Battle of Tulagi and Gavutu–Tanambogo
Land battle of the Pacific campaign of World War II / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The Battle of Tulagi and Gavutu–Tanambogo was a land battle of the Pacific campaign of World War II, between the forces of the Imperial Japanese Navy and Allied (mainly United States Marine Corps) ground forces. It took place 7–9 August 1942 on the Solomon Islands, during the initial Allied landings in the Guadalcanal campaign.
Battle of Tulagi and Gavutu–Tanambogo | |||||||
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Part of the Pacific Theater of World War II | |||||||
United States Marines wade ashore on Tulagi Island on 7 August 1942. | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
Japan | |||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Alexander Vandegrift William H. Rupertus Gerald C. Thomas |
Sadayoshi Yamada Shigetoshi Miyazaki †[1] | ||||||
Strength | |||||||
7,500[2] | 1,500[3] | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
248 dead[4] |
1,500 dead[5] 23 captured[6] |
U.S. Marines (USMC) of the 1st Marine Division, under the overall command of U.S. Major General Alexander Vandegrift, with the USMC invasion force under the direct command of Brigadier General William Rupertus, captured the islands of Tulagi, Gavutu, and Tanambogo among which the Japanese Navy had constructed a naval and seaplane base. The landings were fiercely resisted by the Japanese Navy troops who, heavily outnumbered and outgunned by the Allied forces, fought and died almost to the last man.
While the landings on Tulagi and Gavutu–Tanambogo were taking place, Allied troops were also landing on nearby Guadalcanal, with the objective of capturing an airfield under construction by Japanese forces. In contrast to the intense fighting on Tulagi and Gavutu, the landings on Guadalcanal were essentially unopposed. The landings on both Tulagi and Guadalcanal initiated the six-month-long Guadalcanal campaign and a series of combined-arms battles between Allied and Japanese forces in the Solomon Islands area.