BATTLE OF EDSON’S RIDGE

Guadalcanal, Southern Solomon Islands • August 7, 1942 On this date in 1942 some 11,000 Marines of the 1st Marine Divi­sion assaulted the north­central beaches of Guadal­canal, the largest of the nearly 1,000 trop­i­cal islands in the Solo­mon Islands chain (see map below). Guadal­canal’s 2,000 Japa­nese defenders were caught by com­plete sur­prise. The amphib­ious Marine…