What was giving to the 1st division marines when they were dropped at gaudalcanal?

Answer 1

Very little. It was early in the war, production had not reached full capacity, and the Marines were at the end of the line for new equipment. They went ashore armed with with the WWI infantry arsenal - the 1903 Springfield bolt action rifle, for example. They also had an abomination called the Reising Automatic Rifle, not heard of after the Guadalcanal Campaign, because it was a POS. The Marines were largely able to rearm themselves with M-1s and BARs by "liberating" weapons from the National Guard of the Army's 41st Infantry Division, which arrived in October.

At the initial landings, the ships were not loaded properly, so vital equipment was buried deep in the holds. And the navy pulled out its ships, late in the day. The Navy was afraid to keep its ships in the area for fear of Japanese attacks. They'd come back every day, unload a little bit, then scuttle away. So the Marines went in without their artillery or ammunition, and without rations. The Marines lived on captured Japanese rations, rice and fish heads, for weeks. When they did get American rations, they were left over from WWI. Had to eat all that up before you could deserve any cans of survival food of recent vintage.