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Second Matanikau (1-1 p18-19) When the 5th Marines deployed forward on 7 October, they ran into a Japanese company dug in on the near side of the river just inland from the sandbar. Edson's 2nd Battalion managed to secure most of its assigned frontage farther upriver, but his 3d Battalion was unable to break the enemy resistance centered on a well-fortified defensive position. He committed Company L to the battle and then radioed division for reinforcements so he could reconstitute a regimental reserve. Division assigned Company A, 1st Raiders to the task and the unit marched off down the coast road to bivouac next to Red Mike's CP. That night the Japanese on the near side of the river probed the lines
of the 3d Battalion, 5th Marines, and mauled the company nearest the sandbar.
Early in the morning of 8 October, Edson decided to commit the raiders
of Company A to the task of reducing the Japanese pocket. He placed Major
Lewis W. Walt Based on these changed circumstances and his own observation at close range of Company A's predicament, Edson halted the attack on the strongpoint. His 3d Battalion would continue to encircle most of the enemy position, while Company A went into the defense on their right flank. The latter's position was shaped like a horseshoe, with the left linking up with the 3d Battalion and facing south toward the bunker complex, the center facing west toward the sandspit, and the right on the beach facing north toward the sea. To fill out the thin line, mortarmen and company headquarters personnel occupied the left flank positions. The raiders expected a Japanese assault across the river mouth to relieve the surrounded bridgehead, so the Marines strung barbed wire at the friendly end of the sandbar. The remainder of the raider battalion came up the coast road and went into reserve. Just after dusk the Japanese in the strongpoint rushed from their positions
in an effort to break through to their own lines. They quickly overran
the surprised left flank of Company A and hit the center of the raider
line from the rear. The enemy who survived the close-quarters fighting
in both locations then ran headlong into the wire, where fire from the
remaining Marines cut them down. The lieutenant commanding the raider
company tried to recover from the confusion and establish a fresh line
farther back along the The raiders suffered one additional casualty during the operation. When
Red Mike had gone over to the 5th Marines, he had taken with him his longtime
runner, Corporal Walter J. Burak. While carrying a message along the river
on the afternoon of 9 October, Japanese machine-gun fire killed the former
raider. He was the last member of the 1st Raiders to die in action on
Guadalcanal. On 13 October a convoy delivered the Army's 164th Infantry
to the island and embarked the raider battalion for transport to New Caledonia.
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