At this time, the US military basically controlled the sea and air supremacy of Kuah Island, and could smoothly send reinforcements and materials to Kuah Island. At the beginning of December 21 www.biquge.info the 2nd Marine Division and the 25th Infantry Division of the U.S. Army were transported to Kuah Island, replacing the exhausted 1st Marine Division, a heroic and tenacious unit, which lost 7,800 men due to injuries and illness in four months of fierce fighting. Having successfully thwarted the enemy's important targets in the Pacific Ocean! Although the final victory in the battle for Kuah Island was completed by other troops, the brilliant victory on Kuah Island was the first to be promoted by the 1st Marine Division, so after the battle, the 1st Marine Division was awarded the title of "Outstanding Unit" by President Roosevelt, becoming the first unit to receive this honor. On 9 December, Major General Patch took command of the ground forces on Kuah Island from Van der Gravet. -- The 1st Marine Division withdrew to Australia to rest and recuperate with the prestige of Kuah Island. Since then, the 1st Marine Division has written "Guadalcanal" (Guadalcanal) on its division emblem to commemorate the glorious battle of Kuah, and the 1st Marine Division has also gone down in history for the Battle of Kuah. By January of the 22nd year of Taichu, the US ground troops on Kuah Island had reached 50,000 men, with sufficient supplies and high morale.

At the beginning of December, the "Cactus Air Force" was reinforced by five Marine Air Squadrons, four Navy Air Squadrons, and one Army Air Squadron, and the number of planes has reached more than 200. Since Tanaka's destroyer squadron was attacked by US torpedo boats on 11 December, the Japanese Navy has not organized surface warships to deliver supplies to Kuah Island for nearly three weeks; during this period, the Japanese troops on Kuah Island have only relied on a very small amount of food supplies delivered by submarines, which can not meet their needs at all, and most of the officers and men have eaten wild fruits, wild vegetables, and tree bark to satisfy their hunger, and tropical diseases such as dysentery, malaria, and scabies have become epidemics, and even survival has become a problem. On December 23, Imamura refused Hyakutake's request to launch a final attack despite repeated requests that Hyakutake be allowed to die in dignity rather than starve to death in his bunkers.

On December 12, the Japanese Navy offered to abandon Guadalcanal. At the same time, some army staff officers in the base camp also believed that it was impossible to retake Guadalcanal with further troops. A delegation led by the chief executive of the base camp, Sanada Suiichiro Osa, arrived in Rabaul on December 9 to consult Imamura and his staff members. When the delegation returned to Tokyo, Sanada suggested abandoning Guadalcanal. On 26 December, the top leader of the base camp agreed to Sanada's proposal and ordered his staff to begin drafting a plan for the withdrawal from Guadalcanal, the establishment of a new line of defense in the central Solomon Islands, and the priority transfer of forces to support military operations in New Guinea.

On December 28, General Sugiyama and General Nagano personally informed the Japanese Emperor Hirohito of his decision to withdraw from Guadalcanal. On December 31, the emperor officially approved the decision. The Japanese army secretly began preparations for the withdrawal, which became known as Operation K, which was expected to be carried out by the end of January of the following year.

In accordance with the spirit of the Imperial Council, on January 4, the 22nd year of Taichu, the headquarters issued an order to Yamamoto, commander of the Combined Fleet, and Imamura, commander of the 8th Front, to evacuate Kuah Island, and the retreat operation was codenamed "Operation K". and made a careful plan: first, the 17th Army contracted the front and made various preparations for retreat under the cover of preparing for a general offensive; secondly, until the start of the retreat, it is necessary to continue the replenishment of Kuah Island in every way with all its might, in order to maintain the combat effectiveness of the troops, and to evacuate the wounded and sick with reduced mobility while delivering supplies; Then quickly build an aviation base in the Solomon Islands to strengthen air operations on Kuah Island; Finally, as many ships as possible were mobilized, and the troops on Kuah Island were withdrawn by all means from late January to early February, all of which had to be kept particularly secret.

In view of the fact that the U.S. forces on Kuah Island were constantly attacking the Japanese army, and the troops on the island would not be able to maintain their existing positions without adding new troops, the Japanese army transferred about 700 men from the 230th Wing of the 38th Division, commanded by Yano Ketsuji Nakasa, codenamed "Yano Force", and sent them to Kuah Island on January 14. Claiming to be the vanguard of the fourth general offensive, it was actually the rear army that guaranteed the withdrawal of the troops from Kuah Island.

In order to ensure the smooth withdrawal of the troops from Kuah Island and to distract the attention of the US forces, the Japanese army organized a diversionary operation on 15 January, codenamed "Operation Dongfang Containment," which was attended by the heavy cruiser "Ligen," the submarine "I-8," and some planes of the 802nd Air Force, under the unified command of Rear Admiral Tadaichi Hara.

On 19 January, Tadaichi Hara led the "Tone" from Truk and arrived at Jaluit Island in the Marshall Islands on 22 January. On 2 February, it went to the waters east of the Marshall Islands, also made a radio feint, and then returned to Truk on 7 February. The I-8 submarine shelled Canton Island twice on the nights of 23 January and 1 February. The 802nd Air Force flew seaplanes from Makin Island on 19 January to reconnoiter Howland and Baker Islands, and from 21 January onwards it conducted aerial surveillance of the two islands for several days. In early February, in view of the fact that the evacuation operation on Kuah Island was basically over, the "Eastern Containment Operation" also came to an end.

On January 27, a group of U.S. troops went to Kuah Island to change defenses and was transported by a transport ship from Noumea. In order to ensure the safety of his voyage, Halsey sent five formations, including aircraft carriers and battleships, to provide cover, of which the 18th Task Force under the command of Rear Admiral Giffen was responsible for close cover, with three heavy cruisers, three light cruisers, and six destroyers.

The Japanese army deployed a large number of submarines in the waters near Kuah Island, and on 29 January, it discovered that the 18th Task Force of the US army was sailing in the waters of Rennell Island, so it quickly informed the base, and the Japanese army immediately took off more than 10 torpedo planes from Munda Airport to attack, and when the Japanese planes were in the air, the US military navigation formation was: 3 heavy cruisers on the right, 3 light cruisers on the left, in a double column; The six destroyers were in an umbrella-shaped formation in the front, and there were no defensive ships in the rear or on both sides of this formation, which was not suitable for air defense operations; after the radar of the US ships discovered the Japanese planes 60 nautical miles away at dusk, Giffen neither changed their formation nor made any air defense preparations. The Japanese planes split into two groups, first with two planes making a feint, and then withdrawing from the battle, Giffen thought the battle was over and continued to sail in its original formation. After dark, the Japanese planes suddenly dropped flares, and then launched an attack, and the US ships fired into the air with heavy artillery fire, and several Japanese planes were shot down, one of which was shot in the left front of the "Chicago" and fell into the sea, and the flames that ignited illuminated the "Chicago" clearly, which immediately attracted a concentrated attack by the Japanese planes, and the "Chicago" was hit by two torpedoes, the engine room was flooded, and the main engine stopped. Giffen led the rest of the ships to turn eastward, reducing their speed to reduce the waft of the ship and ordering a ban on firing. When the Japanese plane lost its target, it turned on its navigation lights and fired tracer shells in an attempt to lure the US ship into opening fire, but the US ship was unmoved and did not fire a single shot, and the Japanese plane could not find the target in the dark night, and had to return after circling a few times.

The next day, Giffen led four cruisers to return to Efate, while the cruiser "Louisville" towed the "Chicago" to Espírito Santo Island at a speed of four knots under the protection of six destroyers, and the aircraft carrier "Enterprise" sent 10 fighters to serve as air cover. In the afternoon, 12 Japanese torpedo planes went to attack the "Enterprise" aircraft carrier, and six of the fighters providing air cover for the "Chicago" were transferred to intercept and shoot down three Japanese planes, but the remaining nine Japanese planes got rid of the interception of the US planes at high speed and turned to attack the "Chicago." Because the "Chicago" was too slow to carry out effective maneuvers, it was hit by four torpedoes and sank 20 minutes later, and one destroyer was damaged, and seven of the nine Japanese planes were shot down. -- Nimitz was saddened and incomprehensible by the sinking of the USS Chicago, which was protected by six destroyers and 10 fighter jets

The Japanese planes concentrated on attacking the 18th Task Force and did not attack the four US transport ships loaded with troops, so the transport ships successfully arrived on Kuah Island. This naval and air battle is known as the "Naval and Air Battle of Rennell Island", in which one US cruiser was sunk, one destroyer was damaged, and the Japanese lost 15 planes.

These actions created the illusion that the Japanese were about to launch a large-scale offensive, and even on January 22, Halsey accompanied Chief of Naval Operations Knox and Commander-in-Chief of the Pacific Theater Nimitz to visit Kuah Island, and the three battle-hardened senior generals did not notice any signs of an imminent Japanese retreat.

In order to suppress the U.S. air force, the Japanese army gathered about 100 army planes and about 200 naval planes in the southeast Pacific to Rabaul, and from January 25 onwards, carried out numerous air raids on the airfields of the U.S. military on the islands of Kuah and Espírito Santo. The Japanese had planned to carry out large-scale air strikes on Kuah Island on January 30 and 31, and then organize a retreat when the American air force was weakened. However, due to bad weather, the air raid plan was forced to be postponed, but on the evening of the 31st, Rabaul was attacked by the US army, and the Japanese army lost 50 precious planes at once. This made the Japanese army no longer dare to wait for the implementation of the air raid plan, and decided to organize a retreat without further ado.

Rear Admiral Hashimoto led 20 destroyers to set out from Shortland Island at 9:30 a.m. on 1 February to carry out the first retreat operation; Hashimoto's formation was discovered by US reconnaissance planes at about 13 o'clock that day, and the US troops judged that this was the reinforcements that the Japanese army had sent to Kuah Island for launching a general attack, and dispatched planes to intercept them, and 36 bombers bombed in the air at about 16 o'clock, and 18 "Zero" fighters of the Japanese army as air cover went all out to meet them, shooting down 4 US planes and repelling the US planes. Hashimoto's flagship "Matsuna" was wounded by a near-missable bomb and was forced to turn back. The remaining 19 destroyers arrived in the waters near Cape Esperance on Kuah Island in the middle of the night, with 8 destroyers on guard and 11 docked to pick up the evacuees. In the course of the retreat, the US torpedo boats and planes came to attack many times, but they were all repelled by the Japanese warships, and the "Cirrus" was damaged by a mine while evading the torpedo fired by the torpedo boat, and was later sunk by the destroyer "Yutachi" with a torpedo because the injuries were too severe. In the early morning of 2 February, Hashimoto's formation picked up 5,414 people and began to return home, and was also attacked by US planes on the way, but there was no loss. Return safely to Shortland Island at noon.

At 9:30 a.m. on 4 February, the second retreat formation consisting of 20 destroyers was attacked by a large group of 31 US fighters, 33 bombers, and torpedo planes on the way from Shortland Island, and the fighters and destroyers escorted by the Japanese army fought hard and shot down 10 US planes, the "Wufeng" was damaged and towed back by the "Changfeng", and the remaining 18 destroyers arrived in the waters of Cape Esperance on Kuah Island, 8 destroyers served as guards, and 10 destroyers received personnel 500 meters from the shore and retreated. A total of 5,004 people were picked up and returned in the early morning of the next day. In the process of transporting personnel from the Japanese army, the U.S. military dispatched torpedo boats to attack. On 7 February, the Japanese army retreated for the third time under the command of Rear Admiral Koyanagi with 18 destroyers, and due to the thunderstorm, the US army only sent 15 bombers to carry out air strikes, and one of the Japanese destroyers was damaged and returned under the escort of another destroyer, and the remaining 16 destroyers sailed to Kuah Island, and among the personnel of this retreat were Baiwu and the personnel of the 17th Army, many of whom were extremely weak and did not even have the strength to climb the rope ladder on the destroyer, so they had to be dragged to the ship by the sailors on the destroyer. There were also hundreds of seriously wounded and sick people on the beach, who were unable to be transported to the ship, so they had to leave grenades to kill themselves. This time, the Japanese army successfully received another 2,639 people. During this retreat, in order to ensure the smooth implementation of the retreat, the Japanese army also organized a night attack.

On the night of February 4 and 7, Shintaro Hashimoto and his destroyers completed the evacuation of most of the remaining Japanese troops from Guadalcanal. In addition to some air raids, the Allies still expected a major Japanese offensive and did not try to stop Hashimoto's withdrawal. Overall, the Japanese managed to evacuate 10,652 troops from Guadalcanal. On 9 February, Birch realized that the Japanese had retreated and declared the Allied occupation of Guadalcanal, ending the campaign.