of planning and preparation, and movements of the Combined Fleet to divert American attention. When the Americans on Guadalcanal, reinforced to 50,000 soldiers marines, closed the pincers on the Japanese positions in early February 1943, they found that there prey had slipped through there fingers. A score of destroyers in three high-speed night runs down the slot had carried away the 7000 half-starved survivors of the enemy garrison.After almost exactly six months of struggle, sweat, and blood, the 2,500 square miles of fevered jungle and sun baked plain called Guadalcanal was in American hands. As both sides recognized, this achievement far exceeded the value of undisputed possession of one Pacific Island.With the fall of Guadalcanal, Japan was presented with a stunning setback. For the first time in the war, the Imperial military had been defeated decisively on the ground, Dor Brown 21in the air, and on the sea. Now it would have to shift its stance from the offense to the defense, as the ever-strengthening allied forces began pushing their way up the Slot towards Rabaul. For the Americans, difficult fighting still lay ahead, and they would suffer several more tactical defeats at the hands of the Japanese Navy as the battles in the Solomons continued. Yet with the victory at Guadalcanal, both combatants recognized that the momentum of the pacific war had shifted decisively in the Allies favor....
