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Account of the USS Canopus written by Capt. E. L. Sackett

items 15 of 27 items
  • wcu_ww2-1029.jp2
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  • Figuratively thumbing their manuals, they hastily deployed in a cardanc® with th© best traditions of th© book and advanced in line of skirmishers* Contact was established as might be expected, and the maneuver described as "The Assualt* in th© next chapter, drove in th© advance patrols of th© surprised Nippon©®©* The strength of th© main forces next ©»©©uater©d convinced our boys that they had a "bear by the tail", and since th© book failed to provided th© proper procedur* in suoh a contingency, they threw it away* Fl© days of what, was probably th© weirdest jungle fighting inth© annals of .warefar© ensued, with all accepted principles violated, and a© holds barred* Adjacent units wer© unable t© maintain contact with each other during th© night, so, of curs©, th© Japs took advanta © of their famous infiltration tactics* However, this did not ha © the expected results, because our boys, not having been indeetrineated into the onfeicnt A my prineipl® that it is fatal t© b© outflanked, si; ply held their ground and sent back detaehmants to clear out th© annoying intruders behind their lines* Another essential item which had somehow been overlooked in th© plans was th© servie© of supply. In the excitement, nobody thought much about that until nature began to assert Itself as night cam© oh, and th© boys began to g©t hungry and tired* A'hurry call was s©nt baok t® the Con©pus to "send plenty of everything", and trucks were rushed to "the new front with food, -aoBBMmitiati, blankets, and stretehers for th© wounded* For days, all other work was dropped, and all hands wer© pressed into service t© make sure th© fighting men la«ked nothing that would help* Th© Jap landing party was made up of picked men, larger and stronger than th© average, and well equipped for jungle fighting* Had they mad© a determined assault, they could undoubtedly have wiped out completely our whole ragged battalion.. But they*knew the business of war, ©nd wer© sur© our front'lines must b© backed up by powerful reserves somewhere* If they could only find out wh©r© these reserves wer© located, th©y would know ©here best to mak© their drive* The big push was hold up while th©ir scouts, frantically searched for the elusive reserve fcroes. How could they guess that the crazy Americans wer© so ignorant of th© art of war as to bllghsly igner© th© aeooosity for reserves? Sixty more Marinas with trench meters wer© brought over frcra Corrog'idcr to ©eo.j teraet th© advantag© xtf th© Japs had enjoyed with similar weapons, but they wer© also used t© the fr nt lines, and could hardly be called reserves* A diary later found on th® body of a Japanese officer testified to their oomplet© bewilderment, describing th© strong© conduct of th© "new type of * suicide squads, which trashed about in th© jungle, wearing orlght colored uniforms, and making plenty of nolo©* Whenever tries© apparitions reached on op©n space, they would attempt to draw Japanese fir© by sitting down,. talking loudly, and lighting cigarette," Bataon may well have been saved fraa a premature fall by th© r©ckl©ss bravado of too©© 8ailors,»boeause if th© J ps had succeeded in cutting off supplies-to th© western ' my front, a general retreat from those pr©pared positions might hav© b®©arn@©essary© Th© lives lost in th© tl ©ly effort could hardly hav© been eaoriviced in a better cause*
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Object’s are ‘parent’ level descriptions to ‘children’ items, (e.g. a book with pages).