Arrrgh! No! light infantry is a concept dating back to the Pharonic armies and probably before that too. Think of screening your Hastati / Princeps line with Velites or using Pictish archers to attack from rough ground while the enemy goes after your spear line. The "modern" light infantry concept goes back to the Voltigeurs, Rifle Regiments, Minute Men and Jaegers of the Napoleonic period. Agile forces deployed in loose formation capable of independant action.
The "modern-modern" (and American) concept is that of a rapid deployment force - and I would go with gliders over airborne to draw a WWII comparison not Airborne which although light are also elite.
I never suggested that the inclusion of the 70mm makes a unit light - that's an absurd line of reasoning. It is a very different piece of kit even from other IGs -you can break it down and man pack it if you have to and the Japanese did so - who needs horses? And of course it produces the same plunging fire as a mortar - It's-A-Howitzer. What it can do that 99.9% of mortars can't is fire horizontally.
I dunno about McMichael either - I mean he's only an army officer involved in the study of light infantry I doubt he knows sh*t.
As for the Japanese planning to deploy into jungle look at
Behind the myth of the jungle superman: a tactical examination of the Japanese Army’s Centrifugal Offensive, 7 December 1941 to 20 May 1942.
http://cgsc.cdmhost.com/cgi-bin/show...lename=528.pdf
To quote from the abstract:
While the IJA’s equipment was usually ill suited for battle against the Soviets, Japanese emphasis on light weight unintentionally made the IJA’s standard issue items eminently suitable for jungle operations. Likewise, the IJA’s doctrine was ideal for a short, offensive jungle campaign.
But of course Major Howard - possibly Light Colonel if his promo went through - is also only an officer who reads Japanese and quotes from primary source texts so I doubt he knows sh*t either. It's not like his paper won the Arter-Darby Military History Writing Award - Oh wait it did.
Chuck, I have never seen the need to question your knowledge of WWII German kit and TO&Es and I will never question your tenacity but on this one you have to at least buy a vowel if not a whole clue.