65th Anniversary of the Guadalcanal Campaign.

[syscom3]

Aug 7th 1942

I wanted to be the first to say it.....hats off to all the veterans who participated in the first allied counter offensive in the PTO.

We also shouldn't forget the ANZAC troops who were fighting their own bloody battles on the Kokoda Trail.

 

[syscom3]

Here are some pics of the invasion.

 

[syscom3]

Here's some more.

 

[syscom3]

We all know that the USN had its collective ass's whooped.

In memory of those brave bluejackets that again the misfortune to drink from the bitter dregs of defeat, I am posting the USN War college analysis of the battle.

Its one long read, sometimes hard to follow, but its quite detailed about the events.

 

[drgondog]

Aug 7th 1942

I wanted to be the first to say it.....hats off to all the veterans who participated in the first allied counter offensive in the PTO.

We also shouldn't forget the ANZAC troops who were fighting their own bloody battles on the Kokoda Trail.

amen to both

 

[ToughOmbre]

Aug 7th 1942

I wanted to be the first to say it.....hats off to all the veterans who participated in the first allied counter offensive in the PTO.

We also shouldn't forget the ANZAC troops who were fighting their own bloody battles on the Kokoda Trail.

And most of the Marines were fighting the Japanese with Springfield '03s, cranking a bolt for each of their five shots.

 

[syscom3]

And most of the Marines were fighting the Japanese with Springfield '03s, cranking a bolt for each of their five shots.

Youre right!

I wonder if the '03's were more reliable than the M1A's in the jungle?

 

[ToughOmbre]

Youre right!

I wonder if the '03's were more reliable than the M1A's in the jungle?

The '03s were reliable, but I'll take the Garand, jungle or no jungle.

 

[drgondog]

The '03s were reliable, but I'll take the Garand, jungle or no jungle.

Count me in.

 

[Wildcat]

Good post Sys!
Some pics from the Aussie side of things on the Kokoda Track.
Australian War Memorial: One of the world's great museums

 

[lucanus]

The '03s were reliable, but I'll take the Garand, jungle or no jungle.

I talked to a Vet of the Canal and he said that Marines issued with the Reising were not happy campers...especially when they found out that FDR had sent the vast majority of Thompsons to the UK...He also said that if you wanted to have a Reising, then go to the Canal and look in the rivers...Cause that is where those issued them "lost' them and traded back up to the 03.
I was in a little gun shop somewhere in East Texas and they had a Reising in the rack, when I asked the owner what it was he just shrugged and said all he knew was it was .45 cal, he took it as a trade in...before I could get back someone else had nicked it....The owner didn't even know it was an Automatic!!!!

 

[syscom3]

What is a "reising"?

 

[lucanus]

Reising M50
Type Submachine gun
Place of origin United States of America
Service history
In service 1941–1950
Used by United States, Canada
Wars World War II
Production history
Designed 1940
Produced 1941–1945
Variants M50, M55, M60
Specifications
Weight 3.1 kg (M50); 2.8 kg (M55)
Length 959 mm (M50); 787 mm (M55)
Barrel length 279 mm (M50)
Cartridge .45 ACP
Caliber 11.43 mm
Action Delayed blowback, closed bolt
Rate of fire 550 round/min (M50); 500 round/min (M55)
Muzzle velocity 280 m/s (820 ft/s)
Feed system 12 or 20-round detachable box
The Reising was an American submachine gun patented in 1940 and manufactured by Harrington Richardson. It was designed by Eugene Reising in 1940. The two versions of the weapon produced during World War II were the M50 and the simplified folding-stock M55. Over 100,000 guns were ordered, and were initially used by the United States Navy and Marine Corps, though some went to Canadian, Soviet, and other armies.
Design
Though described as a submachine gun, the Reising was actually designed as a compact lightweight semi-automatic carbine that was also capable of fully-automatic fire. There were three versions of the Reising, the M50, M55, and the semi-automatic-only M60.

The M50 was a selective fire weapon, capable of a full auto fire rating at 450–600 rounds per minute or semi auto fire. It was reported that the true full auto rate was nearer to 750–850 rounds per minute. Unlike most submachine guns, the Reising fires from a closed bolt.

There were several differences between the M50 and the M55. The most obvious one was the use of a rather flimsy, folding wire buttstock in the M55. The latter also

From all accounts I have heard...POS covers it...

 

[Lucky13]

Great pics and read fellas....

 

[Soundbreaker Welch?]

For the Japanese on those small islands, being bombed means little room to dodge bombs, for the ocean traps you in!

 

[syscom3]

For the Japanese on those small islands, being bombed means little room to dodge bombs, for the ocean traps you in!

The islands of the Solomons were anything but "small"

 

[Wildcat]

Neither was New Guinea.

 

[Soundbreaker Welch?]

I meant Tamabogo Island, in the photos! It looks barely a mile across!

 

[syscom3]

All of the combatants of the war in the Pacific (CBI included) learned early on that the flexible and fibrous husk of coconut tree's absorbed bullets and fragments with unusual efficiency.

 

[Soundbreaker Welch?]

And they had their rat tunnels too.