SECTION IIIMISCELLANEOUS

Booby TrapsSeventh Army Report,Sicily: “A German Luger pistol was ‘booby trapped’ on a table. A new replacement picked it up. Two were killed and fourteen wounded in the resulting explosion.”

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First Division Report,Tunisia: “A Luger pistol was found lying on the ground. An American infantry lieutenant carefully tied a long cord to it and then, getting into a hole, pulled it to him and put it in his pocket. Later in the day while examining the pistol he attempted to remove the magazine. The explosion killed the lieutenant and two other men and wounded six soldiers.”

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Timeliness of OrdersMajor Kinney, Infantry,Sicily: “Our chief difficulty throughout the campaignwas the lack of time given for the execution of orders. Frequently we received operations orders which did not allow enough time for proper preparation and execution. AtSan Fratello, we received an order after 11 PM to attack at 6 AM the next morning. The battalions were in assembly areas some five or six miles from the line of departure. The terrain over which they had to move to get in position in the dark was the roughest, most rugged mountain country you could imagine, and all the ammunition, weapons, and supplies had to be taken by hand and by mule pack. Although it might seem that from 11 PM to 6 AM was sufficient time, the actual conditions were such that it was less than half enough, because of the terrain, darkness, and transport difficulties. Also, the men had just completed marches over mountain trails of nine to fourteen miles and were not fresh for the new movement.”

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MapsSeventh Army Report,Sicily: “Instill in all personnel an appreciation of the value of maps. The supply of maps will never be adequate to the demand. Training in thecare and preservation of mapsis as important as training in the care and preservation of matériel.

AA Fire“It was found necessary to issue instructions that ground troops, with the exception of AA units, would not fire at airplanes unless the planes attacked them or were close enough to be identified beyond a possible doubt.”

Security1st Division G-2 Report,Sicily: “Interrogation report of a captured German pilot includes the following: ‘About the end of June, 1943, German air crews were shown a report and given a lecture on the tactical and technical details of the P-47 Thunderbolt, alleged to be based upon the statements made by a captured U. S. Army Air Force captain.’”

COMMENT: The moral of this story is obvious. Hammer home the necessity for saying absolutely nothing but, “My name is ...; my rank is ...; my serial number is ....”

★

Strafing AircraftFifth Army Report,Salerno: “During landing operations atSalerno, many members of the —th Division would stand up to fire their rifles, carbines, and even pistols at strafing and bombing German aircraft. This resulted in many unnecessary casualties.”

COMMENT: Personnel not assigned to a definite AA mission should disperse and take cover, firing their individual weapons from such cover at attacking aircraft only, and even then only when these come within the effective ranges of their weapons.

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“Gas!”Colonel M. E. Barker, Chemical Warfare Service,Salerno: “On the third day of the operation we had a big gas scare. A German airplane came in and released two or three radio-controlled bombs, which gave off considerable smoke when released andwhile on the way down. Several men on the beaches saw this smoke and concluded that an air gas attack was being started. At the same time some vehicles climbing the sand dunes from the beach to the de-waterproofing area had become so hot that their gas-indicator paint turned red. The two incidents together convinced everybody on the beach that a gas attack was being launched. By this time, of course, there were plenty of battlefield smells, including that always-present smell of rotting animal and human flesh. The gas alarm ran up and down the beaches and the roads inland.

“There was no panic. Everybody simply put on his gas mask and carried on. The MP’s stopped all personnel going into the area who didn’t have gas masks.Those individuals who had ‘misplaced’ their gas masks were really troubled for a while.Both Colonel Guild and I investigated and then gave the ‘all clear’ signal.I think we would have carried on in exactly the same way without much loss of time or efficiency if gas had actually been present.”

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Counterattack FoiledLieutenant Colonel Taylor, Infantry,Italy: “We had just relieved the —th Infantry after it had had numerous casualties from an enemy tank attack against our beachhead atSalerno. We were occupying a defensive, wired-in position. The Germans counterattacked with tanks, butbecause we were occupying a different position from that used by the preceding unitthe enemy firststarted across our front, apparently believing that we were in the old position. So it was duck soup. We knocked out eight tanks with our 37’s, 57’s, TD’s, and tanks.”

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Room for ImprovementThe following comments, indicating weaknesses which must be corrected, were made by theCommanding General, —th Division,Italy: “Sometimes units failed to dispose themselves properly for all-around defense when halted on an objective or when placed in a position for defense.

“In the attack, riflemen frequently failed to provide fire that would cover the movement of adjacent units, merely because they were not able to ‘pin-point’ definitely the location of the enemy rifle and machine-gun elements firing on our troops.

“Some small unit commanders selected positions apparently with cover and concealment as the primary objective rather than positions from which effective fire could be brought to bear on the enemy.

“Due to the enormous division frontage in the second phase of the landing atSalernosome commanders attempted to stretch their units excessively, and as a result permitted faulty dispositions.”

PHOTOGRAPH BY U. S. ARMY SIGNAL CORPSJapanese Pillbox

PHOTOGRAPH BY U. S. ARMY SIGNAL CORPS

Japanese Pillbox

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