One Night on Guadalcanal Killed 800 of His Men

When the Marines searched the field on the morning of August 21, 1942, they found a journal on Colonel Kiyonao Ichiki's body — with the battle's outcome written in before it began: "21 August: enjoyment of the fruits of victory." That was the day nearly all of his 917 men died on a narrow strip of sand at Alligator Creek. This is the Battle of the Tenaru told from the Japanese side — the intelligence failure, the doctrine that refused to wait, and the prepared kill zone waiting in the dark on Guadalcanal.