| “Bodies of Japanese soldiers lie half-buried in an Ilu River sandbar. The Ichiki Detachment of the 28th Regiment, about 900 men, tried to overrun United States 1st Marines’ position on Guadalcanal’s coast. Armed with mortars, machine guns, artillery and tanks firing canister shot and high explosive rounds, the lightly armed Ichiki Force was decimated as they made a frontal assault on American lines in 1 of the 1st setpiece ground actions between the Imperial Japanese Army and United States Marines. Ichiki’s men tried to drag 70 millimeter (2.75 inch) mountain howitzers across broken rainforest terrain, including rivers, but Marines later found them abandoned with their ammunition outside their perimeter out of range of American positions. The trail behind them was littered with the supplies they carried. Ichiki attacked with just rifles, pistols, machine guns and swords. Colonel Ichiki, disgraced in his own mind by his defeat, burned his regimental colors and shot himself. Close to 800 of his men joined him in death. The misnamed Battle of the Tenaru had cost 1st Marines 30 killed in action and 75 wounded. Rear Admiral Raizo Tanaka (April 27, 1892 – July 9, 1969) later wrote: “I knew Colonel [Kiyonao] Ichiki (October 16, 1892 – August 21, 1942) from the Midway operation and was well aware of his magnificent leadership and indomitable fighting spirit. But this episode made it abundantly clear that infantrymen armed with rifles and bayonets had no chance against an enemy equipped with modern heavy arms. This tragedy should have taught us the hopelessness of ‘bamboo-spear’ tactics.” This image appeared in the August 16, 1943, issue of LIFE Magazine. The caption read “Faithfulness unto death is the religion of the Japanese Army, as these Jap[anese] demonstrated in the battle of the Tenaru River on Guadalcanal. Any soldier who surrendered would be courtmartialed if recaptured and also expected to commit hara-kiri. Being captured unconscious is no worthy excuse. Soldiers often conduct their own funerals before they leave Japan for the front.” The psychological pressure the Japanese soldiers were under was not evaluated publicly in the United States. | |
| Image Filename | wwii1694.jpg |
| Image Size | 732.17 KB |
| Image Dimensions | 2952 x 2297 |
| Photographer | |
| Photographer Title | United States Marine Corps |
| Caption Author | Written or Adapted by Jason McDonald |
| Date Photographed | August 22, 1942 |
| Location | |
| City | |
| State or Province | Guadalcanal |
| Country | Solomons |
| Archive | Marine Corps History Division |
| Record Number | 50963 |
| Status | Caption ©2026 MFA Productions LLC Please Do Not Duplicate or Distribute Without Permission; Image in the Public Domain |
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