| OCR Text |
Show How a Handful of Devildogs, Armed With One Machine Gun, Slew 125 Japanese in a Three - Hour Battle on Guadalcanal "Warnings were issued that evening eve-ning that one of our patrols would be coming through the woods after making a reconnaissance in front of ! the lines. Late in the evening some 50 men approached us. "Wc thouplit it was our own patrol," pa-trol," said Pfc. Jack Sugarman, "but we weren't taking any chances. We hollered hilt, fired a shot over their heads and no one answered. Then the attack began." Japanese troops rushed the barbed wire defenses and attempted to scale them with a bridge made of poles and cloth. For each man that fell it seemed there were two more to take his place. The Japs threw everything ev-erything at the machine gun positions, posi-tions, including grenades, dynamite, and flame throwers. "Five times, when the Japs n-cre attacking," said Sugarman, "our gun jammed and we had to work pretty fast to clear it. Then their mortars found the range. Seven times we had to move our gun position." posi-tion." The battle lasted three hours, according ac-cording to Sugarman. He estimated that the machine gun pumped out 4.000 rounds, and 125 dead Japs lay in front of their sector. |
