Combat· World War II
Battle of Edson's Ridge (Bloody Ridge)
Edson's Ridge was the second major Japanese attempt to break the Marine perimeter and retake the airfield on Guadalcanal.
The enemy planned a surprise thrust through the jungle straight at the heart of the American position, aimed at a grassy ridge that ran toward the airfield. American commanders guessed the enemy's route and placed their best men there to meet it. Marine raiders and parachute troops under Colonel Merritt Edson dug in along the ridge. Over two brutal nights the Japanese attacked again and again, closing to hand-to-hand range and filtering past the lines, but the Marines held, falling back to tighter positions and calling in artillery on the attackers. By the second dawn the enemy was spent and pulled back. The stand saved the airfield and became one of the most famous defenses in Marine Corps history.
Podcast episodes on World War II
Record no. 116