Lat
9° 16' 0S Long 159° 41' 60E Area on the north-west coast of Guadalcanal.
History
Occupied by the Japanese, and used as an area to
land troops and supplies during the Guadalcanal campaign. After a
meeting in Tokyo on New Years Eve of 1942, Imperial HQ issued
an order on January 4, 1943 to evacuate Guadalcanal via Cape Esperance.
Japanese Evacuation
On the nights
of February 1, 4 and 7, 1943 a total of 22 destroyers conducted the
widthdrawal from several locations, thus ended the brutal six-month
Guadalcanal campaign, evacuating 12,198 Army and 832 Navy personel.
The superior American forces, who had local air supremacy never detected
the withdrawal. The Japanese only lost one Destoryer, Makigumo sunk
and three others damage. It is regarded as one of the great evacuations
of the war in terms of success. The destroyer crews were amazed to
see the surviving soldiers, starved living skeletons who had to abandonded
their equipment, and had to waded out to the destroyers.
Ewan Stevenson adds:
"The Americans did a good
job of 'cleaning
up' the area. All Japanese equipment
was taken back to "island depot". I never saw where
the Japanese camps were along the coast. They were not easily identified."
Visale
Coastal settlement on Cape Esperance located at Takolenduna (Nugu Point). Occupied by the Japanese during the war, as part of their beachhead area around Cape Esperance.
Visale Catholic Mission
Founded in 1904 by the Cathloic missionaries. Occuupied by the Japanese, it was used as a radio station location by the Japanese Army. Bombed
by Americans and destroyed. SBD pilot Geiger flew combat mission in a SBD and dropped a 1,000 lbs bomb through the roof of the mission. Postwar, the mission was rebuilt, and is again a peaceful place still in use to this day.
