 Still fearing a renewed and reinforced Japanese offensive , Patch committed the equivalent of only one regiment at a time to attack the Japanese forces west of Kokumbona , keeping the rest near Lunga Point to protect the airfield . The terrain west of Kokumbona favored the Japanese efforts to delay the Americans as the rest of the 17th Army continued its withdrawal towards Cape Esperance . The American advance was hemmed into a corridor only 300 – 600 yd ( 270 – 550 m ) wide between the ocean and the thick , inland jungle and steep coral ridges . The ridges , running perpendicular to the coast , paralleled numerous streams and creeks that crossed the corridor with " washboard regularity . " 
