For two months, the Japanese had been trying to keep their soldiers on Guadalcanal supplied with food, ammunition, and replacement troops. They had been less than successful in doing so. The combination of the U.S. Navy and the Cactus Air Force (stationed at Henderson Field on Guadalcanal) was enough to keep the Japanese attempts at resupply at bay…barely. No one should think that this was a cake-walk. The Japanese often taught the U.S. Navy hard lessons at places like Tassafaronga Point and Santa Cruz, but they could never really deliver the blow that kept American forces off their backs long enough to get supplies ashore.
Oh sure, supplies were landed. But all too often, it was a scant portion of what was required to feed the men, who pointedly referred to their locale “Starvation Island”. As December was passing, the Japanese Combined Fleet decided that continued operations on Guadalcanal were pointless. And so they drew up plans to focus instead on New Guinea, which meant the abandonment of Guadalcanal to the U.S. Army (which was now relieving the Marines that had first landed there).
The Japanese Navy was taking a bit of an “interservice” gamble with the decision. It was the Japanese Army who had committed, to this point, upwards of 30,000 troops to the endeavor in the Solomon Islands, with assurances from the Imperial Japanese Navy that those men would be resupplied. And it was the IJN that had failed in its obligations. For them to now come and push policy onto the Army…well…that didn’t bode well for future combined operations.
The Army, surprisingly enough, was amenable to a withdrawal…relieved, actually. They discussed the matter on Christmas Day of 1942, talking of an immediate withdrawal rather than a phased operation, and a refocus on New Guinea and a new, stronger defensive line. The Navy leadership heard, and also accepted, the plan on December 26, 1942.
Operation Ke, the Japanese withdrawal from Guadalcanal, was born.
For the Japanese soldier trained (“brainwashed” is very nearly appropriate here) in the code of bushido, the “way of the Samurai”, and “suicide before surrender”, Operation KE would be a paradigm shift in their thinking. And from their perspective, it was fortunate that this decision would be rarely repeated in the Pacific War.
Recommended Reading: Guadalcanal: The Definitive Account of the Landmark Battle
