7 août 1942 - Start of the Battle of Guadalcanal

Description:

The Japanese were building an air base on the island of Guadalcanal. They would use this air base to eventually try to launch an attack on Australia. Guadalcanal is an island located East of New Guinea. If captured the Japanese could have used this island to block US supplies to reach Australia and New Zealand.
On August 7th, Allied troops launched their attack. First, the planes quickly flew in and disabled the Japanese airbase. Soon after infantry started to move in. By the next day, Allied troops captured the airfield and later renamed it Henderson Field.