Observations of Guadalcanal

Nov. 4, 1942: Two alert U.S. Marines stand beside their small tank on Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands during World War II. The military tank was used against the Japanese in the battle of the Tenaru River during the early stages of fighting. (AP Photo)

 

Captain J.L. Zimmerman, USMC, a staff officer interviewed by an Army Intelligence officer shortly after the height of fighting ___

He ( the Japanese soldier) fought as an individual, as well and as bravely as any warrior the world has ever see; he bore privation and hardship that would have put out of action most of the troops of the Allied forces, and in spite of those hardships and privation, he attacked with determined ferocity whenever he came in contact with the American troops.  In attack, he was single minded and reckless of his life; in defense he was bitterly tenacious.

This was first published in Historical Division, USMC

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3rd Defense Batt. fire a 90mm antiaircraft gun, Guadalcanal

Major Frank Hough, USMC

The Japanese High Command was full of surprises and paradoxes.  The officer class was thoroughly professional and had been for generations, yet they proved grossly negligent or ignorant in several matters which the armies of other nations considered military fundamentals.

One – combat intelligence.  Although the prewar espionage system was a model of far-reaching thoroughness, their officers in the field were nearly always without accurate knowledge and seemed incapable of gaining such knowledge.

Security, both internal and external… Troops went into combat carrying diaries, maps of their destinations and even orders outlining in detail the action.  Prisoners of war talked freely… They had never been taught differently; their officers having ordered them to die rather than be captured.

Japanese soldier throws a type 91 grenade, Guad.

Troop security… Columns marched through unknown country shouting and jabbering at the top of their lungs… Operations were either impromptu affairs without adequate preparation or planned in such elaborate detail as to be unworkable under combat conditions.  Their only tactical innovation was the development of infiltration.

Their idea of winning battles was to achieve surprise or overwhelm by numbers… These means failing, they abandoned tactics for trickery. ie. feign surrender to get close enough to blow their captors…booby trapped our dead as well as their own…English speaking Japanese tapped field lines in order to issue false orders…snipers yelling “Corpsman!” in order to lure men to their death.

Officers and men alike were essentially attack-minded.  Despite its general nature, the Guadalcanal campaign, save for its opening and closing phases, had been basically a Japanese offensive… It might be said that Japan’s greatest military achievement of the war was the conversion of a fighting force imbued for generations with the philosophy of attack into what were quite likely the most stubborn defensive fighters in military history…unfortunately for us, is exactly what the Japanese became as the war moved westward.

by: Capt. Donald Dickson – how he saw the Marines as they left Guadalcanal

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http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/12/30/missing-wwii-fliers-remains-return-from-guadalcanal/21075985/

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Today is the anniversary of the start of the Korean War – TO ALL THE VETERANS – Your countries salute you!!

My post for the start of the war – CLICK HERE!

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Military Humor – ala Sad Sack

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Farewell Salutes – 

Samuel Brass – Kennebunk, ME; US Navy, WWII, Korea, Cuba, Commander

Vincent Crocker – Rutland, VT; US Army, WWII, ETO, 265 Combat Engineers

Amund “Frank” Fulmer – Overgaad, AZ; US Navy, WWII, PTO

Martin Herman – IA; US Army Air Corps, WWII, PTO, 188 reg/11th A/B DIv., Pfc

William Keel – Marietta, WA; USMC, WWII

Jack Lance – Hicksville, NY; US  Army Air Corps, WWII, B-17 gunner

Verna Loverock – Comox, CAN; CW Army Corps, WWII

Louis Porreco – Erie, PA; US Army, 82nd A/B

Jamal Rhett – Palmyra, NJ; US Army, Iraq, Sgt., 25th Infantry Div.

Todd Thomson – Hamilton, VA; US Army, Iraq, Afghanistan, Lt. Colonel, Bronze Star

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