The Navy Withdrew From Guadalcanal — Then Vandegrift Prepared His Marines to Stand Alone

🎖️ In August 1942, General Alexander Vandegrift and eleven thousand men of the First Marine Division came ashore on Guadalcanal and seized a half-built Japanese airfield in a single day. Then, after the disaster at the Battle of Savo Island, the United States Navy withdrew and left them behind with no air cover, thin rations, and almost no ammunition. This World War II documentary tells the true story of what one Marine general did next — how he finished Henderson Field by hand, launched the Cactus Air Force, and held the line at the Tenaru and Edson's Ridge. It is the story of the Pacific War's great turning point, when abandoned Marines forced Japan into its first retreat of the war. 🎖️

00:00 An Empty Sea at Dawn
05:30 The Landing on Guadalcanal
11:12 Disaster at Savo Island and the Navy's Withdrawal
17:33 The Decision to Finish the Airfield
25:13 Henderson Field and the Cactus Air Force
34: Edson's Ridge and the Battle for Henderson Field

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#WWII #WW2 #WorldWarII #MilitaryHistory #WarHistory #HistoryDocumentary #WWIIBattles #SecondWorldWar #pacificwar
#Guadalcanal #Vandegrift #Marines #WorldWarII #PacificWar #WWII #HendersonField #USMC #CactusAirForce #MilitaryHistory #WW2History #BattleOfGuadalcanal #SavoIsland #WW2Documentary #greatestgeneration