Victory fever on Guadalcanal: Japan's first land defeat of World War II

Following their rampage through Southeast Asia and the Pacific in the five months after Pearl Harbor, Japanese forces moved into the Solomon Islands and began building the Guadalcanal airfield. In July 1942, Americans captured the almost completed airfield for their own strategic use.The Japanese Army countered by sending to Guadalcanal a reinforced battalion under the command of Col. Kiyonao Ichiki. Marines wiped out Ichiki's men, who-imbued with "victory fever"-had expected a quick and easy victory.