Video: '181 - Victory at Guadalcanal - WW2 - February 12, 1943' (Feb. 9, 1943, at 4:51)

(Tuesday, February 9, 1943, during the Guadalcanal Campaign, part of the Solomon Islands campaign of the Pacific Theater of World War II) — U.S. Army Major General Alexander Patch, realizing that the Japanese were gone, declared Guadalcanal secure for Allied forces today, ending the Guadalcanal Campaign on and around the island of Guadalcanal in the southwest Pacific with an Allied victory over Japanese forces.

On Aug. 7, 1942, Allied forces, predominantly United States Marines, landed on Guadalcanal, Tulagi, and Florida in the southern Solomon Islands, with the objective of using Guadalcanal and Tulagi as bases in supporting a campaign to eventually capture or neutralize the major Japanese base at Rabaul on New Britain.

The Japanese defenders, who had occupied those islands since May 1942, were outnumbered and overwhelmed by the Allies, who captured Tulagi and Florida, as well as the airfield – later named Henderson Field – that was under construction on Guadalcanal.

Surprised by the Allied offensive, the Japanese made several attempts between August and November to retake Henderson Field.

In December, the Japanese abandoned their efforts to retake Guadalcanal, and evacuated their remaining forces by today, in the face of an offensive by the U.S. Army’s XIV Corps, with the Battle of Rennell Island, the last major naval engagement, serving to secure protection for the Japanese troops to evacuate safely.