Guadalcanal, Battle of (November 12–15, 1942) of organic service and special units attached to each corps and army, serving as a tactical HQ for training and combat without incurring a new level of administration in the field GRU “Glavnoye Rasvedyvatelnoye Upravlenie,” or “Main Intelligence Directorate” of the General Staff of the Red Army Just before the war the GRU was headed by General Philipp I Golikov It did not fail to detect German preparations for BARBAROSSA on June 22, 1941, but it could not convince Joseph Stalin—and most of its officers were afraid to try—that imminent invasion was Adolf Hitler’s true intention Its General Staff operational work must have been considerable, but it still remains mostly secret and unknown Inference from the success of late-war Soviet operations suggests that the GRU was quite adept in penetrating, understanding, and predicting German moves on many occasions But inference is not knowledge It is known that the GRU was active in running networks of agents scouting German and other military information outside the Soviet Union, from Japan and the United States to Great Britain, Germany, and various neutral countries Subsequently, the most famous was the LUCY network in Switzerland GRUPPE The basic Luftwaffe administrative and combat unit, comprising about 30 aircraft early in the war but later dropping well below that number due to heavy attrition Each Gruppe was formed with a single aircraft type—attack aircraft, medium bombers, or fighters A Gruppe was roughly comparable to a Soviet air regiment A RAF, RCAF, or USAAF Group was a much larger formation GUADALCANAL, BATTLE OF (NOVEMBER 12–15, 1942) At the peak of fighting during the Guadalcanal campaign (1942–1943), the Japanese tried to supplement inadequate Tokyo Express runs to Guadalcanal by bringing in the rest of 38th Army Division Over 7,000 men moved toward Guadalcanal in a heavily escorted convoy of 11 troop ships U.S intelligence learned of the convoy and set to intercept it with two heavy cruisers, three light cruisers, and a number of destroyers This task force met a Japanese surface bombardment group intending to shell Henderson Field, composed of two older battleships, a light cruiser, and supporting destroyers In a brutal night action at remarkably and unusually close range, but lasting under 30 minutes, nine warships were sunk Six of the lost ships were American Among the IJN losses was one of the battleships, which went under a few hours after taking severe damage Scouts followed by bombers of the Cactus Air Force based at Henderson found the troop convoy on November 14 The bombers sank an escorting Japanese heavy cruiser, damaged three more cruisers, and sank of the 11 troop ships Most men who went into the water were picked up by Japanese destroyers, but the troop convoy was reduced to just four ships Two USN battleships and four destroyers reached Guadalcanal that same day In a rare battleship vs battleship engagement, three U.S destroyers were sunk and one battleship was badly damaged In exchange, the Japanese lost a second battleship, 477