World War II, Pacific Theatre:

An Overview

In this entry, we will turn our focus once again to the second World War; but this time, we will be featuring the Pacific Theatre rather than Europe.

When most people think of the South-East Pacific, what usually comes to mind will include warm oceans, beautiful volcanic islands covered in palm trees, sandy beaches, and Hawaiian shirts. But to the Allied troops fighting in the jungle islands from 1941-45, it was no happy vacation. On December 7th, 1941, the Japanese suprise attack on Pearl Harbor threw the United States into one of the worst wars in the history of the world; and to defeat Japan, which had been taking over much of Asia since the 1930's, the U.S.-along with our allies in the Pacific, Great Britain and Austrailia to name a few-soon found themselves fighting a new kind of warfare in South-East Asia. In most of America's past wars, both armies fought on stable continents; but in the Pacific, almost every battle was fought on very small islands or in the middle of the ocean. This led to a kind of "leap frog" warfare: "jumping" armies from one island to the next to take ground, and naval engagements in between, if not involved in the land battles. The Pacific theatre saw a rise in airplane engagements; and with the development and improvement of the aircraft carrier, planes soon made a huge part of the defending and attacking forces on both sides.

In this overview, we will see what fighting in South East Asia was like, and what made the Pacific Theatre of the war so different, and yet so vital of importance.

The Americans

"Hit the beach!" After a naval artillery barrage and aircraft bombings to "soften up" the dug-in enemy, U.S. troops beach landings could turn out to be a brilliant victory or a bloody nightmare of a failure.

A U.S. Soldier runs for cover on a hill covered with giant native grasses and bamboo. The jungle islands were often covered in dense foilage; giving the enemy excellent concealment. A U.S. Soldier waits at the ready near a coastal cliff.
This picture, along with the one above, shows the gear of the average U.S. Marine serving in the South Pacific. Helmet with cloth camoflauge cover, belt with ammo pouches and-most importantly-a canteen, camoflauge uniform, and M1 Garand rifle with bayonet.
The Enemy: Japan

This is what the enemy soldier looked like.

A khaki uniform, cotton for the hot jungle, putees, and U.S. made M1 Springfield rifle leftover from the First World War (we were allies then, and the United States had been supplying Japan with military arms, equiptment, raw materials, and advisors since the 1860's). The only gear he wore was a light-weight belt with ammo pouches, a canteen, and a bayonet. He wears a standard issue field cap.

A Japanese soldier with standard-issue jacket and early-style helmet. The Aircraft

A Japanese A6M5 Mitsubishi, nick-named "zero" by U.S. troops. It was extremely effective, and during the first two years of the war it could not be out-fought by any fighter the allies could muster.
U.S. Navy Avenger, a fighter-bomber that proved it's service well.

A U.S. P-38 Lightning, nick-named "forked-tailed devil" by the Japanese for it's unique fuselage. It was one of the best airplanes in U.S. Service, and it was a group of Lightnings that shot down and killed Japanese Admiral Yamamoto in his private plane as he flew out one morning to survey the area before the battle.

The Combat
Combat in the jungle was often a nightmare of an experience involving close-combat on many occasions, or assaulting an open beach which often ended in a horrid battle.

U.S. troops fire at oncoming Japanese troops.
A U.S. Marine fires through an opening in the jungle at a distant enemy.

We hope you enjoyed this entry, and we'll be updating with more in-depth entries on the Pacific Theatre soon!

World War I, Life in the Trenches: Part Two

In part one of the entry series, we saw how trench warfare became the main method of fighting on the western front during the First World War. Now, we will not only see what took place, but what day-to-day life was like for the soldiers in the trenches.

On Guard Duty. Both sides had to be careful to watch the enemy lines at all times, so that if an attack came they would not be caught off guard. When a soldier was on guard duty, he had to keep out of sight, for enemy snipers were always a danger.

Home Sweet Home. Soldiers tried to find what little shelter from the elements that they could, but the constant shelling and bombing meant that the shelter had to be "bomb-proof". The most common type of shelter was, therefore, a small cave-like hole dug out of the forward side of the trench. These were often nick-named "worm holes".

Some underground shelters had log-lined walls to hold the dirt back.

What's For Lunch? All meals were usually pre-packaged, or was prepared in the rear lines and brought it to the front lines in buckets. Cooking in the front lines was prohibited, as smoke from cook fires could attract grenades and mortar fire. The most common meal for the Allied soldiers was mass-produced canned corn beef and potatoes. This was often accompanied by tea if you were in the British Army.

All soldiers were equipped with a mess kit consisting of a multi-purpose tin pan with a removable lid, and a knife, fork, and spoon, usually wrapped in a napkin.

Winter In The Trenches. While spring and fall brought mostly rain to the trench-laced French farmland, winter often brought bouts of cold, uncomfortable rain or snow showers.

A soldier keeps watch over the trench lines after a light snowfall.Winter was the worst season of all for soldiers in the trenches. The winter also brought many new problems; frostbite and trenchfoot, a condition received from standing in cold water for extended periods, proved devastating. Disease was common year-round, but in the winter it increased drastically, claiming the lives of thousands of soldiers on both sides.

A soldier makes his way through a trench knee-deep in mud.

As we bring this dual-part entry to a close, we hope that you all have enjoyed this entry series! Thank you all for the comments as we return to the blog-world, and we shall be updating soon.

The Willys Jeep

The American Workhorse of World War II







Among the most common sights to all American forces serving in the Second World War was the Willys Jeep. First tested and accepted by the U.S. Armed Forces in the late 1930's, the Willys Jeep was to become as the title depicts: the workhorse of the U.S. military. Starting in the First World War, the United States realized that they desperately needed a fast, mobile, low-maintenance, all-terrain, multi-purpose fighting and transportation vehicle. The quickest and most reliable transportation of the day was still the horse-drawn ambulances for the battlefield, and the steam train-which, of course, as much as it was used behind the combat zones, could not be used on the battlefield. It became clear that to succeed in modern warfare, new technology was needed, especially in the case of transport.






Finally, at the outbreak of World War Two, two companies--General Motors and Willys--responded to the need of the military for the perfect vehicle. Willys won the race to come up with the best design, and by the early stages of World War two they had perfected the ideal all-purpose vehicle: the Willys Jeep.


The first soldiers who received the jeep thought it was an excellent vehicle; and it would prove itself in the bitter fighting and rapid action to come.



"Open fire!" Many jeeps were fitted with a Browning .30 caliber machine gun, which were belt-fed and fired from the rear.

All jeeps were fitted with an axe and shovel,
and a gas can and spare tire. The only disadvantage was that the gas can was sometimes exposed to hot bullets and explosions in battle.

Here a soldier gives directions to a driver of one of the new jeeps.

When the weather went foul, the unpaved roads turned into a muddy quagmire that highly resembled chocolate-colored porridge. For days afterward, even after the sun made it's appearance, it could take days to dry out. It was at times such as this that the Willys Jeep proved itself as a true all-terrain vehicle, being able to make it's way through almost any terrain.

Another great aspect of the jeep was the simplicity of the driver's controls and transmission system.

As low maintenance as they were, problems weren't non-existent...

It soon became clear from the first months of service that the Willys Jeep was indispensable. Rugged, good-quality, and always at the ready, U.S. Servicemen for the next forty years preferred the jeep to most other vehicles. Proven the most used combat vehicle in the Second World War besides the M4 Sherman tank, the jeep has been used by armies world wide ever since.

We're Back

It's been about a year since we have been here; we are very sorry for leaving without notice. But now we have returned, hoping to have a fruitful upcoming season of posts.

Well, I guess we had better start!



Sincerely,

Jerry O'Malley
Editor of G.I. Joe Live

World War I: Life in the Trenches, part 1.

In this next series of entries, we'll be focusing on life in the trenches during the first world war.

The Germans had dug the first trenches of the war during a retreat in the battle of the Marne, in 1914. To hold back the pursuing British forces, they started to dig in. This new defense stopped the British in their tracks. Then followed what historians call "The Race to the Sea" in which both sides started to march north and try to outflank the enemy, digging more trenches as they went. By the winter of 1914, the Western front had turned into a "ribbon of death", or line of trenches that stretched 475 miles from the Belgian coast to Switzerland, with a small strip of no-man's-land in between the two opposing sides.





Digging the new trench.



Displaced dirt was thrown over the top of trench and was piled on the side facing the enemy lines.

The trench is half-done! The man in the rear is placing logs in place to hold back the displaced dirt.

Every once and a while, the soldiers had to stop constructing the trench in order to fight; then resume the digging.

This soldier is preparing to throw a grenade, a small lightweight bomb that could easily be thrown by hand into an enemy position. Grenade duels were common, for it enabled the soldiers to fight without being exposed to enemy rifle or machine-gun fire. Finished! The completed trench is done, and supports of logs and corrugated iron have been put in to strengthen the walls and keep them from collapsing inward.

We hope you enjoyed this entry! We will be updating soon.

War in Vietnam, Part Two.

Here is our second post on the Vietnam War. While a lot of action took place in the fields and rice paddies throughout the Vietnam countryside, a good portion of the fighting was in the mountain jungles. In this post, we will be focusing on the latter.





A U.S. soldier hacks his way through the jungle weeds and vines, cutting a narrow path in the tangled underbrush with his machete (a sword-like knife, ideal for clearing away thick plant growth).


Two U.S. Soldiers unviel a pit of punjee sticks: a booby trap made of sharpened bamboo stakes pointed upright in a pit about two feet below ground level, camoflauged by a thin layer of sticks and foilage that gave way when stepped on to inflict injury to the foot. Traps such as these were very dangerous, especially when set along wooded trails, and were used commonly by the VietCong guerrillas.




Under fire, two Infantryman rush to battle positions. To be ambushed in the jungle was very common, and both sides had to be on constant lookout for the enemy.




A VietCong (VC) guerrilla pauses to re-load his rifle after emtying the magazine (small container for where the bullets were held in the gun). Note that the rifle is of foriegn make; it is a gun imported by North Vietnam's communist enemy, the former Soviet Union.











The two soldiers return fire. Many ambushes began and sputtered out in a span of only two minutes; they were not, however, few and far between.


We hoped that you enjoyed this entry.

Christmas and the Battle Of The Bulge

It is at Christmas that the suffering and loneliness of soldiers fighting and dying away from home is more keenly felt. Today we at G.I. Joe Live want to wish all of you a Merry Christmas but also to ask that you remember the soldiers who were in the midst of battle and away from home both in the past, and today. We wanted to share a few stories from World War II, specifically the Battle of the Bulge, which was raging at Christmastime.

Our first story is from the collection "One Christmas Eve During World War II":
One of the most poignant stories I ever heard about World War II was about American servicemen fighting in the fierce battles in Europe, and how they stopped firing at the nearby German soldiers for a few moments because it was Christmas Eve. And, for some mysterious and awesome reason, the Germans stopped firing as well.
Someone began to sing the beloved hymn Silent Night, and the Germans joined the Americans with Stille Nacht.
For those few moments, the madness of war ceased, and all of those men became fathers, sons and brothers -- just people worshiping their God instead of soldiers fighting for their lives in the hell of the Battle of the Bulge.

The next story is from the memoirs and remembrances of a soldier who goes by the initials G.K.W. His story is as follows:

On 24 December 1944 I was spending my Christmas at a little place called BASTOGNE, Belgium, with the 101st Airborne Division. As many of you already know the story about the Battle of the Bulge, I won’t go into all the details about how we were surrounded and outnumbered by the German Army. It was a cold, bitter, dark night and around about midnight surprisingly quiet. All of a sudden, from the German position, we heard a single voice singing "SILENT NIGHT," in German. Soon more voices were added from the Germans. Suddenly, some American Soldier picked it up and before long most of us were singing along with the Germans. This went on for about 5 or 10 minutes and then stopped. A few minutes later we were back at each other, with guns blazing.This incident has stayed in my memory all these years (56) and when I hear Silent Night I remember. Later I talked to American, British and French Soldiers about it and some of them had experienced the same thing on whatever front they had been fighting on, (Italy, France, Holland). I have talked to Veterans of WW1 and they tell similar stories.
In the middle of the worst battle of WW2 there was Peace on Earth for a few minutes.

Another account of Christmas during war I found interesting was written by Corporal Delbert P. Berninghaus, who was a POW in Germany. There was no room in the POW camps for he and the other servicemen who were prisoners, so they were on the move and in the elements under the watch of German guards. Corporal Berninghaus was from West Bend, Iowa, and was in the 106th Infantry Division, 422nd Regiment. Here is his account:

As we were herded into the barns for the night, we would repeat our previously established routine. Winters in Germany are much like ours in the Midwest as far as temperatures and weather conditions are concerned. After walking all day through snow, slush, or mud, our feet were always cold and wet or damp. We had no overshoes for protection and any protection that might have built up on our combat boots from polish or care had long worn off. We would remove our shoes and massage each others’ feet to warm them and get the blood circulating again. We had no overcoats or blankets, so in an attempt to keep warm, we would huddle together to give each other body heat. After days of the living conditions under which we survived, we were filthy and sick with dysentery. Our very survival depended on each other .
Friendships formed as we bonded together in our struggle for survival. I guess in a strange sense of the word we became a family, looking out for one another. We would find ourselves grouped with the same bunch of boys from day to day, but our guards would change.
By morning our feet would be so swollen it was difficult to push our swollen feet back into our shoes. The guards would again assemble us and the barns usually would be searched by the dogs. Some of the boys attempted to escape by covering themselves with the straw or hay found in the barns. Some tried to hide in the haylofts of the barns; some simply tried running away over the hills. As I said, the barns would be searched by dogs; the dogs used, in most cases, were well trained German Shepherds. These dogs showed no mercy as they literally tore apart the boys hiding or attempting escape. There was no chance of survival when the dogs were turned loose in the barns or in pursuit of those on the run. I remember a change of the guard when I saw one of the dogs rip the clothing right off of a new guard before anyone could control the animal.
Christmas Eve day was eight days after our capture. Here I was, twenty years old, a prisoner of war in Germany, wondering if I would even live to see another Christmas. As usual the day began with marching on the country roads, destination still unknown. At each village we were told, "At the next stop there will be food for you", but the bombs were always ahead of us. Village after village lay in ruins, bombed before we came; our stomachs remained as empty as the German promises.
It was approximately 4 p.m. in the afternoon on Christmas Eve when we arrived in the little village where we would be spending the night. We would again be spending the night in a barn. The guards allowed me to go to the barn owner’s home to ask for food. I was hoping for some potatoes or apples. The man answering the door invited me inside. The gentleman was a raw-boned farmer with a warm friendly face. He wore a pair of little round wire-rimmed glasses. I looked around the room and saw no one other than the man, but suspected there were other family members, keeping out of sight. My eyes were immediately drawn to the evergreen tree standing in the room. The Christmas tree was not decorated as ours are today; it was standing there unadorned in all its splendor. I shall never forget the sight of that tree and the memories it triggered. Momentarily, I was at peace. It was beautiful! Away from home and the security I once knew, a lump formed in my throat. My eyes welled with tears. I asked the farmer, "Could you spare some food for me and the boys in the barn? Some apples or some potatoes, for we are very hungry. " On the table lay a coffeecake already cut in wedges. It was pie sized and covered with apple slices. Pointing to the cake, the man said, "Eat it, you eat the whole cake." I did eat the cake, the whole thing. I felt a certain amount of shame because I ate without sharing my treasure and at the same time gratitude. I was so happy. In this strange country of enemies, God had given me a friend. I asked if he had any more so I could give some to the boys. "Oh, no," he said, but he gave me a pail with apples and potatoes that I carried out to the others on that Christmas Eve. They ate the seeds, cores, and peels of the apples and the raw potatoes.
On Christmas morning, I went to thank the farmer and tell him goodbye. He again gave me a bucket of potatoes and apples. Our day was starting out better than it normally did. We again set out on our daily march taking us thirty-five to forty kilometers. This day the American fliers again flew over us; our hope was that they would not drop bombs, but food. To our surprise, they recognized us, dipping their wings. The event was a highlight of our day — our spirits soared. The planes flew on to their mission; we continued our trek across Germany.

As our family recounts the innumerable blessings of Liberty we currently enjoy, we challenge each of you to thank God for His goodness to us and our nation. May His bountiful love through the Gift of his Precious Son refresh your souls this night and always.