Transcriber’s note: Table of Contents added by Transcriber and placed into the Public Domain. Boldface is indicated with =equals signs=. Contents Up the Slot: Marines in the Central Solomons Sidebar: Under The Southern Cross Sidebar: Individual Combat Clothing and Equipment The Munda Drive and the Fighting Ninth Sidebar: The ‘Green Dragon’ Landing Ship, Tank Sidebar: The ‘Long Tom’ 155mm M1A1 Gun Sidebar: Field Medicine Sidebar: Flight Clothing and Equipment Milk Runs and Black Sheep Sidebar: The Douglas R4D ‘Skytrain’ A Joint Pattern for Victory Sources About the Author About the Series Transcriber’s Notes UP THE SLOT: MARINES IN THE CENTRAL SOLOMONS MARINES IN WORLD WAR II COMMEMORATIVE SERIES BY MAJOR CHARLES D. MELSON U.S. MARINE CORPS (RET) [Illustration: _The approach to Rendova Harbor as seen from the deck of an LST carrying Marines ashore. It sails through the narrow Renard Entrance with Rendova Peak in the background and the Lever Brothers’ landing at the right just around the bend. (Marine Corps Historical Collection)_] [Illustration: _The objective of the Central Solomons campaign was the Japanese airfield on Munda Point, which, in friendly hands, would be a stepping-stone in the conquest of the Solomon Islands chain. The airfield runs west to east and a taxi-way snakes through both sides of the field. Kokengolo Hill is on its north side. This photograph records the results of a Marine dive-bomber attack, which resulted in a hit on a gas or ammunition dump in the center of the picture. (Department of Defense Photo [USMC] 55454)_] Up the Slot: Marines in the Central Solomons _by Major Charles D. Melson, U.S. Marine Corps (Ret)_ Operation Watchtower was the codename assigned by the Joint Chiefs of Staff for the reduction of the Japanese stronghold at Rabaul, on the easternmost tip of New Britain Island in the Bismarck Archipelago. The plan called for the South Pacific Area forces of Vice Admiral Robert L. Ghormley (relieved in November 1942 by Vice Admiral William F. Halsey) to move up the chain of the Solomon Islands toward Rabaul, beginning with the Guadalcanal landings on 7 August 1942. In December that year, patrol flights taking off from Henderson Field on Guadalcanal and from the decks of U.S. fleet carriers in the waters around the Solomon Islands discovered the Japanese hard at work on a well-camouflaged airfield at Munda on the northern end of New Georgia. This new field posed a definite threat to the Allies still fighting to wrest Guadalcanal from the enemy. It had to be taken, or at the very least, neutralized. U.S. pilots also reported another field being completed on Kolombangara across the Kula Gulf from New Georgia.