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2016-05-14 -Land of the Free

This Week in Guns, May 14th, 2016

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Posted by badanov 2016-05-14 00:00|| || Front Page|| [11125 views ] Top

#1 during WWII 85 percent of all riflemen the US deployed would not even fire their weapons at the enemy. That is an amazing statistic.

U.S. infantry all divisions were labeled by the Nazi commanders as shock troops. Japanese Imperial commanders ordered decimated units to attack U.S. lines ferociously and suicidal in bonsai assaults and were cut to pieces.

I asked one veteran how many of the enemy his unit killed on various missions and he looked at me like I was crazy for asking such a question and responded "ALL OF THEM!".

Infantry was so on the edge at times they accidentally shot their own people. You were not to leave your fox hole from dusk to dawn as anyone crawling around out there in the dark would be cut to pieces.

End of Comment.

Posted by Solomon Sheretch8343 2016-05-14 00:30|| 2016-05-14 00:30|| Front Page Top

#2 Percentage was better for artillery.

Posted by Shipman 2016-05-14 03:34|| 2016-05-14 03:34|| Front Page Top

#3 I read elsewhere that during WWII 85 percent of all riflemen the US deployed would not even fire their weapons at the enemy. That is an amazing statistic. I gather from that discussion that the other 15 percent would willingly fire their weapons and wound or kill an enemy in battle.

(I'd post the links to Amazon, but my two prior attempts with links failed)

The author is S.L.A. Marshall. The book is Men Against Fire.

It's an airborne unit deployed on line to cover their front near Normandy. The men are individually separated by 10 feet and the attack is at night.

However, he would follow up with a study in Korea, Infantry Operations Weapons Usage in Korea in which he recorded a significant increase in firing. Tactical doctrine and emphasized had changed. Men were paired up (you may not shoot to save your own life, but you will to protect your those of your 'hunting group'). Officers and NCOs were directing fire, as in smack them in the back to the helmet if necessary and point to where the individual should shoot.

Posted by Procopius2k 2016-05-14 08:31|| 2016-05-14 08:31|| Front Page Top

#4 They also changed the targets on the firing range, replacing bulls eyes with human silhouettes.

Posted by bman 2016-05-14 10:57|| 2016-05-14 10:57|| Front Page Top

#5 Wuz a pup, when guy said he was on the Yorktown. I asked, "how large a boat that is?"

Howdy, was I corrected.

Posted by swksvolFF 2016-05-14 12:30|| 2016-05-14 12:30|| Front Page Top

#6 Is this the link you mean, Procopius2k?

The html for a link is:

within angle brackets a href=URL
text for the link to attach to
within angle brackets /a

Posted by trailing wife 2016-05-14 15:57|| 2016-05-14 15:57|| Front Page Top

#7 Sounds like Mr. Silvernail Better Call Saul.

Posted by Thing From Snowy Mountain 2016-05-14 16:31|| 2016-05-14 16:31|| Front Page Top

#8 Yes, that's the first book TW. I used the short cut icon in the comment window for linkage to do the links. For some reason when I hit submit, it would not go through. Process worked on the comment in the WWI game posted article. Can't figure out why one worked and the others didn't.

Posted by Procopius2k 2016-05-14 22:49|| 2016-05-14 22:49|| Front Page Top

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