el cid again
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ORIGINAL: Blackhorse
quote:
ORIGINAL: el cid again
There is a new book - Australian Special Forces - and it appears that small forces - small enough to be delived by submarine on occasion - were a factor later in the war. And farther afield than I would have imagined. Similarly, an older book, The Alamo Scouts, indicates the US used such forces with effect in the MarArthur area. [They were modeled on the Eskimo Scouts, who during the war were special recon elements: today two different kinds of units claim their liniage: Alaska National Guard claimed all but one of its battalions were "Eskimo Scouts" until they were required to reform as support battalions - but a few small elements were retained anyway; The Alaska State Defense Force - which stills wears the ATG (Alaska Territorial Guard) patch - claims its three light infantry battalions are also of the same liniage (a fourth battalion - newly formed up - is Military Police).] The Aleutians campaign involved a lot of learning - including why you should NOT send in a landing without current assets on island. In a strange battle, US and Canadian forces landed on opposite ends of a valley - but the enemy was not present - so when they met - in the near perpetual fog of the area - they engaged each other - somewhat vigorously! The other big land battle didn't go so badly - because the enemy was actually there - although they did spook us by a kamakaze charge at the end that nearly overran a firebase.
The engine seems to work well if you put ANY small unit in the hex - you get good intel.
I did some follow-up research on the Alamo and Eskimo Scouts. The Alamo Scouts were the brainchild of LTG Krueger. He called them "Alamo Scouts" because he was a proud Texan.They reported directly to him as an "Army" level asset. Their total strength never exceeded 127 men, and they deployed in 'teams' of a dozen men or less to conduct raids and recon. The Alamo Scouts are too small to include as a separate unit in WitP-AE, especially in 1944.
The Alaskan Territorial Guard, aka "Eskimo Scouts" was a collection of unpaid, all-volunteer Alaskans who patrolled the long, sparsely populated coastline in their spare time looking for Japanese scouting parties, and searching for survivors of not-infrequent US airplane crashes. There were over 6,000 of these folks, led by a permanent military staff of 21 people, commanded by a US Army Major.
The Eskimo Scouts were basically "Coastwatchers on Ice". Wikipedia has a nice article on them. To represent the capabilities of the Eskimo Scouts I will see if we can add a "coastwatcher" capability to Alaskan bases in WitP-AE in a patch, if it is not already incorporated.
MG Buckner formed another special recon unit, the "Alaskan Scouts", later formalized as the 1st Combat Intelligence Platoon (Provisional). These were local rugged outdoorsmen who conducted recon and guided US landings in the Aleutians. This group was analagous to the Alamo Scouts, and like them, is too small to make an independent appearance in WitP-AE.
It is more complicated than this. More than 20,000 served in the Alaska Territorial Guard (not bad for a territory with 30,000 natives and 10,000 non-natives) - mainly because almost all adult women served in addition to men (a fact only recognized formally by the US Army in 1968, at a ceremony at Fort Richardson). There were three battalions of light infantry formed during the war (1, 2 and 3 ATG). The Alaska National Guard was called to before the war began - and did security duty in the early part of the war at Fort Richardson - but later went to California to train infantry replacements. There were also detachments - usually squad size - at coastal villages - and these served in the roles described above - mainly coastwatching and SAR and host/scouting for anyone who had to enter the area. [Alaska is unbelievably hostile - like Central Africa or Northern South America - it will kill you without mercy if you are ignorant - so a native guide - who need not be native - is quite important. You are considered "cheechakao" for a year - by which time you know better than to walk on tide flats, or whatever (no one has ever survived the quicksand in Turnigan Arm - it won't let you go - and within hours a bore tide will end your struggle). Tease a moose and he will kill you - with a single kick - and probably not be particularly impressed by the experience.] Wholly apart from these organizations were the Eskimo Scouts - which still exist - and whose history was long honored by the post war ANG battalions (whose names were like "2nd Battalion, Eskimo Scouts, ANG") until the ANG was forced to reform as support battalions in the 1990s - and even then selected companies of Scouts were retained. In the 1980s the Alaska State Defense Force reformed, and adopted as its formal uniform the ATG insignia (for Alaska Territorial Guard) - also imitating perfectly the ATG line organization (three light infantry battalions). When the DOD asked states to reform as MPs, Alaska demurred, and kept the three infantry formations, but also formed a 4th battalion of MPs. The history of the ATG is in Soldiers of the Mists. The history of all units in Alaska during WWII is in a four volume set The Forgotten War - and to a less photogenic extent - in The Thousand Mile War.
The first ANG battalion was formally the 297th Infantry Battalion.
The first battalion ATG formed in SE Alaska from about 430301 - including a company at Chilicoot Barrocks (Hanes/Skagway on the RHS map) - one at Juneau and one at Sitka. The reformed ASDF/ATG retains this organization.
The second battalion ATG formed at Anchorage Alaska from about 430101. The reformed ASDF/ATG retains this organization.
The third battalion ATG formed at Bethel Alaska from about 421201. The reformed ASDF/ATG moved this unit to Fairbanks.
The wartime significance of the Aleutian campaign was that it was where we learned things like why you want recon before you go in. One horrible "battle" occurred between US and Canadian troops! Because we did NOT know the IJA had evacuated. [We landed on opposite ends of a valley - L in shape - both advancing to contact - and in the mist - each assumed the contacted force was the enemy. The fighting was hard and continued until it got very close - when it was found we were both speaking English!] The Scouts job was to determine who/what was there just before we went in. This is indeed best done by small teams - and in the Viet Nam era a US Army recon team was typically only five. There is a book on The Alamo Scouts (that is the name of the book) that says they were modeled on the Eskimo Scouts.
[I joined the ASDF in the 1990s. ATG history is part of ASDF training/drills.]
< Message edited by el cid again -- 1/13/2008 12:54:10 PM >
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RE: Admirals Edition Land Thread - 
And this is assuming no losses during this time. They will all complete upgrading right before the war ends. 
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