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U. S. Troops Give JapsLesson in Jungle FightingBj IRA WOIJTFLRTOpympixt, 1543, bytn« angrv veiping little tile Jap rVR.es.crack cf'Sozth AmericanN ewspoper AILuwo.ee I LmcoveredWITH THE b S ABli FOHCES IN NEW GEORGIA, (m caole)— Th* figh^fcr Laiana Beacn today wax lik* Jais Our taiixs we^t down tn* line as tn*» Japanese p U oorea v e'-* discovered. The^e w* e xn^n cm eacn side of eaca tank. Tn*y fired at tie pill oox**s w h automat c rifles and the tanks *o lowed v/ ta them fir* from guns wnleh tie m*n using tnem call 'sweet oaoy camion Ai e** them our infantry ncmng along ura*r fir*1 from snipe m in *'h*» treesso^etlrr-ex crawling sometimes running in a crouch from -coverand. ’eaving o he** mfantmrmencoming up from the r*ar to k 11 the snipers went toward the p 1 boxes with grenades and fixed b y onets to nid^e sure eve~y jap n tn*m / as dead The fignt was smal1 but o' great *5g” ficanc* m the Munda camOne sniper action I watched cen tered around a ve^y tall coconut tree. Two or oa~ m^n worked overthe tree from Dehind and before long that tree trunk was cut m twooy th*ir shellfire The sniper shot frant cally and often out he wasa poor marksman and that cost him his lif* But the poor marksman s**med o know it would fo the more he snot the wi der his shots got. Our men moved up carefully *h«*ir faces clank as they squinted througn the r s ghts Ta*y a ^ed at th* p?lm leaves and shot them off on** by one peeling the cover off the sniper The mper twisted and squirmed hom side o side but fnally ex poseJ he was killed and fell crash mg through the Doughs o' the*urrounding ree^ a svoweoeavestwir ng slowly ard s lentK dossward for som* t me af e his deada beachhead onlv two miles from The sn po^ was th* Tap ai’-port at Munda and also xae first Jappaign _ Tn*^ success of gave us body had larded on the grounda very young hoy, , , , -- pi box conta nedbreached th* outer lme of tne last heavy machine guns The Japs l*tJap defenses m Nev Georgia the first tank pa*s ut openpd un Most Important however v a on. th* follow ng mfantrv o owingsecuring hp new oea^hhead which cuts our supoly lines oy more than two thirds We had be°n using manv of our combat troops here to carry suDpbes on their ba*ks oecaus* of the clut ered na ture of tne terrain Now most of these men can oe released to tight the enemy instead of the mua and jung esTank* L*edThe fight was interesting too because this was th* first time tanks had bpen uspd successfully in. the thick jungle The Japs tr ed/Cthe whole top of t ehea^U00one o' our men and killing and wounding several others Th1 Prx whirled ?ryily jnan ng a g ant tree like a ma ch s ic* The tree ready killed n ore of our men and dd break he oones of one but t poured what ool ed Ik* a solid rradly speeding r ver o fir** n o the pill boxAnvil GhoruiThe Japs reri ed w th th* r rra chm* guns the oil ets o' whic” rattled Ike ha 1 agimt he tcXlt; and bounded o'* t like ha 1 Ourto attack with 14 tanks n the*men out of range of tie fire 1Guadalcanal jungle last October lost 13 of them and never used tanks again When I left the front lines tn s afternoon with the at tacx v/ell over we had not lost a single tanx And for the troops here the fight was almost xe a ho day af er he will o tVie wisp n ghtma^e o' last IT days Tie enemy had stopped h~5 r°ar gua-d ac ion and was mak irg a stand at last ev dent'.y oeeetered witn fear ther with ^ hen with real 4ehghted sn n ng e\e^ g *e as ey g a-^ped what \ as rapper rg lh° no se co mded he crv 1 ch us p ayed \ itn n coherer abandonTj sten vo *hat damn beautifuls^r of a *0 anc s- a man near n c cr edBut t e mer n h* me of fir*3 did not ‘hare tie glee is he r co c'-'ot rg d ets enrangered tiemcuse it was imposs ole for him to ^Treatly They hugged the earth retreat further without rrpen ng s tdderingh to dig into thehs posit on ^ere The fact that Soan!^ th the i bodies wr * the thee was at lasf an enemy whose throat cou d be taken in the ‘wohands and strang ed gave uswatching from he baciv areas asense of relief so greai it amounted to joy and tie feeling extended m some measure even to the ftort; linesA half hour hen/v art ery bar rage and d jc bomb rg preceded our attack hut the ^oft^ning up process had not dented the en emy s crust The artilleiy inWo Id Vvar I would destroy deeply m bedded positions y with the greatest difflcultv and even when tbev could see them plainly The task here where positions are not only deep y imbedded but invisible from 30 yards away is practically impassibleTroops and Marine tanks led byLieut 'Jlaxe began moving about 9 o clock They encountered +heir first sniper fire soon a'ter but ham y bothered wi h it Holt;vevm that was the first sound of battles ww th the ton o' his head b own o'f ay breathing among them the ceath ra Ue starting gr nd nglv s opp ng and siari ng aga n h s throatWhen, the tank halted its fire o take un a be ter van age po nt he Japs s d out the baclt; of the ox and starte/' to run avay The’-e were 11 of trem Ihey could no h** seen butocould le heard thnsn ng nnlt; wallow I k-* an mals as they ried to force the rvay thro gh he brust-1 he movement n the br sh gavt. them away The tank let loose a singe ong burst with a maeh le gun swung the gun like a nano vam c camera—and the thrash ng sourds stopped and the sw ayin0 and shiver ng of the b^ush stopped The 1 eleven dean Jap^ some I ng sdewavs aid some on the -ices formed almost a straight d a gonal line ’'■’hose were the las Japs to r m from ^ 11 boxelt; The t stayed and d ed ins de tnemrtI-
Newspaper Details
The Berkshire Evening Eagle
Pittsfield, Massachusetts, US
Thu, Jul 22, 1943
Page 8
Full Page
Clipped by
Gary Y.
CO, USA 15 Nov 2019
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