How to screw the enemy

[Legbreaker]

The walk down memory lane in the machineguns thread got me thinking that psychological techniques don't need to be restricted to large scale operations.

My example of using the camera flash to keep recruits on their toes might work just as well to demoralise a dug in enemy as it did in the exercise I mentioned.

What other experiences/ideas are out there to screw with the minds of the enemy on a small scale

[Targan]

What other experiences/ideas are out there to screw with the minds of the enemy on a small scale

Remember that great scene in Apocalypse Now at night at the bridge where the lone VC out on the wire kept calling out taunts to the dug-in soldiers. That obviously f***ked with their heads a bit. Well, that is until "The Roach" fragged the little bugger with his M-79.

[Cdnwolf]

Usually I start by bending them over and ripping their pants off....

OHHH not that type of screwing...


Urban setting... a patrol comes around the corner to find... a garbage can in the middle of the street with a string leading to a third floor apartment...

and inside the garbage can... 3 pissed off skunks...

[Mohoender]

According to an old friend who was a sergeant in the paratrooper: a well placed isolated mine can seriously delay your ennemies'progression.

Then, Colonel Leclerc achieve victory over a largely supperior italian garrison at Koufra with only 300 men and a single artillery piece (a 65mm mountain howitzer). He kept moving the gun around firing from several directions, tricking the Italian commander who believed that he was facing several batteries.

May be not a true answer to the first question but you might find this interesting.

[TiggerCCW UK]

When we were on excercise we liked to sneak up on sleeping sentries and steal their weapon - lets them think how much worse it could have been and also lands them right in the shit

[pmulcahy11b]

When we were on excercise we liked to sneak up on sleeping sentries and steal their weapon - lets them think how much worse it could have been and also lands them right in the shit

That's why you tie it to you with a dummy cord when you sleep. I did that even in Basic. The drill sergeants like to steal weapons while us recruits were asleep in their pup tents, even reaching from the sides. Drill Sergeant Washington tried to do that one night during a field problem when we had been issued blanks, and as I felt my weapon move, I quickly raised it and let a burst loose not far from his face. (I wasn't going for his face, but there it was...) He wasn't happy about that one, but our other platoon drill sergeant convinced Drill Sergeant Washington that I had done the right thing. Drill Sergeant Becvar (the other platoon drill sergeant) later told me I should have just yelled "Bang! Bang!"

[pmulcahy11b]

When we were on excercise we liked to sneak up on sleeping sentries and steal their weapon - lets them think how much worse it could have been and also lands them right in the shit

Did they call you "slicky boy"

[Legbreaker]

Drill Sergeant Becvar (the other platoon drill sergeant) later told me I should have just yelled "Bang! Bang!"

Yeah, that'd work....

They're supposed to be training for realism and yet want you NOT to pull the trigger

[pmulcahy11b]

Yeah, that'd work....

They're supposed to be training for realism and yet want you NOT to pull the trigger

I never told DS Washington this, but I secretly thought I scared the crap out of him!

[weswood]

An IED under a garbage can lid in your enemy's line of march. Do that a couple times, then all you need to do is set a garbage can lid in front of them, trapped or not.

[copeab]

When you put down a minefield for enemies coming from a known direction, preregister your mortars behind the minefield. When the hit the minefield, open up with the mortars. The enemies can either go forward though the mines or backwards through the mortar fire. If they don't move, have your forward observer start sniping at them.

(to not tip this off, fire some mortar rounds into the area and then lay the minefield, so you have mines mixed with shell craters)

[Legbreaker]

Of course as all minefields should be covered by fire and patrolled to prevent unopposed lifting/clearing (as happened in Vietnam after a rather large field was handed over to the ARVN), who needs the FO to fire

[pmulcahy11b]

When you put down a minefield for enemies coming from a known direction, preregister your mortars behind the minefield. When the hit the minefield, open up with the mortars. The enemies can either go forward though the mines or backwards through the mortar fire. If they don't move, have your forward observer start sniping at them.

(to not tip this off, fire some mortar rounds into the area and then lay the minefield, so you have mines mixed with shell craters)

That's definitely true; in fact, it's a classic US Army Basic Training scenario.

[Legbreaker]

A little thread necro since there seems to be a number of new members now with plenty of stories and ideas to share on this topic...
Lt Ox, I'm looking at you!

[LT. Ox]

ok I will start slow

A little thread necro since there seems to be a number of new members now with plenty of stories and ideas to share on this topic...
Lt Ox, I'm looking at you!

First you find out that your op force is a bit on the superstious side. The you make sure He knows what the real meaning of the Ace of spades is, then you get the bicycle playing card company to send over decks that have fifty two of the buggers in each deck
After that it is a simple matter of nailing err I mean laying the card on the bodies of every VC bast.. err of the enemy dead.
next one is even better