AMERICAN STALINGRAD: STALEMATE

In the days and weeks following the American victory in the Battle of Edson’s Ridge on September 14, General Kawaguchi led his 1,200 surviving troops across the Lunga River, where they linked up with Colonel Oka's battered men; scores of wounded were left by the wayside with the dead. There was no food or medical supplies. By September 19, NCOs were beating the flagging troops and cursing them onward. In the end, the survivors crossed the Matanikau River and emerged from the dense rain forest near Point Cruz, where they rushed to lap up water washing over the beach; many died from ingesting sea water, convulsed in agony. Of the 2,100 men Kawaguchi had led to the foot of Edson’s Ridge on September 12, only 1,000 retired safely to Kokumbona. The Imperial Army’s inability to support and supply its troops made its contribution to the deadly arithmetic of stalemate on the island.