Guadalcanal
Col Robert B. McClure orders the 2nd Battalion to clear the remnants out of the Gifu. Actions the previous 2 days have convinced Col Stanley R. Larsen that the Gifu can no longer offer serious resistance. The battalion is put in a skirmish line and advances. There is almost no fighting, the Japanese survivors are trying to hide, not fight. Only 1 American is wounded. By nightfall Col Larsen's battalion has cleared the Gifu. Mount Austen is free of the enemy. The reduction of the Gifu had cost the 2nd Battalion 64 men killed and 42 wounded. The battalion has killed 518 Japanese and captured a quantity of small arms. The Gifu garrison has been almost completely wiped out. The destruction of the Gifu strong point has engaged 5 battalions of infantry and has lasted over a month. The last effective enemy force east of the Matanikau River has been wiped out and the 35th Infantry becomes the reserve of the 25th Division, which is then advancing rapidly to the west.
In the morning the 3rd Battalion, 27th Infantry, advances north from its positions on Hills 89 and 91 to Hills 98 and 90. While the 1st Battalion's advance blocks the Japanese on the south, the 3rd Battalion's move extends the regiment's right flank over the undefended hills to the beach to block the hills and the beach road and pocket the enemy facing the CAM Division in the ravines east of Hills 98 and 99.
Once the 3rd Battalion is in position, the 1st Battalion, with E Company and 1 K Company platoon attached, sends 2 columns in to Kokumbona from the east and south. The right flank column - B Company, the platoon from K Company, and 1 machine gun platoon and 2 mortar sections - attack westward over the northern and western slopes of Hill 99. On the left A and E Companies plus 1 machine gun platoon and 2 mortar sections advance north over Hill 90 into Kokumbona. By 1510 each column has traveled over 1,000 yards to join forces in the village.
In the afternoon the 2nd Battalion is ordered to hold the hills just south of Kokumbona, Hills 90 and 97, and to advance west through the jungle north of Hill 97 to complete the defense of the left flank by seizing Hill 100, about 500 yards beyond the west slopes of Hill 97. G Company assumes the defense of Hill 90, and the Battalion Headquarters and H Companies extend their lines west to Hill 97. F Company moves west and kills about 30 Japanese in the jungle draw between Hills 97 and 100 cut by the Beaufort Bay trail and by the Kokumbona River, and takes Hill 100 without any casualties.
Strong defenses are built each night, but the Japanese attempt no night attacks which has characterized their operations on Guadalcanal. During the night a group of Japanese soldiers carelessly march west along the road, talking, using flashlights, and wheeling a 37-mm gun. They are unaware the Americans have reached the beach and walk right into I Company's defense. The Americans open up with everything and kill about 50 of the enemy.
The CAM Div resumes its attack. The 182nd Infantry advances 1,000 yards to its objective, Hill 91, keeping contact with the 25th Division on the left and the 147th Infantry on the right. The 147th advances slowly against enemy strong points on the north slopes of Hill 92 and on the coast road. All 3 battalions of the 6th Marines are committed to action. Despite meeting small-arms and artillery fire, they capture Hill 92 and destroy 3 150-mm guns, 1 light tank, 2 37-mm guns and 2 machine guns.
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