- 62 - Pacific War - Battle of Rennell Island, January 24 - 31, 1943

Last time we spoke about the offensive against the Gifu. The estimation of the Gifu defenses proved to be greatly underestimated and it was only after the Sea Horse was taken and the Gifu was severely isolated that its defenders began to crumble. At the last minute 100 Japanese came out screaming, tossing grenades and bullets, but ultimately the Gifu was taken and now the American forces on Guadalcanal could focus on pursuing the Japanese fleeing west. We also finished up the Buna-Gona campaign with the fall of Sanananda. The Japanese fought bitterly tooth and nail to retain their last toehold from their failed Port Moresby campaign. The evacuation was a disaster leading countless wounded and ill Japanese to commit suicide while their comrades fled for their lives trying to break through the allied lines. Those lucky enough to get past the gauntlet of fire went to Salamaua and Lae, where they would have to continue the fight over New Guinea. This episode is the battle of Rennell Island Welcome to the Pacific War Podcast Week by Week, I am your dutiful host Craig Watson. But, before we start I want to also remind you this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Perhaps you want to learn more about world war two? Kings and Generals have an assortment of episodes on world war two and much more  so go give them a look over on Youtube. So please subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry for some more history related content, over on my channel, the Pacific War Channel you can find a few videos all the way from the Opium Wars of the 1800’s until the end of the Pacific War in 1945.  Last time we saw the conclusion to one of the bloodiest battles fought in New Guinea, let alone the Pacific War. The battle of Buna-Gona took the lives of countless Americans, Australians, Japanese and native Papuans whose misery almost never gets spoken about. We also saw a ton of action over on Starvation Island. The Sea Horse was captured, thus greatly isolating the fortified Gifu. When the Gifu’s defenders realized they were cut off from the rest of the army, they made one last hurray into oblivion. 100 or so screaming Japanese stormed out of the Gifu with rifles, pistols, swords and grenades in hand to hurt the Americans as much as they could. After their suicidal charge, the Gifu had finally fallen and now the Americans could focus their attention west.  By January 17th the first phase of the 14th corps western offensive had ended. The 25th division reduced 3 pockets of Japanese that emerged 2 days prior and the 2nd marine division smashed the Japanese around Hill’s 83/84. On the 12th, the 27th infantry had captured the Horse’s Head, cutting off Major Nishiyama’s units then numbering 200 survivors out of an original 600. He was forced to make a last stand. He smoked his last cigarette with tears in his eyes as he had to look his men in the eyes and tell them all to prepare to die, he wrote in his diary that their calm acceptance to this moved him greatly. For the next 2 days he and the men looked for an area they could best serve to give up their lives, to make it meaningful. While Nishiyama kept a strong face for the men, following the orders to make a final stand, privately in his diary he debated with himself if he should try to withdraw the men on his own authority and as he wrote it “even at the expense of my honor”. He knew very well he could make a cover story to save face, some sort of false pretext to save the men from annihilation. But to do so did not only mean dishonoring himself, it meant to dishonor the whole unit. Over the course of those 2 days he sent a runner to the division HQ and General Ito sanctioned a withdrawal and thus Nishiyama and his 200 men escaped annihilation with their honor intact. It was very fortunate for them as General Patchs