Kamimbo Bay
(Tambea)

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Tambea is a very pretty location. It used to be the home to the Tambea Beach Resort but was destroyed during the "tensions" in 1999. There are still remnants of the resort as well as the inground pool. During the war it was used by the Japanese for landing reinforcements and for the evacuation of the last troops from Guadalcanal.

The Japanese memorial says:

MEMORIAL TOWER
The Guadalcanal War Dead Person in A.D. 1942.
2nd Division ISAMU SOCIETY
Construction in A.D. 1985

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REINFORCEMENTS

The 3rd Battalion, 4th (Aoba) Infantry Regiment had landed at Kamimbo Bay on the western end of Guadalcanal on the 11 September 1942. Tokyo Express runs by destroyers on the 14, 20, 21, and 24 September brought food and ammunition, as well as 280 men from the 1st Battalion, Aoba Regiment, to Kamimbo on Guadalcanal.

EVACUATIONS
(Operation Ke)

At 11:30 on the 1 February 1943, 20 destroyers left the Shortlands to start the evacuations. Eleven destroyers were designated as transports screened by the other nine.

Eleven US PT boats awaited the destroyers between Guadalcanal and Savo Island. Beginning at 22:45, Japanese warships and the PT boats engaged in a series of running battles over the next three hours.

In the meantime, the transport destroyers arrived off of two pick-up locations at Cape Esperance and Kamimbo at 22:40 and 24:00 respectively. Japanese naval personnel ferried the waiting troops out to the destroyers in barges and landing craft. After embarking 4,935 soldiers, mainly from the 38th Division, the transport destroyers ceased loading at 01:58 and prepared to depart for the return trip to the Shortlands.

At around 10:00 on the 6 Feb 1943, the Japanese withdrew the final 2,000 soldiers to Kamimbo. At 00:03 on the 9 Feb 1943, unhindered by the US Navy, the Japanese finally evacuated 1,972 soldiers to the destroyers. For an additional hour and a half, destroyer crewmen rowed their boats along the shore calling out again and again to make sure no one was left behind. At 01:32 the Reinforcement Group left Guadalcanal in its wake and reached Bougainville without incident at 10:00, completing the operation.

The Japanese had successfully evacuated a total of 10,652 men from Guadalcanal, about all that remained of the 36,000 total troops sent to the island during the campaign. Six hundred of the evacuees succumbed to their injuries or illnesses before they could receive sufficient medical care. Three thousand more required lengthy hospitalization or recuperation.