European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - January 19, 1945, Darmstadt, Hesse Bunch of they get in some Trees and shoot a then White told of a time when some japs pre tended they were sleeping while he led his Pla Toon through a group of filipino thatch huts on a combat one didst play he looked White squarely in the Eye when White peered into a hut and cracked the pin on one of his grenades to Arm it for throw i shot him twice and White the grenade blew his whole Arm in that one the 38 men with White accounted for 25 japs by searching from Shack to but not All the japs were lacking in gis on this patrol who were getting their first View of the enemy found some japs even bolder than though their daring was the Hope less sort that achieves nothing but in the rough fight for which some gis Call ban bang for one Jap calmly strode up to an american tossed a Light machine gun on top of it and then began climb ing up after the gun As casually As if he were a i hitching a ride on a he was shot off be fore he got a leg up on the another Jap tried to climb up on an m7 and chose a remarkable Over the Mouth of the the Crew was firing by peeking through the Breech so they didst see him when they let the next round if it had been an he the m7 would have blown luckily it was a can Nister pounds of steel the Jap was splattered Over an area the size of a football some men figured the Jap had actually planned to destroy the m7 by blocking a Al but most thought he had been just punch most of our men were surprised to find so Many wild marksmen on the enemy everyone been shot at 15 or 20 but casualties Are very said a lieutenant in the 381st that sniper told us we pay any attention to White we thought we would but you get so you dont if you i dont think they can hit i had always expected that combat would be a constant Battle All the instead we just get shot at from time to another thing i noticed was that the japs wont open up until we open up the noise of our rifles then drowns out the of because of their smokeless powder we cant Tell where they Are unless we hear the crack of their so they Stop shooting when we Raymond Jennings of squad Leader in a Rifle platoon of the 383d infant worked out a plan to get Jap he studied the Way the were coming and Fig ured out the Only possible place from which they could be shot at that then he patiently watched that after staring at a tree for half an he saw a movement and he knocked Down a Jap sniper with his my at 200 another time he saw grass move where it and killed another Whites reaction to enemy camouflage was not my i dont think the japs Are Good on he i think we could be just As Good in this i could Lay there and let them walk up on and my Earl Wright of Gibson an acting platoon Leader in the didst its harder than you that he its Damn they got camouflage nets with different coloured but one thing they give themselves away theres Bam boo youll find a gun whenever i move my men in going to use glasses on Norman Fiedler of Newyork also thought Jap camouflage Good you cant see they build themselves a Hole in the shape of a wine narrow at the top and wider at the the artillery cant get the Only Way to get them is to go up with the Man for but Fiedler thought Banzai charges were less terrible than they had sounded in the to me a Banzai attack is just a suicide he the japs come running into you with rifles at High hollering kill the Ameri can then All the machine guns and carbines open up around nothing can come through you feel Good when you see All those weather conditions in the philippine swamps during the typhoon season were an unpleasant Surprise to that night we hit the we started digging i swampy ground at he about a half hour later the japs opened up with their mortars and artillery and were hit Ting All around every time you dug out a shovel Ful of the Hole fill up with a shovel Ful and every time you heard a mortar Shell you stuck your face in the by the time it got everybody was shoulder High in the we spent the whole night like during the night it got so cold we preferred being below water to being above the water warmed a Little from Pur body but if we moved wed stir up cold so we sat motionless except for our chattering from what they had the gis of the 96th expected the japs to shoot about 18 inches off the but instead they seemed to shoot mostly at hip possibly because troops Here have been walking erect More than they have Robert Bolen of an assistant bar Man in the listed the upright walking As his biggest Surprise in on Maneu he we used to crawl around on our Here in the front lines we stand up and walk Jap wooden and paper equipped with full powder surprised the gis of the some thought the bullets were just for target practice others thought that since the bullets had Only a 50yard Range they were Fine for an infiltrating who could fire in any direction without danger of hitting his own at the japs dug their Honey combed system of trenches and tunnels under deserted native thatch it was Tough to get at until Joseph mock of had a Bright he decided to try using the phosphorous smoke shells in an m7 to Burn the grass huts Down Over the japs that worked soon 80 percent of the Jap cover had been the Jap attitude toward litter carers and wounded was worse than most men sex the Jap As on was to hit a wait for a medic to come to help him and then clip the five litter bearers were killed in one Brief action along the and once a wounded Soldier had to fire from his Joseph Devito of a squad went up after six american dead and were reaching for their dog tags when the who had evidently been lying in wait near the opened up with automatic because there was an american company in the Woods behind the the squad the enemy fire and had to leaving the dead once t5 Homer Carlson of a chaplains had to put aside Hia religious chores and do some Quick firing with his my As his chaplain Bent Over some Frank Williams of Oklahoma said that another chaplain had Given the Best summing up of combat with the japs the Chap lain told us that he was surprised to learn you can cuss and Pray at the same
