 On 19 December , a delegation of IGH staff officers , led by IJA Colonel Joichiro Sanada , chief of the IGH 's operations section , arrived at Rabaul for discussions about future plans concerning New Guinea and Guadalcanal . Hitoshi Imamura , commander of the 8th Area Army in charge of IJA operations in New Guinea and the Solomons , did not directly recommend a withdrawal from Guadalcanal but openly and clearly described the current difficulties involved with any further attempts to retake the island . Imamura also stated that any decision to withdraw should include plans to evacuate as many of the soldiers from Guadalcanal as possible . 
