Kommissar

Another example of real world casualties exceeding CM would be the siege of Poznan, February 1945, which  saw seventeen thousand KIA and an uncounted number of wounded over approx a 4 weeks. (I threw together a scenario covering that for Fire and Rubble.)
In CM we're witnessing the 'tip of the spear'. We don't see the logistics tail stretching back a dozen miles where basically nobody dies. Its like the NFL. Statistically, a very low percentage of NFL company employees find themselves being tackled. The few NFL employees that we see on TV, though, experience it on a regular basis.

I agree with all of your points, especially the first one.  Don't rush.  There are only a couple of times I've found myself up against the clock, and countless times I should have waited until I'd scouted a bit more before committing a large force.  
I would add some additional tips for single-player:
1.  Keep your tanks and vehicles buttoned if you're within 500m of the enemy or unless there is a very specific reason to have them unbuttoned (e.g. you're expecting a long range tank battle).  Unbuttoned vehicles are a death trap and your commander is usually KIA within one or two light mg bursts.  It's even worse for half tracks.
2. The TAC AI is good, but aside from scripted events, the AI is not capable of reacting to you on a tactical level.  In other words, it can't reinforce a weak flank once it becomes apparent you're going to break through.  It can't move its troops once spotting rounds start falling around them.  You on the other hand, you can should modify your plan once you make contact with the enemy.  As well, you can have some confidence that, once you've found a weak spot, the AI is not going to be able to do much to prevent you from exploiting it.
3. Keep a reserve.  A full strength platoon at the end of a battle can make much more of a difference than it can adding one more platoon to the initial attack.  
4. Split up your squads.  It makes fire and maneuver easier.  It reduces casualties when the squad takes high caliber fire or would otherwise get wiped out (you just lose the team, not the whole squad).
5. Never just advance the main body of your infantry force at the enemy.  You need suppressing fire at the very least, but ideally smoke, tanks to provide immediate direct fire, and artillery spotters at the ready.
6. Dismount your infantry early and often.  If your half-track takes an AT gun hit, you're likely to lose the whole squad in the half-track.  While you might expose your troops to long range MG fire that they would otherwise be protected from, chances are you want to attract that fire as it gives away the enemy position and you can respond.  Even then, losing one or two guys to harassing fire at long range is much better than the risk of losing the whole squad. 
7. With tanks, use target briefly and target light.  Put one or two rounds in a building if you suspect that it may be occupied; target briefly allows you to do this.  If you're running low on HE, give it a turn of target light.
8. Avoid a fair fight wherever possible.  Sending your platoon to fight an AI platoon in the woods, for example, leaves the result mostly up to luck.  You hope your smg guy will spot the other squads smg guy first.  There is very little you can do to affect the outcome.  This plays to the AI's strengths, not yours.

No. 2 is too true. I have trouble finishing scenarios because either I am too beat up or it just gets boring and of course that's when I get careless and... unfinished games all other the place.
 
However No. 8 is the most fun! Fighting in the woods is the best.

Adding to the Target Briefly info just above:
You can combine the Target Briefly command with movement waypoints and pauses to use one unit to attack multiple targets in one turn (best used with AFVs).
So, for example, if you have one tank and three potentially enemy-occupied buildings you could do the following:
Target briefly for 15 seconds on building A with a 15-second pause on your tank. Add a movement waypoint (could be very close to the tank) with a 15-second pause and 15-second TB (must select the WP to add) on building B. Add a 2nd waypoint with a TB command on building C. The above works great for shoot-&-scoot tactics as well, like crest a hill, take a shot, and reverse back to safety.
I seldom use the regular Target command. Instead, I use TB with extra time (add 15 seconds per click). For area fire, I put in at least 15 seconds over a minute to "refresh" the option to continue next turn. If you only use 60 seconds, you might lose the ability to continue the targeting next turn, due to dynamic LOS obstructions (dust, smoke, etc.).
Another piece of CM advice is to get a feel for the Command & Control system and how it spotting information flows. This is most important for AFVs. If a tank has been given spotting intel and knows where to look for an enemy unit, he will spot faster than if he is spotting cold. If the situation allows it, a good trick is to have an open AFV paired with adjacent infantry with binos to help spot and pass info within voice range.
Another tip:
Keep your HQs safer by putting a close-range circular target arc around them to stop them from engaging targets at range. Barring desperate situations, your HQs should be used for their command and intel-passing benefits, not for actual combat. A follow-up tip on this is to make the circular arc 50 meters. That's a good balance between hold-fire and point-blank security and is the maximum non-radio command range. So, it acts as a visual reference for keeping your non-radio units in command. Final note, you can use the target arc command to fine-tune unit facing on a waypoint for best spotting position. Then, on the next turn, you can change it to a circular arc. The units will keep the fine-tune position.
Last point on arcs: I like to issue a force-wide 50-meter circular arc on all infantry at start and remove the arcs as needed. That saves a lot of lives. I also tend to put arcs on infantry to keep them from firing beyond a usable range -- generally 150 meters. I use 50 to 100 for scout teams, depending on the situation.
 

I think the problem with the ammo for the 60mm is not so much the amount of rounds. It's more that we lack better gameplay controls for using those rounds efficiently - at least when playing WeGo.
The "Target" order means the mortar will keep firing at high ROF until the end of the turn, spending way too much ammo even after the target is saturated. "Target light" means extremely low ROF, taking too long to knock out the enemy (and makes it quite easy for them to escape). "Target briefly" means you have to correctly guess exactly how many seconds it will take for the mortar crew to get the range, which is impossible, since it varies a lot, and then guess how many rounds they will be able to fire before the target order expires. Instead, I suggest it should work like real life: Giving a target order to a mortar crew should mean it will automatically fire a couple of rounds to get the range, then fire three bombs rapidly, then stop firing. Next turn, you should be able to target the same spot, and they would then fire three more bombs without spotting rounds (since now they have the range).

What's the latest on the forthcoming patch? It seems a bit strange that we are halfway through the fourteenth month since 4.0 was released and we have still had absolutely nothing....

Problem with a Pacific game, as others have alluded to, is that most battles won't be very fun or suited to the CM2 engine.  Iwo Jima might be OK for a first-person shooter, but the terrain and fortifications are not going to work well from a CM2 perspective.  A good comparison is the various attempts to recreate a D-Day beach scenario for CM2.  There have been numerous attempts, but none have been particularly successful.  The beaches aren't good, scaling the cliffs is hard to simulate, and the clearing of the trenches atop said cliffs also doesn't work very well. 

Problem with a Pacific game, as others have alluded to, is that most battles won't be very fun or suited to the CM2 engine.  Iwo Jima might be OK for a first-person shooter, but the terrain and fortifications are not going to work well from a CM2 perspective.  A good comparison is the various attempts to recreate a D-Day beach scenario for CM2.  There have been numerous attempts, but none have been particularly successful.  The beaches aren't good, scaling the cliffs is hard to simulate, and the clearing of the trenches atop said cliffs also doesn't work very well. 

I played the Wargame series (Airland Battle, Red Dragon) where they do reveal all the stats at play.  It leads to hilarious posts containing complex mathematical formulas crunching all the numbers together to suggest e.g., that the veteran T-80U should be 5 points cheaper to buy in the game.  I agree with the other comments about the benefit of the "mystery".