Not only did the Japanese army suffer heavy losses in navy and aviation, but even the army, which had never lost since the beginning of the war, and the most elite 2nd Division, also suffered huge losses, especially the loss of large Japanese warships, planes, and skilled and well-trained pilots, which were even more difficult for the Japanese army to make up for; at the end of the battle, the superiority of the Japanese army in strength was gone, and the strategic posture of the two sides also changed. The strategic initiative of the Japanese army was gradually lost; In the Battle of Kuah Island, the Japanese army not only failed to realize its operational attempt to regain the strategic initiative, but on the contrary, its military strength was further weakened, and finally it completely lost its strategic initiative and fell into a passive situation. From then on, the Japanese army had to shift from strategic offensive to strategic defense, fortifying everywhere, and being passive step by step, until it was forced to the end of the road.www.biquge.info

The Battle of Guadalcanal was a long campaign in the Pacific, immediately following the related and contemporaneous Battle of the Solomon Islands. These two battles have strained the logistical capabilities of the countries participating in the battles. For the United States, this requires prompting the development of effective combat air transport forces as soon as possible at the 1st time. The inability to achieve air superiority to force the Japanese to rely on barges, destroyers, and submarines for reinforcement was a very uneven consequence. Already in the campaign, the American army was hampered by a lack of resources, as their cruisers and aircraft carriers suffered significant losses, but the replenishment of shipbuilding programs still took several months to take effect.

The U.S. Navy suffered such high human losses during the campaign that it refused to publicly release the overall casualty figures for years. However, as the campaign continued and the American public became more aware of the plight of the American forces in Guadalcanal and perceived by their heroism, more troops were sent to the area. This shows that Japan's military industry cannot match the American industry and manpower. Therefore, while the campaign meant that Japan was losing irreplaceable units, the Americans were rapidly replacing and even strengthening their forces.

Japan paid a high price in terms of strategic and material losses and manpower in the Battle of Guadalcanal. Some 25,000 experienced ground troops were killed during the campaign. This massive loss of resources led directly to Japan's failure to achieve its objectives in the New Guinea campaign, as well as the loss of control of the southern Solomon Islands and the failure to effectively halt Allied shipping to Australia. Rabaul, Japan's main base, was even more directly threatened by Allied air forces. On top of that, Japan's ground forces are scarce, and air and naval forces have disappeared forever in the jungles of Guadalcanal and the surrounding seas. Japanese planes and ships were destroyed, sunk in this battle, and the replenishment of well-trained and experienced flight crews, especially naval crews, was completely incomparable to that of the Allies.

On October 24, President Roosevelt instructed the Joint Chiefs of Staff to do their best to deliver supplies and personnel to Kuah Island. Under the president's personal inquiry, the US military has dispatched the latest cruisers, destroyers, and submarines that have just been built to Kuah Island, and has also transferred planes and warships from Hawaii and Australia to strengthen its forces in the South Pacific.

On 26 October, after the end of the naval battle of the Santa Cruz Islands, the main warships of the US Navy in the South Pacific were left with only one wounded aircraft carrier and one battleship, and the "Cactus" air force at Henderson Airport on Kuah Island also reduced the number of planes to 29 planes because of the continuous fighting, the lowest number since the beginning of the war. However, the US military still has air supremacy in the waters of Kuah Island by using the shore-based air force on the Solomon Islands, which ensures that the US military can carry out the necessary reinforcements and supplies to Kuah Island, and Halsey uses all the means of transport that can be mobilized on Kuah Island to fully transport ammunition, fuel, and food. On October 30, the 155mm howitzer, nicknamed "Tom with long arms" by the soldiers, was transported to Kuah Island, which was the much-needed artillery of Vandergrif and outperformed the Japanese 150mm guns in both range and effectiveness.

The victory in the naval battle did not change the difficult situation of the Japanese army on Kuah Island, and the American troops on Kuah Island launched a counterattack on October 26, and the Japanese army was forced to retreat into the jungle because of the heavy casualties, lack of supplies, and disease, unable to resist the American offensive. The Japanese army was tortured in the jungle, and the Japanese pronunciation of "melon" on Kuah Island means hunger, so the Japanese army called Kuah Island "Hungry Island", and because of the huge casualties in the battle of Kuah Island, and there is no end in sight, some people call Kuah Island "bottomless pit". The Tokyo radio station referred to the 1st Marine Division of the U.S. Marine Corps as the "butcher of Kuah", and from these names, it can be seen that the morale of the Japanese army was so low that in order to boost morale, the Japanese army even sent "comfort women" to Kuah.

On November 1, the counterattacking American troops crossed the Matanico River, and encountered little resistance along the way, until the Cape Cruise, the Japanese army relied on the difficult terrain to carry out a stubborn defense, and the American troops finally occupied the Japanese position after fierce fighting with strong artillery support.

The Japanese base camp believed that after the Battle of Santa Cruz, the situation of the battle was developing in favor of the Japanese army, and that it only needed to strengthen the strength of Kuah Island by one step to achieve the final victory. It was decided to transfer the independent mixed 21st Brigade stationed in the East Indies to Rabaul and bring it under the 17th Army, and also to transfer the 51st Division to the Chinese theater and put it into the South Pacific theater, and to transport the war materials needed for Kuah Island as soon as possible. On October 27, Takushiro Hattori, chief of the Operations Section of the War Department of the base camp, and Denhachi Kondo, chief staff officer, landed on Kuah Island to assist Hyakutake in formulating a battle plan and organizing the third general offensive. It is planned to send the main force of the 38th Division to Kuah Island in early November and the 51st Division to Kuah Island in early December, and then concentrate a considerable amount of heavy artillery and sufficient ammunition to launch a third general offensive in mid-to-late December.

Despite the Japanese victory in the Battle of Santa Cruz, two aircraft carriers were injured and had to return home for repairs, and the carrier-based aircraft suffered heavy losses and could not be replenished for a while, so the mobile unit had to return home to recuperate. In addition, the shore-based air forces in the South Pacific region also suffered great losses in the battle, and in addition they lacked an advance base, they had to take off from Rabaul, and they could only stay over Kuah Island for 15 minutes due to range restrictions, so they could not effectively suppress the US airfield on Kuah Island, and they could not obtain air supremacy over Kuah Island at all, so they could not organize large-scale transportation, and they could only use destroyers to carry out night transportation. From 2 to 10 November, the Japanese army dispatched 65 destroyers and 2 cruisers to transport troops and supplies to Kuah Island, but the carrying capacity of the warships was limited, the personnel and materials transported were limited, and it was impossible to transport heavy equipment, making it difficult to organize a third general offensive.

On 7 November, the "Cactus" air squadron attacked 11 Japanese destroyers that were staying in the "trough sea" for evening transports, and then the torpedo boats from Tulagi Island joined the attack, thwarting the Japanese transports.

On 8 November, Halsey personally flew to Kuah Island for a brief inspection to boost morale, and at a press conference on the island, he announced his famous plan for winning the war: "Destroy the Japanese devils!" Destroy the Japs! Keep exterminating the Japanese devils! The plan made headlines in the newspapers immediately. As soon as Halsey returned to Noumea's headquarters, he received a report from the Pearl Harbor naval special intelligence team, which successfully deciphered the new code of the Japanese army and mastered the Japanese army's battle plan: an air raid on the Kuah Island airfield on November 11, a shelling of the Kuah Island airfield by surface ships on the night of the 12th, and an aircraft carrier formation on the 13th to cover the landing of a large number of ground troops on Kuah Island. Combined with aerial reconnaissance and reconnaissance from other sources, it was also found that the Japanese army moved frequently in the Truk, Rabaul and Shortland areas, and it seemed that a major war was imminent.

Vander-Graft knew the plan of the Japanese army, in order to prevent the possible landing of the Japanese army, commanded the troops to continue to advance, on November 10, with the support of heavy artillery fire, launched a pincer offensive on the Japanese beachhead, after a fierce battle, except for a small part of the Japanese army fled into the jungle, most of them were annihilated, and the American army seized the Lico beachhead, which was a greater threat to it, and destroyed all the materials that the Japanese army had hoarded on the beachhead.

Although the destroyers did not transport many personnel, by the 10th the Japanese troops on Kuah Island had reached 30,000, in view of the imminent start of the general offensive, there was an urgent need to transport a large number of troops and heavy equipment, and the night transportation of destroyers alone was far from enough, and the Japanese decided to organize a large transport fleet, The 38th Division's 13,500 men and heavy equipment were sent to Kuah Island, a fleet of 11 fast transport ships and 12 destroyers, commanded by the experienced Rear Admiral Yorizo Tanaka, departed from Shortland Island on the 12th and planned to arrive on Kuah Island on the 14th. In order to ensure the safety of this fleet, the Combined Fleet dispatched a fleet consisting of 2 aircraft carriers, 4 battleships, 12 cruisers, and 36 destroyers to provide cover and support, and will carry out a large-scale artillery bombardment of Henderson Airport on Kuah Island on the night of 12 and 13 July.

In order to meet the Japanese offensive, the U.S. military also made every effort to send troops, equipment and supplies to Kuah Island, and Halsey also organized a transport fleet to transport about 6,000 army and marine troops and heavy equipment, this fleet was divided into two parts, Formation A was commanded by Rear Admiral Scott, with 3 landing transport ships, escorted by 1 cruiser and 4 destroyers, departing from Espírito Santo on November 9 and planning to arrive at Kuah Island on the 11th; Formation B, commanded by Rear Admiral Callaghan and consisting of four transports and escorted by four cruisers and eight destroyers, departed Nouméa on 8 November and was scheduled to arrive at Kuah on the 12th. When Halsey knew that the Japanese Combined Fleet had made a big move, and although the aircraft carrier "Franklin" and the battleship "South Dakota" had not yet been repaired, Halsey still ordered to go into battle with wounds, and Kinkade commanded the 16th Task Force, and Lee led the 64th Task Force to all sail to Kuah Island, and ordered the shore-based air force stationed on Espírito Santo Island and the 24 submarines operating in the Solomon Islands to actively support the operations of surface ships.