Part 3

=Infantry-Tank Attack= _Lieutenant Colonel Perkins, Tank Battalion Commander, ~Italy~_: “Shortly after landing at SALERNO we attacked a hill south of the town of OLIVETO. The attack was up a winding road. The medium tanks moved down into the bottoms at the foot of the hill into a covered position and covered the light tanks as they went up. As the light tanks went up the hill both the lights and mediums fired on the enemy infantry. When they spotted enemy soldiers going into buildings the mediums took care of the buildings, leaving the light tanks to take care of the infantry and the machine guns. Both the lights and mediums stayed until the infantry took over.

“The ‘rush-to-battle’ idea is wrong. Here we _creep_ up. Each tank should overwatch another tank; each section should overwatch another section; each platoon another platoon.”

RANGER TRAINING

=Buddy System= _Lieutenant Colonel William O. Darby, Commanding Officer of Rangers, ~Italy~_: “In our work we use the ‘Buddy’ system--the men always work in pairs. They live in pairs, eat in pairs, do guard in pairs--even do KP in pairs. Confidence in each other is developed. They can pick their own buddy from within their platoon.

=Realism= “In our training we never do anything without battle noises and effects. We always use live ammunition. We use mines, barbed wire, and protective bands of machine-gun fire extensively. If the problem is to capture a machine-gun nest, there is always a machine-gun nest there with a machine gun firing in a fixed direction. The men very quickly get accustomed to having live ammunition flying around them.

“Captured Italian and German machine guns and machine pistols are used by the ‘enemy’ in our problems. Our men quickly learn to distinguish between the fire of our own weapons and that of enemy weapons. Also the ‘enemy’ makes constant use of flares.

“We always carry our normal load of ammunition with weapons loaded. If a man knows his weapon is loaded he will be more careful in handling it. Accidental discharge of a weapon automatically means a fine and immediate reduction to the grade of private. In our work, we must take drastic measures to guard against accidental discharge of weapons. We learned our lesson in Tunisia, _where the accidental discharge of a rifle queered a raid and caused a 24-hour delay in operations_. [See comment on this subject following “Night Attack.”]

=Recognition= “We use colored flashlights with the light dimmed down for recognition purposes in night work. Different colors are used, and we usually have a certain light signal for recognition; for instance, ‘A’----which would be a dot, dash. It gives a man great comfort and confidence when working at night, especially in towns, to receive a recognition signal when he needs one.

=Formations= “We use a column formation for approach and assault movement at night. From experience, I believe it is the best formation to use at night. We do not attempt to use prominent terrain features to keep direction. We use pacing, compass bearing, and stars. Usually in advancing to attack at night we halt to check position every 1,000 yards. We start moving again by radio signal over the SCR 536[B] or by runner.

[B] A 5½-pound “Handy-talkie” transmitter-receiver.

“It is necessary to arrange for collecting your men together again after the raid is over. To do this I have men stationed along a line through which men will pass at intervals in their withdrawal. The sentinels on this line stop and collect the men into groups as they withdraw.

=Cooking= I prefer to have men cook their own meals with their mess kits. We did not have kitchens in Sicily, and we have been here a month without them. Even though the kitchens are available I always have men individually cook at least one meal a day.

=Physical Conditioning= “One of our best means of physical conditioning is speed marching, finally reaching a point where we march ten miles at a rate of six miles an hour. To keep in condition we use calisthenics and a daily five-mile speed march.

=Discipline= “Disciplinary drills are all important. We have a retreat formation daily, conditions permitting. At this formation men are inspected and some manual of arms performed, followed by retreat. Every Sunday morning there is a review, followed by inspection in ranks, and then inspection of camp or quarters. We have at least four periods a week of close-order drill and manual of arms, and one period every week is devoted to military courtesy.

“Infractions of discipline, military courtesy, and uniform regulations are dealt with quickly and severely. The officers must bear down on these things. The Army in general has not stressed strict discipline enough. Without it you are lost.”

SECTION II

FIELD ARTILLERY

ARTILLERY IN THE JUNGLE

=Antipersonnel Fire= _Report of Operations, ~Arundel Island~_: “It was apparent that the Japs were concentrating their forces on STIMA PENINSULA.... The area was divided by coordinates and assigned to various artillery and mortar elements. Heavy fires were placed on them throughout the night.

During the advance down the peninsula the next day numerous enemy dead were noted, verifying the effectiveness of the previous night’s concentrations.”

★

=Dealing with Tree Snipers= _Report of Operations, 43d Division, ~New Georgia~_: “We effectively cured the Jap of his liking for sniping from trees by the command, ‘Fire Mission. All Battalions. Fuze Quick. Three Volleys.’ The quick fuze resulted in bursts in the tree tops. After a week of this treatment the Jap sniper moved from the trees to the ground.

=Adjustment of Fire= “All close support adjustments were made by ‘sound and fragment’ method until the latter part of the campaign, when ground observation was obtained. Forward observers were always in the most forward position possible--in some cases in advance of the lines. Adjustments were time-consuming, starting at a range surely over friendly troops and working gradually closer to our front lines. Some smoke was used but _not very successfully in the jungle. Tree tops were not used for observation because of the limited view and the fact that our troops were suspicious of all activity in trees._ Prisoners of war inquired about our ‘automatic artillery.’

=Morale Effect= “The incessant firing of our artillery during the six-week period produced contrasting effects on the nerves of our own troops and on those of the enemy. Our infantry often stated that having those rounds continually landing in front of them was one of their best morale builders, especially at night. In the Jap, on the other hand, it produced severe cases of war neurosis. He couldn’t sleep at night because he never knew when or where the next round was going to land. He couldn’t sleep in the daytime because when our infantry wasn’t attacking him our artillery was giving him hell.

“The following statements made by prisoners are interesting:

“‘Between BIBILO HILL and the airport we had many guns of all sizes before this campaign, but now many of them are gone--knocked out by artillery. It has completely demoralized many units, reduced many units in strength, and has made many men go crazy. We were awakened at night by the slightest noise, because of the bad state of nerves. At night three men stayed in one foxhole; two smoked while one slept. During the day we also tried to get some sleep by alternating, but the continual artillery fire kept us on edge and we got no rest.’

“‘Even in the two-story dugouts many men were killed just by concussion. A direct hit would kill all the men inside.’

“‘The artillery is the one thing that is universally feared by all our ground troops. It continues over such long periods of time and the rounds come so fast.’

“‘Except for the artillery we could continue our defense.’”

★

=Ammunition and Fuzes= _First Marine Division, Guadalcanal_: “The super-quick fuze is more effective than the delay fuze against troops in wide areas, particularly in the cocoanut groves of the tropics. A report from prisoners indicated that in one unit of approximately 100 men, all but six were casualties as a result of one artillery concentration. The 37mm canister proved to be a devastating type of ammunition.

=Disposition= “In jungle warfare the artillery of the defensive set-up should not be placed too close to the infantry line. The added range thus obtained is of no value unless observation of the terrain permits its use, which will very seldom be the case. Artillery too close to the infantry is not only needlessly exposed, but is actually less effective because of the limits imposed by minimum-range considerations, and, in the case of 105mm howitzers, because of the impossibility of using high-angle fire at ranges less than 2,000 yards.

=Liaison= “The liaison officers with infantry regiment should be officers with as much experience as possible, preferably of the rank of captain or above. When possible, either the artillery battalion commander or his executive officer should be sent to the infantry regimental CP at first sign of enemy activity.”

IDEAS FROM ITALY

=Reinforcing Fire= _Lieutenant Colonel R. D. Funk, Field Artillery, Battalion Commander_: “If I can spare the radios I am going to send one to the artillery battalion that reinforces me the next time we are in direct support. Then when one of our observers calls in a fire mission we can simply tell the radio at the other battalion to take the mission direct from the observer. This will eliminate a relay through our Fire Direction Center and speed things up considerably.

=Transportation= “We keep only seven 2½-ton trucks with each howitzer battery. The three spares stay in the Service Battery ready to replace damaged ones in any howitzer battery. This also allows the maintenance section to have vehicles available for 6,000-mile checks. When one is finished they send it out to replace another that is due for check.

=Fire Direction Center= “We are using two ¾-ton trucks for the CP section of Headquarters Battery. Each has a tent and a fire direction group. When we move the CP we send out one truck with the S-3. He takes over the operation of the Fire Direction Center when he gets set up, and the rear CP can then close down and move.”

=Pack Boards for Observers= “We use pack boards[C] for forward observers and liaison parties. They are a wonderful help in hilly or mountainous country when these parties have to leave their vehicles and hoof it. Two for each party adds up to six per howitzer battery and six in Battalion Headquarters Battery.”

[C] Rectangular frames with canvas centers to which supplies or gear may be lashed and carried as a pack. See illustration.

SECTION III

MISCELLANEOUS

=Booby Traps= _Seventh Army Report, ~Sicily~_: “A German Luger pistol was ‘booby trapped’ on a table. A new replacement picked it up. Two were killed and fourteen wounded in the resulting explosion.”

★

_First Division Report, ~Tunisia~_: “A Luger pistol was found lying on the ground. An American infantry lieutenant carefully tied a long cord to it and then, getting into a hole, pulled it to him and put it in his pocket. Later in the day while examining the pistol he attempted to remove the magazine. The explosion killed the lieutenant and two other men and wounded six soldiers.”

★

=Timeliness of Orders= _Major Kinney, Infantry, ~Sicily~_: “Our chief difficulty throughout the campaign was the lack of time given for the execution of orders. Frequently we received operations orders which did not allow enough time for proper preparation and execution. At SAN FRATELLO, we received an order after 11 PM to attack at 6 AM the next morning. The battalions were in assembly areas some five or six miles from the line of departure. The terrain over which they had to move to get in position in the dark was the roughest, most rugged mountain country you could imagine, and all the ammunition, weapons, and supplies had to be taken by hand and by mule pack. Although it might seem that from 11 PM to 6 AM was sufficient time, the actual conditions were such that it was less than half enough, because of the terrain, darkness, and transport difficulties. Also, the men had just completed marches over mountain trails of nine to fourteen miles and were not fresh for the new movement.”

★

=Maps= _Seventh Army Report, ~Sicily~_: “Instill in all personnel an appreciation of the value of maps. The supply of maps will never be adequate to the demand. Training in the _care and preservation of maps_ is as important as training in the care and preservation of matériel.

=AA Fire= “It was found necessary to issue instructions that ground troops, with the exception of AA units, would not fire at airplanes unless the planes attacked them or were close enough to be identified beyond a possible doubt.”

=Security= _1st Division G-2 Report, ~Sicily~_: “Interrogation report of a captured German pilot includes the following: ‘About the end of June, 1943, German air crews were shown a report and given a lecture on the tactical and technical details of the P-47 Thunderbolt, alleged to be based upon the statements made by a captured U. S. Army Air Force captain.’”

=COMMENT: The moral of this story is obvious. Hammer home the necessity for saying absolutely nothing but, “My name is ...; my rank is ...; my serial number is ....=”

★

=Strafing Aircraft= _Fifth Army Report, ~Salerno~_: “During landing operations at SALERNO, many members of the --th Division would stand up to fire their rifles, carbines, and even pistols at strafing and bombing German aircraft. This resulted in many unnecessary casualties.”

=COMMENT: Personnel not assigned to a definite AA mission should disperse and take cover, firing their individual weapons from such cover at attacking aircraft only, and even then only when these come within the effective ranges of their weapons.=

★

“=Gas!=” _Colonel M. E. Barker, Chemical Warfare Service, ~Salerno~_: “On the third day of the operation we had a big gas scare. A German airplane came in and released two or three radio-controlled bombs, which gave off considerable smoke when released and while on the way down. Several men on the beaches saw this smoke and concluded that an air gas attack was being started. At the same time some vehicles climbing the sand dunes from the beach to the de-waterproofing area had become so hot that their gas-indicator paint turned red. The two incidents together convinced everybody on the beach that a gas attack was being launched. By this time, of course, there were plenty of battlefield smells, including that always-present smell of rotting animal and human flesh. The gas alarm ran up and down the beaches and the roads inland.

“There was no panic. Everybody simply put on his gas mask and carried on. The MP’s stopped all personnel going into the area who didn’t have gas masks. _Those individuals who had ‘misplaced’ their gas masks were really troubled for a while._ Both Colonel Guild and I investigated and then gave the ‘all clear’ signal. _I think we would have carried on in exactly the same way without much loss of time or efficiency if gas had actually been present._”

★

=Counterattack Foiled= _Lieutenant Colonel Taylor, Infantry, ~Italy~_: “We had just relieved the --th Infantry after it had had numerous casualties from an enemy tank attack against our beachhead at SALERNO. We were occupying a defensive, wired-in position. The Germans counterattacked with tanks, but _because we were occupying a different position from that used by the preceding unit_ the enemy first started across our front, apparently believing that we were in the old position. So it was duck soup. We knocked out eight tanks with our 37’s, 57’s, TD’s, and tanks.”

★

=Room for Improvement= The following comments, indicating weaknesses which must be corrected, were made by the _Commanding General, --th Division, ~Italy~_: “Sometimes units failed to dispose themselves properly for all-around defense when halted on an objective or when placed in a position for defense.

“In the attack, riflemen frequently failed to provide fire that would cover the movement of adjacent units, merely because they were not able to ‘pin-point’ definitely the location of the enemy rifle and machine-gun elements firing on our troops.

“Some small unit commanders selected positions apparently with cover and concealment as the primary objective rather than positions from which effective fire could be brought to bear on the enemy.

“Due to the enormous division frontage in the second phase of the landing at SALERNO _some commanders attempted to stretch their units excessively, and as a result permitted faulty dispositions_.”

SECTION IV

NOTES ON THE NIPS

=Japanese Pillboxes= _Lieutenant Colonel McCormick, Field Artillery, ~New Georgia~_: “In most cases pillboxes were built in two decks to permit the occupants to drop through a trap door during heavy shelling. They were used for heavy-weapons firing and had communication trenches which concealed light machine guns protecting the pillboxes. All were mutually supporting and very well concealed.”

★

=Superman Myth Exploded= _Operations Report, 43d Division, ~New Georgia~_: “Our troops here came to regard the Superman stories about the Japanese as ridiculous. The Jap is tricky but not so tricky as many have been led to believe. He is not nearly so ingenious or adaptable as the average American, and the truth of the matter is he’s afraid of us, of our artillery, and of our sea and air power. Our troops must learn this and never forget it.

=Jap Trap= “We soon learned that the Japanese permitted small leading elements of the column to proceed past their effectively camouflaged fortifications and would not open fire until our main body came along.”

=Defensive Action= _Operation Report, 43d Division, ~Arundel Island~_: “Our first contact with the enemy was made by patrols, which encountered small groups of Japs equipped with automatic weapons. Their resistance consisted of a fluid delaying action and, during the early phases, could not be effectively fixed. After a short skirmish the Japs would withdraw several hundred yards and re-establish their temporary defense. The denseness of the jungle made such a defense quite effective in delaying our progress.”

★

=Vine Entanglements= _Colonel Liversedge, U. S. Marine Corps, ~New Georgia~_: “The Japanese used a prickly native vine for entanglements. The vines were interwoven and used to protect defensive positions in lieu of barbed wire. Results were effective and impeded attack. Vines had to be cut before progress could be made.

“_Our own troops should be instructed in the use of these vines_ as a means of improvisation when wire is not available.”

SECTION V

HINTS ON THE HEINIE

=Reverse Slope Tactics= _Second Lieutenant S. W. Malkin, Infantry, Platoon Leader, ~Sicily~_: “Enemy machine guns, mortars, and automatic rifles were located on the reverse side of the hills so as to catch our advancing infantry as they came over the skyline.”

★

=Don’t Gawk!= _Private George Scott, Infantry, Sicily_: “Several times German planes pretended that they were involved in a dog-fight to secure the attention of the ground troops. Then they swooped down in a strafing run.”

★

=Traps and Mines= _Private First Class Edward Borycz, Infantry, ~Sicily~_: “The enemy abandoned his tanks with motor running. When we tried to stop the motors they blew up.

“The Germans would put a mine in a road with another mine a sufficient depth under it so that it would not be seen if the top mine were removed. For a while our sappers did not run the mine detector over the area again where the first mine had been found. But after the dirt became packed down sufficiently by traffic, the second mine would go off.”

★

=Minor Tactics= _Staff Sergeants Richard E. Deland and Robert J. Kemp, Infantry, ~Sicily~_: “Never let an apparently lone machine gun suck you into a trap. The Germans will usually not fire on the individual but will wait, watch where he goes, and get a whole flock.

“Germans always approach their positions from the end and under cover so as not to give them away.

“In the counterattack the Jerry machine gun is always well forward. German weapons are faster but are less accurate than ours; they scare you more than they hurt you. The German 81mm mortar is the worst goat-grabber; it gives you no notice when it is coming in.

“Germans use tanks to maneuver and fire from a distance in attack. When the going gets hot they pull the tanks in and, after a minute, bring them out again.”

=Typical Attack and Withdrawal= _Lieutenant Colonel P. H. Perkins, Tank Battalion Commander, ~Italy~_: “The standard German attack here consists of three or four tanks in line in the lead. They are followed by infantry in trucks at four to five hundred yards. The rest of the tanks follow the infantry. When fire is drawn the infantry dismounts. The leading tanks mill about, fire, and withdraw. We have never seen the reserve tanks committed.

“In their withdrawals the Germans use tanks to good advantage. They do not have to contend with mines and blown bridges. Their tanks fire a few shots and withdraw, then move up again, fire a few more shots and withdraw, and so on.”

★

=Rearguard Action= _Lieutenant Colonel Taylor, Infantry, Battalion Commander, ~Italy~_: “My experience has been that we first meet two armored vehicles which open fire for a few minutes with everything they have on the first man of ours they see; they then withdraw rapidly down the road.

“Next we hit their outpost, which, I estimate, consists of about two squads. This outpost, protecting the road, has groups on the sides of the mountains on the flanks. It takes four to six hours to drive this outpost in due to its fine observation over us and the difficulties of maneuver.”

=COMMENT: It should be remembered that this is the experience of one battalion commander in one theater.=

U. S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE: 1944

Transcriber’s Notes

Punctuation, hyphenation, and spelling were made consistent when a predominant preference was found in the original book; otherwise they were not changed.

Simple typographical errors were corrected; unbalanced quotation marks were remedied when the change was obvious, and otherwise left unbalanced.

Illustrations in this eBook have been positioned between paragraphs and outside quotations. In versions of this eBook that support hyperlinks, the page references in the List of Illustrations lead to the corresponding illustrations.

On the Title page, “XXXXXXXXXXXX” indicates text that was blotted out.

The “G. C. Marshall” illustration at the end of the Introduction is the General’s signature.