Chicom!

This is coolbert:

From a comment to the blog:

"My uncle fought in Korea and said that the PRC and North Korean soldiers were the toughest, hardest people he had ever had the misfortune to run into. After a fight at night where he and his men were dug in, they found some dead Chinese the next morning who had no rifles, just pouches of hand grenades(which they thankfully never got close enough to throw). And this was a guy who fought the SS in France."

Some devoted readers will remember the rating scheme of the Japanese Colonel Tsuji. Rating soldiers of various armies with regard to fighting ability, the Chinese ranked # 2 [Japanese, as you may of course realize, were # 1 in the mind of a chauvinist such as Tsuji]!

[Japanese # 1, Chinese # 2, Russian # 3, Ghurkha # 4, American # 5, Australian # 6, British-Indian army troop # 7, British # 8]

That the Chinese soldier was so good [close quarters infantry fighter] came as a decided shock to American officers in Korea. Those Americans that had contact with the Nationalist Chinese Army in World War Two [WW2] had a less than sanguine attitude toward the Chinese infantryman. Good on the defense, less so on the offense - - was the image! Of course, the Chinese encountered by U.S. forces in Korea were part of the Chinese Communist New Fourth Army. A superior fighting force that had more than proved itself in combat with Nationalist forces in the Chinese Civil War. Good on defense, AND, good on offense too.

"san·guine - –adjective 1. cheerfully optimistic, hopeful, or confident"

And for the web site:

http://www.darkroastedblend.com/2007/12/unique-soviet-snowmobiles.html



NOT off topic! NOT off topic at all! The snow mobile was originally designed and developed as A WEAPON OF WAR. Both the Soviets AND the Germans in response did some original designs BEFORE and during the war? The U.S. had intended to use snow mobiles in Norway during WW2. The special operations unit, Canadian/American Special Services Brigade was to be air dropped into Norway and conduct guerrilla warfare, the snow mobile being the transport of choice. Developmental problems precluded the deployment thereof, the brigade sent to the mountains of Italy instead!!

coolbert.