Advice from Iraq or Afghanistan?

[winterbadger]

Never let a civilian into or through your forward lines--if he's up there under fire, he's out for no good. Our fellows have got to remember that a kid or a woman may be a sniper that'll kill. Don't move out of the areas we control. If some G.I. goes wandering off on his own ... he may he picked off a few houses down the street. Stay away from women; we've had boys have their throats cut before. In villages, watch out for the [tall towers on religious buildings] —that is the [enemy's] favorite place to put a rear guard.

It may look timely, but it's actually
from the "Combat Tips" column of an August 1944 Army Talks magazine, a special edition that was devoted to explainign how China had been fighting the war since 1937 and was saving American lives every day. It's actually quite a lucid and balanced exposition of the Chinese perspective, not what I might have expected for an Army propganda handout. Also, interestingly, it was printed in London.

Comments

[wcg.livejournal.com]

That would be when old Vinegar Joe Stilwell was still running the war in China.

[winterbadger]

Well, kind of. I looked at it again, and it was actually produced in November 1944, after Stilwell had been relieved (at the insistence of Jiang). And it was produced for and distributed in the ETO, to educate troops there about the war in China.

But, yes, in spirit if not in fact, it was probably produced by someone who shared Gen. Stilwell's appreciation for and understanding of China.