They figured out a way to shoot their 60-millimeter mortars without using the baseplate, enhancing their mobile firepower. To smooth the reloading process, they taped clips of ammunition in place on their rifles “so all you had to do was flip around the clip and slap it in. These things were not in field manuals, but the GIs devised them very quickly, and they worked very well.” An 8th Cavalry post-battle report curtly noted that patrolling on Manus “for the most part necessitated digging the Jap out of his hole.” The improvisations of the troopers, their patrolling techniques, the rhythm of
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