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M4 Sherman tanks support advance of 158th Regimental Combat Team on Luzon
Bushmasters of the 158th RCT train in the jungles of New Britain, off the coast of New Guinea. 1944. No sound. From the National Archives.
A 1943 article in Popular Mechanics recorded the abilities of the individual Bushmaster jungle soldier:
"One of America's most colorful and least known soldiers of World War II is the Bushmaster...His tactics are borrowed from native jungle fighters, the American Indian, British commandos, exponents of judo and the Shanghai underworld...(He uses) machetes, curved knives, tommy guns, high-powered rifles, and hand grenades...His average age is 22 and his favorite weapon is the long-bladed machete...With his fellow Bushmasters, he disappears from civilization for weeks at a time. The men know how to sustain themselves on wild fare supplemented by (jungle rations) carried in their packs. When they are not testing their camouflage against aerial observers, making camp in a swamp, or working out an intricate code of communications, they are practicing jujitsu or improve on the native's technique with the machete. The Bushmaster bows to no man in the art of hand-to-hand fighting and any unwary (enemy) who crosses his path would probably never know what hit him."
General MacArthur gave the Bushmasters the accolade, "No greater fighting combat team has ever deployed for battle
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Last edited by Mark in Rochester; 07-17-2016 at 09:35 PM.
He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose
There are no great men, only great challenges that ordinary men are forced by circumstances to meet.
commandos, exponents of judo and the Shanghai underworld...(He uses) machetes, curved knives, tommy guns, high-powered rifles, and hand grenades...His average age is 22 and his favorite weapon is the long-bladed machete...With his fellow Bushmasters, he disappears from civilization for weeks at a time. The men know how to sustain themselves on wild fare supplemented by (jungle rations) carried in their packs. When they are not testing their camouflage against aerial observers, making camp in a swamp, or working out an intricate code of communications, they are practicing jujitsu or improve on the native's technique with the machete. The Bushmaster bows to no man in the art of hand-to-hand fighting and any unwary (enemy) who crosses his path would probably never know what hit him."
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