Special: Guadalcanal Campaign

Pilots,

The time has come to commemorate the first major US-led military operation against Japan during World War II. During the hard-fought Guadalcanal Campaign, from August 1942 until February 1943, the Allies managed to achieve the first breakthrough victory against the superior Japanese Navy, which would set the tone for future conflicts to come in the South Pacific.

To remind you of this memorable occasion and to help you get to the top of your favourite tech tree, here are a couple of bonuses in game:

50% discount on the purchase of the following two planes:

	US Tier V Carrier-based Fighter F4F
	Japanese Tier V Carrier-based Fighter A6M5

Save 225k credits on each of these iconic WWII planes!

50% income increase on both of these aircraft

Fill up your virtual wallet with an extra bit of coin as you take your F4F or A6M5 for a spin on the battlefields!

This special runs from Wednesday August 7^th 07:30 CEST (GMT+2) until Friday August 9^th 08:00 CEST.

By summer 1942, the Japanese had reached the high point of their conquests in the Pacific, successfully occupying territories from Burma in the west to most of the East Indian islands. In May 1942, they managed to deploy nearly 3000 soldiers on Guadalcanal (now called the Solomon Islands), and established a capable naval base on the nearby Tulagi. This made them a serious threat to the US, who were concerned about Japanese long-range bombers breaking up the trade routes to allied Australia and New Zealand.

A powerful taskforce called Watchtower, composed of 60,000 men on 75 warships and transport vessels was called to action, snd managed to successfully land on Guadalcanal on August 7^th 1942. The US-led Allies surprised the enemy forces with their sheer numbers and overtook Lunga Point (later called Henderson Field), a strategically important air field that the Japanese were constructing in the region.

What followed was a month-long struggle between both parties, during which the Japanese tried to regain control of Guadalcanal and its satellite islands, while the Allies tried to keep them at bay and defend their newly established bridgehead. Although they were severely bombed throughout this period, Henderson Field and its airplanes remained firmly in US-hands, limiting the advancement of Japanese ground troops, and forcing their Navy to throw even more at the now well-established Allied forces.

Both opponents collided continuously until November 1942 on land and sea as well as in daily aerial combats, which featured F4F Wildcats and P-39 Airacobras on the US side, against mostly A6M Zeros for the Japanese. The conflict culminated in the decisive Naval Battle of Guadalcanal from November 12^th- 15^th when the Japanese reinforced their troops by 7,000 in a final attempt to retake the airfield. Multiple battleships, heavy cruisers, a dozen destroyers as well as hundreds of planes on both sides, fought it out one last time in two night-time clashes, leading to almost 2,000 losses on each side.

This proved a strategic victory for the Allies, who managed to retain control of the islands and went on to replenish their naval and air fleet forces rather quickly. Japan, on the other hand, could not afford to draw out the conflict even longer, and retreated from Guadalcanal by evacuating their remaining troops in a stealth operation on February 8^th, 1943.

Take a flight on the Pacific map, Pilots, and imagine Guadalcanal for yourself!