[57Strat]

I was cleaning out some stuff recently when I moved, and found this WWII US training book that I've had for years and years. One interesting point in the book tells that Japanese soldiers have very poor eyesight and are bad shots unless at very close range. It's hard to believe our military would tell our troops this. The intention was clearly to give our troops a false sense of security.

 

[Abwehr]

57Strat,

Those are some great photos! That would be a nice book to own.

The US did much disservice to our troops by providing false information to them. One of the worst things they did was to tell the Tankers that the Sherman was the best tank in the world. It was one of the worse tanks in Europe. The Germans refered to the Sherman as the "Ronson", the name of the the leading lighter at the time, and their advertising was it would :light every time". The Germans got the name right, because when a shell hit the Sherman, it would catch fire.

They also told them the MG42 had a bark worse than the bite, but it proved to be one of the best MG in the war.

 

[gabrielfrombelgium]

Abwehr,


You could find this manual on this US Army website :
http://www.ahco.army.mil:8080/site/auth_docs_brief.jsp

And also lots of other WWII US manuals.

 

[loboslanding]

I recall seeing US recruitment posters showing a Japanese soldier with rong bucked teeth and Coke bottle thick grasses. Interesting plopoganda.

 

[multishots]

Not to mention that in one of those books it teaches the soldiers how to distinguish a Chinese from a Japanese. What a laugh!

 

[loboslanding]

That's easy...ask him his last name while he's charging at you with a sword and if it's one syllable then he's Chinese...more than one syllable then either shoot or run .

 

[boss429]

That's easy...ask him his last name while he's charging at you with a sword and if it's one syllable then he's Chinese...more than one syllable then either shoot or run .

While he's charging with a sword??? either way he's shot!

I saw a WW2 training film clip on History channel telling "there's nothing to fear of the new German MG42 also called "Hitler's zipper'- "it's bark is worst than it's bite"" It showed the solders jump down on the ground when they heard it but since they saw the film they didn't need to do that anymore!

 

[kwilal]

One interesting point in the book tells that Japanese soldiers have very poor eyesight and are bad shots unless at very close range. It's hard to believe our military would tell our troops this. The intention was clearly to give our troops a false sense of security.

Not an expert in this field but I believe a very reputable think tank at the time had concluded that telling the soldiers "You guys are really going to get your asses handed to you this time, why just last week they beheaded a guy and ate his liver" just wasn't giving the troops the "go get 'em" attitude they desired. Who'd of thought, huh?
Ken

 

[Armorer]

I remember seeing an ad by Harington and Richardson in an American Legion magazine from WWII. The ad talked about the new Reising submachine gun "making big red holes in little yellow men". I guess nobody thought that was racist back then. Unfortunately the gun never lived up to the advertisement.

 

[ttpete]

Here ya go........

 

[2ndShooter]

One interesting point in the book tells that Japanese soldiers have very poor eyesight and are bad shots unless at very close range. It's hard to believe our military would tell our troops this. The intention was clearly to give our troops a false sense of security.

I don't think it has to do with racism, I see it as Americans not giving themselves enough, or any, credit where it is due. In their own way they must have being trying to figure out why our kill ratio is so freaking high, as it has always been. Saying that the Japanese were blind and retarded made sense to people who were vastly superior on the battlefield.

Look at the bad guy's in Iraq, those idiots shoot like sh!t. We say it's because they arent trained, but that isnt close to true. They just suck compared to us. God has blessed us with superior abilities in combat, and in life.

Fact is the American fighting man (WW2 especially in my opinion illustrates this) is the greatest weapon/predator in the history of the universe. It's a shame that Hitler ruined our ability to seriously talk about a master race, because I believe that folks born on our sacred soil are the best.