Trials Of Japanese On Solomons Fighting

Northern Advocate, 21 December 1942, Page 2

Trials Of Japanese On Solomons Fighting

The presence of Japanese women snipers in the Solomons was confirmed by a group of marines now in a United States naval hospital in New Zealand recuperating from their wounds. A “Dominion” reporter came on them when they were exchanging stories of their experiences in the fighting. "I definitely saw one of them,” said a marine, a bed-patient suffering from leg wounds, to "the others gathered round him. His statement was verified by two of them, who spoke of more than one of the women snipers having been found dead in their sectors. "They act just the same as the men snipers,” commented a marine. “They conceal themselves in the trees and throw down crackers to draw our fire, so that we show where we are.” The consensus of opinion was, however, that there were not very many of these women on the islands. In-Fighting Tactics

A way the Japanese soldiers have of meeting bayonet charges was described by the same marines. When the Americans launch a cold-steel attack, the Japanese wait till they are just upon them. Then they throw themselves down in a rolling fashion and come uo stabbing with their own bayonets.

One marine said his unit had been told of this ruse when they were receiving their final training, and had been shown how to meet it.

Another habit of the Japanese is to go over the previous day’s battlefield at night, and before retiring they put live hand grenades under the marine dead. If burial parties lift a corpse unwarily, the lever of the grenade is released, and the resulting explosion may wipe out a whole burial party.

The Japanese are making considerable use of their trench mortars, which, according to the marines, have an effective range of about 1000 yards, and are quite accurate at that distance. The bombs contain a charge of about 51b. of T.N.T and can be very destructive if they land near to anyone.

Their hand grenades, however, are not so effective as the United States type. The container is only grooved on the exterior, so that fragmentation is not so good.

In the earlier stages of the Guadalcanar fighting the enemy had a Gin. gun or two, probably salvaged from a sunken warship, and they had mounted them on rails so that the guns could be run back into caves in the hillsides on which thev were disposed. This made it very difficult for aircraft to spot their position. They were eventually destroyed or captured.