Campaigning in a wet land : militarized landscapes, and the Battle of Guadalcanal by Dylan A. Cyr

The following article argues that water was the critical nexus between the human and non-human world of wartime Guadalcanal in 1942 and central to how infantry experienced campaigning in the South Pacific. Content of this paper divides into five briefs: part one follows the misery generated for young infantry by heavy rainfall and saturating humidity. Part two outlines the role of water in mosquito breeding, which produced a medical crisis for the 1st Marine Division. Part three discusses the ‘static river’, or the militarized river, referring to rivers that acted as perimeters and hosted the frontline of combat. Part four examines how murky water was treated to provide safe drinking water, avoiding a potential crisis. Part five discusses the ‘moving river’, a place where territorial crocodiles directly impacted the lives of young infantry. The source base for this article is a hybrid of military archival documents, personal correspondence with veterans, and supporting secondary historical and scientific sources. As the base element of life itself, water is both self-evident and yet often invisible due to its overwhelmingly central position in our lives. To aid in determining the effects and role of the non-human world on human actions during warfare, water makes sense as an examining tool. The U.S. 1st Marine Division provides a manageable case study in which to ascertain the role of environmental adversity in total war. Ultimately, as simple and as complex as the water-nexus is, it was absolutely central to how infantry and units experienced and conducted warfare at one of the most important turning-point campaigns in WWII.