""Operations and Tactics—Guadalcanal"" Topic

"The following is an informal report on Guadalcanal operations by a high-ranking U.S. Marine officer. It is not, and was not intended to be, a complete report, but consists of observations on certain aspects only. For purposes of security certain portions of the original report have been omitted…"
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Amicalement
Armand

Fascinating!

So wonderful to see ourselves as the enemy saw us--if myopically to our advantage.

I encourage anyone to follow the link and read the article from April, 1943.

TVAG

Happy you enjoyed it my friend!. (smile)

Amicalement
Armand

Thanks for sharing.

Interesting that the Japanese write that the Americans were poor at hand-to-hand combat, especially given size and strength differentials known to be common between American and Japanese troops. I guess they needed to keep up their morale somehow.

Also interesting is the ending Japanese quite, of which I've selected the most key part to quote "…..if we make especially thorough preparations, prepare our fighting strength to deal hammerlike blows against the enemy, concentrate on using all sorts of original plans, and carry them out with a flourishing aggressive spirit, our success in the present operation is certainly beyond doubt".

Again, it seems the Japanese were overly optimistic about that as well.

…it seems the Japanese were overly optimistic…

Rather than optimism, I would attribute it to being trapped by their own dogma. When your tactics have succeeded up until now, so well that they have have been enshrined and codified in not only military training but even your whole ethos and identity … when those tactics suddenly fail to deliver the results you need … the most likely response is to just try harder.

It takes an exceptional flexibility of mind to, instead, look at your approach and say "hmmm, maybe we should try something different…"

-Mark
(aka: Mk 1)

Well said Mark1.