Edson’s Raiders at Bloody Ridge

In September 1942, the Guadalcanal campaign was barely a month old.

The United States Marines held a fragile perimeter around Henderson Field, the captured airstrip that had become the center of the struggle for Guadalcanal. If the Japanese could retake the field, the Marines' position on the island could become impossible to maintain.

On a narrow ridge south of the airfield stood a battered force of Marine Raiders and Paramarines.

For two nights, they would face repeated attacks by a much larger Japanese force.

The fighting became known as the Battle of Edson’s Ridge.

The Marines who survived had another name for it:

Bloody Ridge.

Guadalcanal

Marines of the 1st Marine Division landed on Guadalcanal on August 7, 1942, beginning America's first major ground offensive against Japan during World War II.

Their most important objective was an unfinished Japanese airfield.

The Marines captured it and named it Henderson Field, honoring Major Lofton Henderson, a Marine aviator killed during the Battle of Midway.

Holding the airfield quickly became the key to holding Guadalcanal.

The Japanese understood that just as clearly as the Marines did.

Throughout August and September, Japanese troops were landed on Guadalcanal in an effort to destroy the Marine perimeter and recapture Henderson Field.

One of the largest attempts was about to begin.

Edson’s Raiders

Among the Marines defending Guadalcanal was the 1st Marine Raider Battalion, commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Merritt A. “Red Mike” Edson.

The Raiders had been created for specialized amphibious operations and were expected to operate aggressively, often behind or beyond conventional defensive lines.

By September, Edson's men had already been fighting hard.

On September 8, the Raiders conducted an attack near Tasimboko, striking a Japanese supply base east of the Marine perimeter.

There they discovered large quantities of food, ammunition, weapons, and equipment.

More importantly, the captured material revealed something disturbing.

A major Japanese force was preparing to attack.

The Ridge

Edson believed the Japanese would approach Henderson Field from the south.

A long, grassy ridge provided a natural avenue directly toward the airfield.

If Japanese troops captured it, they would have a route into the heart of the Marine perimeter.

Edson moved his Raiders onto the ridge along with Marines of the 1st Parachute Battalion.

Together, the force numbered roughly 800 Marines.

They were exhausted.

Many were suffering from disease. Others carried wounds from earlier fighting. The Raiders had just returned from Tasimboko.

There was little time to recover.

On the night of September 12, the Japanese came.

The First Night

Japanese troops moved through the dense jungle surrounding the Marine positions.

Then the darkness erupted.

Rifle and machine-gun fire swept across the ridge as Japanese soldiers attempted to penetrate gaps in the Marine lines.

Flares illuminated the battlefield for seconds at a time before darkness returned.

The jungle made maintaining a coherent defensive line extremely difficult.

Small groups of Japanese soldiers slipped through Marine positions. Fighting erupted behind the lines. Marines fired into shadows at distances that sometimes measured only yards.

The attacks continued through the night.

The Marines held.

But Edson knew the main assault was still coming.

September 13

During the following day, Edson reorganized his battered force.

His defensive line was shortened and pulled back along the ridge.

The terrain offered little protection. Much of the ridge consisted of exposed grassland surrounded by thick jungle.

As darkness approached on September 13, thousands of Japanese troops under Major General Kiyotake Kawaguchi prepared to attack.

Their objective lay just beyond the Marines.

Henderson Field.

The second night would decide the battle.

“You Men Have Done a Great Job”

The Japanese assault struck with enormous force.

Marine positions were hit again and again.

Japanese soldiers surged out of the jungle and climbed toward the ridge while Marine machine guns, rifles, mortars, and artillery tore into the attackers.

The pressure became overwhelming in places.

Marine units were forced backward.

Some positions were overrun.

Edson moved among his men throughout the fighting, directing the defense and encouraging Marines who had been fighting almost continuously.

The defensive line eventually contracted around a small rise later identified as Hill 123.

Behind it lay Henderson Field.

There would be no further withdrawal.

Edson reportedly told his Marines that they had done a great job, but that they now had to hold.

And they did.

Fighting at Point-Blank Range

The battle became increasingly chaotic.

Japanese troops penetrated Marine lines and appeared along the flanks and rear.

Grenades exploded across the ridge.

Machine guns fired until barrels overheated.

Mortar crews dropped rounds almost directly in front of Marine positions.

Artillery batteries near Henderson Field fired into Japanese concentrations dangerously close to the defenders.

At times the opposing forces were separated by only a few yards.

Marine units that had become scattered during the fighting regrouped around Hill 123.

Raiders, Paramarines, headquarters personnel, and other available Marines joined the defense.

The ridge had become the last barrier between the Japanese and Henderson Field.

The Line Holds

Again and again, Kawaguchi's troops attacked.

And again and again, the Marines stopped them.

Japanese soldiers reached positions close enough to threaten Edson's command post.

Some broke through toward Henderson Field but were killed or driven back.

The Marines suffered heavily, but their defensive line never completely collapsed.

By the early morning hours of September 14, the Japanese attacks began to lose momentum.

The surviving attackers withdrew into the jungle.

The ridge remained in Marine hands.

The Cost of Bloody Ridge

The ground surrounding the Marine positions revealed the scale of the battle.

Hundreds of Japanese dead lay across the ridge and surrounding jungle, while many more had been wounded or disappeared during the retreat.

The Raiders and Paramarines had also paid heavily.

Dozens of Marines were dead and more than 100 wounded.

The units that walked away from the ridge were exhausted, depleted, and forever connected to the ground they had defended.

The name Bloody Ridge was appropriate.

Merritt Edson

For his leadership during the battle, Lieutenant Colonel Merritt Edson received the Medal of Honor.

His citation recognized his extraordinary leadership while exposed to enemy fire and his role in directing the defense as Japanese forces repeatedly penetrated Marine positions.

Edson would continue serving throughout World War II and eventually rise to the rank of major general.

But his name would forever be connected with that narrow piece of ground on Guadalcanal.

Edson’s Ridge.

More Than One Battle

Bloody Ridge did not end the Guadalcanal campaign.

Far from