JUST TOUGH GUYS

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIII, Issue 123, 27 May 1942, Page 5

JUST TOUGH GUYS

WITH NASTY IDEAS

KING KONG WAS SOFTY!

(By E.K.G.)

King Kong was a softy! Yni. may not believe it." but it is a fart. Roar and grimace as he won in. jolt and man-handle as he did. he was still a softy. The men Of the unarmed combat school (in traininc as instructors of the art) provr; it. •| iic'» may be nice boys to their rn.'in. is. hut in the army they are ju.-i lough Guys with Nasty Ideas. Km.' Kong was dealing with other Kmc 'Mings, and his objective was fun and profit. The Tough Guvs have i >!her purposes. They plan to deal with Japs., and they plan to do the job properly, with plentv of blood and the physical expression of intestinal fortitude. Then- Old School Tie is a Japanese neck twist, and when they sav Japanese —they mean Japanese. Jiving Out Their Tricks Yesterday I watched them trying out their tricks on one another And I was glad they were on our side They faced the thrust of cold steei 'with nothing but their bare hands and their training to help them ami showed how resolute men with just that equipment could come out on top. One of the group had been a profesional wrestler of some local reputation. another had been an amateur in the same sport. For the rest they were just average men o* fair to good physique, who had learned all they knew about the art of unarmed combat at the school. It was all a question of a few basic rules—and confidence, they said. With that equipment any man could deal with an armed man, providing he could take him by surprise. Then they showed us how—and that is why I should not like to be a sentry whose demise was necessary to the military activities of these men, or who was wanted by them for questioning.

Particularly, I would not like to be a Japanese sentry, because then I would wear a tin hat of the "deep dish" variety, with a brim that came down low to protect the back of the neck. Protect? With those Tough Guys around. By all the hairs on ?11 the heads of all my revered ancestors. . . Have a heart, General Yakasuma Hickedoola. Give a growing boy a chance! Under Your Hat! You see, those Tough Guys have a nasty way with Jap helmets, worn by the little, or not so little, yellow followers of the Son of Heaven, with the strap tied under the chin. They creep up behind the helmet wearer, reach over the top, grip the front brim of said steel head adornment, and jerk back. It sort of does things to the neck, if you get what I mean. The Marquess of Queensberry wouldn't like the rules; but then it was the Marquis of Schnickelgruber who wrote the rules of this war, with the approval and applause of the Tokyo Sporting Club. And we can play, too. That is why the first rule of the Tough Guys, in unarmed combat with an armed opponent, records that you shall use the boot or the fist, hard, at the most tender portion of the anatomy. That, at least, as a starter. But we were talking about sentries. Failing the helmet dodge, you would creep up behind the sentry, launch yourself through the air, plant knees in his back and grip hands round forehead. The rest follows naturally. Sentry loses interest in subsequent proceedings. If he doesn't, which is rarely, and comes at one with boot aimed—you grab at the foot, lift hard and shove. The result Is described in the song about the Flying Trapeze. If, being still a Tough Guy, you want the sentry bloke for questioning, a Japanese head twist and strangle combination applied from the rear is merely rule of thumb. If he doesn't talk afterwards, it is because he still can't.

It may happen, unless they reprint this article in the Nichi Nichi Shimbun and circulate it with the saki issue, that some venturesome Yellow Peril may one day attack one of these Tough Guys with a lethal weapon. My advice, unless the weapon is a long-distance projectile, follows the line of Punch. . . . Don't! Against Bare Steel I saw it tried with revolver planted in the middle of the back of the selected Tough Guy "victim." I saw an attempted attack with a knife aimed (a) at stomach, (b) downwards at the heart. And then I saw one of these Tough Guys face up to a bayonet charge. In all cases the bare steel was used, though we suggested that scabbard should be used for photographic purposes, lest attention should be distracted. In each case the results were distinctly nasty for the attacker. One pseudo - Japanese aggressor failed to return to his base. Pity! " Don't blame me, if this article sounds bloodthirsty. As Mr. Churchill may one day say to Hitler, Musso and Tojo . . . after all, I didn't start this war!