US invasion fleet under attack
8th August 1942: Japanese attack US ships off Guadalcanal as the U.S. Marines get established ashore
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On the 7th August 1942, just eight months since the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour, the United States started its island campaign in the Pacific - the U.S Marines landed on the South Solomon islands of Guadalcanal, Tulagi and Florida. The landings themselves were unopposed and the Japanese, who had been holding the airfield on Guadalcanal -later to be known as Henderson Field, retreated into the jungle.
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