Japanese forces, once triumphant on the Solomon island of Guadalcanal, found themselves on the back foot as 1943 dawned. With the tide of war shifting, Imperial Japan's military leaders devised Operation Ke, a daring plan to extricate their troops from the island. Under the watchful eyes of American warplanes, Japanese naval vessels and destroyers converged on Guadalcanal, effecting a remarkable evacuation that would alter the course of the war in the Pacific.