Maruyama's second attacks on the perimeter

Maruyama's second attacks on the perimeter
Throughout the day of 25 October, the Americans redeployed and improved their defenses against the Japanese attack they were expecting that night. In the west, Hanneken and the 5th Marines closed the gap between their two forces. Along the southern portion of the perimeter, Puller's and Hall's troops disentwined and repositioned. Puller's men fortified the western 1,400 yd (1,300 m) of the sector and the 164th soldiers took the eastern 1,100 yd (1,000 m) segment. The division reserve, the 3rd Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment was placed directly behind Hall's and Puller's positions. [44]
Maruyama committed his reserve force, the 16th Infantry Regiment, to Nasu's left wing unit. Beginning at 20:00 on 25 October, and extending into the early morning hours of the 26th, the 16th and what remained of Nasu's other units conducted numerous unsuccessful frontal assaults on Puller's and Hall's lines. U.S. Marine and Army rifle, machine gun, mortar, artillery and direct canister fire from 37 mm anti-tank guns "wrought terrible carnage" on Nasu's men. [45] Colonel Toshiro Hiroyasu, the commander of the 16th, and most of his staff as well as four Japanese battalion commanders were killed in the assaults. Nasu was hit by rifle fire and mortally wounded, dying a few hours later. A few small groups of Nasu's men broke through the American defenses, including one led by Colonel Furimiya, but were all hunted down and killed over the next several days. Shoji's right wing units did not participate in the attacks, choosing instead to remain in place to cover Nasu's right flank against a possible attack in that area by U.S. forces that never materialized. [45][46][47]
Oka's attack
Map of Oka's attacks on the ridge held by Hanneken's battalion
At 03:00 on 26 October, Oka's unit finally reached and attacked the Marine defenses near the Matanikau. Oka's troops assaulted all along an east-west saddle ridge held by Hanneken's battalion but concentrated particularly on Hanneken's Company F, which defended the extreme left flank of the Marine positions on the ridge. A Company F machine gun section under Mitchell Paige killed many of the Japanese attackers, but Japanese fire eventually killed or injured almost all the Marine machine gunners. At 05:00, Oka's 3rd Battalion, 4th Infantry succeeded in scaling the steep slope of the ridge and pushed the surviving members of Company F off the crest. [3][48][49][50]
Responding to the Japanese capture of part of the ridgeline, Major Odell M. Conoley —Hanneken's battalion executive officer —quickly gathered a counterattack unit of 17 men, including communications specialists, messmen, a cook, and a
bandsman. Conoley's scratch force was joined by elements of Hanneken's Company G, Company C, and a few unwounded survivors from Company F and attacked the Japanese before they could consolidate their positions on top of the ridge. By 06:00, Conoley's force had pushed the Japanese back off the ridge, effectively ending Oka's attack. The Marines counted 98 Japanese bodies on the ridge and 200 more in the ravine in front of it. Hanneken's unit suffered 14 killed and 32 wounded.