Carlson's patrol
Encyclopedia
Carlson's patrol, also known as The Long Patrol or Carlson's long patrol, was an operation by the 2nd Marine Raider Battalion
Marine Raiders
The Marine Raiders were elite units established by the United States Marine Corps during World War II to conduct amphibious light infantry warfare, particularly in landing in rubber boats and operating behind the lines...

 under the command of Evans Carlson
Evans Carlson
Brigadier General Evans Fordyce Carlson was the famed U.S. Marine Corps leader of the World War II "Carlson's Raiders"...

 during the Guadalcanal Campaign
Guadalcanal campaign
The Guadalcanal Campaign, also known as the Battle of Guadalcanal and codenamed Operation Watchtower by Allied forces, was a military campaign fought between August 7, 1942 and February 9, 1943 on and around the island of Guadalcanal in the Pacific theatre of World War II...

 against the Imperial Japanese Army
Imperial Japanese Army
-Foundation:During the Meiji Restoration, the military forces loyal to the Emperor were samurai drawn primarily from the loyalist feudal domains of Satsuma and Chōshū...

 from 6 November-4 December 1942. In the operation, the 2nd Raiders attacked forces under the command of Toshinari Shōji
Toshinari Shoji
-Web:...

, which were escaping
Koli Point action
The Koli Point action, from 3-12 November 1942, was an engagement between United States Marine Corps and United States Army forces and Imperial Japanese Army forces around Koli Point on Guadalcanal during the Guadalcanal campaign. The U.S...

 from an attempted encirclement in the Koli Point area on Guadalcanal
Guadalcanal
Guadalcanal is a tropical island in the South-Western Pacific. The largest island in the Solomons, it was discovered by the Spanish expedition of Alvaro de Mendaña in 1568...

 and attempting to rejoin other Japanese army units on the opposite side of the U.S. Lunga perimeter.

In a series of small unit engagements over 29 days, the 2nd Raiders killed almost 500 Japanese soldiers while suffering only 16 killed. The raiders also captured a Japanese artillery cannon that was delivering harassing gunfire on Henderson Field
Henderson Field (Guadalcanal)
Henderson Field is a former military airfield on Guadacanal, Solomon Islands during World War II. Today it is Honiara International Airport.-Japanese construction:...

, the Allied
Allies of World War II
The Allies of World War II were the countries that opposed the Axis powers during the Second World War . Former Axis states contributing to the Allied victory are not considered Allied states...

 airfield at Lunga Point
Lunga Point
Lunga Point is a promontory on the northern coast of Guadalcanal, the site of a naval battle during World War II. It was also the name of a nearby airfield, later named Henderson Field....

 on Guadalcanal.

Guadalcanal campaign

On 7 August 1942, Allied forces (primarily U.S.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 Marines
United States Marine Corps
The United States Marine Corps is a branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for providing power projection from the sea, using the mobility of the United States Navy to deliver combined-arms task forces rapidly. It is one of seven uniformed services of the United States...

) landed on Guadalcanal, Tulagi
Tulagi
Tulagi, less commonly Tulaghi, is a small island in the Solomon Islands, just off the south coast of Florida Island. The town of the same name on the island Tulagi, less commonly Tulaghi, is a small island (5.5 km by 1 km) in the Solomon Islands, just off the south coast of Florida...

, and Florida Islands
Florida Islands
The Nggela Islands, also known as the Florida Islands, are a small island group in the Central Province of the Solomon Islands, a state in the southwest Pacific Ocean....

 in the Solomon Islands
Solomon Islands
Solomon Islands is a sovereign state in Oceania, east of Papua New Guinea, consisting of nearly one thousand islands. It covers a land mass of . The capital, Honiara, is located on the island of Guadalcanal...

. Their mission was to deny the Japanese use of the islands as bases
Military base
A military base is a facility directly owned and operated by or for the military or one of its branches that shelters military equipment and personnel, and facilitates training and operations. In general, a military base provides accommodations for one or more units, but it may also be used as a...

 for threatening the supply
Materiel
Materiel is a term used in English to refer to the equipment and supplies in military and commercial supply chain management....

 routes between the U.S. and Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

, and to secure the islands as starting points for a campaign
Military campaign
In the military sciences, the term military campaign applies to large scale, long duration, significant military strategy plan incorporating a series of inter-related military operations or battles forming a distinct part of a larger conflict often called a war...

 to isolate the major Japanese base at Rabaul
Rabaul
Rabaul is a township in East New Britain province, Papua New Guinea. The town was the provincial capital and most important settlement in the province until it was destroyed in 1994 by falling ash of a volcanic eruption. During the eruption, ash was sent thousands of metres into the air and the...

 while also supporting the Allied New Guinea campaign
New Guinea campaign
The New Guinea campaign was one of the major military campaigns of World War II.Before the war, the island of New Guinea was split between:...

. The landings initiated the six-month-long Guadalcanal Campaign
Guadalcanal campaign
The Guadalcanal Campaign, also known as the Battle of Guadalcanal and codenamed Operation Watchtower by Allied forces, was a military campaign fought between August 7, 1942 and February 9, 1943 on and around the island of Guadalcanal in the Pacific theatre of World War II...

.

The Japanese were taken by surprise, and by nightfall on 8 August the 11,000 Allied troops—under the command of Lieutenant General
Lieutenant General
Lieutenant General is a military rank used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages where the title of Lieutenant General was held by the second in command on the battlefield, who was normally subordinate to a Captain General....

 Alexander Vandegrift—secured Tulagi
Battle of Tulagi and Gavutu-Tanambogo
The Battle of Tulagi and Gavutu–Tanambogo was a land battle of the Pacific campaign of World War II, between the forces of the Imperial Japanese Navy and Allied ground forces. It took place from 7–9 August 1942 on the Solomon Islands, during the initial Allied landings in the Guadalcanal...

 and nearby small islands as well as an airfield under construction at Lunga Point on Guadalcanal. The Allies later renamed the airfield Henderson Field. To protect the airfield, the U.S. Marines established a perimeter defense around Lunga Point. Additional reinforcements over the next two months later increased the number of U.S. troops at Lunga Point on Guadalcanal to more than 20,000.

In response to the Allied landings on Guadalcanal, the Japanese Imperial General Headquarters
Imperial General Headquarters
The as part of the Supreme War Council was established in 1893 to coordinate efforts between the Imperial Japanese Army and Imperial Japanese Navy during wartime...

 assigned the Imperial Japanese Army's 17th Army—a corps
Corps
A corps is either a large formation, or an administrative grouping of troops within an armed force with a common function such as Artillery or Signals representing an arm of service...

-sized command based at Rabaul and under the command of Lieutenant-General Harukichi Hyakutake—with the task of retaking Guadalcanal. Units of the 17th Army began to arrive on Guadalcanal on 19 August to drive Allied forces from the island.
The first Japanese attempt to recapture Henderson Field failed when a 917-man force was defeated on 21 August in the Battle of the Tenaru
Battle of the Tenaru
The Battle of the Tenaru, sometimes called the Battle of the Ilu River or the Battle of Alligator Creek, took place August 21, 1942, on the island of Guadalcanal, and was a land battle of the Pacific campaign of World War II, between Imperial Japanese Army and Allied ground forces...

. The next attempt took place from 12-14 September, ending in the defeat of the 6,000 soldiers
Kawaguchi Detachment
IJA 35th Infantry Brigade with 124th Infantry Regiment, led by Major General Kiyotake Kawaguchi operated independently of its parent IJA 18th Division as the Kawaguchi Detachment, and was still at Camranh Bay, at the start of the Burma Campaign of World War II....

 under the command of Major General Kiyotake Kawaguchi
Kiyotake Kawaguchi
-Web:...

 at the Battle of Edson's Ridge
Battle of Edson's Ridge
The Battle of Edson's Ridge, also known as the Battle of the Bloody Ridge, Battle of Raiders Ridge, and Battle of the Ridge, was a land battle of the Pacific campaign of World War II between Imperial Japanese Army and Allied ground forces...

. Kawaguchi and the surviving Japanese troops then regrouped west of the Matanikau River
Matanikau River
The Matanikau River of Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands, is located in the northwest part of the island. During the World War II Guadalcanal campaign, several significant engagements occurred between United States and Japanese forces near the river.-References:...

 on Guadalcanal.

Battle for Henderson Field

Between 1 and 17 October, the Japanese delivered 15,000 troops to Guadalcanal, giving Hyakutake 20,000 total troops to employ for his planned offensive. After his staff officers observed the American defences around Lunga Point, Hyakutake decided that the main thrust of his planned attack would be from south of Henderson Field. His 2nd Division (augmented by troops from the 38th Division
38th Infantry Division (Imperial Japanese Army)
The was a line infantry division of the Imperial Japanese Army. The division saw heavy action during the Pacific campaign of World War II, including the conquest of Hong Kong in 1941, the Dutch East Indies in early 1942, and the Guadalcanal Campaign from October 1942 to February 1943...

), under Lieutenant General Masao Maruyama
Masao Maruyama (Japanese Army officer)
-Web:...

 was ordered to march through the jungle and attack the American defences from the south near the east bank of the Lunga River. The 7000-member 2nd Division was split into three units; the Left Wing Unit under Major General Yumio Nasu
Yumio Nasu
was a major general and a division commander in the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II.-Biography:A native of Tochigi Prefecture, Nasu graduated from the 25th class of the Imperial Japanese Army Academy in 1913 and from the 35th class of the Army Staff College in 1923...

 containing the 29th Infantry Regiment, the Right Wing Unit under Kawaguchi consisting of troops from the 230th Infantry Regiment (from the 38th Infantry Division), and the division reserve led by Maruyama comprising the 16th Infantry Regiment.
On 23 October, Maruyama's forces struggled through the jungle to reach the American lines. Kawaguchi—on his own initiative—began to shift his right wing unit to the east, believing that the American defenses were weaker in that area. Maruyama, through one of his staff officers, ordered Kawaguchi to keep to the original attack plan. When he refused, Kawaguchi was relieved of command and replaced by Colonel Toshinari Shōji
Toshinari Shoji
-Web:...

, commander of the 230th Infantry Regiment. That evening, after learning that the left and right wing forces were still struggling to reach the American lines, Hyakutake postponed the attack to 19:00 on 24 October. The Americans remained completely unaware of the approach of Maruyama's forces.

Finally, late on 24 October, Maruyama's forces reached the U.S. Lunga perimeter. Over two consecutive nights Maruyama's forces conducted numerous unsuccessful frontal assaults on positions defended by troops of the 1st Battalion, 7th Marines
1st Battalion 7th Marines
The 1st Battalion, 7th Marines is an infantry battalion of the United States Marine Corps. They are based at the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center Twentynine Palms and consist of approximately 1000 Marines. Famous Marines who have served in 1/7 include Chesty Puller and John Basilone...

 (1/7) under Lieutenant Colonel Chesty Puller
Chesty Puller
Lieutenant General Lewis Burwell "Chesty" Puller was an officer in the United States Marine Corps. Puller is the most decorated U.S...

 and the U.S. Army's 3rd Battalion, 164th Infantry Regiment
164th Infantry Regiment (United States)
The 164th Infantry Regiment, an activated regiment of the North Dakota National Guard, was the first United States Army unit on Guadalcanal.-World War I and interwar years:...

, commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Robert Hall. U.S. Marine and Army rifle, machine gun, mortar, artillery and direct canister fire from 37 mm (1.46 in) anti-tank guns "wrought terrible carnage" on the Japanese. More than 1,500 of Maruyama's troops were killed in the attacks while the Americans lost about 60 killed. Shōji's right wing units did not participate in the attacks, choosing to remain in place to cover Nasu's right flank against a possible attack in that area by U.S. forces that never materialized.

At 08:00 on 26 October, Hyakutake called off further attacks and ordered his forces to retreat. Maruyama's left wing and division reserve survivors were ordered to retreat back to the Matanikau River area while the right wing unit under Shōji was told to head for Koli Point, 13 mi (20.9 km) east of the Lunga River. Shōji and his troops began arriving at Koli Point on November 3.

Aola Bay and the Koli Point action

At 05:30 on 4 November, two companies from the 2nd Marine Raider
Marine Raiders
The Marine Raiders were elite units established by the United States Marine Corps during World War II to conduct amphibious light infantry warfare, particularly in landing in rubber boats and operating behind the lines...

 Battalion—commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Evans Carlson
Evans Carlson
Brigadier General Evans Fordyce Carlson was the famed U.S. Marine Corps leader of the World War II "Carlson's Raiders"...

, landed by boat at Aola Bay, 40 mi (64.4 km) east of Lunga Point. Carlson's raiders—along with troops from the U.S. Army's 147th Infantry Regiment—were to provide security for 500 Seabee
Seabee
Seabees are members of the United States Navy construction battalions. The word Seabee is a proper noun that comes from the initials of Construction Battalion, of the United States Navy...

s as they attempted to construct an airfield. The Aola Bay airfield construction effort had been approved by William Halsey, Jr.
William Halsey, Jr.
Fleet Admiral William Frederick Halsey, Jr., United States Navy, , was a U.S. Naval officer. He commanded the South Pacific Area during the early stages of the Pacific War against Japan...

—commander of Allied forces in the south Pacific area—acting on a recommendation by Rear Admiral Richmond K. Turner
Richmond K. Turner
-Footnotes:...

, U.S. naval commander of amphibious forces for the south Pacific.

The 2nd Marine Raider Battalion was a unique unit in the Marine Corps. The battalion's original organisation and tactics were based around Communist Chinese
Communist Party of China
The Communist Party of China , also known as the Chinese Communist Party , is the founding and ruling political party of the People's Republic of China...

 precepts Carlson had witnessed while serving as an observer with the Communists during the Second Sino-Japanese War
Second Sino-Japanese War
The Second Sino-Japanese War was a military conflict fought primarily between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan. From 1937 to 1941, China fought Japan with some economic help from Germany , the Soviet Union and the United States...

 in 1937-1938. These precepts included promoting equality between officers and enlisted men and making decisions through collective consensus. Unlike the 1st Marine Raider Battalion, which focused on commando
Commando
In English, the term commando means a specific kind of individual soldier or military unit. In contemporary usage, commando usually means elite light infantry and/or special operations forces units, specializing in amphibious landings, parachuting, rappelling and similar techniques, to conduct and...

 tactics, the 2nd Battalion trained to operate as a guerrilla
Guerrilla warfare
Guerrilla warfare is a form of irregular warfare and refers to conflicts in which a small group of combatants including, but not limited to, armed civilians use military tactics, such as ambushes, sabotage, raids, the element of surprise, and extraordinary mobility to harass a larger and...

 force. The training included an emphasis on infiltration tactics and often involved tactical exercises conducted at night. The battalion was organised into six self-contained rifle companies and a headquarters company. Before landing at Guadalcanal elements of the battalion had seen action as part of the garrison of Midway Atoll
Midway Atoll
Midway Atoll is a atoll in the North Pacific Ocean, near the northwestern end of the Hawaiian archipelago, about one-third of the way between Honolulu, Hawaii, and Tokyo, Japan. Unique among the Hawaiian islands, Midway observes UTC-11 , eleven hours behind Coordinated Universal Time and one hour...

 during the Battle of Midway
Battle of Midway
The Battle of Midway is widely regarded as the most important naval battle of the Pacific Campaign of World War II. Between 4 and 7 June 1942, approximately one month after the Battle of the Coral Sea and six months after Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor, the United States Navy decisively defeated...

 in May 1942 and the near disastrous Makin Island raid
Makin Island raid
The Makin Island Raid was an attack by the United States Marine Corps on Japanese military forces on Makin Island in the Pacific Ocean...

 in August.

In early November, Vandegrift, fearing that the Japanese were planning an assault on the Lunga perimeter from the east using Shōji's forces plus additional reinforcements, launched an operation against the Japanese units at Koli Point. Beginning on 4 November, two battalions of U.S. Marines and two battalions of U.S. Army troops attacked and attempted to encircle
Koli Point action
The Koli Point action, from 3-12 November 1942, was an engagement between United States Marine Corps and United States Army forces and Imperial Japanese Army forces around Koli Point on Guadalcanal during the Guadalcanal campaign. The U.S...

 Shōji's men at Gavaga Creek near the village of Tetere in the Koli Point area.

As the American troops were attempting to destroy Shōji's force, Vandegrift ordered Carlson's raiders to march overland from Aola Bay toward Koli Point to cut off any of Shōji's forces that escaped the encirclement attempt. On 5 November, two transport ships headed for Espiritu Santo
Espiritu Santo
Espiritu Santo is the largest island in the nation of Vanuatu, with an area of . It belongs to the archipelago of the New Hebrides in the Pacific region of Melanesia. It is in the Sanma Province of Vanuatu....

 to pick up three companies from Carlson's battalion while Carlson prepared his two companies already on Guadalcanal to march overland towards Koli Point. Carlson arranged for rear echelon personnel at Aola to resupply his patrol with rations every four days at a prearranged point on the coast. A patrol with native carriers would meet the boat and manpack the supplies inland to Carlson's patrol base.

Initial actions

At first light on 6 November, Carlson and his command group, two of his companies, and a group of native scouts and carriers commanded by Major
Major
Major is a rank of commissioned officer, with corresponding ranks existing in almost every military in the world.When used unhyphenated, in conjunction with no other indicator of rank, the term refers to the rank just senior to that of an Army captain and just below the rank of lieutenant colonel. ...

 John Mather of the Australian Army
Australian Army
The Australian Army is Australia's military land force. It is part of the Australian Defence Force along with the Royal Australian Navy and the Royal Australian Air Force. While the Chief of Defence commands the Australian Defence Force , the Army is commanded by the Chief of Army...

 and Sergeant Major Jacob C. Vouza
Jacob C. Vouza
Sir Jacob Charles Vouza GM, MBE was a native police officer of the British Solomon Islands Protectorate, who served heroically with the United States Marine Corps in the Guadalcanal campaign during World War II.-Early life:...

 of the Solomon Islands Police Force set out from Aola on the patrol. The group marched along a jungle trail northwest to the Reko River, arriving on 7 November. At the Reko, Carlson learned that the local Christian mission had recently been raided by Japanese troops who had killed two of the missionaries before moving west. Pushing across the river with one platoon of troops, Carlson encountered a small group of Japanese who shot and severely wounded the native scout leading the Marine column. Returning fire, the Marines killed two Japanese soldiers and drove off another three or four. Carlson's main body then arrived and the column bivouacked for the night.

On 8 November, the column continued through the jungle to the northwest, striking the coast at the Kena River, and overnighted at the village of Tasimboko, 15 mi (24.1 km) from Aola Bay. The next day they crossed the Berande and Balasuna rivers and reached the village of Binu—10 mi (16.1 km) southwest of Tasimboko—in the afternoon. At Binu, about 3 mi (4.8 km) southeast of Koli Point, Carlson established his base camp and prepared to block the movement of any Japanese forces from Koli to the east and south.

The other three raider companies arrived at Aola on 8 November. On 9 November, they moved by landing craft to Tasimboko and, on 10 November marched overland—guided by native scouts—toward Binu. On the way, the raiders encountered a small group of Japanese soldiers and killed three of them before arriving at Binu in the afternoon of the same day.

In the meantime, Hyakutake ordered Shōji to abandon his positions at Koli and rejoin Japanese forces at Kokumbona in the Matanikau area. Although American forces had almost completely encircled Shōji's troops along Gavaga Creek at Koli, a gap existed by way of a swampy creek in the southern side of the American lines. Taking advantage of this route, Shōji's men began to escape. The Americans closed the gap in their lines on 11 November, but by then Shōji and between 2,000 and 3,000 of his men had escaped into the jungle to the south.

On 11 November, Carlson sent four of his battalion's companies—"C", "D", "E", and "F"—to fan out and patrol the area to the north and west of Binu. The remaining company, "B", stayed behind to provide security for the Binu base camp. At 10:00, Company C, which had marched directly west toward the village of Asamana, encountered a large body of Shōji's troops camped near the Metapona River and were quickly pinned-down by rifle, machinegun, and mortar fire. Carlson responded by directing Companies D and E to come to C's aid, attacking the Japanese forces from two different directions.
As Companies D and E moved in C's direction, both encountered large concentrations of Shōji's soldiers and, by 12:30, were involved in intense firefights. At 15:00, Company D commander Captain Charles McAuliffe—with nine of his men—unexpectedly marched into the Binu base camp. McAuliffe reported to Carlson that soon after he had made contact with the Japanese forces, he and one of his squads had become cut off from the rest of his company. After extricating themselves with difficulty, McAuliffe and the men with him had decided to retreat back to the base camp. McAuliffe reported that, as far as he knew, the rest of his company had been annihilated. A short time later, however, the rest of D Company arrived at the base camp, led by Gunnery Sergeant George Schrier, after successfully disengaging from the firefight. Carlson summarily relieved McAuliffe for what he later described as "total ineptitude for leadership in battle" and placed Captain Joe Griffith in command of Company D.

Along with Company F, which had returned to the base camp, Carlson proceeded to the area where Company C was engaged, arriving at 16:30. Carlson ordered Company F to attack the Japanese positions facing Company C at 17:15. In the meantime, the Japanese troops departed the area, which Company F soon confirmed. Leaving Company F at the scene, Carlson returned to Binu with Company C, arriving at 22:00. Company E arrived at Binu about the same time and reported that they had caught a Japanese company crossing a river in the open and killed many of them before withdrawing. Carlson then took Company B and returned to the area that Company F was guarding, arriving at daybreak on 12 November. The Marines had suffered 10 killed in the day's actions and estimated that they had killed 120 Japanese soldiers.

Carlson and the two companies, with Company B leading, marched west towards the village of Asamana on the Metapona River. While crossing the river, the Marines captured two Japanese soldiers and killed a third who happened by in a native boat, then attacked and occupied Asamana, surprising and killing several Japanese soldiers in the village. Signs in Japanese in the village indicated that it was being used as a rallying location for Shōji's forces. Occupying defensive positions around the village and river crossing, the raiders killed 25 Japanese soldiers that approached the village during the remainder of the day.
The next day, when a company-sized column of Japanese soldiers approached Asamana, the raiders called in 75 mm (2.95 in)
M116 howitzer
The 75mm Pack Howitzer M1 was designed in the United States in 1920s to meet a need for an artillery piece that could be moved across difficult terrain. The gun and carriage was designed so that it could be broken down into several pieces to be carried by pack animals...

 artillery fire from the 1st Battalion, 10th Marine Regiment
1st Battalion 10th Marines
1st Battalion 10th Marines is an artillery battalion comprising four firing batteries and a headquarters battery. The battalion is stationed at Camp Lejune, North Carolina and falls under the command of the 10th Marine Regiment, part of the 2nd Marine Division...

, killing many of the Japanese and causing the rest to scatter and retreat away from the village. Carlson and the Marines with him returned to Binu on 14 November to rest and reprovision. In the same day, a patrol from the raiders Company F wiped out a 15-man Japanese encampment discovered by the native scouts.

On 15 November, Carlson's battalion changed their base camp from Binu to Asamana. By this time, however, Shōji's units were no longer in the area, having continued their march deep into the interior of Guadalcanal enroute to the Matanikau. Raider patrols around Asamana over the next two days found and killed a few scattered Japanese stragglers.

New mission

Carlson's battalion was ordered to move to the upper Tenaru River
Tenaru River
The Tenaru is the name of a river on the northern coast of Guadalcanal with a tributary at Savo Sound . During World War II, it was the site for the Battle of the Tenaru River.-References:...

 and patrol around the Lunga River—south of the Lunga perimeter—to locate the trail the Japanese had used to position their men and materiel for their assaults during the Battle for Henderson Field. Carlson's raiders were also to seek out and destroy several Japanese artillery pieces that had been delivering harassing fire against Henderson Field for several weeks. The raiders set up the new base camp about 2 mi (3.2 km) southeast of the Lunga perimeter on 20 November and rested and replenished until 24 November.

On 25 November, Carlson's Company A arrived from Espiritu Santo and joined the raiders. On 27 November, the battalion relocated 4 mi (6.4 km) further up the Tenaru River and established two auxiliary patrol bases 2 mi (3.2 km) upstream and downstream, respectively.
On 28 November, Companies B and D patrolled across the Lunga River and bivouacked in the Mount Austen area, southwest of the Lunga perimeter. The same day, Companies A and F patrolled further south between the Lunga and the Tenaru. On 30 November, the raiders found a Japanese 75 mm mountain gun
Type 41 75 mm Mountain Gun
The Type 41 75 mm mountain gun is a Japanese license-built copy of the Krupp M.08 mountain gun. Originally it was the standard pack artillery weapon. After it was superseded by the Type 94 75 mm mountain gun, it was then used as an infantry "regimental" gun, deployed 4 to each infantry...

 and 37 mm (1.46 in) anti-tank gun
Type 1 37 mm Anti-Tank Gun
The was an anti-tank gun developed by the Imperial Japanese Army, and used in combat during World War II.-History and development:After the Nomonhan Incident, the shortcomings of the Type 94 37 mm Anti-Tank Gun had become obvious, and the Imperial Japanese Army started the development of a new...

 emplaced on a ridge about 4 mi (6.4 km) south of the Lunga perimeter. As one squad of six Marines from Company F patrolled near the where the guns were discovered, they entered a hidden Japanese camp and found themselves among about 100 Japanese soldiers resting under shelters with their weapons stacked around trees in the center of the camp. In the resulting melee, the raider squad killed about 75 of the Japanese. The rest escaped.

The raiders rested on 1 December and received some provisions by airdrop. On 2 December, Carlson fanned out his patrols around the Lunga River. Company B discovered 10 Japanese camped by the river and killed all of them. None of the other companies encountered any Japanese, but one discovered another 75 mm mountain gun. Late in the day, Carlson received orders to terminate the patrol and take his troops into the Lunga perimeter the next day.

On 3 December, Carlson sent Companies C, D, and E east towards the Tenaru river while Companies A, B, and F headed west towards Mount Austen. Companies C, D, and E reached the lower Tenaru and entered friendly lines at Lunga Point without incident. Companies A, B, and F, however, encountered a Japanese patrol near the summit of Mount Austen. In a close-quarters fight in the jungle, 25 Japanese were killed and four Marines were seriously wounded, one of whom died later.

The next day, Companies A, B, and F set out with the intention of entering the Lunga perimeter near the Matanikau River. Along the way, the Marine column was ambushed by a Japanese machinegun team that killed four raiders. Seven Japanese were killed in this skirmish. The patrol encountered no further opposition and entered friendly lines at Lunga Point by mid-afternoon.

Aftermath

As Carlson's battalion was ending its patrol, Shōji and his surviving troops were reaching friendly positions west of the Matanikau. In addition to the losses sustained from attacks by Carlson's raiders, a lack of food and tropical diseases felled many more of Shōji's men. By the time Shōji's forces reached the Lunga River in mid-November, about halfway to the Matanikau, only 1,300 men remained with the main body. When Shōji reached the 17th Army positions west of the Matanikau, only 700-800 survivors were still with him. Survivors from Shōji's force later participated in the Battle of Mount Austen, the Galloping Horse, and the Sea Horse
Battle of Mount Austen, the Galloping Horse, and the Sea Horse
The Battle of Mount Austen, the Galloping Horse, and the Sea Horse, part of which is sometimes called the Battle of the Gifu, took place from 15 December 1942 to 23 January 1943 and was primarily an engagement between United States and Imperial Japanese forces in the hills near the Matanikau River...

 in December 1942 and January 1943.

During the 29 days of the patrol, Carlson's raiders hiked approximately 150 mi (241.4 km) to cover a straight line distance of about 40 mi (64.4 km) from Aola Bay to the Matanikau River. Carlson claimed that his troops killed 488 Japanese soldiers and captured or destroyed large amounts of equipment, including two howitzers and various small arms and ammunition.

The 2nd Raiders suffered 16 killed and 17 wounded (plus 2 wounded native guides). Non-battle casualties totaled 225, of which 125 suffered from malaria
Malaria
Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease of humans and other animals caused by eukaryotic protists of the genus Plasmodium. The disease results from the multiplication of Plasmodium parasites within red blood cells, causing symptoms that typically include fever and headache, in severe cases...

, 29 from dysentery
Dysentery
Dysentery is an inflammatory disorder of the intestine, especially of the colon, that results in severe diarrhea containing mucus and/or blood in the faeces with fever and abdominal pain. If left untreated, dysentery can be fatal.There are differences between dysentery and normal bloody diarrhoea...

, and 71 from ringworm or jungle rot
Jungle rot
-In medicine:*Tropical ulcer...

. Most of the remaining raiders were also suffering some type of physical ailment. On 17 December, the raiders departed Guadalcanal by ship and arrived back at their home camp on Espiritu Santo on 20 December. At Espiritu Santo, the unit continued to be affected by the lingering tropical diseases many had contracted during the Guadalcanal patrol. In the second week of March 1943, the 2nd Raiders were declared unfit for combat duty, although this finding was never announced in an official document. The 2nd Marine Raiders did not participate as a unit in a combat operation until the Bougainville campaign beginning on 1 November 1943. In spite of the high fallout from disease, Carlson's troops generally felt that they had performed well as a unit during the patrol and had accomplished their mission. Cleland E. Early—a lieutenant in Carlson's Company E—described the long Guadalcanal patrol and the effect on his unit: "Enduring the living conditions was worse than the combat. My platoon went in with 30 men, one corpsman and one officer. When we came out we had one officer, one corpsman, and 18 enlisted, all of whom had malaria, worms, diarrhea, jungle rot and high morale.
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