When a 900-Man Kamikaze Charge Shook Marine Lines to the Core

The humid night of August 21, 1942, was suffocating. Dug in along the Tenaru River, the Marines of the 1st Battalion knew something was coming. With Japanese forces closing in, intelligence from a bloodied native scout confirmed their worst fears: Colonel Ichiki’s elite 28th Infantry Regiment was preparing to strike. Ichiki’s soldiers—veterans of brutal campaigns in Manchuria and China—were regarded as some of Japan’s finest, hardened by combat and fueled by the Bushido code of honor. Their mission was clear: recapture Henderson Field and crush the American invaders.

The Marines, however, weren’t caught off guard. Vital maps recovered from a Japanese patrol days earlier had revealed their positions and exposed their plans. As Ichiki’s forces charged across the narrow sandbar at Hell’s Point, they expected to obliterate the American line. Instead, a flare shot into the air, casting an eerie green glow over the battlefield, and all hell broke loose. .30 and .50 caliber machine guns shredded the advancing enemy while 37-millimeter cannons blasted massive gaps in their ranks.

But the Japanese kept coming, wave after relentless wave. As the battle became a brutal nightmare of hand-to-hand combat and muzzle fire flashes, Ichiki found his elite force almost entirely decimated by the unwavering discipline of the Marines. In that moment of desperation, he did the unthinkable. Instead of retreating, he ordered an insane all-out kamikaze charge against US positions.