Bodies of Japanese soldiers were scattered on the beach and coconut groves after the Battle of Tenaru River during the Battle of Guadalcanal Island in the Pacific War. About 800 of the approximately 917 Japanese soldiers of the Ichiki detachment were killed in action.

     Bodies of Japanese soldiers litter the beach and coconut groves after the Battle of Tenaru River, another name for the American side of the Battle of Guadalcanal Island in the Pacific War. The Ichiki Detachment, partially deployed on Guadalcanal Island, assaulted American troops who had landed at the Battle of Tenaru River around the airfield on August 21. The Battle of Tenaru River on Guadalcanal was the first large-scale land attack by the Japanese. The Ichiki Detachment was dispatched to Guadalcanal with the mission of recapturing the airfield following the landing of the American forces on Guadalcanal. The Japanese underestimated the American forces that had landed, and repeatedly deployed piecemeal Japanese reserve troops gathered from all over the Greater East Asia Co-prosperity Sphere.

 　The Ichiki Detachment made a frontal attack on the American positions at night in the Battle of the Ile River Crossing, the original alias of the Japanese Army. Under the onslaught of American artillery and machine gun fire, most Japanese soldiers were killed as they crossed the bar of the Ir River. The Americans deployed tanks and surrounded the Ichki detachment, driving it into a coconut grove and destroying it. About 800 of the approximately 917 men of the Ichiki detachment were killed in action, ending at 3:00 p.m. on August 21, but not before firing on the bodies of all Japanese soldiers who had been wounded and bayoneted to death to prevent them from being shot by wounded Japanese soldiers.

   The Battle of Guadalcanal in the Pacific War, a bloody and prolonged battle over the Solomons during the rainy season, broke out on August 7, 1942. In the early hours of August 9, the Japanese battleship Mikawa surprised and destroyed an American covering force in the battle off Savo Island. On August 10, both U.S. battleships and cargo carriers withdrew from the area, wary of Japanese air raids. By August 20, the U.S. forces ashore were extremely vulnerable due to the loss of reserve forces and supplies.

　In the months following the landing on Guadalcanal Island, many desperate and disastrous land battles were fought to attack and defend the airstrip at Henderson Field Airfield. The American forces gradually reinforced their reserves and supplies and gradually expanded their perimeter. Defeated Japanese soldiers refused to surrender, and Japanese soldiers were willing to continue killing American soldiers even as they lay dying on the battlefield.