Department of Defense Photos (USMC) 54765
A BAR man in the bow of the rubber landing craft provides covering fire as the 10-man boat crew reaches the undefended beach of Pavuvu in the Russell Islands.
Department of Defense Photo (USMC) 54468
The 3d Raider Battalion squad pulls its boat into cover on Pavuvu and heads inland.
As the raider skirmish line maneuvers cautiously through the coconut groves and keeps an eye out for snipers in the treetops, it is also wary of enemy elsewhere.
Department of Defense Photo (USMC) 54473
Halsey’s planners initially focused on New Georgia, a large island located on the southern flank of the Slot about halfway up the Solomons chain. By December 1942, the Japanese had managed to complete an airstrip on New Georgia’s Munda Point. Seizure of the island would thus remove that enemy threat and advance Allied aircraft one-third of the way to Rabaul. However, the South Pacific command also was worried about enemy activity in the Russell Islands, located 30 miles northwest of Guadalcanal’s Cape Esperance. The Russells had been a staging point for the enemy’s reinforcement and subsequent evacuation of Guadalcanal. Strong Japanese forces there would be a thorn in the side of an operation against New Georgia and possibly a threat to Guadalcanal itself. Halsey thus decided to seize the Russells prior to action elsewhere in the Solomons. As an additional benefit, American fighter planes stationed in the Russells would be able to provide more effective support to the eventual assault on New Georgia.