysis of our war in the Pacific. One chapter includes an outstanding examination of the island-hopping strategy developed directly from the Guadalcanal campaign experience. Also, Abady presents us with a most interesting chapter focusing on the relationship between how we fought our WW II Pacific campaign, and our current Middle East war strategy. This fine volume includes many letters written by King Co Marines as well as new and notable information from Japanese survivors. Battle at the Overland Trail is a true prize; it will give the newly interested WW II history buff a fine overview of the importance of the battle for Guadalcanal, and to someone well-versed in Marine Corps lore, the volume will provide a new view of the campaign and the battle. The book is well-salted with photos and some fairly good maps. However, the battle maps fail to indicate the location and route of the key battle feature, that being the rugged Overland Trail. This inclusion would have been a help to us military map junkies. In this fine volume, Abady has done his father and historians a notable service. Marines, here's an intensely new analysis of one of our Marine touchstone campaigns. In the following years, K/3/1 would fight at Cape Gloucester, Peleliu and Okinawa. --Robert B. Loring, Leatherneck Magazine, March 2013This book was written to shed light on an important battle that took place during the Guadalcanal campaign and has rarely been discussed since that time. The Overland Trail, a road that meandered for miles and led directly to Henderson Field, was a prime objective of the Japanese during the six month struggle for control of the island. In the early days of the fighting on Guadalcanal, the enemy made several aggressive thrusts to secure the trail and push on to seize the airstrip, a move that would have almost certainly been devastating for the leathernecks who had a tenuous hold on it.  On September 12, 1942, the Japanese struck hard. A polyglot force under Lt. Col. Merritt A. Edson that consisted of his Raiders and Paratroopers successfully defended an area know as Lunga Ridge, later referred to as Bloody Ridge. At the same time, however, the Marines of Company K, 3rd Battalion, 1st Marines were also involved in bitter and bloody combat in defending a section of the perimeter that overlooked the Overland Trail. Platoons led by 2nd Lieutenants William Sager and Herman Abady fought desperately, often hand to hand, to repel a Japanese attack by elements of the Kuma Battalion, which had landed on the island days earlier to capture Henderson Field. Upon inspecting the perimeter right after the battle, future Marine Corps Commandant Col. Clifton B. Cates remarked, 'It was incredible that anyone could survive that,' and compared it to the fight at Belleau Wood in World War I.  Abady s book is a good read for those wanting to learn more about a key battle during the Guadalcanal campaign that has been largely overlooked but was nonetheless important in the successful capture of the island by American forces. --World War II History Magazine, June 2013