Mike Hammer Posted March 5, 2014 Report Share Posted March 5, 2014 (edited) Quite a few WWII Hollywood films showed guys with Thompsons bringing down Jap snipers perched high up in palm trees. It appears those scenes were based on reality as this real life photo shows. Any Jap that stayed on an island that small must have known he was about to meet his maker. Glad the Thompson shooter could help him out. Mike Hammer Edited March 5, 2023 by Mike Hammer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anticus Posted March 5, 2014 Report Share Posted March 5, 2014 Sounds like he was on semi-auto. It's interesting that firing for qualification back in the day included more single fire than full auto. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kilroy Posted March 5, 2014 Report Share Posted March 5, 2014 I wonder if those are marine raiders? I know the marine raiders were some of the first to use helmet covers and the 'frog skin' reverseable camouflage clothing. One of the raider battalions was on Bougainville. But yes, using a Thompson to clear out a coconut trees was very common. Jap snipers would tie themselves up in the trees and would camouflage themselves making them hard to spot. It eventually became common practice to mess up the top of any palm tree with a Thompson. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smkummer Posted March 6, 2014 Report Share Posted March 6, 2014 I read some account of a marine in the pacific stating in his opinion that was about the only thing a Reising was good for, was to run up and down a tree clearing a Jap Sniper. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jim c 351 Posted March 6, 2014 Report Share Posted March 6, 2014 I read some account of a marine in the pacific stating in his opinion that was about the only thing a Reising was good for, was to run up and down a tree clearing a Jap Sniper.Strange, if a Reising would kill a Jap in a tree, I wonder why it also wouldn't kill a Jap on the ground. Perhaps something to do with gravity. Jim C Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
emmagee1917 Posted March 6, 2014 Report Share Posted March 6, 2014 Well , while it's raking up the tree killing Japs , the muzzle would be " Reising " , no?Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jim c 351 Posted March 6, 2014 Report Share Posted March 6, 2014 Well , while it's raking up the tree killing Japs , the muzzle would be " Reising " , no? ChrisChris, True enough, but when it came time to run down the other side of the tree would it be necessary to turn the Reising upside down?? Jim C Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mnshooter Posted March 6, 2014 Report Share Posted March 6, 2014 With a 20 round magazine, you'd be limited to very short trees. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Hammer Posted March 6, 2014 Author Report Share Posted March 6, 2014 Interestingly enough regarding a "rising Reising". The first sub-machinegun that I owned was a Reising 50, and I found that the muzzle climb was far harder to control than a Thompson. It was in fact one of the reasons I eventually sold that gun. I do not really care for a straight-line rifle-like stock on a sub-machine gun. That being said I do have a full-auto Armalite AR10 and a full-auto AR15. The AR10, (.308) in full-auto is a bit tough to keep on target but it is a blast to shoot. As far as sub guns, I do like them with some kind of vertical grip option for ease of control. Re: The Thompson shooter I pictured here. I believe when dropping a jap sniper from trees, they probably fired a burst rather than a single round. if they could not see a definitive body outline. At least that's how they portrayed these situations in the 40's war films. Otherwise why not just use the Garand or a 1903? Mike Hammer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
emmagee1917 Posted March 6, 2014 Report Share Posted March 6, 2014 If'n they were on the other side of the tree , they'd used a BAR.Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OCM Posted March 6, 2014 Report Share Posted March 6, 2014 Or like the old war movies Mike Hammer is talking about, The GIs toss a pineapple grenade up into the trees, then bend over and cover thier ears and a guy or two comes falling down- Haaaaa, great movies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cocoabill Posted March 7, 2014 Report Share Posted March 7, 2014 I thought they just torched the trees. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kilroy Posted March 7, 2014 Report Share Posted March 7, 2014 I don't think it really mattered what the peppered the top of a coconut tree with, as long as it got done. In the early stages of the war on Guadalcanal and such it was probably easier to do with a tommy than an '03. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uncle Dudley Posted March 7, 2014 Report Share Posted March 7, 2014 One of my co-workers father was a Marine in the South Pacific, carrying a BAR. He was shot in the chin by a sniper in a tree, and immediately spun around and emptied the magazine into the tree and sniper. I'm sure we all know the result. He also got a write up in the hometown paper for using the BAR to "kill about a dozen Japs", as the paper stated, in action, in the South Pacific. He survived the war and worked for the railroad til he retired. U D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron Mills Posted March 8, 2014 Report Share Posted March 8, 2014 They wisely chose the Thompson over the M1 carbine shown in the bottom of the pic Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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