| Original caption: “Gunnery experts. These Marines on Guadalcanal proved to the Jap[anese] that Marines are artillery experts. The gun crew here is using a seventy five millimeter pack howitzer, a favorite Marine weapon because of its mobility, to shell a Jap[anese] position.” United States 11th Marines operate a M1A1 75 millimeter (3 inch) pack howitzer on an M8 gun carriage on Guadalcanal. The lean condition of the crew indicate that they have received insufficient nutrition during this combat operation. The gun pit was captured from the Japanese. Note the camouflaged sandbags. By mid-October, the arrival of many fresh American troops had allowed United States Marine Corps Major General Alexander A. Vandegrift (March 13, 1887 – May 8, 1973) to expand the Lunga Point Perimeter with a tentative western salient that reached all the way to the east bank of the Matanikau River. On October 20, a reinforced 3rd Battalion, 1st Marines held a line of outposts and fortifications along the river and the beach. A dozen Japanese Type 97 Medium Tanks of the 1st Independent Tank Company commanded by Captain Yoshito Maeda (???? – October 23, 1942) – the 1st to appear on Guadalcanal – probed across the sandspit at the river’s mouth during the evening of October 20, but 1 of the tanks was disabled by a Marine 37 millimeter (1.47 inch) antitank gun, and the rest withdrew. The next night, 9 tanks and a large infantry force made an appearance, also at the sandspit, but they also withdrew when the Marine 37 millimeter antitank gun disabled another tank. Except for by-then-routine artillery and mortar fire, it was quiet along the Matanikau on October 22 and the daylight hours of October 23. The Japanese western assault commander had received word of the 2nd delay in the inland attack, but he received no news of a 3rd delay. Feeling obliged to support the inland attack at all costs, he ordered the twice-delayed assault to begin October 23 at 1800 hours. Thus, as Japanese artillery fire intensified by several orders of magnitude, 600 Imperial Japanese Army soldiers and 9 tanks moved up to the river to attack 3rd Battalion, 1st Marines. The sudden intensification of the Japanese artillery fire caused the commander of the 11th Marines, Brigadier General Pedro del Valle (August 28, 1893 – April 28, 1978), to shift 10 of his regiment’s 87 millimeter pack howitzer and 105 millimeter (4.1-inch) howitzer batteries (40 howitzers in all) from internal positions to ad hoc battery sites within range of the Matanikau. Each battery opened fire against the east bank of the Matanikau as soon as it could be moved, and scores of rounds fell directly on the waiting Japanese infantrymen. When the Japanese tanks tried to force a breach at the sandspit, they ran into a single 37 millimeter antitank gun and a halftrack-mounted 75 millimeter antitank gun manned by Marine 1st Special Weapons Battalion crews. The 1st 37 millimeter round set fire to a Japanese tank, and that lighted the sandspit area adequately for a unique slaughter. In minutes, the 37 millimeter crew destroyed 4 of the tanks, the halftrack crew got 4, and an infantryman got 1 when he remained in his foxhole and stuffed a hand grenade into the monster’s wheels. At the same time, the artillery and 3rd Battalion, 1st Marines’ 4-gun 81 millimeter (3.1 inch) mortar platoon killed several 100 Japanese infantrymen before the Japanese could even mount their assault. At very light cost to the Marines, the Japanese Matanikau assault never quite got off the ground. The M1 pack howitzer saw extensive service with the United States Marine Corps throughout World War II in almost every major landing in the Pacific. Crewed by 5 Marines, the howitzer could hurl a 16-pound (7.25 kilogram) shell nearly 10,000 yards. During the Guadalcanal Campaign, Marine artillerymen fired 2,366 rounds at an average range of 1,500 yards. Nicknamed “Little Dynamite” by the Marines, the “Pack seventy five” was light, maneuverable and capable of rapid direct and indirect fire at almost any elevation. They could be broken down into 4 main components for portability in rough terrain. American troops, in accordance with standard tactical doctrines, were relying heavily upon artillery for both offense and defense despite inaccurate maps, limited observation, and the difficulties of hauling ammunition through the rainforest. Of the 3 calibers of howitzers generally used on Guadalcanal, the M1 75 millimeter pack howitzer, though mobile, was often too light to penetrate the rainforest canopy; the M2A1 105 millimeter howitzer was very good, and the M1918 155 millimeter howitzer was excellent. | |
| Image Filename | wwii1690.jpg |
| Image Size | 2.60 MB |
| Image Dimensions | 5847 x 4689 |
| Photographer | |
| Photographer Title | United States Marine Corps |
| Caption Author | Written or Adapted by Jason McDonald |
| Date Photographed | October 1, 1942 |
| Location | |
| City | |
| State or Province | Guadalcanal |
| Country | Solomons |
| Archive | National Archives and Records Administration |
| Record Number | 127-GR-14-88-50515 |
| Status | Caption ©2026 MFA Productions LLC Please Do Not Duplicate or Distribute Without Permission; Image in the Public Domain |
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