137 - The Marines' Assault on Guadalcanal

This is the third episode of our Guadalcanal series with historian and author Dave Holland. This episodes discusses: How the Marines seized conducted the landing and seized Guadalcanal's decisive terrain. Red Beach landing bypasses IJA fortifications at Lunga Point. Vandegrift prioritizes tight perimeter, airfield defense. Carriers withdraw; logistics halved, myths debunked. Japanese forces surprised and how they reacted. Combined arms landings: infantry, artillery, engineers. What really happened with the Goettge Patrol? Logistics speed amphibious resupply. Amtracs and beachmasters enable rapid combat buildup. Modern littoral operations: enduring risk management lessons. Dave is an ex-Marine and was posted to Guadalcananal with the Australian Federal Police. He regularly leads battlefield study tours through the area. He is a world-leading expert on the battles of Guadalcanal and author of Guadalcanal's Longest Fight - The Pivotal Battles of the Matanikau Front. Check out the show notes for this episode .

You can listen to 137 - The Marines' Assault on Guadalcanal online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

137 - The Marines' Assault on Guadalcanal is an episode from The Principles of War - Lessons from Military History on Strategy, Tactics and Leadership. by James Eling.

This episode is 47:22 long.

This episode was published on Sep 23, 2025.

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