Professor Peter Dean, Director, Defence and Security Institute, The University of Western Australia, joins Michael to discuss the Battle of Guadalcanal.

Following its attack on Pearl Harbor (December 7, 1941), the Japanese Imperial Navy occupied islands throughout the western Pacific Ocean. Japan’s goal was to create a defensive buffer against attack from the United States and its allies—one that would ensure Japan mastery over East Asia and the southwest Pacific.

The Guadalcanal campaign, also known as the Battle of Guadalcanal and code-named Operation Watchtower by American forces, was fought between 7th August 1942 and 9th February 1943 on and around the island of Guadalcanal in the Pacific theater of World War II.

It was the first major land offensive by Allied forces against the Empire of Japan. On 7 August 1942, Allied forces, predominantly United States Marines, landed on Guadalcanal, Tulagi, and Florida in the southern Solomon Islands, with the objective of using Guadalcanal and Tulagi as bases in supporting a campaign to eventually capture or neutralize the major Japanese base at Rabaul on New Britain.

Download this podcast here