page_title: Battle of Mount Austen, the Galloping Horse, and the Sea Horse
section_title: First Battle of Mount Austen
hierarchical_section_title: Battle of Mount Austen, the Galloping Horse, and the Sea Horse / Battles / First Battle of Mount Austen
context_page_description: 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 area on Guadalcanal during the Guadalcanal Campaign. The U.S. forces were under the overall command of Alexander Patch and the Japanese forces were under the overall command of Harukichi Hyakutake.
  In the battle, U.S. soldiers and Marines, assisted by native Solomon Islanders, attacked Imperial Japanese Army forces defending well-fortified and entrenched positions on several hills and ridges. The most prominent hills were called Mount Austen, the Galloping Horse, and the Sea Horse by the Americans. The U.S. was attempting to destroy the Japanese forces on Guadalcanal and the Japanese were trying to hold their defensive positions until reinforcements could arrive.
  Both sides experienced extreme difficulties in fighting in the thick jungles and tropical environment of the battle area. Many of the American troops were also involved in their first combat operations.
context_section_description: On 12 December 1942, a small group of Japanese soldiers from the 38th Field Engineer Regiment successfully infiltrated the American lines from the south, destroying a fighter aircraft and a fuel truck on Henderson Field before escaping back to friendly lines. Two days later, a U.S. Army patrol from the 132nd Infantry Regiment skirmished with a group of Japanese on the eastern slopes of Mount Austen. On 15 December, in yet another night infiltration raid onto Henderson Field, a Lieutenant Ono led four men equipped with picric acid blocks past American sentry positions destroying several P-39 Airacobra fighters. Throughout the Guadalcanal campaign, Japanese forces would continue night infiltration tactics against U.S. forces, but causing few American casualties.
  General Patch, however, was convinced that these events illustrated an unacceptable risk to Henderson Field by Japanese troops stationed on and around nearby Mount Austen. Thus, on 16 December, in preparation for a planned general offensive to try to destroy all Japanese forces remaining on Guadalcanal, Patch elected to first secure the Mount Austen area. He therefore ordered the 132nd Infantry Regiment to immediately seize the objective. While the 132nd Infantry Regiment had little modern combat experience aside from jungle skirmishes and patrols, it was proud of its combat history, having participated in both the Civil War and World War I, and its young reserve officers and NCOs considered themselves skilled in rifle and machinegun tactics and marksmanship.
  The 132nd's commander—Colonel Leroy E. Nelson—directed his 3rd Battalion to lead the American assault on the first of several hills, followed by the regiment's 1st Battalion. Artillery support was provided by 105 mm howitzers from the U.S. Army's 246th Field Artillery Battalion and the 75 mm pack howitzers of the 2nd Battalion 10th Marines.
  The exposed hills making up the Mount Austen complex were arbitrarily numbered by the Americans for reference purposes (see map at right). On 17 December, Nelson's 3rd Battalion—commanded by Lieutenant Colonel William C. Wright—advanced south of Hill 35 and began to climb toward Mount Austen's summit near Hills 20 and 21. In order to achieve its timetable set by the division commander, the battalion was forced to leave behind many of its support weapons, such as heavy mortars and machine guns, and to take only limited quantities of ammunition and supplies, all of which had to be hand-carried along hacked-out paths through thick jungle. At 09:30 on 18 December, as Wright's lead elements approached, Japanese defenders pinned down the Americans with machine-gun and rifle fire. Exhausted and dehydrated by their trek through the thick jungle, Wright's troops—unable to deploy quickly out of column formation—made no headway against the Japanese defenses.
  The next morning, after an artillery barrage and air strike from the CAF, Wright went forward with several artillery observers to investigate the terrain in front of his forces. Using concealed fire lanes, a Japanese machine-gun team killed Wright with a burst of fire at 09:30. Wright's second in command, Major Louis Franco, was unable to get forward and take command until late in the day, preventing the battalion from continuing the attack. At the same time, Japanese riflemen infiltrated the American positions and effectively harassed the command posts of both the 3rd and 1st Battalions as well as the column of heavily loaded American supply and engineer parties on the hacked-out jungle trail linking the battalions with the Lunga perimeter. Both U.S. battalions dug in for the night while artillery bombarded the Japanese positions.
  Between 20 and 23 December, the Japanese apparently withdrew from the area, as aggressive U.S. Army patrols encountered no more enemy in the area of Hills 20 and 21 and further to the south. Nelson ordered the two battalions to move west to Hill 31 and then attack south towards Hill 27. On 24 December, the 3rd Battalion was halted on the slopes of Hill 31 by intense machine-gun fire from well-concealed 
caption: U.S. actions around the Gifu on 2 January