Battle for Henderson Field

E58023

World War II battle battle

The Battle for Henderson Field was a pivotal World War II land engagement on Guadalcanal in October 1942, in which U.S. forces successfully defended the strategically vital airfield against repeated Japanese attacks.

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All labels observed (4)

Label	Occurrences
Battle for Henderson Field canonical	5
Battle of Henderson Field	3
Battle for Henderson Field (October 23–26, 1942)	1
defense of Henderson Field	1

How this entity was disambiguated

This entity first appeared as the object of triple T259107 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.

NED1 Entity disambiguation (via context triple) gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07

Target entity: Battle for Henderson Field
Context triple: [Henderson Field, subjectOf, Battle for Henderson Field]

A. Battle of Savo Island
The Battle of Savo Island was a major World War II night naval engagement in August 1942, in which Japanese forces inflicted a devastating defeat on Allied cruisers near Guadalcanal.
B. Battle of Cape Esperance
The Battle of Cape Esperance was a nighttime naval engagement in October 1942 during the Guadalcanal campaign in World War II, in which U.S. Navy forces intercepted and defeated a Japanese task force off the northwest coast of Guadalcanal.
C. Battle of Tulagi
The Battle of Tulagi was a World War II engagement in August 1942, part of the Guadalcanal campaign, in which U.S. forces seized the Japanese-held island of Tulagi in the Solomon Islands.
D. Battle of the Eastern Solomons
The Battle of the Eastern Solomons was a major 1942 carrier battle in the Pacific Theater of World War II, fought between U.S. and Japanese naval forces as part of the struggle for control of Guadalcanal and the surrounding Solomon Islands.
E. Battle of Tassafaronga
The Battle of Tassafaronga was a nighttime World War II naval engagement off Guadalcanal in November 1942, in which a smaller Japanese destroyer force inflicted heavy losses on a superior U.S. cruiser group through effective use of long-range torpedoes.
F. None of above. chosen
G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.

NED2 Entity disambiguation (via description) gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07

Target entity: Battle for Henderson Field
Target entity description: The Battle for Henderson Field was a pivotal World War II land engagement on Guadalcanal in October 1942, in which U.S. forces successfully defended the strategically vital airfield against repeated Japanese attacks.

A. Battle of Savo Island
The Battle of Savo Island was a major World War II night naval engagement in August 1942, in which Japanese forces inflicted a devastating defeat on Allied cruisers near Guadalcanal.
B. Battle of Cape Esperance
The Battle of Cape Esperance was a nighttime naval engagement in October 1942 during the Guadalcanal campaign in World War II, in which U.S. Navy forces intercepted and defeated a Japanese task force off the northwest coast of Guadalcanal.
C. Battle of Tulagi
The Battle of Tulagi was a World War II engagement in August 1942, part of the Guadalcanal campaign, in which U.S. forces seized the Japanese-held island of Tulagi in the Solomon Islands.
D. Battle of the Eastern Solomons
The Battle of the Eastern Solomons was a major 1942 carrier battle in the Pacific Theater of World War II, fought between U.S. and Japanese naval forces as part of the struggle for control of Guadalcanal and the surrounding Solomon Islands.
E. Battle of Tassafaronga
The Battle of Tassafaronga was a nighttime World War II naval engagement off Guadalcanal in November 1942, in which a smaller Japanese destroyer force inflicted heavy losses on a superior U.S. cruiser group through effective use of long-range torpedoes.
F. None of above. chosen

Statements (49)

Predicate	Object
instanceOf	World War II battle ⓘ battle ⓘ
airfieldDefended	Henderson Field ⓘ
alsoKnownAs	Battle of Henderson Field ⓘ linked to: Battle for Henderson Field Third Battle of the Matanikau ⓘ
attackingForceStrength	approximately 6,000–7,000 Japanese attackers ⓘ
belligerent	Imperial Japanese Army ⓘ United States Army ⓘ United States Marine Corps ⓘ
casualtiesAmerican	several hundred killed and wounded ⓘ
casualtiesJapanese	over 2,000 killed ⓘ
commander	Alexander A. Vandegrift ⓘ linked to: Alexander Vandegrift Harukichi Hyakutake ⓘ Kiyotake Kawaguchi ⓘ Masaaki Suzuki ⓘ Merritt A. Edson ⓘ
conflict	Pacific War ⓘ
conflictType	land battle ⓘ
countryInvolved	Empire of Japan ⓘ linked to: Japan United States ⓘ linked to: United States of America
datePrecision	day ⓘ
defensiveForceStrength	approximately 2,500–3,000 U.S. front-line defenders ⓘ
endDate	1942-10-26 ⓘ
followedBy	Naval Battle of Guadalcanal ⓘ
front	Solomon Islands campaign ⓘ
hasPart	night attack of 23–24 October 1942 ⓘ night attack of 24–25 October 1942 ⓘ night attack of 25–26 October 1942 ⓘ
historicalPeriod	World War II ⓘ
location	Guadalcanal ⓘ Solomon Islands ⓘ
notableFeature	close-quarters jungle fighting ⓘ intense night infantry assaults ⓘ
notableUnit	164th Infantry Regiment (US Army) ⓘ 1st Marine Division ⓘ linked to: 1st Marine Division (United States) 2nd Infantry Division (Japan) ⓘ
partOf	Guadalcanal Campaign ⓘ linked to: Solomon Islands campaign
precededBy	Battle of Edson's Ridge ⓘ
primaryTarget	Henderson Field air operations ⓘ
result	American victory ⓘ
significance	helped secure Allied control of sea lanes between the U.S. and Australia ⓘ turning point in the land campaign on Guadalcanal ⓘ
startDate	1942-10-23 ⓘ
strategicObjective	defense of Henderson Field airstrip ⓘ denial of Guadalcanal airfield to Japanese forces ⓘ
strategicOutcome	crippled Japanese ability to reinforce Guadalcanal by day ⓘ secured Allied control of Henderson Field ⓘ
tacticalOutcome	Japanese ground assaults repulsed ⓘ
theater	Pacific Theater of Operations ⓘ linked to: Pacific theater commands

How these facts were elicited