Guadalcanal
The 25th Division begins its attack at 0630. Artillery support fires into the 161st Infantry's zone southwest of the Galloping Horse. While the 1st Battalion, 161st, covers the division's left flank, the 2nd Battalion, which is the assault battalion, moves off Hill Y into the deep jungle marching along an old trail toward Hill 87. The 27th Infantry launches its holding attack at the same time. The 1st Battalion starts over the narrow Snake in a column of companies led by C Company. The Snake, called such from its appearance in an aerial photograph, is a long slender ridge running from a point southwest of Hill 66 near the northwest Matanikau fork to a point east of Hill 87. Artillery fire ceases at 0700 and the 27th Infantry's mortars and 37-mm guns on the Snake open up on Hill 87. C Company starts up Hill 87 but machine-gun fire from the top of Hill 87 forces a halt. American mortars and antitank guns on the Snake silence the enemy and by 0745 the battalion resumes its advance. The battalion deploys, A Company on the right, B in the center and C on the left, and assaults Hill 87. But the Japanese have withdrawn and there is no opposition. By 0910 the battalion has advanced almost 3,000 yards to the summit of Hill 87, the day's objective. The 27th Infantry has reached its objective while the assault battalion of the 161st is still deep in the jungle. Col Clauede E. Jurney's battalion advances past his objective. While A Company holds Hill 87, B Company goes forward 500 yards to seize Hill 88 and C Company advances 1,000 yards west and north to take Hill 89 by 1035. By 1100 all companies are in place and digging in. Watching the rapid advance made by the 27th, Gen Collins goes to Hill 89 to confer with 27th Infantry's CO, Col McCulloch. They agree that the 27th should resume the attack to capture Hills 90 and 97 just south of Kokumbona. The 2nd Battalion, 161st Infantry, continues toward Hill 87 meeting only a few Japanese riflemen and reaches its objective in the afternoon. The 1st and 3rd Battalions of the 161st are withdrawn from the south flank and dispatched to the Galloping Horse and the Snake.
The main body of the 3rd Battalion, 27th Infantry, follows the 1st Battalion over the Snake to Hills 87 and 88. I Company, covering the right flank, maintains contact with the 182nd Infantry in the CAM Division's zone. E Company of the 2nd Battalion moves from Galloping Horse to the Snake's head in the early morning and, later in the morning, the rest of the battalion marches to the Snake to guard the regimental supply route.
The 1st Battalion, 27th Infantry, begins its advance north to Hill 90 about 1400. With B Company in reserve, A and C attack abreast. The 8th Field Artillery Battalion and D Company's heavy weapons on Hill 89 support the infantry. The advance is rapid meeting only a few enemy riflemen in the deep valley between Hills 89 and 90. By 1700 Col Jurney's battalion, having covered nearly 2,000 more yards, reaches its objective, the high ground east and south of Kokumbona, Hills 90 and 98.
The attack by the 27th Infantry has carried it to the high ground immediately overlooking Kokumbona. The 1st Battalion has gained over 4,500 yards and by nightfall the 2nd and 3rd Battalions are close behind. The supply route has been protected and the regiment is ready to exploit its success by moving into Kokumbona.
The CAM Division opens a full-scale attack as part of the Corps offensive. Units from all 3 regiments participate. The 6th Marines attack on the right along the beach, the 147th Infantry advance in the center, and on the left the 182nd Infantry maintains contact with the 25th Division. The attack opens at 0630 supported by artillery of the Americal and 2nd Marine Divisions and by aircraft and naval gunfire. In the zones of the 147th and 182nd the terrain offers the only serious resistance. By 1600 G Company of the 182nd has made contact with the 27th Infantry north of Hill 88. The 147th seizes Hill 95, and patrols from the same regiment meet some machine-gun fire in the ravine to the west.
The day's hardest fighting is near the beach. An estimated 250 Japanese occupying the ravine just west of Hill 94 stop the advance of the 3rd Battalion, 6th Marines, with machine and antitank guns. The 2nd Battalion, 6th Marines, on the 3rd Battalion's left, halts to protect the flank. The CAM Division has advanced about 1,000 yards but its front lines are still some 1,000 yards east of the high groung (Hills 98 and 99) east of Kokumbona.
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