The Guadalcanal campaign ran from 7 August 1942 to 9 February 1943. In this assessment, Santa Cruz marked the point after which Japan could no longer realistically reverse the land campaign, even though fighting continued for months. The geography of Allied supply helps explain the problem. Convoys approaching Australia ran far from Japanese infrastructure, unlike Atlantic and Arctic routes that Germany could threaten from bases in France and Norway. Japan had to extend its own forces across the Pacific to reach those routes, then supply the positions from which it hoped to attack. On Guadalcanal, the defenders' machine guns and mortars depended on sustained ammunition deliveries. Japanese speed of maneuver and determination could not compensate for the shortage of heavy weapons against such supported defenses.
Notable Point · 28:03-31:17
Santa Cruz could not reverse Guadalcanal
Allied supply routes toward Australia lay far from Japanese bases, making it difficult to turn possession of the Solomons into an effective threat to them.