WW2 Supers d6: Mission Two: A bit of 'hell on Guadalcanal

[BackworldTraveller]

Roger

Roger takes a look around for discarded US weapons and tops off his ammo clips from what he finds and then cleans the Johnson MG - before grabbing a bite to eat and settling under some shade trying to get some sleep. Wake me if the world looks like its about to end, or if we have to move.

[Zhym]

"Did anyone get the number of that bus?" jokes Roker feebly as his strength returns. "And Doc, next time I'm so shot up I can barely tell up from down, I'll try my best to remember to call for a 'Pharmacist's Mate.' Hell of a lot of syllables to call out when you're also trying to tell Death to bugger off and get some Japanese jerks instead, if you ask me. But seriously—thanks."

[Rex]

Gurung

Gurung finds some ammo for his Enfield and rests up.

[Monsieur Rose]

Acme

"Did you lot see Edson? Damnedest thing I've ever seen. I can't tell if it was brave or stupid. Probably both." Marvin seconds Dutch's words and does his best in the debrief to lay accolades on Doc and the rest of the squad.

"Amazing things out there, boys. Each and every one of you should be proud today. I don't know how we would have made it through without each of your special talents. Get better and relax for a bit. I'm sure they'll have us shipped out somewhere glamourous and fancy soon."

[GreyWolfVT]

Wade "What bus? I think some of us were just turned to swiss cheese in areas Roker." still a bit upset at having gotten injured but still slightly proud if his tactics.

[max_vale]

Island of Guadalcanal, 14 September thru 22 October 1942


-14 September:

Immediately following the battle of Edson's Ridge, the various members of SST 4, after being treated for their injuries, went about different tasks...

Gurung attempted to find more ammo for his SMLE and was more than a little annoyed and dismayed when he was unable to find any. Distraught, he grudgingly accepted a Springfield 1903 bolt-action rifle that Acme found for him....

Acme saw to his men, was proud to answer to Edson and each admired the other's bravery and handling of their men during the combat. Then poor Marvin was tasked with a lot of paperwork in writing up After Action Reports and write ups for his men's bravery....

Tucker was able to find both 'Red Beam's' Arisaka Rifle and an officer's Katana and was a bit dismayed to learn that the former didn't seem to be anything more than a standard Arisaka Bolt-Action Rifle with an attached Scope and the Sword was a relatively cheaply made weapon. Nonetheless, he saw to it being shipped to the President, which the Staff Officer assured him it would indeed be taken care of....

Van Horn's question to Franklin was answered with a "Ahhh, no Dutch, my Powers don't work like that....thank the Lord"; when asked about potentially 'borrowing' health from one person to transfer to another. Dutch was both relieved and a little distraught to learn that....

Roker smiled when Doc replied to him; "You don't have to yell out PHARMACIST'S MATE! if you're hurt....just CORPSMAN....that'll do Wolf-Man" with a teasing smile.....

Myers was able to find some spare ammo and clips from a Marine Parachute Battalion gunner who was badly wounded and who also utilized a Johnson MG; and he happily cleaned his weapon nd topped up the clips after his rest....

Wade McGuyver, though healed from the wounds in his legs; found himself with wounds deeper than that....wounds Doc Franklin couldn't heal. His hands shook; his nightmares wouldn't allow him good sleep and he found himself nervous and jumpy all the time. The Surgeons who examined him shrugged and simply proclaimed that he was suffering from 'Shell Shock' (what today we would call PTSD); and recommend he get some leave. He was soon sent to Australia in a PBY Catalina; much missed by his fellow SST members....

15-26 September:

In the week and a half after the battle, the members of SST 4 were sent off on several patrols; kept up at night by bombing raids and shelling; and occasionally had to duck and cover from a stray Artillery Round or Sniper Shot....but they did NOT see any direct action like that found on Edson's Ridge.

Edson had been promoted and was now in command of the 5th Regiment and soon, he was working up a plan to attempt to go smash the remnants of the Japanese Brigade that had been involved in the assault on the ridge. Soon, scouts became aware of a large Japanese Force some 5 miles to the West of Henderson Field near the mouth of the Matanikau River. Believing the enemy to be about 2 companies (approx. 400 people) strong; Edson assembled a force of almost a 1,000 Marines, mostly made up of the 1st Raider Battalion (now commanded by LT COL Sam Griffith); the newly arrived 1st Battalion of the 7th Marine Regiment under legendary USMC LT COL 'Chesty' Puller; and the 2nd Battalion of Edson's 5th Marines.

SST 4 was attached to the 1st Raiders; and soon an attempt to cross the River over a narrow, log bridge was underway and immediately heavy resistance was encountered by the Japanese on the opposite side. The members of SST 4 did what they could to help; but the position was just too strongly held. A new plan was needed....

27 September:

The leaders had conferred and a new plan was made where by Artillery Fire from Henderson along with Dive Bombers and Strafing runs form the Cactus Air Force would be used to 'soften up' the Japanese positions. Then Chesty's Battalion would land on the opposite side of the River Mouth after being transported by 10 landing craft operated by a small group of Naval and Coast Guardsman and supported by the Destroyer USS Monssen. At the same time, the 1st Raiders and the 2nd Battalion of the 5th Marines would again hit the bridge and cross the River to catch the Japanese in a pincer movement.

The problem with this plan was that the U.S. forces were not facing two Companies like they thought, but rather two BATTALIONs worth of troops; almost 2,000 troops. The survivors of Edson's Ridge had been reinforced by the 'Tokyo Express' runs at night and the poor Marines were running into a buzzsaw...

After the Artillery fire, Bombing runs and Naval gunfire from the Destroyer; the attack commenced....and like the day before; the group attempting to cross the bridge, including SST 4, failed miserably. Colonel Griffith was wounded and Major Ken Bailey; a Company Commander in the Raiders who had already won the Silver Star for actions on Tulagi Island on the initial Invasion of 'the Canal; and again had impressed all by continuing to lead and fight at Edson's Ridge despite a head wound; was killed attempting to lead a flanking force further down the river at a Ford. For his actions on Guadalcanal, he would later be awarded the Medal of Honor....

The force hitting the beach were able to do so relatively unscathed, but soon, after the River crossings by Edson and co. were checked, the Japanese shifted forces to surround the Marines on the beach on 3 sides. These Marines, who were under the command of Major Ortho Rogers, were soon being decimated by heavy enemy fire. Major Rogers was killed by mortar fire and the situation seemed dire indeed....

Chesty Puller wasn't about to let his men get killed on that beach though and he quickly began organizing the landing craft, which had moved off after landing the troops; and the USS Monssen; to return to get the Marines out of there. The landing craft were soon making runs back to the beach to pick up the Marines while the Monssen began shelling Japanese positions to attempt to give them cover. Most of the Marines were indeed evacuated; but it was at great cost and Tucker in particular was both proud and sad to learn of the death of fellow Coastie; Signalman 1st Class Douglas Munro. He had maneuvered his landing craft in front of other landing boats that were loading Marines so that they would have some cover from some Japanese Machine-guns pouring fire their way and all the while he manned a Lewis Gun, suppressing the enemy as he literally sailed into harm's way. He was struck several times with enemy bullets, but did not leave until the landing craft had pulled safely off the shore and later that day, he died from his wounds. He would be awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions that day......the first (and in RL, still so far the ONLY) member of the Coast Guard to receive that honor for actions in combat....




While there was a lot of heroism to be found that day; in the end, it was a defeat for the U.S.; and one that left a bad taste in the mouth of all involved. The members of SST 4 had fought bravely, but they had been unable to change the outcome and along with the continued day after day of fighting, shelling, living in primitive conditions and continued cases of Malaria and 'Crotch Rot' and other maladies that only Doc's Talent Powers kept them from truly suffering from; it made for a miserable stretch of time....

-7-9 October:

In early October; that bad taste was knocked out with a follow up action along the Matanikau River. This time the U.S. Marines, again with SST 4 in support, had brought along some 37mm Anti-Tank guns and 75mm cannons attached to half-tracks; and they were soon able to come to grips with the Japanese. This time the crossing of the River led to bitter night fighting and the next day, the destruction of 10 Japanese Light Tanks occurred when the Japanese attempted to use the Armor to make a River-Crossing attack and eventually the Marines brought about the near annihilation of close to a 1,000 Japanese troops by trapping them along the coast and a narrow ravine with the U.S. Forces holding the high ground. The victory was a shot in the arm for U.S. morale; though somewhat cooled by Intel reports in the days following that the Japanese were pouring in troops for another 'big push'....

-16 October:

After just 5 weeks of being on the island; the salt-air and humidity of the jungle had all but destroyed the uniforms and boots of SST 4, along with just about everybody else on the Island. It was quite common to see Marines and Sailors in an undershirt or bare-chests, cut off uniform shorts and falling apart boots with hair all over their face; long hair and what can be described kindly as 'strong smelling'. It was in these conditions that some new arrivals at the airport that day soon made their way to SST 4's 'barracks' (i.e. a few trench/fox-holes with logs and shelter-halves covering about half of the area)....

A group of 8 men, all in clean, new uniforms soon met their 7 counterparts and soon warm conversations were spilling forth. The 8 men were Special Services Team 7; a new group of Talents that had arrived to Relieve them. Their leader was a Marine Captain named Joe Hawkins who had manifested the ability to fly and have an armored body during the Wake Island attack at the very beginning of the War and who had been ordered to attempt to fly to Hawaii to get some relief. He had been unable to make it that far and had ended up exhausted on a tiny atoll in the middle of the Pacific, where he had scrounged out a living on fish and coconuts from the handful of trees on the island for about 6 weeks before a passing Navy ship caught his light reflected off his blade signal. He had done a War Bond Tour and then went thru the first 'official' training class at Camp Hodgins on Hawaii; a.k.a. "Hell's Motel".

His 2nd in Command was a Navy Chief who had been on a Destroyer that got torpedoed at Midway; but it was the senior Marine NCO that the members of SST 4 were thrilled to see. It was none other than SGT Teddy Gomez; their old comrade in arms who had been wounded at Makin Island; and who had now recovered and after going thru 'Hell's Motel' from Sep. 11 thru October 11th; was now back in the field.

The rest of the Team consisted of a Navy Aircraft Mechanic named Dominic Kazanski who had been on a PBY Catalina Seaplane when it was shot down; a couple of Marine PFCs (Tim Wolf and George O'Halloran) whose powers had manifested during the initial assaults on Tulagi and Gavutu Island across the Sound from Guadalcanal in the initial invasion of 7 August; a Marine Corporal named Angelo Delvechio who had been in the Philippines and had been operating as a Guerrilla until a Submarine extracted him; and finally the only non American; an Australian Army Private named Robert 'Robbie' Hood; whose powers had manifested when the Japanese attacked Port Darwin in February in the 'Australian Pearl Harbor' attack.

17-22 October:

The next few days were relatively nice as the two SST teams 'talked shop'; but the knowledge that a massive battle, bigger than anything that had yet happened on the island was brewing ensured that true relaxation was impossible. On the 21st the the official orders for SST 4 arrived to head to Australia for a bit of rest before their next mission and a flight was arranged that lifted off the next day. General Vandergrift himself saw them off and personally thanked them for their efforts and saluted them; a high honor indeed.

All in all the men of SST 4 had spent 42 days on Guadalcanal; 6 weeks. It had felt like 6 months.....

[BackworldTraveller]

6 Weeks and the SST's special talents were squandered as Line Infantry. SNAFU. Give a Line General a wrench and he'll use it to bang in the nails just like any other hammer!