Guadalcanal campaign

US Marines landed on August 7, 1942 to take an airstrip Japan was building in the Solomon Islands, which became Henderson Field. Guadalcanal was the first battle in the American amphibious campaign to push Japan back across the Pacific, and it turned into six months of attrition on land, at sea and in the air. Both navies fought a string of night actions in the waters nearby, and Japanese air raids on Henderson Field were frequent. In early February 1943 Japan withdrew its surviving troops. Where Midway stopped Japan's advance, Guadalcanal showed that the Allies could take territory back and keep it, and it drained ships, aircraft and men that Japan could not replace.