Wolfhounds Attack Galloping Horse (10 JAN 1943)

Photo By Erin Thompson | Aerial photograph with the "Galloping Horse" outlined.  

UNITED STATES

01.08.2024

Courtesy Story

U.S. Army Intelligence Center of Excellence

by Michael E. Bigelow, INSCOM Command Historian

WOLFHOUNDS ATTACK GALLOPING HORSE
On 10 January 1943, Col. William A. McCulloch’s 27th Infantry—nicknamed the Wolfhounds—attacked to seize a hill mass known as the Galloping Horse on Guadalcanal. In the days before the attack, Maj. Robert Bereuter, the regimental S-2, gathered the available information on the enemy and terrain for the attack.

The 26-year-old Major Bereuter had been with the regiment in Hawaii for almost two and a half years. During that time, he had served in a variety of positions, including every staff position on the battalion level. On 7 December 1941, he was the first officer to arrive at the regimental headquarters north of Pearl Harbor and directed the placement of machine guns on the barrack’s roof to fire at the Japanese aircraft. Over the ensuing months, “Each officer and soldier, after the humiliating attack,” Bereuter noted, “trained with extreme vigor prior to departure for the combat zone so that he would be physically fit and have perfected teamwork when the time came to settle that score on the battlefield.”

The regiment’s departure for a combat zone came at the end of November 1942 as part of Maj. Gen. Joseph Collins’ 25th Infantry Division. By mid-December, the division began reinforcing American forces on Guadalcanal. As its last soldiers debarked on 4 January 1943, the time to settle the score came almost immediately. The American leadership wanted to launch an attack “very quickly in order that [the] division, fresh from Hawaii, would not come down with sickness before the attack” and could physically push through the jungles for the operation.

On Monday, 4 January, General Collins received a warning order to attack the next Sunday, 10 January. Attacking to the south and southwest, the division was to clear the Japanese off Mount Austen and then attack in zone approximately 3,000 yards to the west. While the 35th Infantry
pushed over Mount Austen, Collins ordered the 27th Infantry to strike west. Knowing their general zone of attack, McCulloch and the Wolfhounds began reconnoitering.

Meanwhile, Bereuter began to gather information on the enemy forces. From Lt. Col. Stuart Crawford, Collins’ G-2, he learned the enemy’s defenses “appear to be in widely separated strong points with intervals covered by snipers, roving patrols and partially prepared positions occupied intermittently.” Japanese operations, the G-2’s estimate continued, “have been characterized by crafty use of jungle terrain and vegetation, a high percentage of automatic weapons in occupied positions and very limited employment of artillery.” The estimate had identified elements from four Japanese infantry regiments in the area, but Bereuter thought a reasonable appraisal of their strength “was unobtainable.” Nevertheless, from coordination with the Marines that had held the area and through aggressive patrolling, Bereuter could give his commander a fairly accurate disposition of the Japanese.

Patrolling also assisted the key leaders to better understand the terrain. Their attack would take them over a series of hills shaped like a horse with its head to the southwest and its galloping legs on the north. The Galloping Horse’s hills had extremely steep slopes with thick jungle covering the gorges between. In addition to the patrolling, excellent aerial photography gave an overall view of the zone of attack.

With an exceptional understanding of the terrain and a general knowledge of the enemy disposition, the Wolfhound battalions began their attack on the Galloping Horse. On the first day, one battalion reached its objective on the horse’s forelegs by noon while the other battalion had secured key terrain along on the horse’s flank by late afternoon. It would, however, take two more days of hard fighting to reach the horse’s head, the final objective.


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• Date Taken: 01.08.2024
• Date Posted: 01.08.2024 13:01
• Story ID: 461376
• Location: US