SEPTEMBER 1942
  • Sep 1 . Seabees and 6- 5" guns arrive Guadalcanal.
  • Sep 2 . UnderSec James Forrestal visit ; returns to DC calling for support for Guadalcanal.
  • Sep 3 . Japanese minelayer is damaged by aircraft, Solomons area.
  • Sep 4 . Gregory (APD-3) and Little (APD-4) are sunk by Japanese destroyers off Lunga Point, Guadalcanal.
  • Sep 5 . Japanese Army though Owen Stanley Gap and start down to Port Moresby, New Guinea.
  • Sep 5 . Japanese troops are withdrawn from their tenuous beachhead at Milne Bay, New Guinea.
  • Sep 6 . Dual between flying boats : PBY downs the Kawanishi.
  • Sep 7 . Army loses 11 of 14 P-400 in three days.
  • Sep 8 . Edson Raiders destroy artillery dump
    Sep 8 . Nine planes crash on mud soaked air field.
  • Sep 9 . Reconn seaplane from Japanese submarine I-25 drops incendiary bombs near Mount Emily, Oregon, in an attempt to ignite forest fires.
  • Sep 10. Japanese submarine I-30 returns from Lorient, France, having successfully run the Allied blockade.
  • Sep 11. Last of 6,000 Japanese troops landed Guadalcanal in two week period.
  • Sep 12. Enterprise heads to Pearl after temporary repairs at Tongatabu.
  • Sep 12. Wasp delivered aircraft to Henderson Field.
  • Sep 12. German U-156 torpedoes British transport Laconia, which has 1,800 Italian POWs on board. Open and diplomatic calls for aid, rescue begins.
  • Sep 13-16. Marine Battle of Bloody Ridge defends the beachhead.
  • Sep 14. AAF planes sink Japanese ammunition ship off Kiska, Aleutians, damage 2 subs.
  • Sep 14. 7th Marine division sails from Espiritu Santo for Guadalcanal.
  • Sep 15. Beginning of the battle of Stalingrad, lasts 4½ months.
  • Sep 15. Wasp sunk by three torpedoes from I-19 ; N Carolina (BB-55) and O'Brien (DD-415) damaged.
  • Sep 15. Japanese battleships bombard Guadalcanal.
  • Sep 16. Hornet is the only carrier in service in the Pacific.
  • Sep 16. Laconia Incident : USAAF B-24 bombs German submarines rescuing survivors of the British Laconia.
  • Sep 17. Adm Doenitz forbids U-boats from rescuing survivors of sunken ships : the "Laconia Order".
  • Sep 17. Guadalcanal beachhead is 5 miles by 2½ miles deep.
  • Sep 17. Japanese overland assault stopped at Ioribaiwa, within sight of Port Moresby, New Guinea.
  • Sep 17. Groves promoted to Brigadier and takes over Manhatten Project to build a bomb.
  • Sep 18. Japanese Army, starving, starts withdrawal over Owen Stanley Mountains.
  • Sep 18. 7th Marines, 4,180 men, land on Guadalcanal bringing total to 22,500.
  • Sep 19. Nights are 12 hours long, allowing Japanese DD transports protection from SBD's.
  • Sep 20. Liberty ship production achieves level of sinkings.
  • Sep 21. New depth control on torpedoes ; had been running 10' too deep. (Other torpedo problems continue.)
  • Sep 23. Marines start move through interior to Matanikau River.
  • Sep 24. Japanese land on Maiana, Gilberts.
  • Sep 24. US planes damage Japanese resupply destroyer and seaplane carrier
  • Sep 25. Japanese land on Beru, Gilberts.
  • Sep 25. Japanese ferry 100 fighters, 80 bombers to Rabaul
  • Sep 26. First Marine offensive action fails at Matanikau River.
  • Sep 27. Japanese land on Kuria, Gilberts.
  • Sep 28. 23 of 62 attacking Japanese planes shot down with one US lost.
  • Sep 29. Reconn seaplane from Japanese submarine I-25 bombs forest in Oregon with incendiaries.
  • Sep 30. TF-1 battleships return to San Francisco from Hawaii.
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