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Recently, I watched the series again and saw an o3a3 being fired by a soldier during an engagement with the germans well after d-day. It was brief and it was an 03a3. Would this be historically correct for a soldier who served in the infantry to have been issued an unscoped 03a3? Just wondering as I was debating this with my friend.
I don't know about the 101st A/B, but M1903s and M1903A3s were issued in some quantities to infantry units as grenade launching platforms (the M1 Garand lacked an effective grenade launcher until almost the end of WWII). I believe two 1903s were issued per squad.
I have seen a (probably) posed picture of some glider troops and a couple of them were carrying M1903A3s.
According to George Nafziger's work, an undated T/O&E change that was adopted sometime between February 1942 and February 1944 added one M1903 per rifle squad to the Parachute Infantry Battalion. The M1903 was dropped in the February 1944 revision.
Many non-divisional QM units carried the M1903 on its T/O&E, apparently throughout the war.
As I recall from reading the Ambrose book many years ago, one of the members of Easy Company carried a M/1903 Springfield as his preferred weapon. He was later wounded fighting in the Normandy bocage and lost the rifle when evacuated due to his injuries. Obviously, his preference in weapons was divergent enough from the norm to be considered noteworthy by the other members of his unit.
Whomever he was (most likely too late to ask by now) the guy probably was a good shot, and as such the unit commander figured it would be good for the overall unit to grant his wish to keep the 03 rather than force him to switch to a Garand.
Quote:
Originally Posted by barbarossa
Attachment 26933The Regimental Scouts attached to the Anti-tank company of the 28th Infantry, 8th Division were issued M1903-A3 rifles in quantity. My Uncle carried his until being wounded Dec 8,1944 while fighting in the Hurtgen Forest. He told me he was aware of a few men that carried a Garand or Thompson... but that most of the guys kept their 03A3's. Beloved for their accuracy, reliability and ability to fire various rifle grenades.