Japanese soldiers, killed while assaulting US Marine positions, lie dead on the sandbar at the mouth of Alligator Creek, Guadalcanal, after the battle on 21 August 1942.
Date
21 August 1942
Location
Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands
Result
Allied victory
Belligerents
United States
United Kingdom
British Solomon Islands
Japan
Commanders and leaders
Alexander Vandegrift
Clifton B. Cates
Harukichi Hyakutake
Kiyonao Ichiki †
Units involved
1st Marine Regiment
28th Infantry Regiment
Ichiki Detachment
Strength
3,000[1]
917[2]
Casualties and losses
41–44 killed[3][4]
c. 800 killed
15 captured[5][6]
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Location within Solomon Islands
Show map of Solomon Islands
Battle of the Tenaru (Pacific Ocean)
Show map of Pacific Ocean
v
t
e
Guadalcanal campaign
Land
Tulagi
Tenaru
Goettge Patrol
Edson's Ridge
Matanikau Actions
Henderson Field
Matanikau Offensive
Koli Point
Carlson's patrol
Mt. Austen
Naval
Savo Is.
Eastern Solomons
Cape Esperance
Santa Cruz Is.
Naval Guadalcanal
Tassafaronga
Ke
Rennell Island
v
t
e
South West Pacific theatre of World War II
Philippines campaign (1941–1942)
Lingayen Gulf
Lamon Bay
1st Bataan
1st Corregidor
Dutch East Indies campaign
1st Borneo
1st Tarakan
1st Balikpapan
Manado
Ambon
Sumatra
Badung Strait
Timor
Java Sea
Java
2nd Borneo
2nd Tarakan
North Borneo
2nd Balikpapan
Solomon Islands campaign
Guadalcanal
New Georgia
Treasury Islands
Bougainville
New Guinea campaign
Coral Sea
Kokoda Track
Buna–Gona
Bismarck Sea
Nassau Bay Landing
Salamaua-Lae
Huon Peninsula
Admiralty Islands
Aitape-Wewak
Recklesss
Persecution
Biak
Noemfoor
Morotai
New Britain campaign
Operation Cartwheel
Arawe
Cape Gloucester
Neutralisation of Rabaul
Talasea
Jacquinot Bay
Wide Bay–Open Bay
Philippines campaign (1944–1945)
Leyte
Leyte Gulf
Luzon
2nd Corregidor
Visayas
Mindanao
Borneo campaign
Agas
Semut
Tarakan
North Borneo
Labuan
Beaufort
Balikpapan
The Battle of the Tenaru, sometimes called the Battle of the Ilu River or the Battle of Alligator Creek, was a land battle between the Imperial Japanese Army and Allied ground forces that took place on 21 August 1942, on the island of Guadalcanal during the Pacific campaign of World War II. The battle was the first major Japanese land offensive during the Guadalcanal campaign.
In the battle, U.S. Marines, under the overall command of U.S. Major General Alexander Vandegrift, repulsed an assault by the "First Element" of the "Ichiki" Regiment, under the command of Japanese Colonel Kiyonao Ichiki. The Marines were defending the Lunga perimeter, which guarded Henderson Field, which had been captured by the Allies in landings on Guadalcanal on 7 August. Ichiki's unit was sent to Guadalcanal, in response to the Allied landings there, with the mission of recapturing the airfield and driving the Allied forces off the island.
Underestimating the strength of Allied forces on Guadalcanal, which at the time numbered about 11,000 personnel, Ichiki's unit conducted a nighttime frontal assault on Marine positions at Alligator Creek on the east side of the Lunga perimeter. Jacob Vouza, a Coastwatcher scout, warned the Americans of the impending attack minutes before Ichiki's assault. The Japanese were defeated with heavy losses. The Marines counterattacked Ichiki's surviving troops after daybreak, killing many more. About 800 of the original 917 of the Ichiki Regiment's First Element died.
The battle was the first of three separate major land offensives by the Japanese in the Guadalcanal campaign. The Japanese realized after Tenaru that Allied forces on Guadalcanal were much greater in number than originally estimated and subsequently sent larger forces to the island in their attempts to retake Henderson Field.
^Smith, Bloody Ridge, pp. 14–15; Jersey, Hell's Islands, p. 209. There were approximately 900 Marines in each of the three participating battalions plus additional support troops such as the special weapons unit and the divisional artillery.
^Frank, Guadalcanal, pp. 147, 681.
^Smith, Bloody Ridge, p. 71. Smith says 38 were killed in the battle in addition to the three killed in the Brush patrol.
^Frank, Guadalcanal, pp. 156, 681. Frank says 41 were killed in the battle in addition to the three killed in the Brush patrol.
^Smith, Bloody Ridge, p. 73. Smith says 128 of the original 917 total complement of the 1st echelon survived, meaning 774 were killed after subtracting the 15 captured from the total lost in the battle.
^Frank, Guadalcanal, pp. 156, 681.
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