[PatG]

chuckfourth said:
Hi Pat

Hi Chuck

I dont accept that the japanese had "general tactic of infiltrating the enemies position then charging to get into close combat range". or that their tactics made them "easy to kill"

<description of normal infantry tactics snipped>

<description of China combat experience snipped>

Infiltration is a jungle warfare/night fighting method. It is not neccessarily followed by a 'charge' but by whatever infantry type tactics that is deemed neccessary, setting up a MG or a sniper in the enemies rear or slashing the throats of sleeping troops and then retiring to your own lines etc.

In their training, the Japanese placed alot of emphasis on the attack, closing with the enemy and on bayonet drill. (CMHI re-publication - name escapes me at the moment) This is not to say that they did not use other tactics.

If you read accounts of the Japanese in Malaysia, Burma, Dutch East Indies, China, Phillipines etc you will see descriptions of normal infantry combat.

Sorry but in my reading I don't see normal infantry combat - I see hit and run, infiltration and of course the massed charge.

However the Japanese were happy to take "horrendous" casualties just like the SS and the Russian infantry. However one doesnt need to model this just run your counters forward without any artillery support, or against a numerically superior opponent.

I disagree - willingness to take casualties is not necessarily the willingness to waste men. One gunjin standing up to draw fire so his mates can pinpoint the enemies positions is not something westerners will easily understand but it is not wasteful.

You missed the Australians from the close quarter fighters.

All the colonials actually - sorry Diggers, Canucks, Kiwis, South Africans, Rhodies....

As for snipers tied to trees this sounds a little like Hollywoods interpretation of the excellent, imaginitive and effective camoflage used by the Japanese.

"Combat Officer: A Memoir of War in the South Pacific" specifically mentions shooting up tree tops and watching the tied in bodies drop.

Snipers can be used aggressively but were they in WW2? A sniper obviously gathers information whilst sitting in position but this isnt scouting.

While recently digging up books to support my daughter's interest in target shooting, I read several histoies of sniping - all mentioned the aggressive use of snipers in WWII and the information gathering techniques. As one example of info gathering, in the First War, because their lives depended on spotting changes in the terrain that could signal a new German sniper post, snipers noticed over several days that a cat was hanging around a presumably abandoned German trench. Figuring that someone was feeding the beast, they reported it up the line and were rewared by an effective fireworks display to their front.

It is a waste to use an expensive, trained shot to scout or on point duties they are very likely to get shot, captured or step on a mine, much better to have a sullen recalcitrant trouble maker on point and a normal but alert infantryman as part of a scouting party.

Not on point - on recce. All you mentioned but by training observant and skilled in camoflage techniques. The aim is to get information not get killed.

I think sentry and patrol are jobs best left to cheaper normal infantry. Just as you wouldnt use engineers as normal infantry or a truck driver to command the company.

Yes. Colonel Fredericks of the SSF (an elite light infantry force)would often penetrate German lines before and assault and watch his attack go in from the enemies point of view...

I must say I prefered the Japanese infantries with their origional 8 movement points configuration in the earlier versions of the game. When you see pictures of them in action they are always moving at the double and look extremely fit and tireless. It goes some way in modeling there astounding ability to go through "impassable" terrain when flanking defensive positions.

Speed and ability to move through rough terrain - the classic marks of a light infantry force.

Best Regards Chuck.

Cheers