In August 1942 US Marines stepped onto a disease-ridden island with legacy Springfield rifles and days of supplies, only to watch their transport ships sail away and strand them. This episode is an autopsy of one of the most desperate survival campaigns of World War II.

We unpack why a Japanese airfield at Lunga Point forced an emergency response, how the Europe-first policy birthed Operation Shoestring, and how control of Henderson Field, the Tokyo Express, and the Coast Watchers turned logistics and industry into the deciding factor.

• The disaster at Savo Island and Mikawa's fateful retreat
• How Henderson Field and the Cactus Air Force split day from night
• The Tokyo Express, rat transportation, and the desperate drum drops
• Bloody land battles at the Tenaru, Edson's Ridge, and Henderson Field
• Why ro ...