Reference to JSAR being used on Guadalcanal

[Alasdair MacDonald 0]

In the book "Shots Fired In Anger" by Lt. Col.John George, He goes into detail of the weapons and ammo the Japanese had and our own issued weapons. He mentions the good and bad points of them all. His main complaint  of the M1 Garand was the magazine system. He says you could not "top off" this rifle after you fired a few rounds. Then you either finished the en bloc clip and reloaded or ejected the entire clip. With both situations you are left with an empty rifle. not good in combat. On page 388, second paragraph, he mentions the following: "So far as I know, the Johnson rifle is the only military rifle which meets this specification, and it does so admirably by means of a cleverly designed rotary magazine with a sidegate loading port, independent of the bolt passage. The Johnson can be loaded by a rifleman on the run with one, two, three or any number of rounds up to ten at a time. The individual cartridges are simply thrust through the gate, or five round chargers (Springfield Clips) can be be handily stripped into the magazine. In the field, a Johnson type magazine would eliminate two thirds of the present delay and danger of reloading." The writer must have seen them there as he says he evaluated every weapon listed in his book. He also noted that during his time on Guadalcanal he never saw any M1 carbines although he had heard about them.

 

[Bruce Canfield 0]

It is extremely doubtful if Col.George saw any Johnson rifles on Guadalcanal.  The only Johnson rifles on Guadalcanal were the 23 that were "lent" to the USMC 1st Parachute  Battalion which was withdrawn from the theater before George (who was an Army officer) arrived there. He was undoubtedly aware of the Johnson rifle and its attributes through various articles (including several pieces in the American Rifleman magazine) and other sources, hence his mention of the rifle in his analysis of U.S. weapons in his book.