while killing many of the Japanese defenders. One officer from the 2nd Battalion—who had brought his personal sniper rifle to the battle—witnessed the final disintegration of Japanese units attacking Hill 27 with a final flurry of suicidal frontal charges. The Japanese soldiers in the Gifu, who had apparently not been resupplied or replenished during the battle, consumed their last remaining food rations on 1 January. Since the beginning of its offensive on Mount Austen, the 132nd had lost 115 killed and 272 wounded. The relatively high number of combat deaths were caused in part by wound infections in the tropical conditions and inability to evacuate men wounded in the early stages of the operation. Even after intervention by the 2nd Battalion, wounded men continued to die, unable to withstand the arduous and slippery portage back down improvised jungle trails on a stretcher carried by two men. These losses, plus the effects of tropical diseases, heat, and combat exhaustion, temporarily rendered the 132nd's 1st and 3rd Battalions incapable of further offensive action. Thus, on 4 January, the 1st and 3rd Battalions were ordered to dig in and hold positions surrounding the Gifu on the north, east, and south. Reviewing the first Mount Austen offensive, former Marine officer and historian Samuel B. Griffith concluded, "As the thoroughly butchered Mount Austen operation dragged on into January, it became apparent that both Major General Patch and his assistant Division commander [Brigadier General Edmund Sebree] had much to unlearn, and perhaps even more to learn." However, while Patch's decision to attack Mount Austen was criticized, one participant noted the difficulties faced by the 132nd Regiment and its commanders, including the terrain, limited equipment (light mortars and machineguns with limited ammunition supply, no flamethrowers or pole charges), and the necessity of assaulting thoroughly integrated, prepared, and roofed-over Japanese defenses, which resisted direct hits by 75 mm and in some cases 105 mm shells. For its part, once the 132nd was able to treat its wounded, morale remained high in the newly blooded regiment, which played a significant role in later combat operations on Guadalcanal. The 2nd Battalion, with just 27 killed, was immediately assigned to further offensive combat operations. Losses among the Gifu defenders are unknown, but were estimated by one 2nd Battalion officer as of 9 January 1943 at 500 killed and wounded; most of the latter would later die of their wounds when combined