1. INTRODUCTION

U.S. forces in combat against the Japanese have learned that it pays to be always on the alert against enemy ruses or tricks. Although the Japanese have used such tactics in numerous instances, they have been successful in only a relatively few cases. Frequently enemy ruses have been employed to make up for a lack of combat efficiency against U.S. troops. Certainly such tactics do not afford the Japanese any "super" advantages. It's a game that can be played by both sides, and our troops have quite often played it successfully against opposing forces.

2. EXAMPLES OF RUSES

a. Sandwiching in a few words of English occasionally, a group of Japanese screamed and yelled to give the impression that U.S. soldiers were being tortured. The idea was to attract U.S. troops to the scene for the purpose of mowing them down by enemy fire.

b. In two instances on the Burma front, the Japanese cut British telephone lines and then attempted to hide the breaks by binding the cut ends with insulating tape. The idea was to make it very difficult for line repair men to find where the wire had been cut.

c. On Betio Island, some Japanese pulled the old trick of playing dead. U.S. troops were on the alert, however, and little or no damage resulted from such tactics.